Approaching the 72 hour mark.
It's doing something. What? I don't care. Haven't had any urges to go pulling lids off or anything. From the majority of the info I've gleaned here, I've made a plan to leave it in the primary for three weeks.
At the two week mark I have to dry hop, so I'll pull the top, stick the thief in there, get a sample make note of my FG, and then come running back here convinced I've done something wrong, and that the batch should be flushed down the crapper!!!!
I kid. I kid. I'm just being careful about the fermenting temp. (??? The stick on thermometer on the side of the Ale Pail is reading 66-70...I realize the reactions are exothermic...am I keeping it in the right temp range?)
Seriously, though...as many of you mentioned in previous posts. Develop a process. So I paid a lot of attention to the process. I read up on processes before hand. Had a good idea of what I was doing before the first flame was struck, so I took lots of notes and observations on how to use my time, or what I should have done while one thing was going on, etc.
Reviewing it all, I found a few areas of inefficiency, and I recognized what I can do in the future to avoid them, or improve upon them if you will. Some are:
More buckets. For obvious reasons! However, I was using my fermenter to hold Star San and equipment that I'd need, but...after the wort is chilled..that stuff has to go somewhere. So an extra bucket or two to hold Star San and sanitized equipment will be helpful.
A lid for my keggle. Whether it be just some foil over the top, or a towel, after the cold break, it's definitely something I need. It was disheartening after all that work to see particulate (it was windy that day) matter floating on top.
I noticed even though my temps in the Keggle read 77. When I put it in the fermenter, it was up to 89....so....in the kitchen sink with ice we went. I had realized the wort chiller was giving diminishing returns due to the temp of the groundwater, but geez! Being off that much? I realized I need some sort of cold recirculating (forgive me..I don't know the terms or the lingo) device to run ice water through the chiller after a certain amount of degrees. I live in Tampa for gods' sake, it doesn't get much colder than it did the other day. So improvements in that area are a must.
Right now, with it being cold, I can get away with a swamp cooler for the fermentation process. Being in Tampa...I'll need a better handle on fermentation temps. I have a small fridge. Will the Johnson Controls analog controller I've seen around, just plug right in? Or do I have to cut stuff and wire it in?
I also realize I'm going to have to add a spigot and dip tube to my keggle. I have the luxury of time on that one, but does anybody have a parts list or link?
A couple of mistakes I realize I made....
1. Stirring in the LME. I believe I did a thorough job. However, I did not take into account the whirlpool action. When I removed the wort, there was a small amount of carmelization in the bottom of the keggle. Exactly in the middle.
2. Underpitched. I ordered an Activator pack. Didn't double check. Smacked it the night before, let it balloon up. Pitched it. Then as I saw the back of the package as I was throwing the bag away, realized they sent me a Propagator pack. I aerated the hell out of the wort. So we'll see what happens.
It's doing something. What? I don't care. Haven't had any urges to go pulling lids off or anything. From the majority of the info I've gleaned here, I've made a plan to leave it in the primary for three weeks.
At the two week mark I have to dry hop, so I'll pull the top, stick the thief in there, get a sample make note of my FG, and then come running back here convinced I've done something wrong, and that the batch should be flushed down the crapper!!!!
I kid. I kid. I'm just being careful about the fermenting temp. (??? The stick on thermometer on the side of the Ale Pail is reading 66-70...I realize the reactions are exothermic...am I keeping it in the right temp range?)Seriously, though...as many of you mentioned in previous posts. Develop a process. So I paid a lot of attention to the process. I read up on processes before hand. Had a good idea of what I was doing before the first flame was struck, so I took lots of notes and observations on how to use my time, or what I should have done while one thing was going on, etc.
Reviewing it all, I found a few areas of inefficiency, and I recognized what I can do in the future to avoid them, or improve upon them if you will. Some are:
More buckets. For obvious reasons! However, I was using my fermenter to hold Star San and equipment that I'd need, but...after the wort is chilled..that stuff has to go somewhere. So an extra bucket or two to hold Star San and sanitized equipment will be helpful.
A lid for my keggle. Whether it be just some foil over the top, or a towel, after the cold break, it's definitely something I need. It was disheartening after all that work to see particulate (it was windy that day) matter floating on top.
I noticed even though my temps in the Keggle read 77. When I put it in the fermenter, it was up to 89....so....in the kitchen sink with ice we went. I had realized the wort chiller was giving diminishing returns due to the temp of the groundwater, but geez! Being off that much? I realized I need some sort of cold recirculating (forgive me..I don't know the terms or the lingo) device to run ice water through the chiller after a certain amount of degrees. I live in Tampa for gods' sake, it doesn't get much colder than it did the other day. So improvements in that area are a must.
Right now, with it being cold, I can get away with a swamp cooler for the fermentation process. Being in Tampa...I'll need a better handle on fermentation temps. I have a small fridge. Will the Johnson Controls analog controller I've seen around, just plug right in? Or do I have to cut stuff and wire it in?
I also realize I'm going to have to add a spigot and dip tube to my keggle. I have the luxury of time on that one, but does anybody have a parts list or link?
A couple of mistakes I realize I made....
1. Stirring in the LME. I believe I did a thorough job. However, I did not take into account the whirlpool action. When I removed the wort, there was a small amount of carmelization in the bottom of the keggle. Exactly in the middle.
2. Underpitched. I ordered an Activator pack. Didn't double check. Smacked it the night before, let it balloon up. Pitched it. Then as I saw the back of the package as I was throwing the bag away, realized they sent me a Propagator pack. I aerated the hell out of the wort. So we'll see what happens.
'Nother (6'3, 270) biker here... I have a Kawasaki Vulcan 700 (old) and it fits me pretty well. Looking forward to when I can afford a BMW bike since I ride every day... when I friggin can! (see below) I know how much sparrows hurt at speed - don't even wanna know how a duck felt...
