First ever batch is in the bottle - lessons learned

Yesterday, I bottled the first batch of homebrew I've ever made.

What I've learned, in no particular order, so far (please feel free to chip in your own thoughts):

1. I'm not going to mess with boiling the water/wort on an electric stove again. I'll use a propane burner. To get the water to a rolling boil and to keep it there, I had to leave the top on the wort kettle.

2. I think I should have given the yeast a little more time to rehydrate, 20 minutes instead of 10.

3. I think I racked to the secondary too soon ( about 5 days).

4. I think I left it in the secondary too long, 12 days.

Sunday evening I'm going to crack open my first bottle and see how it's doing,
I hope that bottle aging makes a big difference, based on the taste when I bottled it.

Oh well, on to the next batch.

EBS

EBSDallas said:

Yesterday, I bottled the first batch of homebrew I've ever made.

What I've learned, in no particular order, so far (please feel free to chip in your own thoughts):

1. I'm not going to mess with boiling the water/wort on an electric stove again. I'll use a propane burner. To get the water to a rolling boil and to keep it there, I had to leave the top on the wort kettle.

2. I think I should have given the yeast a little more time to rehydrate, 20 minutes instead of 10.

3. I think I racked to the secondary too soon ( about 5 days).

4. I think I left it in the secondary too long, 12 days.

Sunday evening I'm going to crack open my first bottle and see how it's doing,
I hope that bottle aging makes a big difference, based on the taste when I bottled it.

Oh well, on to the next batch.

EBS

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Hmm I think that's perfectly fine what you did.

1. I think propane burners are better but electric stoves would work just as well i'm pretty sure.

2. 10 minutes of rehydrating the yeast is fine. I'm pretty sure 5 minutes is the bare minimum. Don't take my word for it though. Infact rehydrating the yeast isn't even a necessity. Just gives it a head start I guess.

3. 5 days seems normal. As long as most of the primary fermentation is complete or slowing down to a halt. 5 days is about average so I'm sure most of the fermentaion would have been done anyway. Did you take a hydrometer reading?

4. There's nothing wrong with 12 days of secondary fermentation. The norm for most people is about 14 days.

I hope that helped. I think you've got nothing to worry about. I hope your beer turns out well

4. I think I left it in the secondary too long, 12 days.

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Hell When my little brother died back in January I had beer in a secondary for over a month and it turned out great.

EBSDallas said:

1. I'm not going to mess with boiling the water/wort on an electric stove again. I'll use a propane burner. To get the water to a rolling boil and to keep it there, I had to leave the top on the wort kettle.

2. I think I should have given the yeast a little more time to rehydrate, 20 minutes instead of 10.

3. I think I racked to the secondary too soon ( about 5 days).

4. I think I left it in the secondary too long, 12 days.


EBS

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1. Good call. Go to Home Depot, Lowe's, whoever you got and get yo'self a turkey fryer. 55 to 70 thousand BTU's depending on model. Try to find one with a stainless kettle, even though they are twice the money. Mine goes from ambient temp. to a boil in 1/2 hour with six gallons of water in it, and that's with shutting off the flame to mix in the extract at 150 degrees.

2. Give liquid yeast a try. No rehydrating, and more variety.

3. Nope.

4. Nope. I have left batches in secondary for over a month, and average about 3 weeks. I've found the longer time in secondary allows for a clearer beer.

The last part you definately got right (Oh well, on to the next batch.)

1) I use my electric stove. Not yet to the point of full boils yet. But moving toward that in the next few months.

2) I second liquid yeast

3) I htink you were fine

4) My current brew has been in the secondary going on 5 weeks now.

Just remeber RElax and have a home brew!!!

-To get the water to a rolling boil and to keep it there, I had to leave the top on the wort kettle.

Comment from I-aint-no-expert-guy here, but I too use the electric burner and I'm pretty sure I read leaving the lid on can be a bad thing.

Anyone second this?

As far as point 3, and 4, I second that. I usually go 7 and 14 days, but as long as your confident fermentation is complete...

1) Although I've had great success with doing full boils on my electric stove, I'm begining to think that the stove I have is more the exception. Propane is probably the easiest way to get a boil going. Go for it.

2) Look into making a starter for you yeast. Not such a big deal as far as dry yeast is concerned, but if you're looking for a way to give your yeast a head start, make a starter.

3) Had the airlock activity subsided? Five days should be fine, but usually you want to wait until signs of active fermentation have dropped off (which will vary from batch to batch)

4) Rule of thumb is two weeks in secondary. The longer the better, although certain beers will benefit more from prolonged aging then others.

edit: You are correct, Jay, in that leaving the lid on the boil isn't a good thing. There are element of the wort you want to boil off. If he didn't leave the lid on the whole time, he should okay though.

jaymack said:

-To get the water to a rolling boil and to keep it there, I had to leave the top on the wort kettle.

Comment from I-aint-no-expert-guy here, but I too use the electric burner and I'm pretty sure I read leaving the lid on can be a bad thing.

Anyone second this?

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From what I've read....

As the wort boils, it gives off a compount called dimethyl sulfide (DMS). Leaving the lid on the kettle and not allowing the steam carrying the DMS to escape causes this compound to remain in the wort (the condensation drips back into the brew).

-walker

And that is what gives you hangovers, correct?

I think fusel alcohols give you hangovers, but I don't know if there is a relationship between fusel alcohols and DMS.

-walker

Good explanation of DMS: www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html

I always confuse it with diacetyl in my head. But yes, you want your lid off while boiling.

I think youl find that it tastes much better in bottles after 1-3 weeks, I have only had a couple batches that tasted delicous right out of the secondary

Dimethyl Sulfide smells/tastes like creamed corn, something I personally abhor. The boil also drives off other compounds which can screw up the taste of your beer. If you boil with the lid on, these compounds will condense and drip back into the wort.

Geez, let me list my mistakes on my first batch which is also in bottles now.

1. Didn't boil the water which was added. (just used tap well water)

2. Didn't stir or shake to add oxygen before adding yeast.

3. I think the lid leaks because there were no bubbles in air lock.

4. Didn't take a beginning OG

5. Kids knocked off the airlock for about an hour (on day 5-6 of fermentation)

6. My siphon hose was too short and a lot ended up on my shoe when transferring to the bottling bucket.

I know that it did ferment because the final Hydrometer reading was what it was supposed to be. The beer tasted ok before I bottled it. I think I will try one tonight as it's been almost 2 weeks. I've got my fingers crossed.

Imperial Walker said:

I think fusel alcohols give you hangovers

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-Surfrider