First Batch Questions

Hello All,

I brewed my first batch yesterday afternoon and I am now left with a few questions that I hope you all may be able to help me with.

First off, I brewed an extract kit that came with my equipment kit from Williams Brewing. The kit didn't detail the ingredients, so I am at a bit of a loss in that regard. The kit was the Triple Hopped Ale.

These are my questions:

First, when should i have taken my hydrometer reading for the starting gravity? I took a reading after cooling the wort and before pouring it into the primary bucket and pitching the yeast. It gave me a reading of 1.075 and the kit description said the starting gravity should be at least 1.060. Am I in the ballpark here, or should I have piched the yeast before taking the reading.

Second, It seems that the cap for my airlock was either thrown out with the packaging or not shipped at all. I realized this as I was putting the airlock on the fermenter. I capped it with some foil to keep any unwanted particles out. Will this be ok? Is there something else I should do to make it more airtight?

Third, How the hell am I supposed to wait six weeks to drink my beer?

Thanks in advance for any help you can send my way.

Jay

Waiting is the hardest part brother! Waiting 4-6 weeks is really a MINIMUM as well. The longer your beer sits in the bottle (up to a point) the better it tastes. The beer you drink in 6 weeks will taste nothing like the beer you taste in 12 weeks.

With that being said, onto your other questions. You were spot on when taking the hydrometer reading. In general, you want to take this reading once the wort has cooled and is in the primary. Take a temperature reading as well to make adjustments to the reading based on the temp. I normally take my pre-fermentation reading right after the wort has been mixed/aerated well, but before I pitch my yeast. The yeast will not make a difference on your reading, so feel free to take the hydrometer reading before or after you pitch.

Regarding your airlock, it should not be a big deal not having one. A lot of guys on the boards don't even use one. They simply use a sanitized piece of aluminum foil. The big thing here is to allow the CO2 to escape without letting oxygen/bugs in. Bacteria and other organisms can not fly UP into the foil and then back down into your batch, so as long as you have the foil covering the top loosely, you'll be fine.

I wish you the best of luck with this batch. Remember, try to make another one as soon as your primary is cleared up. You'll thank yourself later when you need more beer! Plus, each batch is a learning experience with more and more things to try and learn about.

What temperature did you take the reading at? You'll probably want to adjust for temperature which will change the gravity reading slightly if you were warmer than 60F.

I wouldn't worry about the airlock lid. I don't have a lid on one of my airlocks, and as long as there's liquid in the lock and all is good, you should be fine. I think the only real need for the lid is to keep that bell shaped thingy partially submerged. Your foil should do that.

The way to wait 6 weeks is to make another batch now. As soon as you start drinking the stuff you made now, you'll pound through it and suddenly be empty and starting another batch and having to wait. Get another one going now so when you inevitably destroy the 2 cases of this batch too early, at least you have another one almost ready.

You'll learn more patience after 5-10 batches.

JayJitsu said:

Third, How the hell am I supposed to wait six weeks to drink my beer?

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It sucks waiting for the first few batches. To make the wait go a little quicker I'd start planning your next brew and get that one started in a week or two. If you keep up and have a new batch in the works, once that first batch finishes you'll have new beer becoming ready every week or two. Then you don't mind waiting because you have other beers ready while the new ones are still going.

When I started I just made it a point to bang out a new beer every weekend for a whole month. After that initial five or six weeks it soon felt like I had an endless supply of beer

OP, some possible reasons you overshot your target gravity:

1) you need to really mix the wort well before taking a gravity reading. When the wort and your top up water are not completely mixed, you can get a goofy reading.

or

2) Are you sure that you topped up to the 5 gallon mark? if you were less than 5 gallons, this would lead to more concentrated / higher gravity wort.

I hope this helps you to figure out why you overshot, and welcome to HBT!

phatuna said:

2) Are you sure that you topped up to the 5 gallon mark? if you were less than 5 gallons, this would lead to more concentrated / higher gravity wort.

I hope this helps you to figure out why you overshot, and welcome to HBT!

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We have a winner!!

Now that you mention it, I am sure it was only the boiled wort that I measured for SG and not the total 5 gallons.

Also, the temp was +/- 75 degrees. How should I adjust the reading to account for temperature?