Brewing my first solo batch this weekend

[JLeather]

Just wanted to start this thread to say hi to the forum and to chronicle my attempt-at and questions-from my first solo batch of beer. I've brewed two 5 gallon batches at a local brewing supply place (Flying Barrel in Frederick) and started slowly collecting equipment to do it on my own. I've got a propane turkey fryer burner, 7.5 gallon kettle, a couple plastic fermenter buckets, and a homemade copper wort chiller you hook up to a garden hose, plus the little stuff (bottle tree, hygrometer, etc, etc). With the great pandemic of 2020 I'm kind of stuck home alone (except for my wife and two small kids) so I'll be going at my first batch solo this weekend. Since I'm an IPA fan, and since I haven't made a mashtun yet, I've chosen the Sculpin clone extract kit from MoreBeer.com. I've got a pack of Wyeast 1056 in the fridge and some backup dry Safale US-05 packets in case it gives me trouble.

One question I have ahead of time are whether or not I should plan on racking to a secondary fermenter when I dry hop? This kit has a dry hop at ~5 days before bottling. I have some buckets with spigots and some without. I had thought about possibly doing the initial in a bucket without spigot, siphoning to a spigot bucket when I dry hop, and bottling from that? When I did the two batches at the Flying Barrel I fermented and dry hopped all in one non-spigot bucket and racked to a spigot bucket the day of bottling.

Anything I should make sure to do/not do my first solo batch? I'm going to be re-using 12 oz bottles from my first two batches, well sterilized of course. I've got PBW for the equipment and StarSan in a spray bottle. Also my house is on a well, but with carbon filters and a UV light.

 

[IslandLizard]

Welcome to HBT!

First off, avoid doing secondaries. There is nothing they cure, while they can cause problems such as oxidation and infection. There are very few exceptions, well outside regular brewing. Kit instructions are notoriously outdated, especially on secondaries.

Dry hop by tossing them loose into your primary (and only) fermenter. 5 days before packaging is a good target. They've sunk to the bottom by the time you bottle. Lift the lid just enough to toss them in. Or drop the pellets one by one through the airlock hole. That way you won't disturb the headspace the least.

Air (the oxygen in it) is bad for beer, especially hoppy ones. Try to avoid exposing you beer to it at any point after fermentation has started.

It's best to keep one bucket with a spigot dedicated for bottling. You can put Starsan in it, but don't use as a fermenter and get caught without a bottling bucket at some point because it's still fermenting beer. But there are ways to bottle straight out of a spigoted fermenter, or as you did before, straight from a racking cane.

That pack of 1056, you need to make a starter with it before pitching. Chances are it doesn't have enough cells to ferment as it is. Disregard the "best buy" date except as a reference of how old it is. Look up making yeast starters. There are various methods.
Since you have a pack of US-05, use it instead. Sprinkle on top of your chilled wort in the fermenter. Close lid, put in the airlock and place in an area that's 66F. Done!

 

[JLeather]

Thanks for the quick tips! I'm just as happy not to try racking to a secondary fermenter. One other quick question, my extract kit cautions against straining the wort when transferring from the kettle to the fermenter. In the other two batches I did the grains were done in a bag, but the boil hops were thrown in directly, and we strained the wort with a wire mesh kitchen strainer during the transfer out of the kettle. Caught a fair amount of stuff sediment that way. Is there a good reason not to do that, or what might the kit instructions be warning me against?

 

[Calder]

If you rack to secondary to dry hop, you will still need to rack to a bottling bucket to mix in he sugars. The secondary will still drop yeast that you will end up stirring back into solution.

As noted by Lizard, unless you have a reason to use a secondary - Don't!

Now I Ignore that advice and use a secondary for everything ... but I do have a reason. I try and put clean wort into the primary (strain out hops) so that the yeast cake is relatively clean. I use a secondary so that I can harvest the yeast cake from the primary before I add anything else to the beer. I don't use Irish moss/Wirfloc as one of my kids is allergic to it, so I use gelatin in the secondary of every beer to help clear the beers, and I don't want that in my yeast. Obviously I don't want dry hops, fruit, spices, oak, etc in my harvested yeast. I use yeast slurry in about 80% of my beers (cuts the cost, saves making starters all the time, and is ready for use anytime).

 

[IslandLizard]

One other quick question, my extract kit cautions against straining the wort when transferring from the kettle to the fermenter.

I don't know why they caution against that, unless the wort is still hot, the associated aeration you get from the straining is good.

Any trub from the extract is usually small, but you will dump all the boil hops into the fermenter too. As long as the wort is chilled (say below 80F) straining and aerating is fine. Maybe the kit instructions want to keep it as simple as possible?

In the other two batches I did the grains were done in a bag,

That's an all grain method called the BIAB (Brew In A Bag). The grains (which provide your sugars) need to be mashed for an hour or so, then separated from the wort, as you don't want to boil the grain, just the wort.

You're doing an extract brew here, so the mashing and boiling was done my the maltster. It was then condensed to a syrup (LME) or turned into malt powder (DME).

but the boil hops were thrown in directly, and we strained the wort with a wire mesh kitchen strainer during the transfer out of the kettle. Caught a fair amount of stuff sediment that way.

That's the correct way, hops need to be boiled or steeped in the hot wort. Straining them out makes sense, less trub in the fermenter, but it won't harm if you don't, or don't filter all of them. It will all settle out once fermentation is done. Including your dry hops, added later.

From MoreBeer's recipe instructions:
6. Add your bittering hops. Put the hops in a fine mesh nylon bag if available. If you do not have a bag add them directly to the boil.
10. Add your hops according to the recipe, with 10, 5, or 1 minute(s) left in the boil. Use fine mesh nylon hop bags if available.
12. [...] you are ready to transfer wort into fermenter. Do not attempt to strain the wort during this transfer *1.

Addendums:
*1 While transferring from kettle to fermenter there is no need to strain the wort. Use fine mesh hop bags to retain most of the vegetable matter from the hops.​

As you can see, using a bag for the hops is optional (my emphasis).
Most brewers don't use bags. Some do, usually because they use a plate chiller that will get clogged up sending hop pulp through it.
Using an immersion chiller, you may throw them in loose or bag, your choice.

When you bag the hops, the bags should be weighed down somewhat (a few glass marbles, stainless fitting, etc.), so they stay submerged and won't float along the surface. They also need to be "massaged" or lifted and drained throughout the boil/steep/hopstand to exchange the hoppy wort inside the bag with fresh from the kettle. Bags are fairly permeable, but can use a little help, IMO.

 

[JLeather]

What's the highest OG I can pitch US-05 into dry? This beer is going to have an OG of ~1.070...

 

[IslandLizard]

What's the highest OG I can pitch US-05 into dry? This beer is going to have an OG of ~1.070...

1 pack is good for 5 gallons of 1.060. The manufacturer now recommends to sprinkle dry on top of the wort surface. They seem to have steered away from re-hydrating before pitching as they used to recommend. Not sure why.

If you happen to have 2 packs, pitch around 1 and a half pack. Seal the leftover pack well, by rolling the flap over a few times, tape down and stick in a ziplock bag and back into the freezer. Keeping the content of the opened pack dry is crucial.

Like this:
Remove from fridge > sanitize > let dry for 30' or so make sure it's dry > snip off corner > sprinkle half out (estimate) > squeeze out air > roll up the flap a few times over itself > tape down > into ziplock > squeeze out air > seal > freezer.
Should stay good for another 3-6 months.

If you only have 1 pack, you can make a starter with it to increase cell count, but it takes a few days. You need some DME and a gallon jug.

 

[JLeather]

I'm in good shape, I've got 6 packs. Thanks for the info!

 

[IslandLizard]

I'm in good shape, I've got 6 packs. Thanks for the info!

Smart man, smart brewer!

 

[IslandLizard]

When I did the two batches at the Flying Barrel I fermented and dry hopped all in one non-spigot bucket and racked to a spigot bucket the day of bottling.

That's the typical way to bottle. You add your priming solution to the spigoted bottling bucket and rack your beer on top, with the hose curled so it mixes in the small whirlpool. A quick stir to make sure the sugar is equally dispersed, and bottle away.

Anything I should make sure to do/not do my first solo batch? I'm going to be re-using 12 oz bottles from my first two batches, well sterilized of course. I've got PBW for the equipment and StarSan in a spray bottle. Also my house is on a well, but with carbon filters and a UV light.

You can reuse bottles indefinitely. Make sure they're clean, then sanitized.
We really don't sterilize anything in brewing unless you use an autoclave or pressure canner. We merely clean well, and sanitize.

Before I kegged I always used a bottle brush and a scoop of cheap, $1 a pound, hot Washing Soda solution (basically the precursor of Oxiclean but without the oxygen). Rinse on the jet bottle washer then into the bucket with Starsan. 50 frigging bottles each time, but it was fun.
My wife helped with retrieving and draining bottles from the Starsan bucket while adding new ones. Then capping as soon as they were filled. Eh, about an hour of teamwork, 2 glasses of beer, and 2 cases of the new beer as the result.

Make sure to sanitize the bottles thoroughly, I'm not much for spraying Starsan into bottles. If I were a bottle, I'd prefer dunking.

Depending on your source, well water can be hard. That may cause some issues with brewing. But if your beer is fine right now, leave it be, something to work on later.

I worked with a guy who homebrewed at Flying Barrel. His beer was always very good, as were his parties.
I wonder if FB uses an RO system.

 

[bkboiler]

so for your first Solo brew there will be nobody else around to lend you a Han?

Haha, jokes aside... best advice: clear your schedule and start early. don't stress yourself out by agreeing to meet somebody later in the day, that way you can take it slow and enjoy the process. Brewing takes patience. And your patience will be rewarded... Reach that zen state and just relax when you're brewing! It'll go great!

 

[JLeather]

Well, it's all over but the crying I suppose My day was hectic, then relaxing, then hectic again. This morning I did a dry-run to check the equipment out. I found that my brew kettle valve was oily smelling (apparently a somewhat common issue with the Bayou Classic valve) so I had to disassemble and clean all the assembly lube out of it. I also found that my turkey frier burner wouldn't stay lit with my kettle on it so I had to disable the thermocouple safety. I boiled a kettle full of just water to check for leaks and to make sure the thermometer was fairly accurate (close enough). After that I cleaned everything for the first time and finally settled in for a real brew. Couldn't have picked a better day for it. Spent a nice 90 minutes smoking a good cigar and watching the temps. All went well until I put the chiller in the wort. The instructions said to put the chiller in for the last 20 minutes of the boil. I've never done it that way before, previously I've just sanitized it and chilled the wort in the bucket after the transfer, but this sounded like a good idea so I gave it a shot. When the chiller got hot one of the hose clamps let go and the outlet hose popped off. Could have been worse, at least I wasn't running water in it at the time, but I did have to try and replace the clamp on the scalding hot chiller with only ~5 minutes left in the boil. All worked well in the end. I pitched 1 1/2 packs of the US-05 dry with the wort at 73°, waited about 20 minutes and gave it a stir, and then capped it off. One quick question about the pitching, however. I had a good bit of foam on top that prevented a lot of the yeast from getting all the way down to the liquid. Should I do something about that next time, or is the foam good enough to get the yeast started?

My view for the afternoon:

My homemade chiller (the clear hose is the one that came off when hot):

Finished product (this was after stirring the yeast in, the foam was much worse before):

 

[jschein]

Solid brew day!
Looks great, now patience is the key.

 

[JLeather]

I have a question about next steps. The airlock is bubbling along nicely, started about 12 hours in. The bucket is in my basement which is fairly cool year round (roughly 64* at the moment). I've got my starting OG, 1.070. I know it will be at least another 7-10 days before it's probably finished. The problem is my bucket does not have a spigot, and I don't have any CO2. I figure I'll take an SG reading when I open it and dry hop. I don't want to open the bucket any more than I have to, but I don't want to dry-hop 5 days from what I think will be bottling and find that my SG is still dropping and end up having to leave the dry hops in too long. What happens if the dry hops stay in more than 5 days, and is there a good SG I should see when I open it for dry hopping that means it's probably finished?

 

[Jag75]

If I were you I'd let it sit for 3 weeks , 2 weeks at min. If you choose 2 weeks , on day 9 I would dry hop and use a thief for a quick sample to check gravity . If you let it go for 3 weeks , dry hop on day 16 . I personally go 3 weeks . Especially if your gonna bottle .

 

[IslandLizard]

You can "suck-siphon" a hydrometer sample out of your bucket through the airlock hole with ~2 feet of skinny tubing (5/16" OD) that fits through the rubber grommet after removing the airlock temporarily. That way you disturb the fermenter headspace only minimally. Do that after 2 weeks. If it's at or near your expected FG, dry hop away, and bottle 5 days later.

 

[Jag75]

You can "suck-siphon" a hydrometer sample out of your bucket through the airlock hole with ~2 feet of skinny tubing (5/16" OD) that fits through the rubber grommet after removing the airlock temporary. That way you disturb the fermenter headspace only minimally. Do that after 2 weeks. If it's at or near your expected FG, dry hop away, and bottle 5 days later.

This gives me flash backs of siphoning gas tanks lol.......my own btw. Except beer taste way better

 

[IslandLizard]

This gives me flash backs of siphoning gas tanks lol.......my own btw. Except beer taste way better

Funny to meet someone here who's been there too. I guess it stuck with us. Oh yeah, beer is infinitely better tasting.

But seriously, it's a simple, easy, and almost non-intrusive way to obtain a sample (and taster) from any active fermenter. Just don't let it flow back, to prevent a potential infection. Pull the tube out of the fermenter in one swift motion. Done!
Instead, one could use a large syringe, but what's the fun in that?

 

[JLeather]

If I were you I'd let it sit for 3 weeks , 2 weeks at min. If you choose 2 weeks , on day 9 I would dry hop and use a thief for a quick sample to check gravity . If you let it go for 3 weeks , dry hop on day 16 . I personally go 3 weeks . Especially if your gonna bottle .

I'm gonna go for 3 total. Airlock is still bubbling. I'll brew another recipe this coming weekend (the 9th) and bottle the first batch the following weekend. I have a Brut IPA kit as well.

 

[JLeather]

So...I was gonna go for 3 weeks but I had a family emergency; I'm outta beer! Signs were looking good on my IPA so I decided to check the FG today and if it was in spec it was time to dry hop. Sprayed everything down with starsan and popped the lid because I don't have any other way to get to it. Sample taken with my new glass thief. Only hang-up was my graduated cylinder was too short for an FG sample so I ended up reading it in the plastic sleeve the thief came in! FG reading 1.011, which is a little over my ABV target at 7.75%. Threw the dry hops in. I'll check it again on Sunday before I bottle, but I believe she's done.

It's a little cloudier than I'd hoped. My first time using whirlfloc, @ 15 min. left in the boil. Did I do something wrong?

 

[Jag75]

After priming(2/3weeks) and then spending a couple days in the fridge sediment will drop.

 

[AJinJacksonville]

Prior to bottling (or kegging in the future), and once you have a fermentation chamber or a method to do so, you can cold crash prior to packaging. That will also help settle the sediment. Jag is right...once you bottle it, condition and cool, most of that sediment will drop to the bottom of the bottle.

Not sure I saw a response to your question about pitching the S-05, but I routinely dump the pouch into the foam after I strain the wort from the kettle. Have never had to re-pitch dry yeast that way. They find what they're looking for...haha.

 

[IslandLizard]

FG reading 1.011 [...]
It's a little cloudier than I'd hoped.

Since you've got the lid off already, it's high time to package!

popped the lid because I don't have any other way to get to it.

You can snake a short (2') piece of skinny 5/16" OD hose halfway down the (grommeted) airlock hole and suck-siphon a hydrometer sample out.

[EDIT: Addition]
Once you have enough, stop the flow by pulling the hose out of the fermenter quickly, don't let it flow back.

 

[Saffersa]

Well, it's all over but the crying I suppose My day was hectic, then relaxing, then hectic again. This morning I did a dry-run to check the equipment out. I found that my brew kettle valve was oily smelling (apparently a somewhat common issue with the Bayou Classic valve) so I had to disassemble and clean all the assembly lube out of it. I also found that my turkey frier burner wouldn't stay lit with my kettle on it so I had to disable the thermocouple safety. I boiled a kettle full of just water to check for leaks and to make sure the thermometer was fairly accurate (close enough). After that I cleaned everything for the first time and finally settled in for a real brew. Couldn't have picked a better day for it. Spent a nice 90 minutes smoking a good cigar and watching the temps. All went well until I put the chiller in the wort. The instructions said to put the chiller in for the last 20 minutes of the boil. I've never done it that way before, previously I've just sanitized it and chilled the wort in the bucket after the transfer, but this sounded like a good idea so I gave it a shot. When the chiller got hot one of the hose clamps let go and the outlet hose popped off. Could have been worse, at least I wasn't running water in it at the time, but I did have to try and replace the clamp on the scalding hot chiller with only ~5 minutes left in the boil. All worked well in the end. I pitched 1 1/2 packs of the US-05 dry with the wort at 73°, waited about 20 minutes and gave it a stir, and then capped it off. One quick question about the pitching, however. I had a good bit of foam on top that prevented a lot of the yeast from getting all the way down to the liquid. Should I do something about that next time, or is the foam good enough to get the yeast started?

My view for the afternoon:
View attachment 677417

My homemade chiller (the clear hose is the one that came off when hot):
View attachment 677418

Finished product (this was after stirring the yeast in, the foam was much worse before):
View attachment 677421

Hi jLeather
Love your view, I would find that quite distracting I think.
I've also just started brewing my own, and i also have a home-made soft-drawn copper wort-chiller. A mate who's a plumber suggested that I made sure my inlet and outlet connecions for the chiller were situated on the outside of the brew kettle. It was a geat suggetion. He also thinks that the soft-drawn copper is better at heat transference than the standard copper water pipes.

 

[Saffersa]

Prior to bottling (or kegging in the future), and once you have a fermentation chamber or a method to do so, you can cold crash prior to packaging. That will also help settle the sediment. Jag is right...once you bottle it, condition and cool, most of that sediment will drop to the bottom of the bottle.

Not sure I saw a response to your question about pitching the S-05, but I routinely dump the pouch into the foam after I strain the wort from the kettle. Have never had to re-pitch dry yeast that way. They find what they're looking for...haha.

Hi AJ
I have a question that id like to ask, as it seems im a few weeks behind JLeather, but would it work to syphon from the fermenter to a smaller carbouy in order to do a proper cold crash? I dont have large enough chiller space to put the 26L fermenter in, but was wondering about doing the cc in something smaller. Obviously increased risk of oxidization in the transfer if not too careful, but id really like to clear up some of the haze.

 

[IslandLizard]

Obviously increased risk of oxidization in the transfer if not too careful, but id really like to clear up some of the haze.

Not AJ, but my take is that you can't taste haze, while oxidation is real, the more so with hoppier beers.
Therefore, don't transfer to secondaries or cold crash vessels, like a keg, unless you can do it fully under CO2.

Even filling a keg should be done in certain ways, and none are with an opened lid.

 

[AJinJacksonville]

^^^ What Lizard said

 

[JLeather]

Catching back up with this post. The beer turned out great. This pic is from the first bottle I chilled and opened, which was the last one out of the bucket. Subsequent bottles have been clearer.

I fixed my chiller issue with some compression fittings. I also added a valve at the chiller so I can adjust the flow and start/stop it at the kettle instead of having to run over to the hose spigot.

 

[AJinJacksonville]

Looks great! Unless I'm submitting a brew for competition, I'm completely fine with cloudy beer. So are the people I'm giving it too