Beginning Brewing Questions Before Next Brew Day

[RetroGameBoy]

Hello All, very new beginning brewer here and recently been browsing this helpful forum.

I received a kit for Christmas and recently finished bottling my second batch, a Brown Ale. My first batch was a Wheat beer kit. I am trying to learn from my mistakes each time, and I have a few questions below before I start on my next batch (type is TBD).

My setup is (2) 6.5 gallon buckets, one for fermenting and one for bottling with a spigot. I have a 20 quart / 5 gallon brew pot for brewing, increments aren't marked inside. I used dry yeast with the first batch and Wyeast recently for the brown ale.

For both brews the recipe calls for steeping the grains for 30 minutes in the pot with enough water to cover the grains (get water to 150°F, place grains in water afterwards). I think I have been putting too much water in the pot when doing this, as the next steps are to sparge with 2 gallons of 168°F water through the grain bag. The step after that is to add enough water to bring it to 3 gallons. Currently I do not have another vessel to heat up water to 168°F so I have just let the grain bag drain, pour some hot water through it from the tap, and add water until it looks like there are about 3 gallons of liquid in the pot. Water is boiled then some of the malt extract is put in, then hops/ingredients per time intervals, before the wort is to be cooled and transferred to the fermenting bucket.

Confusing me, the recipe calls out to add water to bring the batch to 5 gallons. Statement shortly below that cautions to be careful not to add too much to cause the OG to fall out of range. For the first batch I did the full 5 gallons, not understanding the hydrometer accurately enough to measure the OG (my bad!). Recipe has an OG ~1.055 and FG ~1.011. I think I measured an OG ~1.040 and FG ~1.01, the hydrometer is difficult to read.

For the second batch, I do not think the recipe called for enough water during the steeping and/or boiling portions. After transferring the wort, I was a bit above 3.5 gallons, and the OG was already fairly low, and I added water to bring it up to ~3.9 gallons. Recipe called out for an OG ~1.061 and FG ~1.014, while I measured out OG ~1.055 and FG ~1.01. I ratio-ed the priming sugar and bottled this, noticeably a lot less bottles than the first.

The first beer tasted just OK, but was definitely lacking the alcohol. Reviews from family were actually impressed with the flavor. I'll be trying out the second batch after another week in the bottles.

Questions:

1. How much water should I realistically be steeping the grains in? 1 gallon? The bags hold a lot of the measured grain, and I would need to set the bag down touching the bottom of the brew pot if only that much water. I was trying to avoid that and have been tying it off / clipping the bag on the pot handle with more water.
2. Is the 2 gallon sparging step really necessary, and, if so, does it have to be high temp (~168°F) water?
3. Was I correct to not add any more water into the fermenter bucket during the second brew?
4. If I add too much water at that point, what can be done to bring the OG up, if anything?
5. Should I be doing anything else different on the volume of water for boiling and after transfer? I have since purchased a 1 gallon pitcher and plan to mark the brew pot up to 5 gallons.
6. Are there any tips with more accurately reading the hydrometer? Should I buy a test jar instead of putting the hydrometer in the wort / fermenting bucket? It is very hard to be as precise as recipes call out and it is easy to add too much. The one I use is generic looking, searching on Amazon shows something similar.
7. Is there anything else you suggest differently?

Thanks for your patience and for reading, I know this is a bit in-depth and long-winded first post.

Other things I have learned: Hydrometers are very brittle. Broke my first one when cleaning after the first brew.. After the first one I bought a floating thermometer which I thought made things a lot easier (steeping/boiling/cooling).

 

[Transamguy77]

1. You can use a gallon or more I don’t think it really matters, you are just trying to extract some color and flavor.

2. No the sparge is not really necessary, I start with 3gallons and then just dip the grains like a tea bag.

3. I top off to just over 5 gallons no matter what, if I’m off a few points you can just add some DME of table sugar to bring up the gravity.

4. Covered in 3

5. I think what you are doing is fine, you could put a couple of gallons of water in the fridge so it’s cold and will bring your wort temp down before pitching.

6. Getting a test jar Males it easier to measure the gravity, I would recommend one. And when you buy another hydrometer buy 2 or 3 because you’ll break at least another. I think I’m on number 3 and I have 2 more back ups.

7. How do you chill your wort? Do you have a wort chiller? If not I would recommend buying one, it makes chilling so much easier. And when doing extracts is look into adding your malt extract late in the boil and make sure that you really stir up your top off water otherwise you can get a skued hydrometer reading because the malt extract is heavy and will sink to the bottom of your pot or fermenter.

 

[RetroGameBoy]

Thank you very much for the reply, Transamguy. It seemed like the OG was dropping very quickly when adding water to reach the 5 gallons on the first batch, and the alcohol after fermentation really suffered. I didn't want the second batch to suffer the same, somewhat watery fate.

2. No the sparge is not really necessary, I start with 3gallons and then just dip the grains like a tea bag.

I think I will be just starting with 3 gallons and steep it like tea going forward as you do. Not much of the liquid seemed to boil out really (since it doesn't reach boiling).

3. I top off to just over 5 gallons no matter what, if I’m off a few points you can just add some DME of table sugar to bring up the gravity.

Is this DME or table sugar? I can order some extra DME when I decide on the next batch to brew. Is it safe to add these to the wort once transferred to the fermenter?

5. I think what you are doing is fine, you could put a couple of gallons of water in the fridge so it’s cold and will bring your wort temp down before pitching.

This is a great idea!

7. How do you chill your wort? Do you have a wort chiller? If not I would recommend buying one, it makes chilling so much easier. And when doing extracts is look into adding your malt extract late in the boil and make sure that you really stir up your top off water otherwise you can get a skued hydrometer reading because the malt extract is heavy and will sink to the bottom of your pot or fermenter.

I have been buying a large ice bag at the beginning of brew days, putting a layer of ice down in part of my sink then the hot brew pot on top I'll fill the sides with ice and start filling it with water to create the ice water to sink the heat better. I have noticed there is a measurable temperature difference on the bottom vs. the top of the cooling wort and try my best patiently waiting for it to reach some equilibrium. I can gently stir this next time. My last batch may have been a few degrees higher than desired, I ran out of ice but did my best to cool it more. I accidentally didn't plug the sink so I lost some vital ice water.

The recipes so far add 1/2 of the malt extract at the beginning of the boil, and adding the remainder about 5 minutes until the end of the boil.

I do not have a wort chiller, but I will look into it. I'm really enjoying brewing so if it makes a great difference and is durable, I'm all for it.

 

[Transamguy77]

Yes it’s DME OR sugar, some people will say to boil but I usually don’t and just at right before flame out to sanitize.

I did the ice thing too for a bit but a chiller makes things way easier, no running out of ice before getting to pitching temps. The only disadvantage is depending on the temp of ground water it can take longer. I went and bought cheap sandwich containers and used to freeze them instead of buying ice and the large cubes take longer to melt.

Adding the majority of the extract at the end will help with flavor, and color on lighter beers.

 

[Stormcrow]

I fill empty water bottles with tap water and freeze them to make a type of ice bath in my sink. I set the kettle in the cold water while using my immersion chiller to speed things up a little more. A chiller is a great investment. Gently stirring while you chill, as you mentioned, will definitely help as well.

Also, you mentioned your kettle not having volume markings. I've got a cheap stainless carpenter's square that I use to check volume in the kettle. Use a good measuring vessel sometime to pour water into your kettle in known increments to "calibrate" your measuring stick (the square in my case. ) in my kettle, it's about two inches per gallon. I did the battery/q-tip/ vinegar&salt trick to etch visible markings on my square for each gallon. I was too chicken to try to etch the kettle. A pretty easy little project that made my brewing much easier.

 

[RM-MN]

1. How much water should I realistically be steeping the grains in? 1 gallon? The bags hold a lot of the measured grain, and I would need to set the bag down touching the bottom of the brew pot if only that much water. I was trying to avoid that and have been tying it off / clipping the bag on the pot handle with more water.
2. Is the 2 gallon sparging step really necessary, and, if so, does it have to be high temp (~168°F) water?
3. Was I correct to not add any more water into the fermenter bucket during the second brew?
4. If I add too much water at that point, what can be done to bring the OG up, if anything?
5. Should I be doing anything else different on the volume of water for boiling and after transfer? I have since purchased a 1 gallon pitcher and plan to mark the brew pot up to 5 gallons.
6. Are there any tips with more accurately reading the hydrometer? Should I buy a test jar instead of putting the hydrometer in the wort / fermenting bucket? It is very hard to be as precise as recipes call out and it is easy to add too much. The one I use is generic looking, searching on Amazon shows something similar.
7. Is there anything else you suggest differently?

1. It isn't critical how much water you use for steeping. The point is that you use enough to cover all the grains. Any grain that isn't in the water isn't adding to the flavor.
2. This step isn't necessary but does help rinse off the sugars and flavors of the steeping grains. This water can be cool as it does the same thing as the hot water.
3. The extract in the kits is the proper amount for a batch of 5 gallons. You should have added more water. Without that water added you get a smaller amount of higher alcohol beer....maybe. There is a limit to how much alcohol the yeast can produce and a limit on the attenuation.
4. Don't worry about the extra water unless you really get carried away. A little more water isn't a problem.
5. No.
6. My hydrometer came packed in a plastic tube with caps on both ends. I remove one of the caps and use a turkey baster to transfer the wort to it. Setting it into a glass tumbler keeps it from tipping while I rinse out the turkey baster and put the lid back onto the fermenter and it gives time for some of the bubbles to settle. Now that you heard that part, forget taking an OG reading. If you added close to the right amount of water the OG listed on the kit is what you get. The extract has all the sugars already and you are just diluting it to the proper OG.
7. Be patient. Beer doesn't like to be rushed. I leave most beers in the fermenter for 2 to 4 weeks before bottling and then leave the bottles in a warm area for 3 weeks for the beer to mature. Then I chill the ones I want to drink in the next couple days, leaving the rest in the warm area. By doing it this way my beers have good heading and good flavors.

 

[RetroGameBoy]

Thanks everyone. I'll be sure to bring the next batch up to the complete 5 gallons. I'm still wary of the OG being lower than the recipe calls for, since the first batch seemed tasted too "watery" to me.

I'll look into something metal on which I can mark off the brew pot volume from a gallon pitcher. My hydrometer came in a square "tube", but I think there is a hole on both ends of the plastic sleeves, probably to avoid a vacuum.

I think I have settled on a Citrus IPA for my third batch.

 

[RetroGameBoy]

Update: I started tasting the bottled ~3.9 gallon batch on Saturday from by second brew, and it is DELICIOUS. Both my wife and I were definitely happy with this one. Something definitely seemed "wrong" with the first batch, but this one has made feel feel much better about starting to brew my own beer. It was a recipe for a Brown Ale, but it definitely tastes like a Dubbel.

Do you think it was the liquid Wyeast in this batch over the dry yeast sprinkled in the first batch (Wheat kit) that tasted odd? Or was it that I didn't actually fill up the bin to 5 gallons during this second batch that the recipe showed as I didn't want the OG to drop out of line with the recipe? I think I am still going to do a full 5 gallons on my upcoming third brew, I have purchased the IPA kit.