Questions about my first brew

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

bringitonhome

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2008
Messages
67
Reaction score
0
OK, Finished my first brew last night. I made a brown ale:
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=3365

I pitched the yeast about 10pm last night and it was bubbling at about 1 bubble/sec when i checked it this morning. Overall, i think it went pretty well, but i have some questions

1. I did a late extract addition, so with around 15 mins left in the boil, i was doing a lot of stirring, etc. to prevent scorching - which stopped the boil. But it picked up again around 5mins remaining, when i added my aroma hops. Is this ok? I don't really think it's a big deal but just wanted to check.

2. when i poured my wort into the fermenter, there was an incredible amount of foam on top - about 4 inches. Is this normal? It made it very difficult for me to tell exactly how much top off water I should add. When the foam finally settled, it appeared that I was about a quart short of 5g, which leads to my next question.

3. the target SG for this beer was 1.044 - 1.048. Mine read at 1.051. Do you think the extra quart of fresh water would have made the difference? How will this affect the final beer? More Alcohol? more body? etc... Should i still shoot for the recommended FG?
 
First, congrats on the brew!!!

1. No problem at all. That will happen any time you stir when its boiling.

2. Pouring the wort into the fermenter, created the foam on top. This is in essence aerating the wort to prepare for fermentation. This is a very iimportant step. There is a ton of material on this site about how to aerate, but in short yeasties need that O2 to get going. Its a good thing! As far as topping off, just go by the level under the foam as the reference pt to add to.

3. Yeah the other quart of water would have diluted you a little further, not a lot. Also, if you are adding top off water, make sure to stir very well. The wort is thick and you have to stir that in with the top off water. This could account for your extra points. But overall your fine, 3 points off from the target is nothing to sweat.

Now get cracking on the next one!
 
Thanks.

yeah - after I added my top off water i poured it back and forth between my brew kettle and fermenter 3 times to really mix/aerate it. this made the foam even worse. All good though. I can already tell I'm hooked. I'll probably start another batch before i bottle this one!
 
Defiantly start another one! I made my first batch and bottled it and let it age the right amount of time and then started another one when I started drinking my first batch. Now I don't have any beer from my first batch and I am really antsy waiting for more beer!

Congrats on your first batch too
 
Thanks.

yeah - after I added my top off water i poured it back and forth between my brew kettle and fermenter 3 times to really mix/aerate it. this made the foam even worse. All good though. I can already tell I'm hooked. I'll probably start another batch before i bottle this one!

I would skip the back and forth pouring next time. Seems like a decent way to aerate, I suppose, but nothing a good shaking can't do.

Of course, I've never thought about shaking a bucket full of beer before. hmm.
 
Follow up-
So, I took a gravity reading today - i week in the primary. It came in at 1.021. As stated, the target is 1.010-1.012. What do i do? I was planning on racking to secondary on saturday. Will the gravity continue to decrease?

Also-
When i opened the fermenter, the top of the beer had a thin layer of little brow/green specs (hops? yeast?) and cloudy white flakes. Could this be mold?
This is a pic i took with my cellphone. I know it's bad pic. If it's anything of concern, i can take a better one. BTW, I tasted the beer from the gravity reading and it didn't taste moldy - just both overly bitter and overly sweet

0522082008og4.jpg
 
I tasted mine (same kit) after 5 days and it tasted the same as you're describing so I wouldn't worry about it.
 
Back
Top