So I boiled my first batch 8 days ago and after the debauchery that took place, I decided to really dive into this. The countless mistakes that I made will certainly land this beer in the bottom of what I hope to be a plethera of great batches. Let's not mention that when I went to give it the ice bath, I was about half way through cooling it down when I was exchanging the water/ice and I pulled the plug to drain the warm water and simutaneously turning the faucet on to recycle the water, the plug floated back to the drain and my laundry room was flooded. I noticed it when I came back down stairs with another bag of ice....Let's just say the laundry room is officially clean. As for the beer, the 3 gallons in the stockpot was filled with two gallons of water with the flooded tub, which was clean, but it was still city water and only time will tell on if it is good or bad.
Certnainly with the mistakes that were made - steeping grains at close to 170 degrees, the boil was a challenge to keep boiling, leaving it in the fermenter at around 68 degrees room temp, and the flooding disaster, there is a lot to learn.
Noticeable signs of fermentation wasn't until almost 65 hours after it was put in the fermenter and the starting gravity was a little low to the recommended 1.040 actual to 1.054 recommended. It's certainly working now though as there's a great foam on top of it. The smell isn't the greatest at this point, but I'm not giving up on it yet. I already have the ingredients for the 2nd batch and will probably boil on Sunday.
I'm sure glad I've stumbled upon this website - loads and loads of invaluable information by the people in the trenches.
Certnainly with the mistakes that were made - steeping grains at close to 170 degrees, the boil was a challenge to keep boiling, leaving it in the fermenter at around 68 degrees room temp, and the flooding disaster, there is a lot to learn.
Noticeable signs of fermentation wasn't until almost 65 hours after it was put in the fermenter and the starting gravity was a little low to the recommended 1.040 actual to 1.054 recommended. It's certainly working now though as there's a great foam on top of it. The smell isn't the greatest at this point, but I'm not giving up on it yet. I already have the ingredients for the 2nd batch and will probably boil on Sunday.
I'm sure glad I've stumbled upon this website - loads and loads of invaluable information by the people in the trenches.
