1st post & 1st brew..

Ive been perusing this forum for a few days now and thought perhaps I should finally posta thread and ask questions that have probably been asked 10,000 times already. First off, Im a 100% newb to brewing. So bare with me if I dont understand all the lingo and whatnot. After 20 years of subpar beer drinking, a girlfriend of mine introduced me to the world of "true beer". Sh broke out a beer I had never heard of, 'Dark Lord". I must say, its definitely an aquired taste. So after 6 or 7 months and several different styles and flavors, Ive found that my pallet prefers Belgiums, for the most part. For my first endeavour, I chose a Belgium tripel to brew. Here are my concerns:

After the boil, instead of a quick cooldown and pitching the yeast, I didnt have my 3 remaing gallons sufficiently cooled enough to cool the wort down to 80 deg. It was about 115 and took nearly 45 minutes to drop below 80. Once I got everything in the fermentor, it took about 18-24 hours for any signs fermentation to show, Its been slowly bubbling now for the last 24-30 hours (day 3). How will the long boil to cool time affect my brew? If at all? Thanx yall!

It will probably be fine.

Well the main worry is DMS:

"It is an organic sulfur compound present above its flavor threshold in most beers. Because of its low flavor threshold, 10 - 150 ppb, it is a primary flavor and aroma compound that makes a significant contribution to beer character, especially in lager beers. It has a characteristic taste and aroma of cooked corn or creamed corn."

Also there is slightly more of a chance of infection. But, I wouldn't worry about it too much overall for a first beer you tackled a pretty difficult beer let alone a tripel which will require a bit of aging if you are aware of that, probably atleast 6 months. With that amount of aging probably wouldn't even notice the corn taste, although I've heard of people waiting up to a year to smooth out the taste and is still their.

BTW good choice for a beer, my favorite beers are also the belgian tripels and wit biers.

Wow, I didnt realize Id have to wait that long. I was hoping for 2-3 weeks fermenting, then 3 weeks iconditioning in the bottle. Since Im new to home brewing, what would you suggest as far has having a 2 week ferment time and a 2 week conditioning time?

Higher alcohol means a longer carb time. Also, you'll want to let the alcohol flavor smooth out... drinking too high of alcohol too young is often referred to as "rocket fuel", and different people have different tolerances for it.

You did choose a tough first beer, but I don't think that's necessarily a mistake. Just keep with it, and keep improving.

While the tripel is conditioning, you could easily try a "faster" beer. How about an American amber, or a British bitter, or any other lower alcohol beer that doesn't have lots of complex ingredients.

If you like, say Fat Tire, you could make a Fat Tire clone and have it ready in about 4 weeks. There are a couple of important keys to making a quick beer. One is to make sure you pitch enough yeast (dry yeast is fine, and one pack enough for these types of beers) and to keep the fermentation temperature cool. Under 70 degrees is optimum for most ales. Chill the wort in an ice bath in the sink, add to your fermenter when it is under 80 degrees and add cool water to get it in the low/mid 60s, and then add your yeast.

A well made, lower ABV beer is usually ready and peaking at about 5-6 weeks after brewday. (It takes a couple of weeks for it to carb up in the bottle).

My first batch is 4 weeks in the bottle. It's a Belgian Tripel...and it tastes like rocket fuel.

I have a tripple that was bottled for close to a year before it didn't taste like rocket fuel.

I'm going to head over to the model rocketry site...I think I have an idea.

Scratch said:

I'm going to head over to the model rocketry site...I think I have an idea.

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A way to get around the TTB licensure?

A girlfriend that can procure Dark Lord is a good girlfriend to have. Perhaps you should have her make the beer? All kidding aside...

Your Belgian Tripel is a style that will benefit from time in the fermenter and again in the bottle. Maybe try an English Bitter or a wheat beer of some kind? Depending on the yeast you use, you may find it's ready to drink a little quicker.

Thanx for all the tips yall. I guess Ill have to reat this first batch like kid. Plan on it being around for a while and having to take care of it until its ready for the great big world. I just want to get over the "1st brew" excitement phase and have something I can taste and appreciate that I made.

Can I bottle half of this batch at 2 weeks while leaving the other half in the fermentor for another week? More so for comparison tests. Or will that raise the chances of infection once I open my fermentor?

Daffypuck said:

Can I bottle half of this batch at 2 weeks while leaving the other half in the fermentor for another week? More so for comparison tests. Or will that raise the chances of infection once I open my fermentor?

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I wouldn't do that. You probably won't raise the chances of infection, but you very well may raise the chances of oxidation. Plus, there is no advantage to bottling half at different times. A week won't make a huge difference, except for clarity and meaning less sediment in your bottles.

When I think about doing something with my brew, I always think "What's the reason? What's the point?" if there is no reason to do something (take a reading, rack, dryhop, etc) then I don't do it. Patient and laid back brewers tend to make the best beer.

I would let that sit and brew a different one. I'd check out Biermunchers Centennial pale ale. That can be a quick one