Valley Brewer
Member
I made this first extract brew with friends while watching a Redsox game and only a very basic knowledge of the brewing process. Basically we talked to the owner of a local brew shop for about 45 minutes, bought a kit, read the instruction manual that was supplied with the brew kit and recipe kit, then brewed. After putting the beer in the primary, I began reading up on the process...yeah, kind of backwards....
A month and a week has gone by we've been cracking a few. We mostly racked them in 1 liter bottles, along with seven 12oz "recycled" Newport Storm RI Blueberry bottles.
After a week in the primary, a week in the secondary and two plus weeks in the bottles they are extremely low in carbonation and some of the 12oz bottles have a black disk like growth floating around in them about the size of a dime.....we've been avoiding those! The beer is flat but they still taste good cold!
A few mishaps that went on during this brew:
We used a wooden spoon and continued to use the same spoon when we tried to cool the wort in a ice bath in my kitchen sink.
We added all the hops, 1oz of Willamette into the boil. The recipe called for 1/2 oz bittering for the boil and 1/2 for the aroma or last minute.
The temperature of the "cooled" wort wasn't taken, we just reduced the temperature until it felt lukewarm....yeah... we were sticking our fingers in it.
We never took an original gravity reading or proofed the yeast.
The yeast was fine and it had a pretty violent fermentation for a couple days then died down but lasted 3 or so more days. The beer stayed at a pretty constant 72-74.
Siphoned into carboy and stayed in there for another week.
Bottled in ten 1 liter bottles and the rest in the obviously not completely sanitized Newport Storm bottles. The have been sitting for 2 weeks and still aren't carbonated but taste good cold, but could be so much better carbed....I have no idea about the taste of the 12 oz.
Anyway.....if you are still reading this...Thanks to this forum and others, a "practice" run with the Golden Ale kit and maybe a little insanity I now know a bit more and am ready to rack a Honey Blond Ale partial grain kit.
During this second brew, sanitation was of extreme importance. The recipe and correct procedures were followed throughout the entire process.
Original gravity read 1.042, final was 1.013 and fermentation was violent.
Today, I had a used 5 gallon ball lock corney, a shiny 5# Co2 tank, brand new 2 stage regulator and in and out quick connect lines with picnic tap show up at my front door....just in time for my second brew to be racked.
The brew is in the corney at 30 psi at about 37 degrees. I plan on leaving it at 30 for 60 hours which is almost perfect timing for the SOX this weekend!
Comments and suggestions???????
A month and a week has gone by we've been cracking a few. We mostly racked them in 1 liter bottles, along with seven 12oz "recycled" Newport Storm RI Blueberry bottles.
After a week in the primary, a week in the secondary and two plus weeks in the bottles they are extremely low in carbonation and some of the 12oz bottles have a black disk like growth floating around in them about the size of a dime.....we've been avoiding those! The beer is flat but they still taste good cold!
A few mishaps that went on during this brew:
We used a wooden spoon and continued to use the same spoon when we tried to cool the wort in a ice bath in my kitchen sink.
We added all the hops, 1oz of Willamette into the boil. The recipe called for 1/2 oz bittering for the boil and 1/2 for the aroma or last minute.
The temperature of the "cooled" wort wasn't taken, we just reduced the temperature until it felt lukewarm....yeah... we were sticking our fingers in it.
We never took an original gravity reading or proofed the yeast.
The yeast was fine and it had a pretty violent fermentation for a couple days then died down but lasted 3 or so more days. The beer stayed at a pretty constant 72-74.
Siphoned into carboy and stayed in there for another week.
Bottled in ten 1 liter bottles and the rest in the obviously not completely sanitized Newport Storm bottles. The have been sitting for 2 weeks and still aren't carbonated but taste good cold, but could be so much better carbed....I have no idea about the taste of the 12 oz.
Anyway.....if you are still reading this...Thanks to this forum and others, a "practice" run with the Golden Ale kit and maybe a little insanity I now know a bit more and am ready to rack a Honey Blond Ale partial grain kit.
During this second brew, sanitation was of extreme importance. The recipe and correct procedures were followed throughout the entire process.
Original gravity read 1.042, final was 1.013 and fermentation was violent.
Today, I had a used 5 gallon ball lock corney, a shiny 5# Co2 tank, brand new 2 stage regulator and in and out quick connect lines with picnic tap show up at my front door....just in time for my second brew to be racked.
The brew is in the corney at 30 psi at about 37 degrees. I plan on leaving it at 30 for 60 hours which is almost perfect timing for the SOX this weekend!
Comments and suggestions???????
