A few new guy questions.

[Maxkling]

Hey guys,

First and foremost I recently took a trip to my local brew shop and finally purchased a nice 5 gallon kit that came with an American Blondie pack. Ive been wanting to brew for a long time but have always procrastinated on the topic. So I'm 4 days into the primary fermentation process and my curiosity is getting to. Ive read almost all of Palmer's How To Brew book and still have a few questions.

First question I have is, is there a set maximum time for you to cool the wort? I ran into this issue and realized the ice in my ice maker just wasn't going to cut it and had to run to the gas station and pickup 2 bags of ice (at least I learned a lesson to have as much ice on hand as possible). So roughly from the stop of the boil til I had the temperature below 80, maybe twenty minutes / half an hour or so. All Ive seen with reading and researching is the faster the better.

Second question is, Ill go ahead and say I know the airlock isn't a gauge to judge fermentation, but what is a good regular activity? Roughly 12 hours into the primary I was seeing a bubble every 1 1/2 to 2 seconds and today (4 days) it has significantly slowed to a bubble maybe ever 3 to 5 seconds. I'm not going to pop the top and check until at least a week when Ill rack it to the secondary, and possibly take a sample and take a hydrometer reading at that time.

Third and final question, Its not an important question especially for a first batch its more of I'm just simply curious. How do you prevent the yeast layer in bottling. I understand being careful while racking and what not to limit transferring the trub.... but what Ive read is not matter what there will always be a form of yeast layer with home brewing. Ive heard of filtering and using a keg to transfer but I just don't understand those processes or why you cant prevent it, fully.

Thanks I understand if I searched I would probably find the answers to most of the questions... but man I'm not a fan of this search function on the forum. Hasn't seemed to work out to well for me. Well I cant wait to bottle I've got plenty of things to do these next few weeks so its keeping me from fiddling and being too anxious. But if all goes well I hope 1 of 2 things will happen, Ill have a great beer and plenty of it to drink (long shot especially for my first batcj which is what Ive already told myself and friends) or I learn what I did wrong and get closer to making a better beer. Either way it seems to be fun. I'm already designing hopefully what will be a way over kill wort cooler.

 

[jfr1111]

Hey guys,

First and foremost I recently took a trip to my local brew shop and finally purchased a nice 5 gallon kit that came with an American Blondie pack. Ive been wanting to brew for a long time but have always procrastinated on the topic. So I'm 4 days into the primary fermentation process and my curiosity is getting to. Ive read almost all of Palmer's How To Brew book and still have a few questions.

First question I have is, is there a set maximum time for you to cool the wort? I ran into this issue and realized the ice in my ice maker just wasn't going to cut it and had to run to the gas station and pickup 2 bags of ice (at least I learned a lesson to have as much ice on hand as possible). So roughly from the stop of the boil til I had the temperature below 80, maybe twenty minutes / half an hour or so. All Ive seen with reading and researching is the faster the better.

Faster is usually better, but more and more people are doing no-chill brewing wich is basically transfering the hot wort into plastic containers THAT CAN WITHSTAND THE HEAT, wait until it has cooled on its own and then pitch. It's a specific technique used for a specific prupose, but it shows that even if it takes an hour to two hours to cool down to pitching temps, it'll make beer.

But the longer you leave it uncovered and try to cool it down, the higher the chances of infection.

Second question is, Ill go ahead and say I know the airlock isn't a gauge to judge fermentation, but what is a good regular activity? Roughly 12 hours into the primary I was seeing a bubble every 1 1/2 to 2 seconds and today (4 days) it has significantly slowed to a bubble maybe ever 3 to 5 seconds. I'm not going to pop the top and check until at least a week when Ill rack it to the secondary, and possibly take a sample and take a hydrometer reading at that time.

Wait until fermentation has stopped and FG is stable for a few days before racking to secondary (this means taking readings). A lot of people on this site do not use secondaries anymore because they feel leaving the beer in the primary is preferable due to less infection risks, getting clear beer anyway, reduced off-flavours by increased time on the cake and no headroom concerns. It's also less labor intensive. See what works for you, but for ordinary joe-bloe ales, you'll probably get the same results sticking to primary for three weeks. You also are not forced to take readings if you wait a 3-4 weeks before bottling.

Third and final question, Its not an important question especially for a first batch its more of I'm just simply curious. How do you prevent the yeast layer in bottling. I understand being careful while racking and what not to limit transferring the trub.... but what Ive read is not matter what there will always be a form of yeast layer with home brewing. Ive heard of filtering and using a keg to transfer but I just don't understand those processes or why you cant prevent it, fully.

Put the beer in the fridge a good while before drinking (but after carbing is complete). This will makethe yeast drop out of suspension and the mini-cake will be firmly at the bottom of the bottle. Easier for novices like us than investing into kegging and filtration. You need yeast to carb the beer.

 

[Beer_Guy]

…
You need yeast to carb the beer.

Or the forced carbonation from Co2 in a keg.
Like you said though. bottle carbing is cheaper in the beginning and requires the yeast still in suspension in the beer. Which of course stays in the bottle if chilled and poured into a glass.

 

[PolishLogic]

1. The faster the better is usually the way to go for cooling the wort. However, that being said 20-30 minutes isn't exactly "terrible". If you want to spend the money, look into an immersion chiller. Helps cut the time down quite a bit.

2. You'd be better off to wait 2 weeks from brewing, take a hydrometer reading, don't rack to the secondary, and then take a hydrometer reading 3 days later. If the reading stayed the same, then feel free to rack. Using the bubbling as your guide is not something you want to rely on. If moving to the secondary, you're going to want to have your fermentation to be basically finished. Of course, also be aware that racking to a secondary isn't a "necessary" step for most beers.

3. You can reduce the sediment layer in bottles by using a number of techniques. Employing the use of a secondary, irish moss/whirfloc tablets, using gelatin, cold crashing, careful racking, as well as a few others. Searching for any of these, or just "clear beer" in general will give you a ton of reading material and tips/tricks.

The reason you don't see it in a great deal of commercial beers is the fact that they don't use bottle conditioning for carbonation, and they also run beer through a major filtration system prior to bottling.

As for your comment of it being a longshot to have good beer on your first batch, my first one still ranks in the top 3 on my favorites list, and I made a number of mistakes throughout the entire process from brew to bottle.

 

[Maxkling]

Update on my original post. Last week I tried one bottle at it tasted pretty decent. I still believe any "off" flavors I think I'm tasting are just because its still green.

This weekend I'm going to bottle my second batch, which seems it will end up a lot better. Its an Oktoberfest style ale. Seems to smell more and taste more like a beer Id enjoy. Plus I had less mishaps this time and was more prepared.

All in all I'm having a good time with it and in the process of building a fermentation cabinet.

Now just time to decide what to brew next.... I'm open for opinions. I might go for a wheat beer because my wife likes wheat beer... Me not so much HA.

 

[elucify]

Glad to hear it came out well. When you said above you thought getting something drinkable the first time was a "long shot", I thought--I'll bet by now it's done and he likes it. In a few weeks you'll find it's even better.