finally started... (yipee..!)

well i finally got started last night.. i needed to get a couple of items after dinner, and got going at 8:30 or so.

i sanitized everything and then got my water boiling and mixed in the malt extract at about 9:15. after mixing, i fired up my stove and started heating the water and extract up.

question: i through in the hopps before the wart started boiling.. should i have waited?

so i boiled for an hour and had an ice bath ready, so i took the pot out and within 10 min the wart was at 73 degrees, i poured the wart into the fermenter and then proceeded to pour back and fourth three times, then filled the fermenter up to 5 gals with water, poured two more times from the boiling bucket to the fermenter for aeration. put the top on the fermenter, added the airlock, and placed it in my garage.

the airlock was bubbling within 20 mins.... is this OK?

the wort was at about 63 degrees this morning so i moved the bucket into our house which is about 70.

hopefully, i'll have beer in 6 weeks..!

ron-

cool similar story here started about a week ago. going to wait to do my next batch until i find a turkey fryer. they will probably have some deals coming up being thanksgiving is a month away.

smokin_pitmaster said:

the wort was at about 63 degrees this morning so i moved the bucket into our house which is about 70

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Depending on which yeast you used, 63ºF is a pretty good fermentation temp. 70º is sometimes a tad too high. Likewise, you also don't want your fermentation temp to fluctuate too much either. This can be the case outdoors.

And yes, the first addition of hops typically goes in when the wort begins to boil. But you should be fine for your first brew. Lots of people have made worse mistakes than that, and turned out good beer.

Congrats and welcome to the hobby. Both of you.

sportscrazed2 said:

cool similar story here started about a week ago. going to wait to do my next batch until i find a turkey fryer. they will probably have some deals coming up being thanksgiving is a month away.

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hi.. i got a cajun cooker sp10 which came with the stove and a 32 qt aluminum pot for 74 bucks, at ACE hardware. there's no way my wife would have liked the odor...

ron

quick update....

when i got home from work yesterday i checked the airlock... yea baby.. just bubbling away happy as can be. i checked this morning before leaving for work and see that the bubbling has slowed down.

early next week, i'd like to do up a 'holiday' beer (my first was a hefe-wiser'). my thought was to give away some beer as holiday presents. say a six-pack of 21oz beers.

have a great day..!

ron-

as an update, last saturday evening 10/13, i bottled my hefe..

and i just couldn't wait another day.. so i poped one this evening.. yea ..! it was very good.. this said, i was looking for a little more carbonation.

question: since it's only been 11 days since bottling, will the beer get more carbonated as i wait?

ron-

any beer needs a week or more to get properly carbed in the bottle. some of the heavier (bigger) beers need months. 63 is a better temp, but only if you can maintain it steady. 70 is better if that's what it takes to steady the temp to around 2-3 degrees fluctuation. when you threw in the hops early, it's called pre-boil hops, and just adds in a little more hoppiness (which i like). let the rest carb a few more days, and welcome to the addiction

it tasted hoppy... and light. when pouring, it had foam and bubbles, just not as much a i had hopped..

actually, i pulled another bottle for tomorrow, and am now thinking i better get to keggin'..

i was thinking about the 'tap-a-draft'. i like it cause it'll fits in the outside 'fridge.

ron

tap a draft is awesome. I use it, and it works great. You do need to prepare yourself to spend some money on co2 carts though, cuz you'll burn through them. I naturally carb, and go through 3 or sometimes 4 just to push. But it's great if you don't have money for a dedicated kegorator, or a keezer.

LOL I googled the name and was linked to a thread here on HBT. Gotta love that.

TAP-A-DRAFT: first impression...:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/tap-draft-first-impression-60237/

Wort, not wart. I can overlook many spelling/grammatical errors, but that's one you might want to correct in the future. (in fact, brewing purists pronounce it the German way, which sounds like "wert").

Costco has turkey fryers for 54 dollars, just thought you would like to know.