Brewing my first beer- strong golden ale- Need more info

[saeven]

Hey fellas. Just decided to jump into the homebrew game. I am a huge fan of high octane/BBA beers, but I'm trying to start easier with something I will still like to drink. I am trying an all-extract Strong Golden ale at ~7.5%.

The recipe says this "Substitute 8 lb (3.61 kg) Pilsner liquid malt extract (LME) for the 11.5 lb (5.22 kg) of Belgian Pils malt. Boil the LME in up to 6 gallons (22.7 liters) of water for an hour, following the hops schedule. Chill to 66°F (19°C), top up with water to 5.25 gallons (19.9 liters) if necessary, pitch the yeast, and ferment to completion. Rack to a secondary fermentor, then mix the honey with warm water and add to the secondary. Allow the secondary fermentation to complete and final gravity to stabilize before packaging."

I mainly need some additional help/info with the bolded parts. I plan on doing a yeast starter with a 3L flask a few days before. How long does pitching the yeast take? And when will I know fermentation is complete?

Rack just means move to a secondary fermentor I suppose? Also, how long does the secondary fermentation take?

Thanks yall. I bought the 10.5 gallon Anvil electric brewing kettle, along with the new Fermzilla. Hoping to be able to use both of these for a few years while I get better.

-Dan

 

[Boleslaus]

Greetings fellow Dan. As you state 48 hrs or so is fine on the starter. Just swirl it up and dump it into your wort. Use your hydrometer to check fermentation - a couple days of stable readings if you are impatient - or just leave it 3 weeks. If you want to rack it after primary fermentation (aka stable hydrometer readings) you can transfer from primary vessel to secondary vessel and leave the yeast behind, however I personally don't secondary beers unless I will be extended aging them. You can add the honey towards the end of primary (I would do it while fermentation is still active - so maybe 3-5 days in).

 

[saeven]

Thanks for the info! Also it says "follow the hops schedule." This is what it says :
1 oz (28 g) Target at 60 minutes
2 oz (57 g) Saaz at 5 minutes

Does that mean as soon as I add the malt extract, 5 min in I add the Saaz hops and at 60 minutes in I add the Target hops? That would mean as soon as I add the Target hops, I chill to 66F, top with water, add the yeast starter, add the honey 3-5 days in, and wait 3 weeks or until the hydrometer readings are constant. Then its done? Just confirming. Thank you!!!!!!!

 

[camonick]

Thanks for the info! Also it says "follow the hops schedule." This is what it says :
1 oz (28 g) Target at 60 minutes
2 oz (57 g) Saaz at 5 minutes

Does that mean as soon as I add the malt extract, 5 min in I add the Saaz hops and at 60 minutes in I add the Target hops? That would mean as soon as I add the Target hops, I chill to 66F, top with water, add the yeast starter, add the honey 3-5 days in, and wait 3 weeks or until the hydrometer readings are constant. Then its done? Just confirming. Thank you!!!!!!!

Hop additions are always listed as time remaining in the boil. In your recipe, you will boil the Target for 60 minutes and add the Saaz when there are 5 minutes left to go.

 

[VikeMan]

Thanks for the info! Also it says "follow the hops schedule." This is what it says :
1 oz (28 g) Target at 60 minutes
2 oz (57 g) Saaz at 5 minutes

Does that mean as soon as I add the malt extract, 5 min in I add the Saaz hops and at 60 minutes in I add the Target hops?

It means you add the Target with 60 minutes remaining in the boil and the Saaz with 5 minutes remaining in the boil.

 

[saeven]

Good thing I asked!
And I guess since it takes 3 weeks-ish for the entire fermentation, and I can add the honey straight into the primary fermentation vessel, there is absolutely no point to moving it to a secondary fermentor?

 

[VikeMan]

And I guess since it takes 3 weeks-ish for the entire fermentation, and I can add the honey straight into the primary fermentation vessel, there is absolutely no point to moving it to a secondary fermentor?

IMO, no.

 

[saeven]

Awesome, thanks. Also I've heard of the terms "needs to be lagered," "bottle conditioned", "in the cellar for 4-6 weeks" .. What does each of these mean and when are they required/recommended?

 

[VikeMan]

"needs to be lagered"

Stored cold for some amount of time (weeks or months), so that stuff settles out of suspension. Usually recommended for lagers. Some ales can also benefit.

"bottle conditioned"

Carbonated in the bottle with sugar (as opposed to being kegged and force carbonated, for example)

"in the cellar for 4-6 weeks"

Would need to see the context to understand this.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Thanks for the info! Also it says "follow the hops schedule." This is what it says :
1 oz (28 g) Target at 60 minutes
2 oz (57 g) Saaz at 5 minutes

Does that mean as soon as I add the malt extract, 5 min in I add the Saaz hops and at 60 minutes in I add the Target hops? That would mean as soon as I add the Target hops, I chill to 66F, top with water, add the yeast starter, add the honey 3-5 days in, and wait 3 weeks or until the hydrometer readings are constant. Then its done? Just confirming. Thank you!!!!!!!

60 minutes means after the protein break. Begin counting the 60 minutes (time before doesn't count in the 60 minutes) once the foop is skimmed and the brew kettle is no longer near boil over.

5 minutes means, with 5 minutes to go until the end of the boil.

 

[rburrelli]

foop is skimmed

Do you skim your hot break?

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Just the dark colored foam (aka foop)

 

[saeven]

Also the recipe says to chill to 66F, pitch the yeast, and then ferment to completion (which sounds like that could be as much as 3 weeks). You would just keep it in the fermentor for that long and just keep it at RT i guess?

 

[VikeMan]

Also the recipe says to chill to 66F, pitch the yeast, and then ferment to completion (which sounds like that could be as much as 3 weeks). You would just keep it in the fermentor for that long and just keep it at RT i guess?

Ideally you'd probably want to keep the internal temperature of the fermenter at about the same temperature as during active fermentation. But for your first batch, I'm assuming you don't have a fermentation temperature control setup. If that's the case, try to find a location with a lowish ambient temp (say 66F or so) for active fermentation, then move it to a 70F-72F or so location as it winds down. During the most active part of fermentation, the internal temperature will be several degrees higher than ambient.

I don't know what yeast strain you're using, but I'm assuming it's a Belgian strain, so you'll probably be ok if temperatures get a bit warm. For most American/English strains, you'd probably want to target (ambient) temps a little lower than mentioned above.

 

[saeven]

Yeah it doesn't seem like there's a perfect option for temperature control. The options I've seen:

1) Put your container in a fridge big enough to hold it (that also has to be modified to let you control the temp) ($$$)
2) Use something like the immersion pro ($$$)
3) Use a coil and ice and have to refill your cooler with ice daily with no real way to keep it at a constant temp ($)
4) Some sort of glycol chiller ($$$$$)

Anyone have any additional ideas that aren't crazy expensive and don't require a ton of mechanical skill? I feel like the current front runner is a fridge but finding one that can fit the fermzilla isn't easy.. Need a freezerless fridge that's tall. I'm staying up to date on craigslist but no luck yet.

 

[VikeMan]

Need a freezerless fridge that's tall.

Or an upright fridge-less freezer.

 

[saeven]

And can all fridges and freezers be outfitted in order to give you full temperature control?

 

[VikeMan]

And can all fridges and freezers be outfitted in order to give you full temperature control?

You don't actually need to modify the fridge/freezer. You just plug it into an external thermostatic temp controller, and put the controller's temperature probe in a thermowell in the fermenter. Or tape the probe to the side of the fermenter. The controller will turn the power to the fridge/freezer on and off as needed.