bdaddy
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2009
- Messages
- 81
- Reaction score
- 2
It's amazing how much better things go when you're more relaxed and not worrying about every little thing. My brew was done at 11 last night and is bubbling when I woke up (compared to last time where it took 54 hours to bubble.)
Some questions though:
1) I'm doing an extract partial boil (boil 3 gallons). I steeped my grains (around 155) and then, per Palmer, he says to take off burner, add extract, THEN bring to boil. I did this, but it takes me a very long time to actually get up to a boil on my stove (like 30+ minutes after steeping). The kit instructions said bring to boil, take off stove, then add extract. I'm just wondering which is the better approach? (bring to boil first, or after). Or does it matter?
2)Regarding steeping..Palmer says to steep for 30 minutes, but kit said 15. I'm doing a cream ale and within 15 minutes it was VERY dark (i.e. like my first Irish Red) so I only did 15. Does a longer steeping result in darker color? Better off next time following Palmer's instructions?
3)Still can't get a vigourous boil, so I didn't boil off as much as expected which lead to me having a bit over 5 gallons (since I added my boil to 2 3/4 already sitting in the fermenter). Does this affect the O.G.? What's the impact to the final beer?
4) Still struggling to bring the temp down without a chiller. Ended up pitching around 78. How long is too long to leave it sitting trying to cool? I'm sure I could bring it down to below 70, but would probably take a long time. I got it down to about 78 in around 45 minutes or so, just using a water bath and was worried to wait around much longer.
Thanks for the help. My next brew will definitely be with a burner and hopefully with a keggle (I can't seem to find any kegs for sale, though!). Also need to get a Immersion chiller, but waiting to build one until I see if I can actually get a keggle since it'll need to be larger.
Some questions though:
1) I'm doing an extract partial boil (boil 3 gallons). I steeped my grains (around 155) and then, per Palmer, he says to take off burner, add extract, THEN bring to boil. I did this, but it takes me a very long time to actually get up to a boil on my stove (like 30+ minutes after steeping). The kit instructions said bring to boil, take off stove, then add extract. I'm just wondering which is the better approach? (bring to boil first, or after). Or does it matter?
2)Regarding steeping..Palmer says to steep for 30 minutes, but kit said 15. I'm doing a cream ale and within 15 minutes it was VERY dark (i.e. like my first Irish Red) so I only did 15. Does a longer steeping result in darker color? Better off next time following Palmer's instructions?
3)Still can't get a vigourous boil, so I didn't boil off as much as expected which lead to me having a bit over 5 gallons (since I added my boil to 2 3/4 already sitting in the fermenter). Does this affect the O.G.? What's the impact to the final beer?
4) Still struggling to bring the temp down without a chiller. Ended up pitching around 78. How long is too long to leave it sitting trying to cool? I'm sure I could bring it down to below 70, but would probably take a long time. I got it down to about 78 in around 45 minutes or so, just using a water bath and was worried to wait around much longer.
Thanks for the help. My next brew will definitely be with a burner and hopefully with a keggle (I can't seem to find any kegs for sale, though!). Also need to get a Immersion chiller, but waiting to build one until I see if I can actually get a keggle since it'll need to be larger.
