First batch tonight!

After too much pondering, I finally got all the necessities for home brewing my first batch! My Fiance's uncle used to be an avid homebrewer, but since diagnosed with celiacs disease 5 years ago, his old gear has just been gathering dust. I went and picked it all up last weekend, and gave it all a good washing piece by piece. After reading post after post on this website, I decided to use a low concentrate of bleach to clean everything good. I then rinsed all tools with 130ish degree water, to get all the bleach-y water off. I plan on sanitizing with the idophor (sp?) solution before beginning. I will be doing the Brewers Best American Wheat package for my first brew, I would have done something else, but BB packages are all my LHBS carry. One plus is, I only live about 100 miles SE of Midwest Supplies, so on my way to visit the rents, i will be making stops in the future! What I am wondering is, for all you seasoned vets out there, what are some steps you really wish you would have not skipped/missed on your first brew day? Also, approximately how long does it take to go from heating water, to pouring into the fermenter? I have nothing but time on my hands, as I work nights so midnight to most is noon to me!


Depending on how well it goes, I will post pictures and info tomorrow!

Wish me luck

DB

My first day took like 5 hours but I did a lot of double checking, figuring out how to use the siphon, etc. Your first time could take a few hours, as you get more experienced that time will come down for extract kits. Until you get into All Grain and then all bets are off. Good luck, have fun.

An extract batch usually takes me 3-3.5 hours...AG batch I give myself 5 hours.
Happy brewing...welcome to the club..

Must say I am a little dissapointed. As i mentioned this is my first crack at it, but the TRUE BREW kit I purchased is all malt. I was looking forward to steeping some grain, but hey there is always tomorrow right! Right now the water is a-boiling away, so I am off to add the malt!

Meh, my first kit was all malt, too. It''s not a bad way to get your feet wet. Have fun, and since you don't have homebrew to drink while you're brewing (yet), be sure to down some good commercials!

BTW, I have to say, I'm jealous of how you scored all that equipment for free!

buckeyebrewer said:

An extract batch usually takes me 3-3.5 hours...AG batch I give myself 5 hours.
Happy brewing...welcome to the club..

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buckeye, your profile pic looks like quite a tasty dessert to me. maybe i'll make a PBR clone next

you can bet I bought an amazing IPA from Lake Mills Wisconsin! Just waiting for the wort to cool, then yeast city! This is the coolest thing ever. I dont know why I didnt discover this when I was 16!

deputybrewer said:

you can bet I bought an amazing IPA from Lake Mills Wisconsin! Just waiting for the wort to cool, then yeast city! This is the coolest thing ever. I dont know why I didnt discover this when I was 16!

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Ah so you've had Stone Tepee? I never had it, not a fan of IPA, but they make some other stuff that's not bad. Where you from?

It is actually the Bitter Woman I.P.A, although the Stone Tepee is pretty good for a Pale Ale!


The yeast has been added and now i just wait for the bubbles!


I am from Saint Charles, MN, A town of only 3000 about 25 miles east of Rochester. Gotta stay close to Roch as the fiance works at mayo, so I can have all the fun!

Where do you live?

Well, I awoke to a pleasant surprise. Last night I measured the grav at 1.048 (supposed to be 1.049) but this could be due to my hydrometer virginity. All seemed well, after adding the yeast. I set the airlock up and got her stored in a temp controlled room. Woke up to see krausen city, and bubble city in the fermenter/airlock! I know this is NOT an accurate measure of fermentation, but its cool to watch. What I am wondering, is how often should I be taking grav readings on the brew? I'm sure it wont be for awhile yet, but still... something to look forward to in the next week!

Also, if the krausen accumulates much more, I will have to put on a blowoff valve, which i purchased just in case. Is there anything special I need to do (besides sanitize equipment) when doing this?


Thanks for all the help!

Man, after a particularly violent IPA incident, I just pop a blowoff in everything for the first few days. And yeah, I agree 100% about airlock activity being fun to watch. My wife thought I had lost my mind when I had three carboys bubbling away, and I had my back to the TV watching it.

I wouldn't even bother with taking gravity readings until at least two weeks in. If you don't return your thief/baster contents back to your fermentor, it just seems like a waste of beer to sample it too much. Plus, oxidation, blah, blah, blah.

Nothing special you need to do for the blowoff. Sanitize everything, stick the tube in a bucket/pot/bottle/whatever with some water and sanitizer.

So can I just sanitize a water jug to run my blowoff hose into? or is there a better option?

I just did a partial mash oat brown ale and I started heating the PM water at 6:15 and I just put the blowoff hose on the fermentor at 10:30, so a little over 4 hours for me.....I used a turkey fryer and a wort chiller which shaves off probably close to an hour of waiting for water to boil and cool down, respectively....plus I get to do full boils.

enjoy yourself and relax. I made some serious mistakes my first brew, and even that beer turned out well (It was my 2nd and 3rd that things got hairy....). If you've spent any time at all on this forum, then you're well ahead of where I started from already....

deputybrewer said:

So can I just sanitize a water jug to run my blowoff hose into? or is there a better option?

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Just take a jug. Fill it 1/4th with water. Add star san. Insert blowoff tube into fermentor/airlock. Insert other end into the jug, below the water line.

The end.

I just wanted to thank everyone on this site for the wealth of knowledge. Just over a week ago I brewed my first batch. It fermented in a week and got to grav spot on. I bottled it with not too much trouble, and tonight after work I could not help myself. I had a glass of flat, semi warm, immature American Wheat beer, and i must say, it is by far the BEST beer I have ever tasted in my entire life. Next week i am making ed's apfelwein and ed's haus pale ale in my brew room. After only one batch SWMBO already gave me a brew room! Life is good.


Thanks again everyone

DB