Notes from Brew Day #1

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Weezknight

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Well with all of the help provided by everyone here and Mr. Papazian I got through my first brew day!

I put together an Irish Red recipe and everything seemed to go well. My electric stove got 3 gallons of water to 210F in about 45 minutes and it stayed right there, so I had a pretty good boil, without having to worry about boilover. When it came time to cool the wort, my friend and I used the ice bath method. We filled my sink with about an inch of cold water, put the kettle in and surrounded it with ice. We rotated the ice/water out about 3 times and had the wort cooled to about 68-70 degrees in about 25 minutes!

The only things I have worried slightly about are:

1) I may have got some sanitizer in my wort. When using my baster to obtain my sample it wasn't completely dry and I watched as some of the Star-San went into the wort. Oh well hopefully it's okay since it was diluted (1 oz to 5 gallons of water)! I also did notice the strainer was still wet with sanitizer too when I used it.

2) I pitched the yeast at 68F and it's been hovering between 66-68 for the first 24 hours or so. I'm a little worried that fermentation will be slow to start, but there really isn't a warmer place in the house. Today the temps are dropping back into the 40's so I have some blankets around the bucket.

3) Somewhere along the way I ended up short on my volumes and I noticed that I only ended up with about 4.5 to 4.75 US Gallons. I'm not too concerned about it, but I guess I'll have to watch how much priming sugar I use at bottling time.

Other than those worries everything else went great. Hit my OG at 1.044, which I expected using extract, but it still made me feel good!

Thanks to everyone here, I don't know how smoothly things would've went if I hadn't read all these threads about staying...RELAXED!
 
Yeah I figured everything would be fine. No matter how much you read and tell yourself that you won't worry, you still end up fretting about some stuff.

It's been in the fermentor for about 36 hours now. I've seen nothing in the blow-off tube. Would it be safe to assume I can go to the regular airlock at this point?
 
No, it may not have started fermenting yet. Give it some time here. I've had to wait 3 or 4 days to see any activity, and as you said you're temp is around 68 it may take a little bit of time. Read your own words above and relax.

My mother always said patience is a virtue.

of course my father always said no one in our family has ever suffered from mental illness, we've all really enjoyed it.

....so take that for what you will.
 
Might want to make sure you get those fermentation temps down a little bit. 68* doesn't sound high but trust me when I tell you this, it can and most likely will lead to off flavors in your beer. I try to ferment in the mid 60's if I can. Rubbermaid tub, fill with water, drop in ice cubes for the first few days to get the temps to 65ish.
 
Might want to make sure you get those fermentation temps down a little bit. 68* doesn't sound high but trust me when I tell you this, it can and most likely will lead to off flavors in your beer. I try to ferment in the mid 60's if I can. Rubbermaid tub, fill with water, drop in ice cubes for the first few days to get the temps to 65ish.

I was more worried about getting it started. My basement temps are about 63-65, but I didn't want to drop to those temps until I was certain that the yeasties were doing their job.

As of this morning the fermometer was reading 66 on the bucket.
 
Might want to make sure you get those fermentation temps down a little bit. 68* doesn't sound high but trust me when I tell you this, it can and most likely will lead to off flavors in your beer. I try to ferment in the mid 60's if I can. Rubbermaid tub, fill with water, drop in ice cubes for the first few days to get the temps to 65ish.

What type of yeast are you using? My first batch was with Dry Nottingham yeast and i pitched it at the same temp and had a hard time to keep it up above 65.

Find out what the ideal temp is for the yeast before you panic. Nottingham has a really low threshold and is probably better fermenting a little low.

My first batch took a full 24 hours to start and it turned out great. One of my best batches to be honest.

The hardest part about the first batch is the wait. Don't rush it.
 
I'm using Wyeast Irish Ale yeast. It works best in the lower 60's, which I am slowly getting it down to, but I didn't know what temperature would be best to start it at.

Honestly it was at 66 this morning, and I'm not too worried about it.
 
I'm using Irish Ale for my stout that I'm doing right now and the Wyeast said the ideal range is 65-68 you should be good where you're at. I am actually shooting to keep it around 68 because I want the flavor.
 
Well after 72 hours of the blow-off tube I decided to switch to my regular 3-piece airlock.

I used a flashlight to check the height of the kreuzen prior to doing this, and since I'm using a 6.5 gallon bucket, I still had plenty of head space, so I figured it was okay to make the switch.

As a noob, it was actually pretty nice to see the airlock start bubbling away, whereas the blow-off tube wasn't all that exciting to watch.

Now I'll start finishing off my last case of Smithwick's so that I have enough bottles in about 3 weeks for bottling!
 
Hey buddy. Glad your brew day went well. I'm sorry my wort chiller and I missed it. Don't worry about those minor issues, sounds like you had fun and you'll end up with beer!
 
Well after 72 hours of the blow-off tube I decided to switch to my regular 3-piece airlock.

I used a flashlight to check the height of the kreuzen prior to doing this, and since I'm using a 6.5 gallon bucket, I still had plenty of head space, so I figured it was okay to make the switch.

As a noob, it was actually pretty nice to see the airlock start bubbling away, whereas the blow-off tube wasn't all that exciting to watch.

Now I'll start finishing off my last case of Smithwick's so that I have enough bottles in about 3 weeks for bottling!

YOUR WRONG!!! The airlock is exciting to noobs and seasoned brewers alike!
 
YOUR WRONG!!! The airlock is exciting to noobs and seasoned brewers alike!

So true.

I used the ice bath method the first batch. It took longer than I would have liked. So after that I made a single pass wort chiller. And I can't tell you what an improvement it is. I dropped the wort from around 200 deg to 60 in under 10 minutes! It works amazing.

brew5.JPG

:mug:
 
So true.

I used the ice bath method the first batch. It took longer than I would have liked. So after that I made a single pass wort chiller. And I can't tell you what an improvement it is. I dropped the wort from around 200 deg to 60 in under 10 minutes! It works amazing.

Woo Hoo for wort chillers! I made a simple immersion wort chiller after my first batch. It is now indispensable. It's a very simple DIY project, and works like a charm.
 
Woo Hoo for wort chillers! I made a simple immersion wort chiller after my first batch. It is now indispensable. It's a very simple DIY project, and works like a charm.

Except when it is in Virginia, and the wort is in Pennsylvania. :D

When are you guys coming up next? I'm saving a case of this batch strictly for the shore house, so you'll get to try it at some point.
 
I'm not shore when we'll be up next, hopefully soon. We'll let you know. But we're not going to make it to the sure most likely, which sucks.

So how is your brew coming along?
 
I'm not shore when we'll be up next, hopefully soon. We'll let you know. But we're not going to make it to the sure most likely, which sucks.

So how is your brew coming along?

It's sitting nicely in it's 6.5 gallon home. Airlock activity is done (not that it means anything). Tomorrow will be about Day 12 or so, and I was thinking of taking a gravity reading, and then doing a second one on Saturday or Sunday. I may hold off, though, since I'm not going to bottle for another week anyway.
 
Well, I know I'm an impatient noob, but I decided check the SG on Day 12 anyway. Much to my delight it was at 1.012 which is right on target. I'll check it again in a few days anyway and then let it sit for another week before bottling.

I was a little worried by some particles floating on top, especially since I used a strainer, but who knows what splashed over the side of the strainer. I'm pretty certain the particles weren't an infection, though, because I decided to taste the sample and it was awesome!!!
 
Don't worry about the particles, the strainer keeps most of the stuff out but not 100%. For a batch that doesn't spend much time in the fermenter, that stuff doesn't matter.

Sounds like it's gonna be great!

Impatient noob? I think even the seasoned brew-vets check their beer before its time. They just call it 'taking intermediate SG readings to gauge progress'.

But I know what you mean, I've checked my mead every day for 2 months, sometimes several times a day, even though there's nothing to see and I know it. That reminds me, I wonder what my mead looks like now...gotta go...
 
The only things I have worried slightly about are:

1) I may have got some sanitizer in my wort. When using my baster to obtain my sample it wasn't completely dry and I watched as some of the Star-San went into the wort. Oh well hopefully it's okay since it was diluted (1 oz to 5 gallons of water)! I also did notice the strainer was still wet with sanitizer too when I used it.

2) I pitched the yeast at 68F and it's been hovering between 66-68 for the first 24 hours or so. I'm a little worried that fermentation will be slow to start, but there really isn't a warmer place in the house. Today the temps are dropping back into the 40's so I have some blankets around the bucket.

3) Somewhere along the way I ended up short on my volumes and I noticed that I only ended up with about 4.5 to 4.75 US Gallons. I'm not too concerned about it, but I guess I'll have to watch how much priming sugar I use at bottling time.

Other than those worries everything else went great. Hit my OG at 1.044, which I expected using extract, but it still made me feel good!

1) Don't worry about the sanitizer for a second. I wouldn't flinch at pouring a full cup of properly diluted StarSan into a 5 gallon batch of beer. It tastes like nothing, just a little bit salty. And yes, I have swallowed diluted StarSan. I'm still here, albeit a little drunk (unrelated). :drunk:

2) 66-68F shouldn't be a problem for any yeast. I would be more worried about it getting hotter and causing off flavors than it being too cold. Cold makes fermentation slow, hot makes fermentation bad (unless those off flavors are intentional, like in some saisons). My biggest mistake as a n00b was not chilling my fermenters. I shoot for mid 60's.

3) If you hit your OG, the volume is not a problem. The gravity is what's most important (and even that isn't a huge deal outside of competition). I wouldn't worry about the priming sugar either. It's so close to 5 gallons, and your style's carbonation level shouldn't be anywhere near bottle bomb territory.
 
i wouldnt worry about priming with the normal amount of sugar... i noticed that my 4.5-4.75 batches were less flat than the 5 gallon batches with the same amount.... use the normal amount for 5 gals 3/4 cup or 5 oz of corn sugar and you wont have bottle bombs but will have alot of bubbles rising in your glass for a while!
 
Well I thought I'd just keep using the same thread again to update on my first batch.

This past Friday was day 21, and it was one of my only free days to bottle, so I went ahead with bottling. The FG was 1.012, which matched what I had taken about a week before.

Bottling went very quickly (about 45 minutes) since I used all of the tips and tricks in Revvy's thread about bottling. Unfortunately because of my inexperience I had lost a lot of wort to samples and not siphoning efficiently off of the trub, so I only ended up 6 bottles shy of 2 cases. Still not too bad, though.

I guess the only thing I wasn't prepared for was what the Wyeast Irish Ale yeast look like post-flocculation. :eek: It was like something out of a sci-fi flick, but everything smelled (and tasted) great, so I didn't worry. Now on to the next period of waiting...and planning my next batch.
 
This past Friday was day 21, and it was one of my only free days to bottle, so I went ahead with bottling. The FG was 1.012, which matched what I had taken about a week before.

Bottling went very quickly (about 45 minutes) since I used all of the tips and tricks in Revvy's thread about bottling. Unfortunately because of my inexperience I had lost a lot of wort to samples and not siphoning efficiently off of the trub, so I only ended up 6 bottles shy of 2 cases. Still not too bad, though.

Sounds great. You'll get your method down when you get more practice. But don't worry about it! Plus, if I remember right you fermenter less than 5 gallons anyway.

I guess the only thing I wasn't prepared for was what the Wyeast Irish Ale yeast look like post-flocculation. :eek: It was like something out of a sci-fi flick

...brraaiiinssss....

but everything smelled (and tasted) great, so I didn't worry.
yes, brains taste great.

I can't wait to see how your first brew turns out.
 
I can't wait to see how your first brew turns out.

Funny that you said "see." For as much as I can't wait to taste my beer, for some reason I may be more excited to pour it into a glass and just look at it. I guess it's one of those guy things, as if I just want to hold it up and say, "Look at what I have made!" :D
 
Yeah, it's kind of like holding your new infant....

Crap. That reminds me....I'm on baby duty tonight. Guess I won't be bottling like I had hoped. :(
Oh well, he's more fun anyway. 7wks old and he can already out fart and belch me. And I'm a well seasoned pro at both.
 
Funny that you said "see." For as much as I can't wait to taste my beer, for some reason I may be more excited to pour it into a glass and just look at it. I guess it's one of those guy things, as if I just want to hold it up and say, "Look at what I have made!" :D

I like to hold up a perfectly poured glass of homebrew and exclaim
"Look at what I have made! It is the perfect blend of art and science. Now, let's drink it ALL!"
:mug:
 
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