First Brew Questions

Hi Everyone. For the most part I have looked around and found answers to most of my questions, thanks to many of you here. I'm hoping to do my first brew today or tomorrow, an Irish Redhttp://www.midwestsupplies.com/irish-red-ale.html
Here are my questions:
1. should I use the yeast that came with the kit or go to my LHBS and get yeast, if so what should I get?
2. Ill be "cooking" outside, then cool the wort outside and then dump into the fermenter pitch yeast, cover and bring inside, is there anything wrong with this approach?
3. This is what I've been having the most trouble with. I only have the option of putting the fermenter in my clothes closet. The temp stays within a couple degrees of 60, for the most part it is pretty steadily at 60 though. Is this temp ok? And, do I need to worry about the smell, I have to wear dress shirts and ties everyday and that's what is in the closet?
4. If the closet temp is ok is there anything else to worry about? I will try to drape a towel or curtain to block any light but exposure should he very limited to only when I get clothes out in the morning or at night, the lights comes from a lamp across the room?
5. When its time to bottle I am planning to put two case boxes in a tote, on top of each other and put the lid on. In case of the bottles exploding this will contain it.

Thanks in advance, can't wait to get my first brew going!!

1) Use the yeast that came with the kit it will be fine.
2) Just make sure to get the wort cooled to around 65 before you pitch.
3) That temp is just where it needs to be your lucky.
4) Search for a blow off tube. If the airlock gets clogged the pressure will build in the bucket till the lid blows and a lot of sticky goo will be all over your clothes.
5) Yes but if you bottle the right way you should not have to worry about it.

Dude, your clothes are gonna smell if you ferment in there. I just pitched the yeast to my first batch yesterday and it's already giving off this "off" smell.

bolus14 said:

Here are my questions:
1. should I use the yeast that came with the kit or go to my LHBS and get yeast, if so what should I get?

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It depends on the kit. Some kits, especially ones from LHBS, have been sitting around a while. I'd probably trust some of the bigger online stores to have viable yeast. Most yeast packets will have "born on" dates on them, and most ales will require 2 packets for a typical 5 gallon batch (more if it's a high gravity beer). Yeast is cheap, so if you're worried about it, go to your LHBS and pick up some fresh Fermentis packets or White Labs or Wyeast liquid yeast.

2. Ill be "cooking" outside, then cool the wort outside and then dump into the fermenter pitch yeast, cover and bring inside, is there anything wrong with this approach?

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Nope. In fact, it's probably better in case you have an accident or an overboil. It's no fun trying to clean malted wort off of your stove eyes inside.

3. This is what I've been having the most trouble with. I only have the option of putting the fermenter in my clothes closet. The temp stays within a couple degrees of 60, for the most part it is pretty steadily at 60 though. Is this temp ok? And, do I need to worry about the smell, I have to wear dress shirts and ties everyday and that's what is in the closet?

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The closet approach is fine, except that the yeast will be expelling a lot of CO2 while the beer ferments. The whole room is going to smell like a brewery, and if your work clothes are in there, they will, too. Relocate your clothes.

4. If the closet temp is ok is there anything else to worry about? I will try to drape a towel or curtain to block any light but exposure should he very limited to only when I get clothes out in the morning or at night, the lights comes from a lamp across the room?

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No worries. Instead of a blowoff tube, i'd suggest you pick up some fermcap from your LHBS. It "should" be in the refrigerated section (don't buy it if it isn't, it must be stored cold). It's an anti-foaming agent that will prevent blowoff issues in your fermenting batches. Add 2 drops per gallon to your fermenter right after you pitch the yeast and gently mix it in. Odorless, flavorless, non-toxic and it settles out after about a week or so. If you use it, you won't need a blowoff tube, just an airlock.

5. When its time to bottle I am planning to put two case boxes in a tote, on top of each other and put the lid on. In case of the bottles exploding this will contain it.

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Sounds fine. Bottle bombs usually result from the brewer being in a hurry and bottling their beers too soon before the primary fermentation has finished. The residual malt sugars combined with the priming sugars can overcarbonate the beer and they'll start to pop. An infection from an unwanted bacteria strain can also cause bottle bombs but this is usually rare if you're rigorous about sanitization.

Thanks for the quick responses. Sounds like the clothes and fermenting isn't going to be a good combo. I will most likely look at transporting after closing up the fermenter. Best place would be to my in-laws about 5 miles away and put it in their basement, temp is still about 60 but ill have to get some readings to confirm that.

I will also look at fermcap, sounds ideal. Surpised this is the first I've seen it mentioned.

As for the bottles in tote idea, more of a precautionary step. Easier to dump a tote than scrub beer out of a closet and hope to get it out of clothes.

Just wanted to throw an update out there, I know I've gotten a lot from reading others posts about their first attempts.

Ended up boiling in the garage, worked out great.
Put a 20 gal tote in snow and lined it with about 30 frozen water bottles and pored water and ice cubes in it with about 30 min left to boil. Got my temp down to 67 in about 15 minutes.
Didn't have a tube to take an OG reading, have since picked one up though.
Used Wyeast 1084 instead of the yeast that came with the kit, I'll keep that for something else down the road.
Ended up pitching yeast and then put the bucket into a warm vehicle. Drove to my in-laws and put in their basement. Ambient basement temp was about 68 so I put it on the floor, figured it would be 2 -3 degrees cooler there.
Checked it about 16 hours later and no bubbling in the air lock.
Wife checked it at about 48 hours into, it and saw nothing but she only watched it for about a minute.
I checked at about 77 hours and saw no bubbling from the airlock.

So, wondering if the fermentation ever took off I got my nose by the lid and pressed down gently, sure enough you could smell beer, with some alcohol to it. Figured I was in good shape and left it. I didn't want to risk infection.

Planning to open it up and transfer to second fermenter this Sunday, that'll be 8 days in the primary. Planning to keep it in the secondary for 2 weeks or so and then bottle.

Once moved to the secondary I'm going to start a Honey Ale, I figure that'll be good for early spring drinking

8 days seems a little short for the primary. Is that what the recipe you're working from says to do?

No bubbling after 16 hours is a little concerning. How long did you watch it? My airlock is usually flowing hard in the 24 - 48 hour window. Are you sure the basement floor is in the 60's?

The kit doesn't say when to transfer to the secondary, so I'm going by the 1-2-3 rule.

Also I agree that not seeing any bubbling is a little concerning. I watched it for about 10 min at the 77 hour mark. I just may have missed the period that the airlock was showing a lot of activity. Since it's not sitting at my house it's a little more difficult for me to check on.

I may end up transferring today. I will get a hydrometer reading then. That should tell me for sure if the fermentation took place. If not should I dump this batch?

bolus14 said:

...
Ended up pitching yeast and then put the bucket into a warm vehicle. Drove to my in-laws and put in their basement.
...
I checked at about 77 hours and saw no bubbling from the airlock.
...
So, wondering if the fermentation ever took off I got my nose by the lid and pressed down gently, sure enough you could smell beer, with some alcohol to it....

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I've only brewed 5 batches of beer in my life, and 3 of those were 10 years ago so take what I write with the proverbial grain of salt, but it sounds to me like you didn't have the lid on the bucket pressed down all the way so that the rubber o-ring formed a good seal.

I just started brewing again recently (hence signing up here) but already I decided that I much prefer being able to see what is going on in the primary fermenter without having to pop open a lid so I bought a 6 gal. "better bottle" (made of PET plastic). Easy to see if your yeasty beasties are doing anything when you ferment in a clear bottle.

Makes sense. I will plan to take the reading and only rack if at FG.

I made sure the lid was on tight after transporting. Pushed down pretty hard. I also checked this at the 77 hour point and lid was as tight as could be. Believe I was at a point where I thought I might have had it a little lose, but now Im mostly convinced that fermentation took place and I just missed the airlock bubble show

I will definitely update later today or tomorrow after getting a reading.

Thanks for all the input.

The kit doesn't say when to transfer to the secondary, so I'm going by the 1-2-3 rule.

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That 1-2-3 rule is outdated from back when it was thought that the yeast would autolyze and give off flavors. With the yeast available now you could leave the beer in the fermenter for a year without problems and people posting on this board have done just that. Instead of racking it off to secondary in 1 week and chance getting a stuck fermentation, give it at least 2 weeks before you transfer as all fermentation should be done before racking to secondary, or do like many of us and just leave it in the primary fermenter for 3 weeks so the yeast have plenty of time to clean up the byproducts and then rack it to the bottling bucket and bottle it up.

I made sure the lid was on tight after transporting. Pushed down pretty hard. I also checked this at the 77 hour point and lid was as tight as could be. Believe I was at a point where I thought I might have had it a little lose, but now Im mostly convinced that fermentation took place and I just missed the airlock bubble show

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I have one bucket fermenter that the lid goes on so tight I have trouble getting it back off and you would think that that would be the best seal but most of the time the airlock doesn't bubble at all with that bucket. Bubbling isn't a sure sign of fermentation and it won't hurt to open the bucket to check for the sure signs, the krausen or krausen ring left on the bucket when the krausen falls or the hydrometer reading that will show for sure if your beer fermented.

Just put my brew in the fermenter last night (Brewers Best Ale Pail) and I also yet to see signs of activity in the airlock. Is it bad if the airlock is filled up to high with water? I hope it is fermenting away and I just dont see signs. I dont think I aerated all that well. The yeast also kinda clumped together when I put it in. Is that bad?

Relax. Sometimes it takes longer for the yeast to get started. If you used dry yeast it isn't real critical that you aerate so well and I wouldn't worry about the yeast clumping either. The yeast will find the sugars to eat and will disperse just fine.

So, hydro reading at the 8 day mark is at 1.014, going by the kit FG should be 1.012, so I think I'm about at the right point.

Tasted from the Thief and IMO its on track. Honestly I picked up more caramel malt taste in this than I have in any other Irish Red, which is fine by me. The mouhfeel seemed a little thin in so hopefully that comes around.

Going with others advise and going to let it sit in the primary for two more weeks, then bottle and wait 2 - 3 weeks after that.

Instead of 1-2-3 try 2-2-3 or 4-3 if you want to skip a secondary. Your call on that, I do both ways. The extra week just helps your beer.

I have to compliment your research prior to brewing. Your approach seemed well thought out.

When I use dry yeast, I don't expect to see airlock activity till the third day. It will then bubble out of the airlock for 4-5 days steady. As long as you pitched your yeast around 70-80 degrees, you should be fine.

Okay another update.

Transferred to bottles today. FG measured at 1.011 and going by the kits estimated 1.012 I was happy with this. I messed up when tilting the primary while racking to the bottling bucket, probably lost about 3 beers by almost dropping it in the tilt process. Could've waited for the sediment to settle but since this was very clear I didn't want to play around and end up picking up a bunch of the trub.

I ended up with 48 bottles. I am planning to give one a shot in a couple weeks, then another the following, and if all is good at that point I will move to the fridge.

Was glad that I found revvys bottling tips yesterday and would recommend reading through his approach for all that are doing this their first time.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/

Next time you transfer to the bottling bucket, use a small block of scrap wood (2x4 1x2) to rest the bucket on. I also use the lid wrench which is about an inch and a quarter.

Good trick didn't give it a thought to do something like that.

I have gone through over half of my bottles now and gave some to a few people. All in all I'm saying good for a first brew. The up front taste is good, but seems a little lacking in the back of the mouth.

I also only used 3.3oz of priming sugar, trying to keep the carbonation to style. Some bottles turned out good but some could've used a little more. Seems like the sugar didn't mix consistently. I think I will do what others do and give just a gentle stir a couple times while racking to the bottling bucket.

When I do the gentle stir thing,I do so in an upward motion. Thought maybe that'd help mix things evenly through the entire column of liquid.