1st solo brew. Good, Bad or Ugly?

[hopfool]

Muddled through a 5 gallon batch of 90 Minute Imperial IPA today. Used a calculator at Brew 365 to come up with 4.9 gal. for mashing & 4.75 gal. for sparging 14-1/2 lbs. of grain in preparation for a 90 minute boil. Pre-heated my false bottomed cooler LMT and my mash equalized at 151 F as measured about 15 minutes into a one hour soak (strike water was heated to 165).

Batch sparged (twice, with half of the 3.75 gal. each time) after vorlaufing with roughly 1-1/2 gallons first. Went with what I thought was a little too high a sparge temp. (170 F.) I thought because my mash temp had cooled to 148 by the end of the soak (that thinking stuff always seems to get me into trouble). Didn't stay hot for long with all of that vorlaufing and sparging the temp in the boil kettle was 140. The Brew 365 calculator gave me a figure for "Pre-boil Wort Produced" of 6.74 gallons using the 90 minute boil numbers, so I have no idea how or why I ended up with over a gallon more (7.8 gal.).

The ProMash recipe from my LHBS listed OG as 1.075 minimum to 1.108 max. I measured 1.103 when partially cooled and temperature corrected. Once I started the boil I'm thinking I might have screwed up hopping. The original schedule was for a 60 minute boil so I let it go 30 minutes before I started hopping and then followed the original schedule from there.

As soon as the boil ended I connected my plate chiller for the first time and, running my well water at about 5 gpm, managed to drop 200 degree water to 68 in a single pass (thanks Bobby M. @ Brewers Hardware for the trick little digital thermometer/cam fitting/Tee connector... worked like a dream). The previous couple of brews that I assisted with (mainly just scrubbing pots and fetching beers) they used copper coils, so the plate chiller's performance was especially impressive. Forgot the exact final volume but I think it was about 5-1/2 gallons into the fermenter.

Ambient air temp was 68, and dumping the cooled wort into what I fear may be my too big for 5 gallon batches S/S conical (14 gal) Fermenator, showed about a one degree drop. The dry ale yeast packet said 67 was about ideal, although I have a 60 degree space to move it if and when I see a temp rise from the eagerly hoped for fermentation. Didn't aerate the wort beyond the gravity fall it took from the kettle valve sitting about 6" above the lid, so all told it was about a foot or so fall.

Anyway, added my aroma hops in cheese cloth bags and closed her up. Installed a bubbler and now I'm just waiting to see. Recipe also calls for 2-1/4 lbs. of corn sugar to be added in four equal doses (two a day for two days), after dissolving in a quart of water and sterilizing, beginning on the second day of fermentation.

Other than being curious about what I probably screwed up and/or could have done better, I'm also curious about the timing of the corn sugar adds. Should I assume that tomorrow is the "second day of fermentation" even if the air lock isn't bubbling, or bubbling vigorously, or should I actually wait until there is obvious evidence of fermentation? Don't have any kind of sight glass, and I don't wanna keep popping the top, so wha'dya think? Part of my concern is that even with the conical bottom, the empty head space might be a bit much of a void to fill that quickly, but I honestly have no idea what to expect. Four hours later I've seen an occasional burp, but nothing steady. I realize that any gas will expand to fill whatever space it is given, but that doesn't really address the issue of how long it may take to create enough pressure to overcome the static resistance of the bell cap in the air lock.

So... any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Lovin' this site and all of the great contributions that I've been able to read and access here. And then we get these great sponsors giving stuff away every month. What's not to love?

Another confusing/troubling bit was that my post boil SG reading was

 

[kh54s10]

I don't see anything problematic. After you do a few batches and pay attention to how much gets boiled off you can just sparge until you have the right amount for the preboil. I need about 7.3 gallons to end up with 5.25 in the fermenter. Then 5 in the keg.

I have never seen a recipe calling for corn sugar added after the boil. If you use a quart each time for 4 additions you are going to add a gallon of liquid. If the recipe accounts for the extra water with that amount of sugar you should do it that way, otherwise the gravity would be wrong.

The fermentation will create co2 in your conical. Co2 is heavier than oxygen so it will make a layer that will protect the beer from the oxygen.

You should not worry too much about how much your airlock bubbles. It will differ depending on many things, temperature, yeast type, atmospheric pressure, leaks and other things.

The only accurate measure of fermentation is to take gravity measurements.

Sounds like you are well on your way to a good beer.

 

[hopfool]

I don't see anything problematic. After you do a few batches and pay attention to how much gets boiled off you can just sparge until you have the right amount for the preboil. I need about 7.3 gallons to end up with 5.25 in the fermenter. Then 5 in the keg.
Went back and checked my notes (had pieces of masking tape everywhere that I was jotting on as well) and 5.6 gallon made it into the fermenter.

I have never seen a recipe calling for corn sugar added after the boil. If you use a quart each time for 4 additions you are going to add a gallon of liquid. If the recipe accounts for the extra water with that amount of sugar you should do it that way, otherwise the gravity would be wrong.
Yeah I was maybe not too clear on that element. The corn sugar total gets dissolved into just a single quart of water, so each of the additions would actually only be a cup. That way I'd only be adding a quart of liquid rather than another gallon. As for its place in the recipe, this started out as a clone of Dogfish Head's 90 minute IPA with a 60 minute boil. For whatever reason (I honestly don't recall) I decided to build it on a 90 minute boil and made some changes to the aroma hops (added Nelson Saivon's). No particular reason beyond my basic authority issues and never being very good at following directions. I suppose the corn sugar was part of the "Imperial" aspect of the brew in terms of jacking the ABV. The sample of this clone that I first tasted was incredible and I liked it even better than the original. Even with a higher ABV you didn't really notice it... unless of course you were drinking while sitting down for a spell.

The fermentation will create co2 in your conical. Co2 is heavier than oxygen so it will make a layer that will protect the beer from the oxygen.

You should not worry too much about how much your airlock bubbles. It will differ depending on many things, temperature, yeast type, atmospheric pressure, leaks and other things.
Checked this morning and fermentation appears well underway. Bubbler is steadily chugging along, so whatever it is I'm making, at least it'll have some alcohol in it. Next up I can start to sweat carbonation and taste. This Ferminator will supposedly hold a couple of pounds of pressure for transfer purposes (although not enough to force carbonate) so we appear okay in terms of leaks. Only pitched one packet of dry yeast that was rated for up to 30 liters but as I said, so far everything seems to be working fine.
The only accurate measure of fermentation is to take gravity measurements.

Sounds like you are well on your way to a good beer.

My recipe is really just a list of ingredients with a few hints at technique, so I'm still a little unsure about just how long to wait for my primary fermentation to complete other than watching the bubbler and maybe counting days. Do ya think I should be sampling as I add the corn sugar? I have a hydrometer as well as a new Brix tester that I've never used. Guess I have some more reading to do.

My limited understanding was that about three weeks was good for allowing the microbes to eat up some undesirables as well as making the alcohol, but I'm not sure about that or when exactly I should drain the trub, etc.

Thanks! Here's hoping you're correct.

 

[kh54s10]

I ferment most of my brews for about 21 days, 14 or so if I need more beer and a month or more if I get lazy. I do only primary then bottle (now kegging). I feel a little extra time allows the yeast to eat the sugars, create alcohol, then clean up any fermentation byproducts or off flavors. I have not had any issues from leaving the beer on the yeast longer.

If you are in a rush to get more beer, watch the fermentation closely, at about 7 to 10 days the fermentation should be complete if you have stable gravity for a couple of days you should be go on bottling.

When I use sugars to keep the beer dry (and to a lesser extent raise the ABV) I add simple sugars during the boil. I have never added any after that. But the end results will be similar. How similar I am not sure...

 

[hopfool]

I ferment most of my brews for about 21 days, 14 or so if I need more beer and a month or more if I get lazy. I do only primary then bottle (now kegging). I feel a little extra time allows the yeast to eat the sugars, create alcohol, then clean up any fermentation byproducts or off flavors. I have not had any issues from leaving the beer on the yeast longer.

If you are in a rush to get more beer, watch the fermentation closely, at about 7 to 10 days the fermentation should be complete if you have stable gravity for a couple of days you should be go on bottling.

When I use sugars to keep the beer dry (and to a lesser extent raise the ABV) I add simple sugars during the boil. I have never added any after that. But the end results will be similar. How similar I am not sure...

Cool. Appreciate the input. Think I'll stay with the 21 day primary then. No rush. Still have plenty of beer in the frig, but I am anxious to taste the results of my first. Thanks again for the insights. All of this election crap pretty much assures I'll be needing plenty of alcohol though.