First brew underway

Hi,

I made my first post here at the beginning of May waiting patiently for my Fathers Day gift, a Homebrew kit. Meanwhile I browsed and researched.

Today I went to my LHBS and after speaking once again with the owner and his helper I decided to go easy to start with (after their recommendation) and picked up an extract kit. I purchase a 4 lb can of "Mountmellick" malt extract (Irish Ale), hopped. I also bought a can of Munsons light malt extract as well as some finishing hops (Fuggle) that he placed in a cloth bag. Here's how it went:

I sanitized my fermenting bucket, cover and airlock and a ladle. I didn't sanitize the hydrometer because I was going to use the tube it came with, removing a sample from the wort.

I boiled 1.5 gal of water in my 20 gal kettle, removed from the heat and added the extracts. I returned it to the heat and brought it back to a boil adding the hops after 5 minutes. I then continued the boil for another 10 for a total of 15 minutes at which time I removed the hop sack. I almost had a boil over and caught it just in time 2 minutes into the boil.
I placed the whole kettle in a sink of ice water and put 3 gals of cool water in my bucket. I ladled out a sample and poured it into the tube for a reading and there was my first mishap. The plastic tube melted. Next I poured some into a tall glass but it wasn't deep enough for the hydrometer to float, it sat on the bottom. I dried the kettle carefully and poured the wort into the bucket. I then placed some warm water into my bottling bucked and some sanitizer and sanitized the hydrometer. Then I floated it in my fermenter for a reading. It looked high, somewhere around 1.140- 1.150 so I checked the water level. It was a little below 5 gals due to pouring out a little into the glass so I added bottled water to bring it to 5 gals. The new reading was 1.040 OG. I added the yeast and covered the bucket.

Now for my next mishap. I covered the bucket and added the airlock. While pushing it in, the rubber grommet pushed through the hole! Luckily it didn't fall in the wort but stuck on the airlock stem. I removed the lid and carefully took the grommet off, fixed the problem and placed the lid back on. All the while I kept dipping my hands in the sanitizer I had remaining in my bottling bucket (too anal?).

Anyway the whole thing is in my basement for the last hour. I followed instructions from my LHBS guy, a beginner article in Zymurgy mag given to me by the LHBS, and "The New Complete Joy Of Homebrewing". All three were very close.

Now the wait.

My only concern now is the amount of time the wort remaind uncovered while the mishaps were happening. Also, as far as sanitizing, after everything is sanitized what happens when you touch it after touching other things like the kettle, other unsanitized things, sctratching your head, "checking the book as you go" etc?

I'm excited! The sample I tasted actually tasted like beer (somewhat). Hopefully it will turn out ok

Tommy

I have been checking the fermenter periodically. I just looked at it again at 10:45 and the airlock was bubbling. That's 6 hours and 45 minutes after racking.

Is that a good sign?

Tommy

Just under a 7 hour lag time, is a great sign. Lag time is not the most important sign however. A complete fermentation is. It sounds like you did everything fine. Oh, welcome to the club of people who have pushed out the airlock grommet.

John

I have pushed the airlock rubber thing thru and had to dig it out of the wort, and still great tasting beer.

All I can do now is wait and leave it alone. My biggest concern is the amount of time it stayed uncovered after pouring the wort into my fermenting bucket.
I'm concerned because it was a hot day and I was in the kitchen with the door to the deck open. All that separated my bucket of brew and the outside world was about four feet and a screen. After melting my hydrometer flask/tube, then dropping the hydrometer in a glass that was too short, then having to sanitize the hydrometer, the grommet mishap etc, the bucket remained uncovered for about 20-25 minutes. Beginners mistake. Time will tell.


Tommy

Sounds like you're fine, the yeast got in there and did it's job. When you go to bottle or rack to secondary taste the sample you removed for a gravity reading. It will most likely taste like the best 68 degree flat beer you've ever tasted and you'll go on and on telling everyone in your house how good it is. Now if it tastes like the most awful thing you've ever put in your mouth, or close to it then some nasties got in and did the fermenting.......but I would say chances of that is like 0.0001% or to something of that effect. Now after you bottle the real challenge will be allowing that beer to age enough.....much easier said than done.

Enjoy your beer

I'm sure you followed the kit instructions to the letter, but your boil time seems a little short. Did I read correctly that you boiled for only 15 mins? Once you get the volume of wort to a boil, letting it go is the easiest part. Most boils are for an hour and I do believe it helps the beer develop flavor. But then you used a hopped extract, which I would recommend against as you are stuck with what they give you and most of the time the beer is under hopped, IMO of course. So my first advice to give would be to move to an hour boil and added you own hops.

The second thing that caught my eye was that you said your 20 gallon pot almost boiled over a couple times? I seriously doubt that would be possible with 1.5 gallons of water and extract. Maybe 20 quart? If you truly have a 20 gallon pot, I'd be quickly moving to full wort boils.

Lastly, your beer started off with a good fermentation, so I wouldn't worry about the open bucket much. Chilled wort is like an invitation to all the nasties living in your kitchen and is like a race. The strongest will take over first, which is why you should always pitch a large volume of good nasties, er, yeast to take over the bucket before anything else does.

You have the right idea about sanitation and it's good to be overly aware of what you are touching and what contacts what in the greater scheme of things. You can never have things too clean. Err on the side of caution.

Overall, great job on the first brew. You obviously did your homework and will have a decent final product based on what type of kit you purchased. Congratulations, you're now officially hooked. Welcome to the addiction.

***Note: Here's a good exercise for the new brewer to try on the first few batches. It will make you appreciate the process of letting beer coindition fully and not drink beer before it's time.

Simply bottle your beer and let it condition for a week. Then take seven bottles and refrigerate them overnight. For the next week, remove and drink one bottle (and one bottle only!) each day. With this exercise, you'll be able to see the difference each day makes in the fridge and how much better the beer gets as time goes on. I'm not saying it will cure you of drinking green beer, but it will give you an intimate understanding of the conditioning process and possibly make you think twice about cracking open those fresh new bottle!

Hope this helps!

Spyk'd said:

I'm sure you followed the kit instructions to the letter, but your boil time seems a little short. Did I read correctly that you boiled for only 15 mins? Once you get the volume of wort to a boil, letting it go is the easiest part. Most boils are for an hour and I do believe it helps the beer develop flavor.

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According to my LHBS 15 minutes was all that was needed for this extract kit. I asked about longer boil times and he said I can if I want to but it wouldn't add much to my brew. I have a special addition of "Zymurgy Magazine" devoted to beginners and their instructions pretty much mirror his and the boil is 15 minutes.
In addition, the first chapter in Charlie Papazian's "The New Complete Joy Of Homebrewing", titled "especially for the beginner," gives a recipe that almost mirrors mine. The extract amounts are the same. He instructs, on page 20 to, "Combine and dissolve your malt extracts in 1 1/2 gallons of water and bring to a boil for 15 minutes". On page 22 he says it again with the exception that he now says 15-30. I went for 15 but that was a good rolling boil, total time simmering before being "returned" to a boil (since the plain water was just boiling before removing it from the heat to add extracts) was closer to 25.

But then you used a hopped extract, which I would recommend against as you are stuck with what they give you and most of the time the beer is under hopped, IMO of course. So my first advice to give would be to move to an hour boil and added you own hops.

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I added hops for the last 10 minutes of the boil.
I'll get a bit more detailed in my recipes as I go. This is kind of a test run.

The second thing that caught my eye was that you said your 20 gallon pot almost boiled over a couple times? I seriously doubt that would be possible with 1.5 gallons of water and extract. Maybe 20 quart? If you truly have a 20 gallon pot, I'd be quickly moving to full wort boils.

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Typo! It's 20 "quarts"


Thanks for all the helpful tips and words of encouragement. I like the idea of chilling a weeks worth of beer and tasting daily.


Tommy

Brewno said:

All I can do now is wait and leave it alone. My biggest concern is the amount of time it stayed uncovered after pouring the wort into my fermenting bucket.
I'm concerned because it was a hot day and I was in the kitchen with the door to the deck open. All that separated my bucket of brew and the outside world was about four feet and a screen. After melting my hydrometer flask/tube, then dropping the hydrometer in a glass that was too short, then having to sanitize the hydrometer, the grommet mishap etc, the bucket remained uncovered for about 20-25 minutes. Beginners mistake. Time will tell.


Tommy

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A little wild yeast won't hurt your beer. It'll introduce some interesting flavors that will make it unique to your town.

Remember that the original brewers used wild yeast. If you lived in Belgium this wouldn't even be an issue.