First batch

[gothmog]

Hello everyone! Just started this homebrewing thing, and couldn't be more excited about it. My out of state BIL has been making wine, mead and braggat for a while now, and convinced me it was simple. Anywho, got all my equipment, starter kit, 6.5 and 5 gal carboys, 5 and 7.5 gal pots, an immersion chiller and a turkey fryer burner about a week and a half ago and got right to it. Brewed a Sweet Milk Stout on Fri afternoon, and put it into the 6.5 primary. Noticed that even though I keep my house at 74 deg, and tested a cup of water in the basement at 68 deg, the stick on thermometer on the carboy read 78-80 deg. I attributed this to the yeast working. When I left for the firehouse on Sat morn at 0630, it was bubbling happily away. Wifey tells me that when she left the house around 1300, she smelled beer in the basement. I came home around 0730 Sun morn to find the bung and airlock blown out by krausen. Luckily I had wrapped it all with a black fleece jacket to help keep light from it, even though it was in a windowless room. The jacket held everything close and didn't allow it to re decorate the basement for me. Didn't lose much, just some foam. Cleaned and sanitized and placed airlock back in, and it continued bubbling. PHEW! I was a little worried, but it seems OK. Gonna let it sit till this mon or tues, then put it in secondary for about another week before I bottle it. I CAN'T WAIT TO TRY IT!! Just thought I'd share.

 

[beerkrump]

Welcome to the site and insanity.

I wouldn't worry about moving the beer to a secondary for a couple of reasons. Firstly. a secondary fermenter's most common use is long term aging. This would be if you were making a lager or high alcohol beer, like a RIS. Another purpose of the secondary is the addition of some flavoring agent( fruit, oak, spices, dry hopping,...) Some people also use the secondary fermenter as a 'bright tank' to let there beer clarify. I don't think any of these would apply to your stout.

Next, and probably most importantly, you don't want to rush your beer out of the primary fermenter. Yeast needs to go through several phases to make your beer the best it can be. The last phase is after fermentation. The yeast will go into dormancy when the food source runs out. Prior to dormancy, the yeast will absorb certain compounds need to reawaken. Luckily, these compounds are also some of the same chemicals that will produce off flavors in the beer. Give the beer at least two weeks in the primary and check the gravity of the beer on successive days. If you've been able to wait and the gravity is stable, time to bottle.

I remember when I started I was on my own and it took me ages to learn how much better my beer was when I let it condition properly. Now, I give most beers 3-4 weeks in the primary and 3-4 weeks in the bottle before I start getting into them. I'd say that the top three things to learn as a new brewer is proper sanitation, fermentation temperature control, and patience. If you get these mastered, and they aren't difficult, you will soon be turning out awesome brew.

(Damn. If I keep rambling like this, all I'd have to do is start referencing some of my old threads and I'd be Revvy, Jr. )

 

[phatuna]

Goth, first off - welcome and great job on your first batch.

Sounds like your minor incident was taken care of and good thing you didn't have beer all over the basement, wifey's (or SWMBO as some call them on this site) don't usually take kindly to that one

some thoughts for your consideration, you might look into keeping your fermentation temps down a bit more. Usually mid to upper 60'sF for ales. And as you noted above, the beer temperature and room temperature are often 5 - 10 degrees different during fermentation. You want your beer to be in the 60's.

There are many ways to easily achieve that. One is by putting your fermenter in a larger container, putting some water in there along with some ice. put a t-shirt over your fermenter and a fan pointed in that direction. The t-shirt will wick up water and the fan will evaporate it, instant air conditioner.

Here is how Revvy does his:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/temperature-control-questions-125541/

Best of luck to you, please post back often!

 

[aardvark830]

off topic, but what does SWMBO stand for? I never saw that until I came here...

 

[Arkador]

Someone Who Makes Beer Often

I'll use it in a sentance....
"SWMBO made a RIS with her new HERMS, her LHBS sold her the wrong hops... she decided to RDWHAHB'"

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f45/swmbo-129027/

 

[Vuarra]

LMAO!!!

You can either look up the acronyms, or keep your eyes peeled. I've usually (but not in her presence) call her She Who Must Be Obeyed. But that's more of an in joke than a lifestyle invitiation

 

[gothmog]

So I tried my brew for the first time yesterday afternoon. WOW! It was great! Can't wait for the next few weeks in the bottle. Final gravity was 18-20, so I guess I'm looking at an alcohol content of 5-5.5%. It's really dark, can't even see through it at all. Now for something real hoppy...

 

[Whut]

Now for something real hoppy...

Hops . . . . . . Good!