1st brew tonight....Anxious

[hd4wes]

First post and brew...So, I think I'm ready. I have all my equipment, ingredients, and a small amount of knowledge. I'm pretty nervous. Not really about the boil or fermentation. More so the preparations and small details that you can't read in a book. But, I have read How to Brew, and I'm going to refer to it while I'm brewing. If there's any helpful tips or tricks about prepping I will appreciate it. I hate to be so general and long winded, but I'm going at this alone except for HBT and How to brew. I don't know one homebrewer. Maybe this should be in the into section. Anyways, Cheers

 

[deezy]

Welcome! Have no fear, You can throw about any question into the search above and find the answers along the way, this is a great community. I assume you are doing a extract batch? My advise is to just lay everything out, write down short steps on a sheet of paper and follow your steps checking off as you go along. You'll have your first batch fermenting in no time, good luck.

 

[hd4wes]

Here's what I'm thinking for a cleaning and sanitizing method. This is going to be laced with questions. I'm using oxyclean and starsan. 1. Clean all equipment in fermenting bucket. Can I reuse that cleaning solution to clean bottling bucket, kettle, and secondary? 2. Repeat procedure with everything that needs to be sanitized. Can I reuse sani solution? Do I need to rinse and dry anything? 3. Saran wrap bottling bucket and secondary for future use. Everything is brand new. That's all I can think of now. Am I missing anything?

 

[hd4wes]

Welcome! Have no fear, You can throw about any question into the search above and find the answers along the way, this is a great community. I assume you are doing a extract batch? My advise is to just lay everything out, write down short steps on a sheet of paper and follow your steps checking off as you go along. You'll have your first batch fermenting in no time, good luck.

Thanks Deezy, I've been using the search a pretty good bit. Gets dizzying at times. Yup, definitely an extract brew. Will do on the procedure list. Thanks again

 

[speter]

1. Clean all equipment in fermenting bucket. Can I reuse that cleaning solution to clean bottling bucket, kettle, and secondary? 2. Repeat procedure with everything that needs to be sanitized. Can I reuse sani solution? Do I need to rinse and dry anything? 3. Saran wrap bottling bucket and secondary for future use. Everything is brand new. That's all I can think of now. Am I missing anything?

1. I would make up new solution for the bottling. You don't need to sanitize your kettle, since boiling will do quite nicely.

2. Don't rinse StarSan. You can reuse it to a point, but I rarely keep it long.

3. Sanitize them when you are ready to use them.

4. Relax, don't worry (and have a craft beer until yours is ready)!

 

[nilo]

I just thought it would be a good idea to have a chat room at this forum, with volunteers to answers questions on-the-fly, helping homebrewers in trouble as they are actually brewing.
What about that?
I'm sure there will be always someone with good experience on-line to provide real time support

 

[dpittard]

4. Relax, don't worry (and have a craft beer until yours is ready)!

+1. Sounds like you've done enough mental prep. Most important thing is to relax, don't rush, and enjoy the hobby. Take the opportunity to taste the ingredients before you add them so you understand where different flavors are coming from.

I honestly feel like you can make this hobby as stressful as you want it.

Everything will turn out fine! Cheers!

 

[dpittard]

I just thought it would be a good idea to have a chat room at this forum, with volunteers to answers questions on-the-fly, helping homebrewers in trouble as they are actually brewing.
What about that?
I'm sure there will be always someone with good experience on-line to provide real time support

Great idea nilo! On the fly Q&A would be great!

 

[mlp2147]

Good luck and enjoy!

 

[Flomaster]

I just thought it would be a good idea to have a chat room at this forum, with volunteers to answers questions on-the-fly, helping homebrewers in trouble as they are actually brewing.
What about that?
I'm sure there will be always someone with good experience on-line to provide real time support

thats an amazing idea it would cut down on duplicate threads as well.

we should make a HBT IRC channel on the freenode


-=Jason=-

 

[PVH]

No need to be anxious, man. If your sanitation is sound and you take it one step at a time, the beer will be fine. It might not be exactly what you intended, but it will be beer and, more importantly, it will be your beer!

 

[joeunc]

be prepared to wait. Evn If you are doing it on your stove as an extract kit it will still take a while to get it all boiling. I remember that before I had my burner, the sitting and staring and waiting for the wort to show one tiny boiling bubble.

 

[daytonlawvol]

First post and brew...So, I think I'm ready. I have all my equipment, ingredients, and a small amount of knowledge. I'm pretty nervous. Not really about the boil or fermentation. More so the preparations and small details that you can't read in a book. But, I have read How to Brew, and I'm going to refer to it while I'm brewing. If there's any helpful tips or tricks about prepping I will appreciate it. I hate to be so general and long winded, but I'm going at this alone except for HBT and How to brew. I don't know one homebrewer. Maybe this should be in the into section. Anyways, Cheers

Welcome! I live in the Chattanooga area, so Im not too far from ya.

 

[BigTexun]

Here's a little tip that will help ease a lot of your nervousness. When you've made up your big batch of StarSan, get yerself a clean spray bottle and fill it up. Then, after the boil, you'll have yourself a nice little "sanitize gun" for spraying all those things that you find yourself wondering... "Did I touch that?" or "Did I forget and lay this down on an unsanitized surface?" or or or.

A spray bottled filled with starsan solution is the best worry preventer ever invented.

Relax.

 

[hd4wes]

Here's a little tip that will help ease a lot of your nervousness. When you've made up your big batch of StarSan, get yerself a clean spray bottle and fill it up. Then, after the boil, you'll have yourself a nice little "sanitize gun" for spraying all those things that you find yourself wondering... "Did I touch that?" or "Did I forget and lay this down on an unsanitized surface?" or or or.

A spray bottled filled with starsan solution is the best worry preventer ever invented.

Relax.

Oh yeah, that's good. I read that somewhere, but forgot about it till just now.

 

[hd4wes]

be prepared to wait. Evn If you are doing it on your stove as an extract kit it will still take a while to get it all boiling. I remember that before I had my burner, the sitting and staring and waiting for the wort to show one tiny boiling bubble.

I actually have a burner. Got it from Bass Pro Shop in Nashville for $40.

 

[CAS0311USMC]

dont be too nervous man. Only suggestion I have is go get yourself a large 50+ quart tote. I put my sanitizer in there. usually just a couple of gallons of water in there and sanitizer as directed and hold on to that until I am done brewing. Everything goes in there and gets a good scrub and soak down before it gets used. I use it during the entire brew. When I'm done using something it gets a quick bath and the sits in the drying rack until it gets used again. Also a small spray bottle is good to have too. fill it up with sanitizer. very helpful.

When it's time to bottle fill that tote up again and you can let your bottles soak in there while you are scrubbing them. I have never had any off flavors at all. I have used the same sanitizing water for a good 3 hours. Yes even though the water became cold

 

[eagle83]

Looks like you will be fine. Sanitize well, control ferm temp (I try to stay on the low end of the range usually ~62-64), and be patient. My mistake my first time was boil over. I didn't realize how fast it would foam up especially when hops are added, so be patient through this part. Have a few ice cubes on hand. At least until you are comfortable with your set up turn the burner off while adding anything to the kettle (at least until you have passed the initial foaming up).

I think ferm. temp is the best way to get a good beer. I doubt you have a temp control for a ferm fridge yet, so I advise sticking it in a tub of water and throwing frozen ice bottles in when needed. If you have a basement that stays cool that could work too.

 

[LaurieGator]

It sounds like you have done quite a bit of preparation for your first brew!

I think the first batch is the worst. The worry about making sure everything is perfect really stressed me out on the first one. After that, we worry about whether or not the fermentation is going well. Then we are impatient and don't want to wait for 3 weeks for our bottles of home-brew to carb up and be ready to drink. Then we drink the last bottle, realize it was so much better than the first one and wish we had more

Relax It all seems to come together in the end and we end up with some delicious beer.

+1 on the live chat thing. I would love to see it!

 

[mixedbrewer]

Hi hd4wes ! I am from Lebanon TN, right up the road.

 

[hd4wes]

Hi hd4wes ! I am from Lebanon TN, right up the road.

Hey, we are real close. I'm just off HWY231 15 miles towards M'boro. Do you use a local homebrew shop? I went to all seasons in Nashville the other day, and picked up a thief. Seemed like a good place.

 

[mlyday]

I can just about gaurantee you that something will not go as you planned out before, but I can also just about gaurantee you will make some awesome beer.

 

[mixedbrewer]

hd4wes

Your messages inbox will have something I sent. We can talk about the local stuff outside of the forum. Its good to know there is another brewer right around the corner. Home brewing has had me mesmerized for the last 4 years, and I cant get enough of it.

 

[hd4wes]

Looks like you will be fine. Sanitize well, control ferm temp (I try to stay on the low end of the range usually ~62-64), and be patient. My mistake my first time was boil over. I didn't realize how fast it would foam up especially when hops are added, so be patient through this part. Have a few ice cubes on hand. At least until you are comfortable with your set up turn the burner off while adding anything to the kettle (at least until you have passed the initial foaming up).

I think ferm. temp is the best way to get a good beer. I doubt you have a temp control for a ferm fridge yet, so I advise sticking it in a tub of water and throwing frozen ice bottles in when needed. If you have a basement that stays cool that could work too.

Where are you from in Ms? I grew up in Tupelo. What's the few cubes of ice for? Boil over control? Do you use the stick on thermometer that comes with the kits, and just stick 'em above the water line on the fermenter?

 

[Morbo]

I remember my first time...

It was a nice lil blonde. Just go with the flow, it will come naturally to you and turn out fine. If you try and over think it it will just ruin the magic you two are are going to share together.














You'll be fine man... The beer will be good too.

 

[mixedbrewer]

The only magic will be brewing good beer...

 

[eagle83]

I'm from Richland (just south of Jackson). If you are from Murfreesboro, are you a MTSU fan/alum? I'm a USM alum (eagle83). Unfortunately I was in N.O. when Dasher took it to our swiss cheese defense.

I started off doing that sticky therm above water line. I have since got my hands on an old mini fridge and attached a therm control on it. Don't worry about all that right now though. Enjoy it and then you can start working on making it better (that's what keeps a lot of us hooked). My first beer turned out great. Better than most of the stuff I can buy in MS actually, but the beauty of it is it can always be better. I don't know what yeast you are using, but I like to keep mine on the lower half of the scale. The average yeast S-05 or something if you can keep it below 67-68 you should be good.

 

[Chenslee]

HAHA. I started a thread 2 weeks ago right before my first brew. HBS sent me the wrong extract which made it some weird bastard beer. Tastes great so far!

 

[hd4wes]

Looks like you will be fine. Sanitize well, control ferm temp (I try to stay on the low end of the range usually ~62-64), and be patient. My mistake my first time was boil over. I didn't realize how fast it would foam up especially when hops are added, so be patient through this part. Have a few ice cubes on hand. At least until you are comfortable with your set up turn the burner off while adding anything to the kettle (at least until you have passed the initial foaming up).

I think ferm. temp is the best way to get a good beer. I doubt you have a temp control for a ferm fridge yet, so I advise sticking it in a tub of water and throwing frozen ice bottles in when needed. If you have a basement that stays cool that could work too.

I'm from Richland (just south of Jackson). If you are from Murfreesboro, are you a MTSU fan/alum? I'm a USM alum (eagle83). Unfortunately I was in N.O. when Dasher took it to our swiss cheese defense.

I started off doing that sticky therm above water line. I have since got my hands on an old mini fridge and attached a therm control on it. Don't worry about all that right now though. Enjoy it and then you can start working on making it better (that's what keeps a lot of us hooked). My first beer turned out great. Better than most of the stuff I can buy in MS actually, but the beauty of it is it can always be better. I don't know what yeast you are using, but I like to keep mine on the lower half of the scale. The average yeast S-05 or something if you can keep it below 67-68 you should be good.

No, not an MTSU Fan. Both my grandparents went to Southern Miss though. I'm a Bama fan. Like to see MSU do good too.

I'm using Safale us-05. From the description it seems like has fairly wide temp range. Up to like 75 I think. I have a closet next to my front door that should hang out around 67 this time of year.

 

[eagle83]

Eww Bama fan. No more help for you! Kidding. Hope everything goes well.

 

[bennyd]

Welcome. This is a great community!! I wish there were more people on here around my area. Anyway, I remember feeling exactly how you feel now.

1. Take notes, so that next time you'll know if you need to tweak anything....and you can remember what it was.

2. +1 to the spray bottle of StarSan. If you use StarSan in distilled water, some on here say it will stay effective for months. Use ph strips to know for sure.

3. Be very patient and don't rush the process. Just enjoy it.

4. Something will probably happen that makes you say "oh $*%&!!!" At least it happens to me. You'll still make good beer.

5. Not sure if you're doing full boils or not....but if you are, then Fermcap is your best friend