first brew day a complete success!

so after months of reading and researching(and saving money) I FINALLY had my first brew day. I made a modified version of the northern brewer nukey brown recipe(all DME instead of LME/DME like NB's kit)

I did half the DME for the full boil and the rest for the last 15 minutes, and that worked out wonderfully. The only hiccup was my stove having issues getting the full 3 gallons up to a boil, but having read most of these forums and picking up good tips in the process I quickly wrapped foil around the pot and it took off! It took me 45 minutes to get the wort to pitching temps(need an IC BAD) but 2 gallons of the top off water I had at pitching temps already so that helped. Came in at 1.052 with the recipe estimating 1.050, which I attribute to me possibly miscalculating the LME to DME conversion(I used 5.5lbs dme and the recipe was 1lb dme and 6lbs lme), or maybe just a misread on the hydrometer. pitched the yeast last night at about 1030 and at 9 this morning I took a peek into my fermentation chamber(modified mini-fridge) and it was already churning away!:rockin:

Now the hard part... waiting.

6 weeks and I'll be drinkin homebrew! I already have plans for a batch of Apfelwein! Can't wait!


on a side note... wort tastes nothing like I expected...

Congratulations, and just a note, it is easier to wait those six weeks if you start formulating your next batch in the meantime.

Welcome to the addiction we all call homebrewing! and I'd say get started on the Apfelwein now and another batch in two weeks as per Ed's directions.

Jawbox0 said:

Congratulations, and just a note, it is easier to wait those six weeks if you start formulating your next batch in the meantime.

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It's even easier if you MAKE your next batch in the meantime. It's called filling the pipeline.

david_42 said:

It's even easier if you MAKE your next batch in the meantime. It's called filling the pipeline.

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My mini fridge only holds 1 fermenter, and I live in az so its like 80 degrees indoors. Not exactly good fermentation temps. I will have to do 1 at a time till it gets to winter.

turtleboy3737 said:

My mini fridge only holds 1 fermenter, and I live in az so its like 80 degrees indoors. Not exactly good fermentation temps. I will have to do 1 at a time till it gets to winter.

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Search the site for Swamp Coolers. There are very cheap options for you to consider.

turtleboy3737 said:

My mini fridge only holds 1 fermenter, and I live in az so its like 80 degrees indoors. Not exactly good fermentation temps. I will have to do 1 at a time till it gets to winter.

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If you can get the wort down to 70F or less initially (near-freezing topoff water helps), then you can probably make a pretty decent saison by pitching and then letting the temp rise as it will. The Belgian saison yeast (Wyeast 3724) has a temp range of 70-95F, and often needs to be warmed up to finish attenuating.

Swamp coolers are another option, too.

congrads and good luck in your brewing!