Doing my first brew right now!

Ended up grabbing on of the "Budget IPA" kits from AHS.

Read a few reviews around the net and some people say its not hoppy enough with:
1oz of Magnum @ 60
1oz of Cluster @ 15
.5oz of Falconer's Flight @

So I am going to add:
.75oz of Columbus @ 60
1.oz of Cascade @ 10

Those kits apparently don't come in extract, so my first attempt is a mini mash..

Mashing right now, got 20 minutes left..


So, anyway.. a question, it came with 5lbs of extra pale LME.
I have read a lot about late addition of DME/LME to keep the color from turning darker than style dictates..

So, would I add it with say, 20 minutes left instead of adding it at the start of the boil?

Exactly. Or add it at the end (flameout). No need to boil it at all.

Thanks!

Yup, boil over..


Pot got up to boil a hell of a lot faster than I anticipated.. not a big BO, just enough to make SWMBO laugh at me..

DrNecropolis said:

Yup, boil over.. Pot got up to boil a hell of a lot faster than I anticipated.. not a big BO, just enough to make SWMBO laugh at me..

Click to expand...

Laugh? At least there is a sense of humor there...

If SWMBO caught me during a boil over, she'd probably beat me with a hose. I swear she loves the stove more than me.

So I convinced her that I needed a turkey fryer and bigger pot.

Got it squared away, and cleaned up and all that jazz..

Hope I got everything right..


Damn at the hop matter in the carboy.. that **** compacts down right?!

What is all the crap in the bottom of the carboy?! That's not just hops so what is it?!

Only thing added was the 4.5oz of hops, Irish moss and some alco boost.. but the AB was added at 15 minutes so I assume it boiled down..

I failed pretty miserably at not getting sediment into the fermenter when I poured from the pot..

But your guess is as good as mine.. no clue what it could be.. it wasn't there when I first moved the carboy.. the whole deal looked murky like that, then it was like that, now, its down even further.. whatever it is, its sinking and compacting..

It is proteins that coagulate during chilling. AKA cold break. Your Irish moss help make them a bit bigger to aid in removal. Not Ideal and you will probably have some hazy @ss beer in the end but you will have beer. IF you can't get a decent whirlpool going than next time snag a double mesh filter from a kitchen store and that will catch the hop matter and proteins resulting in clearer finished beer. Congrats, wort is in the fermenter. Get some yeast on that SOB and play the waiting game

Straining when pouring into the carboy would have corrected that issue I assume?

Hazy beer doesn't really worry me too much,

Its been in the carboy for about 45 minutes,

I would imagine pouring into a different container and straining it when pouring back into the carboy would catch it and a good bit of yeast so that would be a no no..

Doesn't seem like anything I can do now..

Live and learn..

Other than being cloudy as balls, is it going to affect it?

Its already sank to the bottom.. if my feet didnt hurt I would go snap another pic..

Won't hurt a thing. The easiest thing is to just dump it all in as you did. Many on here do that. After fermentation is complete everything will settle out and you can rack the beer off the top.

IMO straining is a pain. A strainer will clog almost immediately if you try pouring that. If you're worried about the gunk, next time whirlpool and rack as the other poster suggested.

Add your top off water, chill that puppy to to 65, shake and pitch your yeast

Your good. Just live and learn. It will taste like beer, and you will be fine. If you have the ability to cold crash then you could help with some of the haze but in reality it isn't a big deal. Might see some weird floaters in your brew but everything will be fine. Try to siphon extra carefully when take it to the secondary/keg/bottle bucket or what ever you plan to do and that will help get rid of some of the crap. I did several brews when I started out by just dumping the whole lot in the fermenter and aside from haze they were just fine.

Not worried about hazy brew.. it isn't trying to win me any beauty contests..Just wanted to make sure it wasn't a major issue

Got the wort down to 75, topped up with cool water, about 67 and pitched and shook the hell out of it for about 5 minutes..

As you can tell from the above pic, its sitting in a swamp cooler now, wet towel and fan blowing on it..

Thermometer is showing 68..

Keep a handful of 20 oz water bottles in the freeze And cycle a couple one or two times a day if the swamp cooler can't keep the temps in check.

Enjoy the new hobby!

Bamsdealer said:

Keep a handful of 20 oz water bottles in the freeze And cycle a couple one or two times a day if the swamp cooler can't keep the temps in check.

Enjoy the new hobby!

Click to expand...

Yeah, I have a long winded thread Somewhere about temps..

Got 4 bottles in the SC and 8 more in the freezer, told SWMBO to swap them out around noon for 4 more and I'll swap them with the last four.. that way I will always has 8 to go to..

Never had a problem straining with most beers except big IPA's. My daughter likes to hold the strainer so I just pour slowly so that the trub is the last thing to come out if I don't just stop short anyway and I do just fine for small batches in the 3-5 gallon range. To each his own. Make sure you give some tasting notes when all is said and done.

Starting to look like something..

Looking good. My IPA had tons of cold break. It was biab too. Make sure when you rack just keep the cane in the clear beer And it will be good to go. I don't mind hazy but my last couple of bottles that got a lot of sediment in them tasted wheaty.

Just got home from work..

Its a rolling storm in the carboy, all that matter has settled to the bottom, maybe 1/2" thick so far..

Now to ride the clock and wait it out..


Thanks for all the help!

That's probably more hot break than cold break.

If it sits long enough you'll end up with clear beer as it will compact down and you will rack from above it. As far as taste effects, that is a homebrew myth. I've never experienced any off flavors from hot break, cold break, or hop material in the carboy.

Seems like a lot of head space in there, did you top off with water to yield around 5 gallons? If not, you might have an imperial version of your beer...

If you did forget, you can always boil some water to deoxygenate and add it to your beer after it's cooled

Yeah, when I first got it, I poured 3 gallons, marked it, added a gallon and marked it, so on and so forth..

Marked up to 6 gallons.. and still have room at the top..

Not sure if its a 7 or what.. but its definitely 5 gallons in there...

Seems I have been able to ID it..

7 gallon to curve.. Found them online as an Acid Carboy.. threaded at the top at the neck..

So, everything seems to be going fine at this point.

Wild, rolling fermentation for a couple days, activity has slowed to a crawl now, kräusen has fallen and starting to sink.

What now? LoL

My temps have been staying at 64-68, brewed on Thursday, so it only been 5 days at this point, my plan is after 3 weeks in primary, I am going to dry hop for 10 days, then bottle, and condition for another 2-3 weeks to carb up..

Does all that sound like a decent plan?

Sounds good. And don't worry about the sediment. No need to filter, it will compact a lot and I have never had hazy beer because of break material like that. I dont strain $#*% and my beer is awesome just don't put the cane all the way to the bottom when siphoning.

Need some reassurance..

So, the krausen has fell all the way, starting to clear up now, yeast rafts on top..

Then, I notice little whitish circles across the top...

I panic and grab my flashlight..

They aren't a film, just pockets of tiny little bubbles.. I tried to take a picture, no dice..

Googled it, seems its normal and not infection..

Trying not to be a nervous nelly, but its my first brew, we've all been there.

Googled info says its just co2..

Looked a few minutes ago, didn't see any where as many..

Tell me I'm just being overprotective..

You already know the answer- it's fine, chill out.

Thursday was week 2 in primary, added some Falconer's Flight and Cascade to dry hop on aforementioned day..

Planning on bottling Thursday or Friday!


So excited.

OK,


Original gravity was 1.062, recipe called for 1.054.. I chalked it up to the instruction not taking the alcohol boost into account..

Final is supposed to be 1.013, I checked today and it was 1.021..

This is 2.5 weeks into primary.. is it possible its stuck or is this because the OG was higher than the instruction dictated?

If it is stuck, what can I do to get it fired back up?

I tasted it after the gravity reading and it was delicious.. really a lot clearer than I would have thought after the above pictures.. not quite as hoppy as I would have figured, but good none the less..


Only reason I am worried about a stuck fermentation is it waking up when I bottle and having a bunch on bottle bombs on my hand..

What kind of yeast)

It was mariubrew ale yeast.


I gave the carboy a very gentle swirl, hell, I wouldn't even call it that about as much movement as if you bumped it.. looking inside, you can see activity again.

Maybe that will squeeze a few points out..

Yeah I used mauribrew before with the same issue.

Also what's the temperature. Try warming it up a few greed.

That's what I thought also. It was 66, so I've been slowly bringing it up to 70-72, to see if I can wake the guys up, the combo of the slight swirl and temp seem to have it going again..

Eight days after bottling..

Wow!! Not fully carbonated but damn tasty! !

Had to pop a few while I brewed up a stout tonight..

Thanks for all the help guys!

Congrats. Hope it tastes even better fully carbed.