Pics of the first brew day

The first brew day for the both of us...We ordered our kit from midwest supplies and freeballed the rest of the equipment needed.

We got the intermediate kit from midwest w/ 2 5gal better bottles 1 primary ale pail and one bottling ale pail. We also bought a wort chiller which I totally would have made if we were anywhere near a home depot (were in Germany both stationed at Spangdahlem AB) The day went off with close to zero issues the things we encountered were a small boilover and stirring our yeast in our rehydration cup before letting it sit for 10 min (no big deal as it is now sitting in the primary bubbling away)

The recipe kit that we used was his and is as follows

Midwest supplies India Brown Ale

6 lb. Gold liquid malt extract,
2 lb. Light dry malt extract,
1 lb. Brown Sugar,
8 oz. Caramel 60°L,
4 oz. Coffee malt,
2 oz. Roasted Barley,
1/2 oz. Summit,
2 oz. Glacier,
1 oz. Palisade pellet hops
dry yeast.

This beer was super brown after the boil and looks delicious We tasted the wort through all the process just to get an idea to what were working with. Water steeped with the barley is not delicious however

Once we get the primary racked to the secondary were going to start my recipe which is as follows

Hop head DOUBLE IPA
9.3 lbs. Gold Malt extract,
4 oz. Aromatic,
12 oz. Caramel 60°L,
8 oz. Victory specialty grains,
1 oz. Chinook,
1 oz. Cascade,
1 oz. Centennial,
1 oz. Crystal,
2 oz. Leaf (dry hop),
dry yeast

what I was looking for was something similar to Troeggs(sp?) Nugget Nectar its one of my favorites and I wanted my first brew to be close but easy..

Anyways we took some pics hope you guys enjoy

cleaning up before we start


Me adding the water (the German water doesnt taste too great)


Craig adding some water to the turkey fryer turned wort boiler


We took our water temps very seriously

Very cool! Just got the first one done, and already planning the second. I like the way you roll. Congrats on your first brew.

well apparently because im a noob and havent paid my due yet I cant post direct images but if you care to click the links I'll post the rest....

We cant really get homebrews around here but we can get some pretty abstract beers from a lot of different places.


adding the barley


and the malt extract (All grain one day)




bottoms up!


boiling away!


and one fancy one


after 60 min's its time for the wort chiller


We even let the ladies hold the hose

And finally sitting happily in the primary fermenter (need a 6gal better bottle next so we can watch the process!)

Some more info since we had such a big pot we started with 6gallons of water and ended up boiling down to 5 1/2gallons...the extra 1/2gallon ended up getting tossed do you think we should have just kept it in there or should we just boil 5gallons next time? We wanted maximum hops utilization but perhaps we went overboard?

Great pics. Love to see the whole process. Nice work!

FuelshopMcgee said:

Some more info since we had such a big pot we started with 6gallons of water and ended up boiling down to 5 1/2gallons...the extra 1/2gallon ended up getting tossed do you think we should have just kept it in there or should we just boil 5gallons next time? We wanted maximum hops utilization but perhaps we went overboard?

Click to expand...

Welcome to HBT.

Keep the extra .5 gallon. I target my brews to hit 11 gallon in ferment buckets and end up with 10 gallon of beer.

either way, sounds like a good time. Now the hardest part...waiting.....

enjoy

I see a bag in the boil... hope that's a hop sock and not your steeping grains!

Yeah keep that extra half gallon. You're throwing out beer.

I always shoot for an extra 10% or so in my boil kettle. That way, when it comes to bottling time, my final volume produced will be closer to my planned volume. That 10% is close to what you'll lose in trub, yeast cake, and dry hopping.

damnit! It was our first time so we will keep the extra on the 2nd batch...

and to eljefe yes that is just our nylon bag w/the hops...we did not boil our barley!


How do those recipes look to you guys?

+1 on keep the beer. I start with 6 Gal. and after a good boil for an hour I usually have to add around 1/4 - 1/2 Gal to bring the volume up.

So I guess we know to keep the extra! A few updates to the Ale Pail, I can now see through the airlock that it is bubbling. This excites me greatly, I wish I had the 6 gallon better bottle so I could see it all happening.

My next brew has been planned and I am going with a Irish Red Ale. Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas on this? Thanks!

A bit off topic but...

Did I see a Ducati Monster in the backround of one of those picutres?

i like the beer bottle pic. when I was stationed in Korea, they shipped in pallets of Schofferhoffer Hefe and Cristal weizen for oktoberfest. i drank 2 cases of it and it was great.

Just a quick question/comment on your IPA, why the Crystal Hops? They're too mild and will get lost in all the big flavor of the big C's. Stick with the other three and you'll get a great IPA.

Your recipe has 'Leaf' as the dry hop. What type? Also, you may want to dry hop with pellets. Sure, they turn to sludge and are a pain to filter out when racking. But, they will impart more flavor and aroma to your brew than whole hops by almost two fold.

Beerkrump I appreciate your response..I was just posting the ingredients to a recipe kit that I bought however. Like I said this is our first shot at this and we wanted to get the feel of the process before dumping into recipe tweaking. I appreciate the help though I will try to remember that! And the leaf hops are cascade...

Are you saying not to add the crystal at all?? I already have the ingredients so I dont know if im going to leave anything out now...

It is just that Crystal hops are a delicate hop with a flavor that is commonly referred to as 'clean.' I think they are a variety related to Hallertau. Good in light bodied beers. In an IPA, they have such a low AA that they won't add much bittering and so mild that the flavor will be lost. If you're planning on a Cream Ale, throw them in the fridge and save them for that.

Cascades are a great choice for dry hopping. Just look around this site for hints on how to keep the hops from creating a flotilla in your fermenter.

thanks for the info again...its odd though all of the clone recipes that I've found for nugget nectar has crystal hops thrown into it at some point...Nugget Nectar is not an IPA though it is an amber ale which Im not sure what difference that makes...Im going to make the recipe by the book on this one but I will remember your advise!