Hegh
Well-Known Member
On Sunday I'll be brewing my first batch, a Scotch ale. Definitely looking forward to it. Picked up everything from the LHBS yesterday, looked at the directions, and decided to ignore them; they were obviously written for someone who grabbed the stuff on a whim and has no idea how anything works (no mention of sanitizing anywhere, ...).
But anyway, I had a couple questions to make sure I don't make a stupid mistake:
1) I only have an old 3-ish gallon stock pot very much like this one and a plastic stirring spoon. I'm planning to give the pot a good soaking with oxyclean first, but is the choice of materials going to be a problem? Should I go get a real stainless steel pot? Will the plastic on the spoon matter? I'll leave it in the boiling wort for a good 5 minutes to make sure it's sterile, just in case I need to use it for something else (heat can get places that sanitizer can't).
2) I'm going with a 6g glass carboy because I want to be able to see what's happening and take pictures, and I don't want to keep pulling the top off of a bucket. Anything I might need to know when using one of these? Other than to not pour hot liquid into it/drop it, that is...
3) I didn't get a chance to look at the yeast packet very closely... is it going to tell me what temperature range is best, or should I just assume 65*? That's the temp of the basement room I'm going to be fermenting in, so I'm hoping I don't need to figure out any special arrangements.
4) I only have the one carboy at the moment (although you can bet I'll be getting another at some point, if this goes well), so I'm basically stuck doing a long primary (guessing 10-14 days) and no secondary. Should I try to do a cold crash? I have a back porch that I could probably use in combination with a blanket to keep out sunlight and keep the beer from freezing at night (although so far I haven't seen many cold nights here), but then again it's a dark beer, so clarity isn't going to be much of an issue. Can you even do a cold crash in the primary? Or does it need to be in the secondary?
5) It came with specialty grains, which I was hoping for and am looking forward to using, but I just wanted to be absolutely sure of this: 3qt of water per pound for steeping at 150* to 160* for about 30-45 minutes, then sparge with some (how much?) 170* water. Should I use just 2-3 quarts, or should I sparge with enough water to fill the brewpot for the boil (probably about 6qt in that case)?
6) With liquid extract, should I try to warm up the container before pouring it into the pot? Should I wait until the pot is boiling before adding it (with the heat off to prevent scorching), or should I add it as soon as I take out the specialty grains and start heating towards a boil?
Wow, I guess I had more questions that I expected...
But anyway, I had a couple questions to make sure I don't make a stupid mistake:
1) I only have an old 3-ish gallon stock pot very much like this one and a plastic stirring spoon. I'm planning to give the pot a good soaking with oxyclean first, but is the choice of materials going to be a problem? Should I go get a real stainless steel pot? Will the plastic on the spoon matter? I'll leave it in the boiling wort for a good 5 minutes to make sure it's sterile, just in case I need to use it for something else (heat can get places that sanitizer can't).
2) I'm going with a 6g glass carboy because I want to be able to see what's happening and take pictures, and I don't want to keep pulling the top off of a bucket. Anything I might need to know when using one of these? Other than to not pour hot liquid into it/drop it, that is...
3) I didn't get a chance to look at the yeast packet very closely... is it going to tell me what temperature range is best, or should I just assume 65*? That's the temp of the basement room I'm going to be fermenting in, so I'm hoping I don't need to figure out any special arrangements.
4) I only have the one carboy at the moment (although you can bet I'll be getting another at some point, if this goes well), so I'm basically stuck doing a long primary (guessing 10-14 days) and no secondary. Should I try to do a cold crash? I have a back porch that I could probably use in combination with a blanket to keep out sunlight and keep the beer from freezing at night (although so far I haven't seen many cold nights here), but then again it's a dark beer, so clarity isn't going to be much of an issue. Can you even do a cold crash in the primary? Or does it need to be in the secondary?
5) It came with specialty grains, which I was hoping for and am looking forward to using, but I just wanted to be absolutely sure of this: 3qt of water per pound for steeping at 150* to 160* for about 30-45 minutes, then sparge with some (how much?) 170* water. Should I use just 2-3 quarts, or should I sparge with enough water to fill the brewpot for the boil (probably about 6qt in that case)?
6) With liquid extract, should I try to warm up the container before pouring it into the pot? Should I wait until the pot is boiling before adding it (with the heat off to prevent scorching), or should I add it as soon as I take out the specialty grains and start heating towards a boil?
Wow, I guess I had more questions that I expected...