Obligatory first brew thread w/pics.

So I brewed yesterday...here's what I did.

Washed with Oxyclean, then sanitized by soaking in Starsan.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3409/3181637491_abf97f0784.jpg

Boiled top-off water and put it back into a sterilized container then into the freezer.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3463/3181638191_e8ffe8363a.jpg

Brought 4 gallons to 170F and steeped Crystal 40L for 40 minutes.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3260/3182470974_6d342eaab7.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3392/3182471536_dd98fd261f.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3427/3182471678_ac2e1de135.jpg

Brought the mixture back up to a boil, remove from heat mix in 3 lbs of DME and ~1/2 oz of Magnum.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3083/3181637951_f25fa51e93.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3453/3182471822_5a908a3325.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3096/3181638827_aea2accdef.jpg

30 minutes later I fished out the hop bag and added ~1/4oz of Perle.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3412/3181638947_6cabd72243.jpg

15 minutes later I added ~1/2 oz of Cascade and a teaspoon of Irish Moss.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3373/3182471234_b9d4e64d87.jpg

@Flameout I added another 3lbs of DME and then cooled the wort.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3386/3182472382_6b3e34ed66.jpg

Finally I siphoned most of the wort into the Fermentor, topped off about 1.5 gallons w/ pre-boiled top off water and pitched the yeast, took a turkey baster and filled up the test tube and took an O.G. of 1.044 (Beersmith called for 1.052)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3363/3182472588_e393705d37.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3464/3182471940_f083a1d9d9.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3516/3182472474_f4270d4866.jpg

Moved it to the basement and crossed my fingers.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3530/3181639395_8e46cb8777.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3091/3182472868_a69eaf7212.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3367/3182473004_d13aef5b46.jpg

It all settled out in about an hour and the top looked thin from the top-off water so I gave it a good shake and went to bed.

Here is what it looks like this morning, I was kind of worried but I hear bubbles from the Blow off tube so I think it is alive.



P.S. 4 picture limit is weak.

Congratulations! It's looking good.

Perfect! Should come out great!

Thanks, it's gaining steam, now there is a thin film growing on the surface and the blow off is bubbling a bit faster. Temp is ~62F but I expect it will climb as fermentation gets more active.

My only question is I was advised to add another 1/2 oz of cascade @5 minutes left in the boil and I did not. Should I try dry hopping when it's done being real active?

Also my OG was low, could it have been that I didn't mix in the top off water too well and can I sneak a reading in now or is it not worth it.

magnj said:

Thanks, it's gaining steam, now there is a thin film growing on the surface and the blow off is bubbling a bit faster. Temp is ~62F but I expect it will climb as fermentation gets more active.

My only question is I was advised to add another 1/2 oz of cascade @5 minutes left in the boil and I did not. Should I try dry hopping when it's done being real active?

Also my OG was low, could it have been that I didn't mix in the top off water too well and can I sneak a reading in now or is it not worth it.

Click to expand...

Its starting fermenting so you won't be able to get an Original Gravity reading. I wouldn't worry about it, its going to be great even if you don't know exactly what % alcohol it is.

I would dry hop it in the secondary if you plan on using a secondary. if not just toss the hops in in about 1 week. and leave them in for at least a week or so...

Ok, I mean the reading was 1.044 but I realized afterward that I didn't really give it a good stir so I'll assume I got close.

No secondary for me, just a primary so I guess I'll dry hop it in a week or 2.

I think the hops additions look ok, but I personally would dry hop. Love them cascades!

The dry hop won't make it more bitter just more aroma correct? I want to be able to share this with friends who aren't necessarily beer enthusiasts and probably wouldn't appreciate anything to bitter. That said, I do intend on trying some bigger recipes in the future, hopefully a big Imperial IPA at the end of the summer with fresh hops

The old no wort chiller so cool it in a sink full of ice technique. Same here. Take the lid off the pot and let heat escape from the top. It's mo faster.

Nice work! Our first batch went in on Wednesday night, and looked almost exactly like yours at first. (We made a mistake and didn't chill the wort before racking to the carboy, so that took about 12 hours to cool).

2 days later, we've got a healthy 2-3 inches of foam and the thing is a beauty. So don't worry magnj. Give it a day or three.

Some more comforting advice:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/fermentation-can-take-24-72-hrs-start-43635/

Now, it is time to do some homework for next brew. I love to pitch on top of active yeast cake.. it seems that your have APA going. You might want to something heavier to mask the previous beer in the cake...

The time pass by quick.. .you'll see your next brew come up soon.. it is really addictive..

I'm thinking I'll have another recipe ready for when I'm ready to bottle this one in ~3 weeks.

Here are some more pictures.

These are about 13 hours after pitching
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3486/3184163020_77f488f069_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3476/3183325191_170bc42e96_b.jpg

These are about 15 minutes ago, or ~24 hours since pitching.




My only concern is this white spot in the blow off jar, is there any way that could be mold, its filled with starsan and its bubbly. It could be from the top of the fermentation (Kruesan?) but I don't think it's blown over? (Click for huge picture)

With little headspace in that carboy you could expect krausen to get into the blowoff bucket. sure as hell won't be mold growing in SS

where did you get a better bottle with a spiggot? I want one.

@magnj: What's your Flickr ID? I noticed you had photos hosted there and thought I would take a look at the rest of your stuff

Here's the problem that I see...







That stove is too clean!

A couple boil-overs will fix that...

impatient said:

where did you get a better bottle with a spiggot? I want one.

Click to expand...

Austin Homebrew and Northern both carry them, and I suspect as do most shops. Not sure if it's necessary but it can't hurt.

JMSetzler said:

@magnj: What's your Flickr ID? I noticed you had photos hosted there and thought I would take a look at the rest of your stuff

Click to expand...

Flickr: bizzlenj's Photostream

astyler said:

With little headspace in that carboy you could expect krausen to get into the blowoff bucket. sure as hell won't be mold growing in SS

Click to expand...

Yea I wouldn't be surprised if it did blow over based on what I've seen/read but it hasn't yet and I was a little concerned about what the white dealie might be. I guess whatever it is it's sanitary now huh.

Looking sweet, magnj!

I wish I had thought to take pics of my first brew day

Madman said:

Looking sweet, magnj!

I wish I had thought to take pics of my first brew day

Click to expand...

Thanks, yea I take a lot of pictures and I wanted to be sure to document this as thoroughly as possible in case something went wrong.

On that note, here is a picture and video(though it will probably only be entertaining to us newbies) of my beer ~40 hours after pitching. I've just wrapped the fermenter in sheets about 2 hours ago trying to get the temps up a few degrees and about 15 minutes ago I started running a space heater.

Video

So it has been nearly 3 weeks since brew day, I have left it alone and some days I didn't even look at it lol. Anyway, I can't bottle this weekend so I'm thinking I'll use the extra week to dry hop. I have a 1/2oz of cascade pellets left. I have no secondary , can I just dump them into the primary real quick and let them do their business for a week or is that dangerous/ineffective?

On the horizon are some 2.5 and 1.5 gallon stove top All Grain experiments. I figure I'll do a whole bunch of small batches to perfect some recipes before I scale back up to 5 gallons again. I'll use the 6 gallon BB for the 2.5 gallon batch and some 1 gallon jugs for the 1.5 Gallon batches. I will split each wort in half and use a different yeast strain in each to learn about the effect of yeast on flavor.

Yeap just dump 'em in. As long as fermentation is over dry hopping in the primary works fine...

Ok that's all I needed to know. Not sure a half ounce is going to do much good in a 5 gallon batch but it can't hurt and idk how many months it's gonna be before I have a recipe that calls for cascade again.

I asked in another thread but I guess I'll add it here too. Can I cold crash and dry hop at the same time? Any reason why that wouldn't work?

Ok so I added the ~1/2oz of cascade today. I ran into a little bit of trouble, I couldn't get the plug out...but the blow off tube came out. I couldn't get it back in so I had to run to home depot and pick up some 1/4" ID tube. Luckily I have 4 airlocks coming my way so I shouldn't have this issues again.

Next Friday or Saturday I'll be doing an All Grain Oatmeal Stout and dumping it onto the yeast cake from this one. It's going to be a long day of bottling and brewing!

So it's been almost 3 months since I brewed this. It came out OK, it's not perfect, definitely not an SNPA clone but I'm drinking it and not hating it. I've since moved on to a real basic AG in a bag setup doing 2.5 gallon batches.

It has some hop bite but I think it's suffering from the "extract twang" and inconsistent fermentation temps. I'll probably try a similar recipe again as an all grain, in creasing the hops schedual.