Brewed my first batch last night!

Well, everything went pretty smoothly. Only had one minor boil over, other than that no problems.

My hydrometer broke in the mail, but I'm not too concerned.

The fermenter is in my room and is sitting at about 68 degrees. I had airlock activity when I woke up in the morning and I'm getting about 1 bubble every 2 or three seconds in less than 24 hours.

I do have a couple of concerns however.

First the taste. I tasted it before I pitched the yeast an locked the fermenter. It tasted OK, nothing funky, a little sweet, and the hops were very pronounced. Actually the hops seemed to dominate the flavoring. Also, it tasted a bit watery. Then again, I had just put the fill water in.

The smell from the fermenter right now is puzzling. Definately not like vinegar, and it doesn't smell bad. I'm not sure what it smells like.

I took another taste while I had it open. It was sweet, not as watery, and the hop flavor has died down, but it's still pretty strong. And there was definately some alcohol in there already. :rockin:

I just don't know what this stuff is supposed to taste and smell like at this point, so naturally I'm worried.

Another thing I'm worried about. I think I let a little too much sediment from the bottom of the pot into the fermenter. The amount of it was a bit more than expected and I wasn't quite ready for it, something that will change next time.

The top of the Krausen has some of this stuff on it. It's that greenish hoppy gunk that kind of just laying on top. Should I go in there with some sterilized equipment skim it off or am I fine?

"Bill Brasky is a son of a *****!"

"His poop is used as currency in Argentina."

"He'd eat a homeless person if you dared him!"

Well of course, I already knew that.

But, I'd like to know about this beer as well.

1. Hops mellow over time
2. In the beginning, beer will be sweet- there is still a lot of sugar not yet fermented.
3. You know what vinegar smells like. If it doesn't smell like vinegar, don't worry until you have a couple batches under the belt, and are able to correlate smells to finished product. Remember that fermenting beer is very raw.
4. As much as you try, you will still have sediment in the primary. That is why everyone uses a secondary. One of the goals of primary and secondary is to let the particulate settle out.
5. The krausen will look like it has a ton of stuff in it. Remember that you added all that hops and yeast and malt.

RDWHAHB

Thanks,

I didn't think I had too much to worry about, but I just wanted to make sure.

I keep hearing about vigorous fermentation. I'm getting a bubble in the airlock once every 2 second or so, but it's barely audible. The thing is perfectly quite, but I know it's fermenting.

Although I'm by no means an expert, having only done 3 brews of my own and a few others at a friend's house, I can tell you the same mantra that gets repeated here almost every day:

Relax Dont Worry Have A Home Brew (or in your case a store bought until this batch is done)

You've described what most of us feel with our first batch. You're doing the right thing though, and that is learning the various tastes it will go through with each step. If you're moving to a secondary, get a taste. When you bottle, get a taste. Heck, let it sit in the bottle for a week and taste one, then another at two, and another at three. You'll definitly be rewarded with a new understanding of how these flavors develop and mature with age.

Jason

don't worry about sound- if you have krausen, and there is positve pressure in the fermenter that is creating airlock activity, then you are "making beer". watch that you have steady activity that slowly tapers down.

Do you plan on using a secondary?

Yeah, I'm using a glass car-boy as the secondary so I'm not worried about the sediment. I was just wondering if there was too much in there if it could affect the fermenting.

In a month from now your going to be laughing about this thread and telling someone else that in a month from then they will be laughing about the thread that you posted now.

Ok... I admit it... I am really buzzed out now.

Sounds like your making beer! Relax and take another swig of your beer.

And don't fret about how it tastes until after your bottles have conditioned...about a month from now.

Activity in my airlock stopped sometime last night. When I got up there was nothing going on.

I gave it a couple good shakes and hits.

I'm getting a bubble in under every second.

Well, that was quick. After almost three days in primary and some pretty good fermentation during that time I have no activity in my airlock. None what-so-ever.

I took a peak inside and just about all the the krausen has sank from the top. Just a thin layer left on top.

That just seems really quick to me, should I worry about it? I'm definately not going to secondary for at least a few more days, but if there is no fermentation left and the krausen has drifted to the bottom what would it hurt?

No worries Bill,

Same thing happened to me. My latest batch was fermenting vigorously within 12 hours and went hot and steady for 3 days. I transferred it to a secondary when it began to slow, and by that time, there was very little happening.

The thing to know is - don't worry. It's highly unlikely anything bad has happened to your beer yet. It's actually quite difficult to contaminate your first batch, as your equipment is new and hasn't had a chance to pick up beer-loving bacteria yet. Sounds to me like you're having a perfectly normal batch.

One recommendation: I wouldn't shake it up too much. Beer doesn't like getting all shook up in the carboy. It won't hurt anything, but it's best to let nature take it's course.

In a month you're going to have some delicious tasting brew!

Don't worry, have a good brew (not LaCrosse, not Old Style, and not Michelob Golden like I drank tonight). I'm pretty sure everyone is the same way with their first batch. I'm on my 4th and going to order ingredients for my 5th. I personally don't like opening my fermentor at all until I rack to secondary, no matter what it smells like or is doing. I had a Hefeweizen that was pyscho and threatened blow-up but I just kept the airlock free of trub and left everything as it wanted to be. Every time you open the fermentor and stick a sampling device in there you run the risk of putting some undesirable microrganism in there.

I thought for sure my recently brewed Kolsch ale was infected even when I pitched the yeast from a 2 L starter right after boiling. The starter tasted weird to my tastes, but then I realized there were no hops in the starter. When I racked it to secondary yesterday it was really good even without carbonation. Which leads me to saying that your beer will taste a little bit watery if it isn't carbonated, which I've noted with every brew so far.

Finally, you are your own worst critic in this endeavor. When this batch gets done bottle conditioning, take it to a few friends who won't turn up their nose at a good beer (as opposed to thinking MegaBrew Light is excellent) and I think you'll be surprised just how good they think it is. I gave some friends some cider I brewed as my first fermentation because it was easy and needed less equipment than beer and even though I think it has its flaws they thought it was good.

Hi Bill,

I'm almost as new to this as you. I just brewed my first batch a month ago and had a million questions, worries and concerns. My kitchen was a mess and I kept rethinking my process and what I may have done wrong. Even after bottling and tasting the beer after 10 days, then 14 days then 15 and thinking it tasted good but just a little off. Then I had one at 17 days and it suddenly tasted like I wanted a second! Today will be 3 weeks and I can't wait to get home and pop one open.

In the meantime I brewed my second batch a few days ago. My first batch was a simple all extract brew that boiled for 15- 20 minutes. This second was a partial grain kit that was a little more complexed with the addition of grains and hops as well as boiling for an hour but it was pretty easy (easier than the first actually). After all my confusion and worries the first time, I have to say that the second batch went smooth and it was actually fairly simple. Less worries than the first and no mess. Besides the fact that while I was brewing I was able to "Relax and have a Home Brew!" My own!

Take it from a fellow Noob, it's like baking a cake, simple.

Good luck and don't worry about it. Just leave it be and don't disturb it. Let nature (science) take it's course. Trial run bro!

Tommy

Yeah, I'm resting a lot easier now.

This board is great.

Well, it seems that fermentation has started again oddly enough. Yes, it's been in a consistent temp so far, about 68-70 degrees.

Fourth day in the primary, 16 second intervals between bubbles, and it's definately starting to smell like beer, good beer! :rockin:

Sounds like you're on your way to enjoying some nice beer. All that worry over nothing! ;-)

Just got done racking my brew to secondary. Everything went quick and easy, no trouble to speak of.

The color is rich, the smell is great, oh yeah and the taste is............excellent! It actually taste like a good pale ale, I was surprised at how well it tasted.

Since my hydro broke I have no idea of the ABV, but it tasted fairly potent but a little on the light side. I don't mind at all though because from what I've tasted I think this is going to be a very smooth, even balanced, easy to drink beer that shouldn't last too long!

I'll make a stronger brew next time, which is looking like a London Porter clone.

As I suspected there was quite a bit of trub in there, very well settled on the bottom. Probobly about 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch. I'll make sure to do a better job keeping it out next time.

I can't wait to pop on of these guys open. Home brewing rocks!

Go Bill
Go Bill
Go Go Bill

Skol!

Ok, so I didn't wait a FULL two weeks in the secondary to bottle. It was a boring day, too hot to go anywhere, and my bottles arrived in the mail. (as well as the ingedients for my second batch)

I hadn't had any activity in the airlock for over a week and everything looked settled so I went for it.

Everything went off without a hitch. I certainly wasn't in any rush.

The beer tastes great and I think it's going to be a little stronger than I thought it would be when I racked to secondary.

My only disapointment is a minor one. I didn't get every single piece of trub out of the brew and a couple of very small pieces found their way into some of the bottles.

I didn't do a great job of keeping it out of the primary, there was roughly 1/4-1/2 inch of it left when I racked to secondary. I guess since I started out with so much of it transfering it to secondary and then the bottling bucket just wasn't quite enough to get it all out.

The problem I found with transfering the beer from container to container was when I got to the bottom, near the trub. I wanted to get as much of that beer as I could, but couldn't do so without sucking up some trub with the auto siphon.

What do you guys do to get around that?

Also, the spigot on my bottling bucket isn't placed far enough down to get all the beer out. It was quite a balancing act to tilt the bucket with one hand and fill up the last few bottles with the other. Just slightly annoying.

1. You're always going to have some trub at the bottom of the Secondary. That's what it's for, to allow more stuff to settle out of suspension.

2. Don't be greedy. Like Dante said in Clerks, "Sometimes you gotta let those hard to reach chips go." Don't try to get every last ounce or you'll wind up with more sediment in the bottles. That being said, don't worry. It will settle back out inside the bottles. If you pour correctly, you can keep from getting it in your glass.

3. All bottling buckets are that way unfortunately. What I do is put a dish towel under mine. That way when you tilt it, it doesn't slide around on the counter.

Last, but certainly not least...

CONGRATULATIONS!!! YOU MADE YOUR FIRST BEER!!!

Welcome to the obsession.

What is cool about having 1/4 -1/2 " of trub is that you can save that and use it for yeast in your next batch. Then again and again and again. Some breweries in the world use the same strain of yeast, with few modifications to keep it healthy, for years. Budvar is one that I know of. No worries of little trub entering the bottles it will all settle out again. And no big deal if you drink it down, its all natural vitamins - good for you too and keeps the hangovers away!

Congrats - let us know how it turns out.

- WW

Trub in your primary is certainly nothing to worry about. I believe some of the materials that are in wort that form trub (protiens, starches) actually provide some nutrients for the yeast, so some trub is nothing to worry about (unless someone blew some smoke up my ass at some point). And like others have said, by going into a secondary, then into a bottling bucket, then into bottles, what little sediment you'll end up with in bottles will be easy to not get into your glass when you pour.

Let us know how it tastes after a few weeks!

Now the hardest part. Resisting popping one open until it's time.

If I want to bottle 5 gallons of beer, when I add water to the wort to bring it to 5 gallons in my primary bucket, I actually bring it up to about 5.25 - 5.5 gallons, that way I dont have to be greedy with my wort. I can leave some behind knowing that I'll have atleast 5 gallons of beer in my stomach. (Not all in one sitting of course =)

I'm sure this affects the flavor in some way (watering it down slightly), but I'm not at the point in my homebrewing journey to reproduce consistent brews. I'm still just interested in learning the process and improving on my mistakes. My first batch was a Red Ale that turned out great and only got better with time. I'm going to be bottling a stout tonight.

My big mistake I learned from this batch is waiting so long to start my next batch so I didnt have any gaps in my homebrews

nobes341 said:

........If I want to bottle 5 gallons of beer, when I add water to the wort to bring it to 5 gallons in my primary bucket, I actually bring it up to about 5.25 - 5.5 gallons, that way I dont have to be greedy with my wort. I can leave some behind knowing that I'll have atleast 5 gallons of beer in my stomach. (Not all in one sitting of course =) ............. I'm sure this affects the flavor in some way (watering it down slightly)

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Good call, I do the same thing. Also when I come up with a recipe, I make the recipe for 5.25 gallons instead of 5.0 (I'm sure some make recipes for 5.5 gallons for the same reason), that way the beer will have the proper gravity/ABV and don't have to worry about it being a little thin/watered down.

I just cracked open my first home brew. It's been in the bottle for only a week now but it is quite carbonated. It has a decent little head on it already.

It tastes great!!! I could just keep drinking this stuff if I let myself. I don't know what the ABV is but it's a lot stronger than I thought it would be and gave me a nice little buzz.

Real smooth and easy to drink beer that taste kinda like a Harp, but better. :rockin:

Of course it's better, you made it!

Congratulations on your first creation. I wish you many more happy batches in the future!

awesome job man. Home brewing is probably the best thing I have done in my free time in years.

It gets easier as you go, and it keeps tasting great.