New From Chicago

I wish I started brewing a couple months ago so I would have some beer to drowned my sorrows in after the Blackhawks lost last night. I have a couple beers in the first fermenter and one planned for May 18th brew date. That will be a wheat beer with blueberries during the second stage. Any suggestions on my forth brew? Thanks

welcome to the club!

what types of brews do you like? i kept buying different styles to collect bottles, brewed up a couple of clones of beers i liked...most important is to brew what you drink!

personally, i like pale ales, scottish ales (malty), and porters/stouts...my wife likes wheats and pale ales, so it's usually a pale ale and a random brew in our kegs

this site is great for information, so take advantage of it!

Welcome from a fellow Chicagoean. I am really a Chicago suburbanite since birth, but having grown up around here (Schaumburg and Roselle), and have spent plenty of time in the city. Do you live in the city or suburbs?

I am trying to get the summer beer supply ready. I've got a kolsch that is nearly ready--1 more week or so in the bottle. I'm considering brewing hefeweizen next. I have a real affinity for amber ales, a great, balanced session beer IMO, as I tweak and scale up my first all grain recipe (which was an all grain, brew in a bag amber ale of my own design).

Your fourth brew: amber ale is my suggestion of course.


Cheers

I live on the south side of the city, in the city. Lagunitas IPA is my favorite beer. I have a clone in stage 1 now about to move to the second stage. I also have Witbier in stage 1 just brewed 4/26. I am looking to do an October beer soon. My next brew will be on May 15 and it is a wheat beer that i am going to add blueberry's to in the second stage. Something different. I know they say the second stage fermentation is not needed on this site but my home brew store advices to do it so I am. My times in each stage is going to be 10 days in first, 7 days in second and two to three weeks in bottles. Any advice?

if you can stand it, i suggest you leave the beer in the primary for 14 days...gives the yeast more time to clean up after themselves. otherwise, your process looks great!

Is Bev Art the homebrew store you use? I am pretty sure those guys would recommend a secondary. I don't think there's anything wrong with it--it's your end product that counts. I used to do a secondary, now it's 3 weeks (sometimes 4) in the primary then bottle.

OK, I am too excited to start new brews that I am moving my first brew to second stage after 10 days. Then I will let it sit for 7 more days then 2-3 weeks in bottles. My second brew will sit for 12 days in primary stage, just by timing of buckets. I am following BEV ART recommendations. I have a new issue with my second brew. It was brewed on 4/26. My first brew was bubbling in the air lock at 24 hours, this one has not bubbled through the air lock yet. If I push on the lid it bubbles. I opened the bucket and there is a ring about a half inch above the liquid, my first brew was an inch above the liquid. My second brew has a layer, very thin, on top with active bubbles. I am worried that since I am not having bubbling in the air lock then there is a fermentation issue. To me it has a slight rotten egg smell but I am over thinking and smelling everything. Any help is appreciated.

It should be fine, sometimes you dont get bubble activity, sometimes you miss fermentation (sounds like you did with the ring), sometumes you get blowoff kreusen and sometimes small...best way to check, and i would leave it alone until you want to rack to your secondary, is check the gravity.

You don't want to rack over until you are within your final gravity range. Revvy, a senior member here, has a great sticky about fermentation at the top of the beginners brewing forum (i think)..check it out!

No 2 fermentations are likely to be quite the same given the number of variables involved. From your description, it sounds like it is fermenting. Let it sit longer and check the gravity when you rack to secondary--your hydrometer reading will tell you if it's finished, or not. Sulfur smells are more common with lagers, but can occur with ales too. What type of beer are you brewing, and what type of yeast was used? Oh, and read that sticky Heferly mentioned.