NOOB 1st Stout, 1st attempt at beer

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Spacepuppy

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Fist attempt at beer ever, my father in-law gave me all his brewing equiptment last year and I needed some malt for some bread making projets I wanted to try so while I was picking up the malt I fugured what the hell and decided to pick up the rest of the supplies i needed to make beer. I am using Muntons Export Stout 40 pt beer kit and Briess CBW traditional dark pure malt extract non-diastatic and unopped. I followed the instructions included in the Muntons package instead of the gereric instructions given to me by the guy i got the supplies from (they were pretty much the same but one called for mixing the wort in the carboy and topping off the other said to mix the wort in a large pot and transfer to the carboy). I have a LOT of yeast activity, they have been busting there ass in that carboy, I know because the airlock/bubbler is frothing malty goodness all over the place. I was woried that I might have ruined my 1st attempt already and then I found this web site (THANK YOU in advance for everyone who spends the time to pass on knowledge without you a lot of people would pull their hair out). I have been cleaning out the bubbler first rinsing the outer area and then sanatizing it with the sanatizing solution given to my by the brewers supply store. 20 hours after mixing up the beer batch the yeast activity in the carboy has leveled off significantly and is no longer frothing but rather bubbling at a very constant and quick pace, I am hoping that I did a good job cleaning the srea before and after cleaning the bubbler out but only time will tell i guess.

Skull
:mug:
Jim
 
It is close to that foolproof. It doesn't seem like you did anything that should put you are serious risk of infection. You've got a strong fermentation and it doesn't sound like you've exposed the beer to much outside air aside from a little bubble trouble. Get a blowoff hose for next time, otherwise sounds like everything went well.
 
I'm brewing my first beer too, which is a stout. I got the same reaction you did, but took a slightly different approach. The airlock was going ape ****, and it kept getting blown out of the fermenter. So I sanitized some clear tubing, and connected it to the nipple on the airlock, then ran the other end into a jug of water. It worked great, and eliminated the nasty foam over.

Now I have to figure out how to transfer to my carboy and find a dark place to put it. :confused:
 
I did my first stout a week ago. Wish I had a blow off tube. Had to swap out the airlock four times in the middle of the night. Luckily I had an extra one so I could swap with a clean airlock with no delay. Will be better prepared with blow tube next time.

I thought the top was gonna blow off my plastic fermenter. It swelled about as much as it could I think, without popping. Making all kinds of hissing noises. Airlock was just about laying horizontal when I first attended to it. I was more worried about the mess I would have to clean up than the beer at the time (wife would kill me as I keep the buckets in the kitchen).

7 days later it is very calm, slight airlock activity and still has a swollen top. Although more airlock activity than any other beer I've made a week later. Looking forward to hydrometer reading and looking inside. Very curious to what it looks like in there.

Hope your stout turns out good for you.
 
The RIS I just brewed is huge, 1.111OG, and i pitched it on a full yeast cake from a red ale, areated the heck out of it, and put a table spoon of nutrient into the boil. Yet, no krausen in the blow off hose, just a pretty average to strong fermentation.

You never can tell what it'll do. Occasional stories about someone brewing a low OG beer and managing to blow the lid off the fermenter.
 
I'm brewing my first beer too, which is a stout. I got the same reaction you did, but took a slightly different approach. The airlock was going ape ****, and it kept getting blown out of the fermenter. So I sanitized some clear tubing, and connected it to the nipple on the airlock, then ran the other end into a jug of water. It worked great, and eliminated the nasty foam over.

Now I have to figure out how to transfer to my carboy and find a dark place to put it. :confused:

Can you explain in just a few words why you need to transfer it to your carboy? Many of us are just using an extended time in the primary and no secondary at all.
 
A little more stumbling around on here and I see that a lot of people are leaving it in the primary like you said. I transferred it last night and took the tshirt advice. Even after straining the wort originally, there was a large amount of trub in the bottom of the primary. If for nothing else, it seems the transfer will help for clarity. Thoughts?
 
Clarity will improve with time, whether you rack it into secondary or not. The trub and yeast will fall out of suspension and compact on the bottom. The whole idea of needing to get the beer off the yeast as quickly as possible has been debunked many times here. Unless you are washing your yeast and need to add ingredients to your secondary, there is no reason to secondary your beer. Wait until the FG is stable, you cannot taste off flavors in the beer (green apple, butter, etc.), and it has reached your acceptable level of clarity before racking your primary fermentation to a bottling bucket and bottle it. Usually 3-4 weeks.
 
poped open the top on my 1st one today and it was pretty darn good, maybe a few more days until its fully carbed up but I am pleased.
 
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