Brew Day 1, Finally Finished (and I'm bushed).

[JayD]

Today went pretty nicely. I got a late start because the Tour de France started today, and I gotsta watch that. So I started getting around well after noon.

I made "A Well Made Tripel" from Brooklyn Brew Shop. I like these guys. UPS screwed some things up for us but BBS really hooked it up, and I fully recommend them.

So I got my strike water from the fridge (filtered, slow), and got it to 160 degrees.

Threw the grain in the strike water (and stirred so it didn't clump), and let'er go.

Instructions say stay 144-152 degrees. When I added grain at 160, the temp dropped a little, but not too much. Maybe about 154ish. And in the sun, then SS Bayou Burner only dropped about a degree every 10 minutes when I stirred it! So I didn't have to add any heat over the mash in.

So I did that for an hour. Stir every 10 minutes, keep between 144-152. At the end, I needed to take the mash up to 170, which I did. Takes a while to get up to 170 quite frankly, and a windscreen would do wonders for that. Then it was time to put the mash into the MLT (Mash Lauter Tun).

In the meantime I had to get 4 gallons of sparge water up to 170. I had actually been doing this ahead of time in small batches on the stove, so that helped get it up to 170 faster. There was a little grain in there that had stuck after the mash, but no big deal.

 

[JayD]

So the mash was in the mash tun. I drained what had been the strike water off into a clean "Ale Pail" (which is fortunately maybe 6.5 gallons). Then I added 4 gallons of the 170 degree sparge water. I was instructed to add it "gently" but quite frankly I'm not sure how you do something "gently" that is metal, and >170 degrees. Instead of specifically "gently" I did it this way: "don't burn your hands off on this container". It seemed to work fine.

Ok rinse repeat 2x. The final sparge I went directly into the stock pot (obvious), and got it ALL. It should have been about 7 gallons at that point, but the stock pot held it all no problem.

Now toward the hot break. I am afraid (not really afraid -- the beer will turn out either way)... I am THINKING my hot break wasn't hot enough. I never got a HARD boil. Anyway, time to boil for an hour, to go from 7 gallons to my fermenting volume of 5 gallons.

This pic shows the boil I used in the second half of my hour boil. I decided I needed to ramp it up a little to be sure to get down to my right 5 gallon volume.

And then RAHAHB. But wait this is my first brew! So Guinness it was.

And boil some more.

 

[JayD]

Boiling complete. Now cool quickly to 70 degrees! I had this brilliant idea that since my stock pot would fit in my MLT, I'd just use that w/ icewater in it to cool. No joy. I mean technically it worked, just very very slowly.

I mean it's really pretty brilliant and I'm sure I am the first one to ever think of it. haha. But it was also very slow, as I'm sure most cooling methods that only involve the exterior of the container are.

At this point my lovely wife said it's time to eat get your sh*t together... Ok she didn't say that. She doesn't curse. (Or drink beer, so I very much appreciate that it had taken that long for her to get ready for me to be done... So since I couldn't monitor the wort, I just threw that bad boy in the fridge and let it cool while I was dining with my lovely wife.

I mean this worked, but again only technically, and slowly. Immersion is just the fast way I suppose.

Ok so I looked up the info on the yeast I have (Safbrew S-33 I believe) and it said ok to pitch dry, provided >20 degrees C. I was over that but not by much so I figured it was ok. I guess time will tell that (but I'm not worried about it... I was @ about 72-73 anyway). Since I was at my goal temp in the stock pot, time to transfer to the carboy. Instructions said to filter through funnel, but I didn't have a funnel large enough, or anything to filter through (unless it was one of those random things BBS provided me with that I didn't really know what to do with.). So I just used the auto-siphon and avoided a little bit of the trub. Probably 2 handfulls of it were left. Whatever. Is ok. Also, a little Star San bubbles [probably] never hurt anybody.

The "Simple Green" is actually Star San.

Turns out siphoning works with gravity. So I realized: let gravity help....

Well that's a start, but let's try it this way:

Yes that's the ticket. Much faster flow rate. Thanks for the longish tube, BBS! Worked perfectly for this.

 

[JayD]

I siphoned some back off the carboy to get the starting gravity. Why I didn't just do this while it was in the stock pot I do not know, but it's the way I read the instructions. I will know next time....

Starting specific gravity of about 1.08 @ 70 degrees. Yes that is a Nalgene bottle, yes it was sterilized, and yes I poured that back into the carboy.
I am really not sure what this measurement side of the hygrometer is for:

I'm sure it says but I am not going to look right now.
But I do know this (third) graduation is for projected ABV %:

That's over 10, which is just about what's projected for this brew. So that's good. I wasn't given "numbers" so I can't say if I hit them (maybe BBS is around these parts and could chime in?), but I can say that they claim this as a "9.9% ABV" and these numbers match that.


Then pitch the yeast. I actually spilled some of the yeast BUT such is life. After pitching:

And pretty much the same picture but I'm posting it too:

I should have tasted it but I totally forgot. I will say that MAN the hops smell was strong. We'll see how it goes.

And here is it's current resting (fermenting) place. I went with a spare bathroom because I expect it's the coolest place in our house (that won't be TOO in the way). We keep our house kind of warm anyway (76ish), so I'll have to keep an eye on that.

You can see in this picture the thermocouple for a clock I have on my desk. So I'll have constant access to the knowledge of the temp. But it doesn't record, so when it's hottest out and I'm not here (work), I won't really know what it hits.

Future beer:

And this is how it looks right now. Well except right now it's dark in that room... (there is a window though, so,)

It took a LONG TIME (let's call it 8 hours), but its done. I'm not too concerned that I messed up anything badly; I'm looking forward to the product! I haven't nearly enough empties yet, but fortunately getting more is kind of fun too (drinking beer!). Instructions say ferment for 2 weeks but that will be the least I'll ferment. Probably more like a month, then bottle. Bottling actually adds sugar (honey) so that'll be fun too.

I know this is a long post (actually at the character limit! by over 400 characters) with a lot of pictures (and the picture limit! [had to break it into max 10 pics per post, sry!]), but ... well you all said "take pictures" and there was no point of taking them without using them....

 

[JayD]

This post should be riddled with pictures, but it's on a private page so someone confirm (to me) that they are working (for you). kthksbai.

 

[redalert]

This post should be riddled with pictures, but it's on a private page so someone confirm (to me) that they are working (for you). kthksbai.

They're working. Nice pics. Good Luck on your brew. Looks good. Remember patience is your friend. My last big beer was also a Belgian (8.5% alc). I let it age for 6 months in the secondary before bottling. 1 year later and the beer is just getting good albeit a bit too late since I only have 2 bottles left

 

[ballzac]

Hopefully some constructive criticism here: It looks like you could have waited longer to let the trub collect, and/or whirlpool to get most of it in the centre of the kettle prior to transferring to the fermenter. I have been slowly improving this aspect of my brewing, including improved vorlauf/sparging technique, and have seen improvements in the clarity of my final beers.

Well done on a successful brew day.

 

[studmonk3y]

Some more constructive criticism. You seem to understand that your cooler is your MLT, but your pictures and text suggest you didn't use it as such. Most people hit up the strike water in the kettle, then transfer to the cooler (at a higher temp than target mash temp), then dough in with the grains and mash in that vessel. It looks like you mashed in your kettle, which still works and will still give you beer. But the whole point of the insulated MLT is that it holds temperature better over a 60+min mash. Minor issue really in the whole scheme of things, but you just sort of didn't utilize your equipment correctly.

 

[MajorTom]

You may have wanted to make something a little smaller for your first brew. That 10% monster is going to take a while to be ready. Its really hard to be patient for that long until you get your pipeline built up. Good luck and it looks like you had fun, which is of course what matters the most!

 

[fatmoose]

You may have wanted to make something a little smaller for your first brew. That 10% monster is going to take a while to be ready. Its really hard to be patient for that long until you get your pipeline built up. Good luck and it looks like you had fun, which is of course what matters the most!

Yeah, looks like he's going to have to brew again and soon!

Congrats on your first brew JayD.

 

[VerticalGambit]

Good Job! I will be attempting my first brew in a couple of weeks. I do appreciate all the pictures and the steps that you documented.

 

[JayD]

Nice pics. Good Luck on your brew. Looks good. Remember patience is your friend. My last big beer was also a Belgian (8.5% alc). I let it age for 6 months in the secondary before bottling. 1 year later and the beer is just getting good albeit a bit too late since I only have 2 bottles left

I plan on being patient but that's pretty easy to say just one day in. I have one more mix but no fermenting carboy (and no LBS), so I am not sure what I'll do. Maybe just buy another carboy and do this again so I have something drinkable sooner.

Hopefully some constructive criticism here: It looks like you could have waited longer to let the trub collect, and/or whirlpool to get most of it in the centre of the kettle prior to transferring to the fermenter. I have been slowly improving this aspect of my brewing, including improved vorlauf/sparging technique, and have seen improvements in the clarity of my final beers.

Well done on a successful brew day.

Yes you're right. They said to filter it but I didn't have a filter. With just the auto-siphon I still avoided a ton of the trub, but did pull some over. I was ok with that but accept your guidance on this point.

Some more constructive criticism. You seem to understand that your cooler is your MLT, but your pictures and text suggest you didn't use it as such. Most people hit up the strike water in the kettle, then transfer to the cooler (at a higher temp than target mash temp), then dough in with the grains and mash in that vessel. It looks like you mashed in your kettle, which still works and will still give you beer. But the whole point of the insulated MLT is that it holds temperature better over a 60+min mash. Minor issue really in the whole scheme of things, but you just sort of didn't utilize your equipment correctly.

Yes, you are exactly right. I am an instruction follower, and the instructions are made for a system that does not include a [cooler] MLT. As such you are exactly right,... I guess I just read the instructions to indicate it'd be harder to stay at 144-152 than it actually was (which was not at all). So in the future you are right, I'll just mash in in the MLT (duh ). And in the meantime I can get my sparge water up to temp. I had even preheated the MLT w/ very hot water to get the temp inside up. Haha. Having said all this, since the Stock pot held the temp like a champ anyway (never required supplemental head), it's kind of moot.

You may have wanted to make something a little smaller for your first brew. That 10% monster is going to take a while to be ready. Its really hard to be patient for that long until you get your pipeline built up. Good luck and it looks like you had fun, which is of course what matters the most!

After 2 great pieces of constructive criticism, this. Ha, well as this is my first brew, and it's done, I can't really make anything else for my first brew. Maybe you could have suggested something a little smaller that would be ready quicker? Thanks!

Yeah, looks like he's going to have to brew again and soon!

Congrats on your first brew JayD.

I do have one more mix already on hand, but it's a little bit big too (maybe 7.5% abv). If I had another carboy I might consider starting that soon (hey I have Monday off!). But with no carboy, I can't really.

Good Job! I will be attempting my first brew in a couple of weeks. I do appreciate all the pictures and the steps that you documented.

Thanks! I hope the pictures help. They would have helped me a ton on some of the steps from the instruction sheet I am going by.

Finish this post to say: Gas started bubbling through my blow off tube almost immediately. Now it's bubbling about 2x/second, @76.9 degrees. Not that I'm all worked up over how quick or slow or anything, I'm just letting it be and noticing that she's bubbling.

 

[JayD]

Oh also, for next brew I am going to get one of those long paint stirring things that fit on the end of a drill... That will be so very nice. Should have thought of it yesterday.

 

[ekranzusch]

If I need something that's got a quicker turn around I usually go a hefeweizen, ordinary bitter, or IPA... lower %ABV = done sooner, and IPA's are awesome fresh. *insert hops related drooling*

Looks like you're off to a great start

Welcome to the addiction!

 

[GRHunter]

Wow, that was a busy day. My first day was about 8 hours and I was totally bushed as well. I am down to about 4 hours now and it has got much easier. So hang in there, your worst brew day is behind you.

 

[passedpawn]

Great job documenting your first batch. Nice pictures.

 

[misterVT]

Nice, sharp pictures. I wish I had documented my first brew like you did. Congrats!

 

[passedpawn]

what camera?

 

[KingBrianI]

Now it's bubbling about 2x/second, @76.9 degrees.

That's a little hot. It's probably too late for this beer but for future beers, fill that tub up with several inches of water, then put a t-shirt over your carboy. It will wick up the water and as it evaporates, cool the carboy. If you blow a fan on it, it works even better. You can get the beer to 6-8 degrees F below ambient that way.

 

[merddyn2002]

Some more constructive criticism. You seem to understand that your cooler is your MLT, but your pictures and text suggest you didn't use it as such. Most people hit up the strike water in the kettle, then transfer to the cooler (at a higher temp than target mash temp), then dough in with the grains and mash in that vessel. It looks like you mashed in your kettle, which still works and will still give you beer. But the whole point of the insulated MLT is that it holds temperature better over a 60+min mash. Minor issue really in the whole scheme of things, but you just sort of didn't utilize your equipment correctly.

completely agree with monk3y. You've got the gear to mash in your igloo then take full advantage of that

VERY VERY nice documentation with the pictures man and good procedure. I've seen people who have made beer for a couple years and they dont have procedures down to your level yet.

Something to watch out for though, watch that 170 degree mark. Anytime you get above 170 degrees with the grains still in contact with water you run the risk of the water starting to extract tannins which will give you very off flavors. This advice was imparted to me by multiple members of my local homebrew club who have won medals for their beers in national competitions so I tend to take it as gospel.

Let us know how this turns out. It looks yummy!

 

[JayD]

Great job documenting your first batch. Nice pictures.

Thanks!

what camera?

Canon 550d (T2i). With the kit lens, I think 18-55. I come from being a Nikon man but have always LOVED my Canon point and shoots. So I upgraded from the Nikon D80 I had for 3+ years to the Canon 550d, and have been VERY happy. Once I get a 50mm prime lens (hoping to get the f/1.4) I am sure I will absolutely love everything about the camera. (I had a 50mm f/1.8 on the Nikon and practically never took it off.)

That's a little hot. It's probably too late for this beer but for future beers, fill that tub up with several inches of water, then put a t-shirt over your carboy. It will wick up the water and as it evaporates, cool the carboy. If you blow a fan on it, it works even better. You can get the beer to 6-8 degrees F below ambient that way.

Ha. Truth be told I was going to cool the carboy in the tub, but when I realized I couldn't find the drain plug... well this is how it ended up. I will say that the temperature has risen dramatically (low 80s) so I did wet the towel with some cold water. Might also move carboy out of the tub to the (potentially colder) tile floor. I'll just keep the towel wet -- I can see the temp has dropped 2+ since I wet it (3 minutes ago). Granted that's external temp, ie RIGHT on the cold water but still - good sign.

Also just to quote you "it's probably too late for this beer..." does not sound very promising. I expect you didn't mean this beer will be bad past salvageable but I get your point anyway. Haha. But for a (potentially semi-nervous) first-time brewer those words hit home before the real meaning does.

completely agree with monk3y. You've got the gear to mash in your igloo then take full advantage of that

VERY VERY nice documentation with the pictures man and good procedure. I've seen people who have made beer for a couple years and they dont have procedures down to your level yet.

Something to watch out for though, watch that 170 degree mark. Anytime you get above 170 degrees with the grains still in contact with water you run the risk of the water starting to extract tannins which will give you very off flavors. This advice was imparted to me by multiple members of my local homebrew club who have won medals for their beers in national competitions so I tend to take it as gospel.

Let us know how this turns out. It looks yummy!

Right just a matter of follow instructions and not thinking about it. I mean I obviously bought the cooler as a MLT, I just followed instructions instead of doing it the way I had the equipment for. Will not be an issue next time. Heh I still feel kind of silly for it tho.

FWIW that 170 degree mark was just what the instructions said. AFAIK I didn't get much if any over 170 (at least where I was taking measurements O_O ) so I'm not too worried about it. Instructions said to hit 170 and that's pretty much what I did. But I had read stuff saying just what you said, so point well taken.

I can't imagine 2-3 year on brewers being much more haphazard than I have been. Haha. Pity them then cause brew day must be terribly nerve wracking!!! I will look forward to my next brew day.

I hear bottling day will be a different story though.

Question (to anyone): What IS the good way for pouring from pot into MLT without burning all the skin on your hands and forearms off? Even with a fancy brew tree or whatever it's called it seems there still has to be a physical transfer from cookpot to MLT. Which is not easy. If my brew pot had a spigot.... hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......

My carboy actually will fit completely in my (not closed) MLT (which is as stated a cooler). So I might just drop the whole thing in there and keep a little water in there to regulate the temp (cause it really does need to come down some). Then drop a few pieces of ice in there ever day or so (that's all that will fit really). Any reason not to do this? I will lose my ability to monitor the temp directly on the carboy by doing this.

 

[dotnetdotcom]

I am really not sure what this measurement side of the hygrometer is for:

Brix or Balling scale. Seems to be used for winemaking. There's an upscale wineshop/restaurant near me named "20 Brix°" I never knew what that meant until I looked up the specific gravity conversion for my balling scale hydrometer.

 

[JayD]

Nice, thanks. Still I would consider the other 2 numbers more useful... maybe I should take the time to learn yet another new term...

 

[passedpawn]

Multiply Brix x 4. Very close to Sp. Gr.

You'll become intimately familiar if you get a refractometer.

 

[JayD]

Smells like someone's resting a loaf of bread in my fermentation room.

 

[studmonk3y]

Question (to anyone): What IS the good way for pouring from pot into MLT without burning all the skin on your hands and forearms off? Even with a fancy brew tree or whatever it's called it seems there still has to be a physical transfer from cookpot to MLT. Which is not easy. If my brew pot had a spigot.... hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......

bulkhead http://greatbargain.net/opencart/index.php?route=product/product&path=44_35_46&product_id=91

or you can siphon with a high heat capable racking cane out of copper/ss tubing and silicon tubing.

I've used both and I recommend the bulkhead option.

 

[JayD]

bulkhead http://greatbargain.net/opencart/index.php?route=product/product&path=44_35_46&product_id=91

or you can siphon with a high heat capable racking cane out of copper/ss tubing and silicon tubing.

I've used both and I recommend the bulkhead option.

So you're saying a bulkhead on my stainless steel stock pot? I like it. Would I have to have a false bottom in there, or would the dryer hose work (that I have in my MLT)?

 

[studmonk3y]

So you're saying a bulkhead on my stainless steel stock pot? I like it. Would I have to have a false bottom in there, or would the dryer hose work (that I have in my MLT)?

well since you're not mashing in the pot anymore you shouldn't need stainless steel braid or a false bottom. Most people use a dip tube to get every little bit out. If you use one that goes to the side of the kettle, you can whirlpool the wort after chilling (stir to get a little vortex going, then if you leave it for a bit the trub should settle in the middle in a nice cone, and when you drain the kettle it leaves it behind. Although a little trub never hurt anything.

http://greatbargain.net/opencart/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=94

 

[JohnnyO]

Nice post, and looks like a good first brew day, Jay. Kudos on going all grain for your first brew! Thanks for the pictures.

 

[JayD]

Nice post, and looks like a good first brew day, Jay. Kudos on going all grain for your first brew! Thanks for the pictures.

Thanks for the responses!


Question (to all): Should I be agitating the carboy once in a while (once a day maybe)? Or just let it go undisturbed. Undisturbed is my instinct but it's worth asking I think. (searched, yes).

Also, stupid question my BS in Biology should have answered but are the yeast growing or actually multiplying? Instinct says multiplying but SWMBO says growing. And she's realllllly smart and I usually just go with what she says.

 

[passedpawn]

Undisturbed, except...

I do a little jiggle every day for the few days before I bottle. I like to get the trub that settled on the ribs of my better bottle to drop to the bottom.

The yeast are way smarter than you think. They will find the sugar. You don't need to do anything.

They yeast are multiplying (budding, to be exact). By the time they are done, there will be a huge amount of them in the bottom of your carboy. Regardless, I suggest you still go with the SWMBO on most things because she is smart, and she is the key to your happiness.

 

[JayD]

You don't need to do anything.

Awesome, not doing anything is my specialty.

 

[JayD]

Update after 8 days. Still bubbling out the blow off pretty regularly (once per second-ish) so I have just opted to not disturb it by placing the airlock on there. Been keeping it at about 70 degrees which is a little warm for these yeasts but well within range. I did change the towel because that other one staying damp was becoming sour....

it's actually much lighter than I was expecting it to be. Not something I'm worked up over though.

 

[winepiper]

Looking good! Now i appreciate that it's fun to document your first brew where something you can look into in the near future. I can say that this is an effective way of guiding newbies how to brew with the help of beautiful images.

Thanks for putting much time into this... :=)

 

[JayD]

Looking good! Now i appreciate that it's fun to document your first brew where something you can look into in the near future. I can say that this is an effective way of guiding newbies how to brew with the help of beautiful images.

Thanks for putting much time into this... :=)

It was a pleasure to put so much time into the pics and write up, as I DO know it will probably be helpful for someone doing their first brew.

Now I'm beginning (just beginning??) to think about bottling and knowing I won't have nearly enough without just getting empties from a bar (which i don't really want to do necessarily). So I got to thinking about the 5 gal kegs, knowing how ideal that would be.

I looked at Northern's setup, but couldn't really tell how much I'd need. Also, do I have to keep a 5gal keg cold? So I'd have to buy a minifridge too.... Just trying to think of cost here. But a keg system (but how to dispense) would be great for me. GREAT. Anyone care to comment on what I'd need for a complete setup?

 

[JNye]

call kegconnection.com. seriously though call them. they are honest and can help you tailor a set-up and they are priced right. upgrade the faucets. Ben will tell you that though.
and yes i like my beer cold.

 

[Mose]

If you don't have the funds available for the full keg set up then you can go to a Tap-a-draft system. I call it kegging light or JV kegging. I think a full kit runs about $70 or $80. The key savings is that it fits in a normal fridge without taking up to much room, meaning you don't need to buy a fridge. It will allow you to "keg" most of your brew and bottle the rest.

Here is just one place of many that carry it: http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/tap-a-draft-system.html

I have been using it now for a year and a half and really like it. It's not a substitution for full on kegging. I'm switching to kegging now myself, but I'll probably keep it around for brews that my wife might like but I don't want to take up a full keg for the amount of time she takes to drink a full batch.

Some folks are using some Miller contraption in the same manner here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/miller-lite-home-draft-dissected-181602/, however, it uses a different size CO2 cylinder, not a big deal.

So Congrats on the first brew and the good documentation. You sound like you have the right attitude, it's beer, how bad can I really screw it up, and if I do, it's beer. Your system will get smoother with a couple runs and you'll soon end up with 4 fridges and a freezer in your garage and a cabinet full of plastic buckets, carboys and kegs, and wonder...how did that happen.

 

[fugazzi]

Looks great! As far as kegging goes, even if you get a free minifridge and can do all the modifications yourself, the keg, co2 tank, tapper and all the other stuff will probably cost around 200. The following is the cheapest kit I've found. http://www.rebelbrewer.com/shoppingcart/products/Complete-Homebrew-Kegging-Kit.html

I currently bottle all my beer, which is easy because we make a party out of our brewing/bottling days. The easiest way to get bottles is to ask your friends to save some for you.

 

[JayD]

I have decided against the kegs for now.

Series of question, since I am nearing bottling time.

How do I get samples of the beer for testing the specific gravity, without disturbing the beer too much? (I have an autosiphon, but no wine thief). And do I return this sample to the carboy?

Can I put a small mesh item around the bottom end of the autosiphon when I start to transfer the beer, to kind of filter it a little?

BBS says primary for 2 weeks, then bottle. Since this is a BIG beer I lean toward longer in primary and 3 weeks is a given (can't bottle this weekend). And I'm tempted to go longer. Then I'm going on a week long trip... I know I can leave it in primary TOO long, but the difference in 3 weeks and... say... 5 weeks is pretty minimal right (according to my searching).

Recipe calls for 1 cup of honey before bottling. I'm tempted to let that rest for a while before bottling, for no reason in particular except that it makes sense in my head. However I am sure the honey is food for giving a nicely carbonated beer, so I guess to follow the recipe is the right way.

 

[fugazzi]

Just stick your tube in your gravity vessel, then drop it back down into your bottling bucket. Drink your sample!

I wouldn't worry about filtering, I think it would be more trouble than it's worth.

5 weeks is probably ok.

Re: honey:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/index9.html#post1114892