First Batch and Lessons Learned

[GeekBrew]

Hi everyone. Great forum filled with amazing information. I had my first brew night last Friday in Saturday morning, and it was great. I figured I'd share a few funny notes along with a pic to make sure everything looks normal.
I purchased the morebeer premium kit when they had it as a deal of the day and I couldn't be happier. The 8.5 gallon pot seems a bit thin, but no complaints. morebeer's customer service was also a pleasure to deal with. The kit comes with their American Ale extract kit including Safale US-05.

Here are some of my funny lessons learned
- when you read on homebrewtalk that 6 hours is good time to set aside for the brew process, don't assume you can do it your first time in 4 hours. 2AM was quite a late night for this old man when i finally finished up.
- Working in the driveway, random people walking by will be interested in what you are doing. When you tell them you are making beer, they are even more interested.
- Bring cash to the propane tank exchange because their credit card machines go down.
- just because I got a good burner doesn't mean I know how to use it. Cleaning the black off the bottom and side of the pot wasn't so bad though! more oxygen next time for the burner.
- make sure the clamp holding the hose to your wort chiller is tight or at least have a screwdriver ready for when water starts shooting out!

Overall, everything went pretty smooth and now I'm just waiting to bottle. Some pics below.

 

[AJinJacksonville]

Congrats and welcome to the hobby. I don't think you'll find anyone here who hasn't had a late night/early morning brew...that lasted waaaaayyyy longer than expected!

Cheers!

 

[Dee74]

How did you like the fermonster?

 

[Rob2010SS]

Congrats on the first brew. Hope you're ready to be hooked!! What kind of fermenter is that that came with the kit?

 

[GeekBrew]

Thanks everyone.
@Rob2010SS, it is the 7 gallon Fermonster.
@Dee74, I can't compare the fermonster to anything else, but no issues with it at all. The mouth is big enough to get my arm in, and hopefully having the spigot on there will work out well for racking.

 

[GHBWNY]

That is one amazingly clear OG sample.

 

[Griffin495]

Congratulations on your first brew.

Good tip on having a screwdriver on hand for you chiller. I don't see that mentioned often, but I've had leaks before. None got in the beer as I was able to catch it in time and I always keep one on hand just in case.

 

[patthebrewer]

Nice job! and congrats

 

[65C]

looks like good beer - I find 6 hours is the min - with a couple of distractions and cleaning up properly it can easily get to 8

if I've not started by mid morning I'll do it next day ...

 

[GeekBrew]

I'm excited for this.
It looks like most people let it ferment for 14 days even if it has stopped bubbling after a few. It stopped bubbling yesterday, 4 days in, but I will wait till Saturday to take a gravity reading. Leaving it for another 7 seems to help with the clarity from what i have read. Any reasons to not leave it for 14 days?

 

[Dcpcooks]

No reason you can't leave it 14 days. Yeast continues to work its beer making magic after it stops producing co2 and alcohol. I'm a fan of three days at FG. That let's yeast reabsorb any left over byproducts from fermentation.

 

[GHBWNY]

It looks like most people let it ferment for 14 days even if it has stopped bubbling after a few. ...Any reasons to not leave it for 14 days?

Nope. Unless you're in a hurry (which is never a good thing with brewing), 14 days in primary is pretty standard. I do an FG check at 10 and another at 14. If they're the same, it means ferm is done enough to safely bottle. If they are different, wait a couple days and check again.

 

[65C]

I have been doing 3-4 week primaries - but I'm just about to get another carboy so I can extend that by a week or so

Every time I leave longer in primary the beer is getting better

 

[GeekBrew]

One week in and gravity looks good at 1.010. View attachment IMG_8239.jpg