After two batches of Betty Crocker brewing with the Coopers all extract kits (whose final products were good enough to keep me going), I have just pitched the yeast on my first extract brew.
In my hometown there aren't any LHBS so I had to travel quite a ways to get to one. It was worth the drive. I took up a great deal of the owner's time, but he was gracious enough to clear up some misconceptions created by using Google as my primary resource for learning. I'm about 1/2-way through Palmer's book and will be using that as my Brew Bible for the near future.
He shied me away from the Fat Tire clone I intended to purchase and sold me a starter extract kit with idiot proof instructions. After reading and re-reading the instructions and brewing the batch in my head about a dozen times, I went for it this afternoon. It was surprisingly easy.
Lesson #1 from this brew day is to warm the extract in hot water before adding it. Coopers recommended it with their kits and I did it both times before. I don't know why that didn't occur to me.
After everything was said and done and the wort was ready for the yeast, O.G. was dead on at 1.049. I intend to move it to a secondary in 5-7 days depending on the level of fermentation that's still occurring. This will be my first time using a 2ndary. Any words of wisdom are encouraged!
I have the bare bones equipment for all-grain so I'd like to get there soon, but will likely do at least 2-3 more extract/partial grain recipes. Again, any words of wisdom are encouraged.
In my hometown there aren't any LHBS so I had to travel quite a ways to get to one. It was worth the drive. I took up a great deal of the owner's time, but he was gracious enough to clear up some misconceptions created by using Google as my primary resource for learning. I'm about 1/2-way through Palmer's book and will be using that as my Brew Bible for the near future.
He shied me away from the Fat Tire clone I intended to purchase and sold me a starter extract kit with idiot proof instructions. After reading and re-reading the instructions and brewing the batch in my head about a dozen times, I went for it this afternoon. It was surprisingly easy.
Lesson #1 from this brew day is to warm the extract in hot water before adding it. Coopers recommended it with their kits and I did it both times before. I don't know why that didn't occur to me.
After everything was said and done and the wort was ready for the yeast, O.G. was dead on at 1.049. I intend to move it to a secondary in 5-7 days depending on the level of fermentation that's still occurring. This will be my first time using a 2ndary. Any words of wisdom are encouraged!
I have the bare bones equipment for all-grain so I'd like to get there soon, but will likely do at least 2-3 more extract/partial grain recipes. Again, any words of wisdom are encouraged.
