Brewed my first solo batch...

Okay, so back in 2010 I brewed an RIS with a friend at his house using extract. It turned out okay, but could've probably done well with some aging.

Flashforward to 2013, and I finally was able to pull the trigger on buying my own homebrew setup. I bought the Deluxe Bottling kit #4 from Morebeer, and brewed the Blonde Ale recipe kit that came with it just to break in my gear. After the brew I ran the wort chiller for about 30 minutes but it seemed that it didn't want to chill any lower, so I added it to my 6.5 gallon carboy and put the cap and airlock on (sorry, no solid stopper). Put the carboy in the Cool Brew bag along with three frozen one quart bottles of water. This morning I pitched the yeast, and crossed my finger. Changed out the ice bottle this evening to help keep the temps under 68.

Question is, is the Blonde Ale suppose to be a bit dark golden? In the representative picture it looks more pale colored. I suppose the color doesn't really matter, as long as the beer is good. lol

This will be my only extract batch I make. I also bought the all-grain Mild Brown ale and Best Bitter recipe kits that I plan to brew via BIAB. Will my 8 gallon pot be large enough to handle a full batch brew?

Thanks for listening and any advice. Feels good to finally be brewing after having read a few books. lol

It sounds like you are on your way! Your beer will look a lot lighter in a glass than it will in the carboy. Remember you are looking at 12 inches of beer in the carboy and only a couple in a glass. Extract also tends to darken more that you will find with all grain.

I think your 8 gallon post should be good. If you start a full boil with almost 7 gallons as I do you will have to be watchful at the start. After a some boils off you will be OK.

It seems you already have control over what trips up new brewers, myself included, which is controlling fermentation temperatures. Mine turned out good.

The other advise that I would give is to start every fermentation with a blow off tube installed. You never really know how vigorously the fermentation will be and a blow off tube might save you from washing krausen off the ceiling.

=) Thanks for the feedback, kh. I was thinking of using a blowoff, but I need to hit up Home Depot for some vinyl tubing. I will definitely have it on hand for the new brew session, which will probably be the Mild Brown.

TxBeerGuy said:

This will be my only extract batch I make. I also bought the all-grain Mild Brown ale and Best Bitter recipe kits that I plan to brew via BIAB. Will my 8 gallon pot be large enough to handle a full batch brew?

Thanks for listening and any advice. Feels good to finally be brewing after having read a few books. lol

Click to expand...

Don't be too sure about this being the only extract kit you brew. Sometimes life happens and you can't get your head wrapped around an all grain but want to brew. There isn't anything wrong with doing an extract batch from time to time.

I don't know if you can make an 8 gallon pot work out for a full batch brew but I regularly do a 5 gallon BIAB in my 7 1/2 gallon pot.

Have you figured out how to get your grain milled fine enough for good efficiency with BIAB? I use a mill like this one. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000U5NZ4I/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I even hand crank my mill even though I've read what it takes to motorize it (metric bolt with head cut off, electric drill)

If you have a tub big enough for your fermenter to fit into you can make a safety airlock for now and go to Home Depot when it is convenient. Since scrubbing the ceiling is off my list of thing to do anymore, I'd much rather rinse down a tub. Wrap a piece of Saran wrap over the to of the carboy and secure it with a rubber band. Use a sharp knife to make a short slit in the center of the carboy opening. This should close up so bugs won't get into the wort but will vent the CO2 so it doesn't build up pressure and if the krausen builds up to it the krausen will leak through and spill down the side of the carboy, making a mess but the mess won't be on the ceiling.