First Brew Day Advice?

[RMCN]

I'm approaching my first brew day. I have been gathering supplies such as Brewers Best Starter Kit, Brew Kettle (Turkey Fryer), Hydrometer Test Jar, Floating Thermometer, Strainer, and some other random things. I have read Home Brewing Beer By James Houston and How To Brew is on deck By Palmer. I have a good idea of how things should go at this point but I'd like some pointers from you guys. Below is the first recipe I plan on going with.

BREW IT YOURSELF - AMERICAN PALE ALE

OG 1.053 FG 1.013

SIMILAR TO SIERRA NEVADA PALE ALE, FULL SAIL PALE ALE AND STONE PALE ALE

KIT INCLUDES:

7.50 POUNDS LIGHT EXTRACT
1 PACKET BURTON WATER SALTS
1.75 OUNCES OF AHTANUM (A, see instructions)
1.00 OUNCES OF CASCADE (B, see instructions)
1.00 OUNCES OF CENTENNIAL (C, see instructions)
1.00 OUNCES OF GALENA (D, see instructions)
AHTANUM WILL SHIP IN TWO 1 OUNCE PACKAGES.

YOU WILL NEED TO SELECT YOUR CHOICE OF YEAST BELOW. OUR RECIPE SUGGESTS THE USE OF NOTTINGHAM, WYEAST (1056, 1272, 1332) OR WHITE LABS (WLP001, WL008, WLP051).


Which yeast would you go with? Any other ideas to make this process go smoothly?

Thanks In Advance!

 

[ong]

Nottingham or US-05 (dry yeasts) will be a nice easy choice for that style and your first brew. I would suggest US-05 over Nottingham for its cleanness. Ideally you would rehydrate the yeast in a cup of 90 degree water for 20-30 minutes before you pour it into the cooled wort.

 

[jekeane]

Do you have a way to control your fermentation temperatures? That will be the number 1 thing you can do to make a better beer. Swamp cooler (tub with an ice bath), or fridge/freezer with a temperature controller are two options.

Brewday Checklist & Notes like the ones found here: are helpful

As for your yeast choice pick the one that you can keep in the recommended temp ranges for fermentation for example Nottingham likes temps in the 57-70° range and ideally towards the lower 60-68° range. Remember that range is the beer temperature not the air temperature. If it is 70° inside its safe to assume your beer temp is at least 75° which will create off flavors using nottingham. Most of the liquid strains you have listed prefer that 60-68° window as well I believe.

 

[mrdail87]

Nottingham or US-05 (dry yeasts) will be a nice easy choice for that style and your first brew. I would suggest US-05 over Nottingham for its cleanness. Ideally you would rehydrate the yeast in a cup of 90 degree water for 20-30 minutes before you pour it into the cooled wort.

I would agree, US-05 is good choice for your first brew. I've never hydrated it myself, but it's a very hardy strain and can survive a wide temperature range. Because of that I think it's your best choice for your first brew.

It also gives good crisp flavors, which is good for pale ale.

 

[RMCN]

US-05 it is then, I have actually built a keezer already and that was my next question. Can I use it as my fermentation chamber? I built a temp controller from the STC1000 for it.

 

[duboman]

I would go with 05 for the yeast and personally leave out the Burton Salts package if you have no idea about your water chemistry, it could make a desirable beer no so desirable having no idea what's in it and how it may react with your source water.


Sent from the Commune

 

[theashman661]

Advise: sanitize, don't drink too much, and have fun!!!

 

[pat1268]

Second that mash man!


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[RMCN]

Thanks for all the advice, I'll be sure to post how it went. Thanks

 

[RMCN]

So I'm plugging all of my ingredients into the BeerSmith App. I plan on brewing tonight. The IBU rating is at almost 90IBUs with this recipe, although it should be between 30-40IBUs is there something I'm missing or something I'm doing incorrectly?

What is the easiest way to clean all of the equipment once day one of brewing is complete?

Thanks!

 

[rekoob]

And after all is said and done, let us know how it went.

 

[number40fan]

I wouldn't worry about the calculator you are using. These kits are pretty much trouble free. Follow the directions and it should turn out fine.

As for cleaning. Lick it! Is it clean enough that you would lick it again? Hot water, soap, bleach is what I started out using. First three batches using this method were fine. Switched to Star-San for sanitizing and things haven't changed other than the price of sanitizing.

 

[EVILsteve]

You look like your on the right track so far. Are you dry hopping any of these hop varieties? sometimes I will rack to 5 one gallon jugs and just play around with some different hops or amounts in each.



My best advice for brew day is Dont Panic.

Sanitation is important and cleaning your equipment after your brew is equally important. places like around rivets on your brewpot, spigots and threads on lids are easily missed and wort is a perfect environment for bacterias and molds to grow between brews that could possibly spoil your next batch.

Follow directions on the bottle for cleaners and sanitizers. Don't use 5x more than you need like I did it, This can leave residues and won't make anything any more sanitized. I like oxyclean and starsan, dish soap for my hands and a dish of sanitizer to keep my hands wet when I'm touching things like funnels, stoppers etc.

An infected batch is a beginners worst fear. Well I've done some really stupid things like sucked on siphon tubes and haven't had a bad batch yet. Don't mistake the importance of sanitation just take reasonable precautions and everything will be smooth sailing. Most important, Dont panic

 

[kingwood-kid]

Leave yourself more time than you think you'll need. Clean as you go. Don't try to do so many things at one time that you lose track of something. A watched pot never boils over.

 

[CanAusBrewer]

You want to make sure you have the timing of the hop additions as per instructions. One ounce of hops boiled for 60 min will give far more IBUs than the same amount boiled for 10 min. Another source of error could be your wort volume. You will get greater attenuation of your hops in a greater volume of wort. If you have all that correct than maybe someone else might have a better reason for the discrepancy.

 

[RMCN]

Ok thanks, I didn't have time last night to brew. I felt like I was going to have to rush it so I put it off until next week. I'll give it a shot I'm probably misusing the brew smith calc. Thanks again

 

[brewingupward]

RMCN - As far as cleaning after brewday is over goes I wouldn't overthink it. Just use some soap and water and elbow grease. Cleaning in sink is fine but doing it outdoors with a hose can be helpful as well.

Starsan is without a doubt the easiest way to ensure your equipment is ready to go. As was mentioned already - just take reasonable precautions and you'll be fine.

Yeast - Safeale US-05 is an awesome yeast and if you forget to rehydrate I wouldn't sweat it. I've never rehydrated in over 20 or 30 uses of US-05 and never had a problem. It is better to rehydrate - but seems unnecessary is all.

If you're pushing out brewday be sure your hops are in the freezer and your yeast stays in the fridge! Don't want those things going bad.

For an extract brew I think 3.5 hrs is conservative depending on how fast you can cool the wort.

 

[LKABrewer]

Here are some helpful hints for your first brew:


Boiling
- If steeping grain, do not go above 170°. 160° is better.
- Remove the pot from the heat before adding the fermentables
-Watch for the boil-over! Do not add first hops until after boil-over or you may lose them.
- If bagging hops, leave plenty of room for expansion and flow
- Add worflock/Irish moss and yeast nutrient with 10 minutes left in the boil
- Leave the immersion chiller/spoon in the boil for the last 10 minutes to sterilize

Sanitization

- You cannot sanitize dirty items – cleaning and sanitizing are separate steps
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]PBW / Oxyclean / Sun cleaner are all percarbonate cleansers.
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]Star-san / IOStar / Iodophor are sanitizers
- Anything that touches your beer after the flame has been turned off must be sanitized
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]Spoons, transfer tubing, sampling instruments, etc.
- Star-san lasts a while as long as it stays clean (under 3.0pH)
- Use a spray bottle to sanitize on the go
- Don’t fear the foam – Do not rinse.

Cooling a Partial Boil
-Put pot in a sink/tub of cold water
- Stir the wort while changing/cooling water around it
- Add wort to sanitized primary fermenter (Try to get below 100°)
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]This is the one point where splashing the wort and introducing oxygen is desirable.
- Top off with water from fridge to get wort to 70° or below before pitching yeast

Managing Fermentation
- Re-hydrate your yeast in sanitized water (not RO or DI water)
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]80° water, let sit for 20 minutes, swirl, then pitch
- Yeast is exothermic – it will generate heat (6-10° above ambient)
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]Control/Monitor beer temperature, not ambient
- Temperature swings are bad
- Use a swamp cooler
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]Get a big tub filled with 10-15 gal of cool water
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]Put fermentor inside the tub
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]If needed, swap out frozen water bottles to control the tub temperature
- Use a temperature controlled fermentation vessel
- You may need a blow-off tube

Packaging Beer
- Make sure primary fermentation is finished
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]Hydrometer sample 3 days apart has not changed
- Carefully rack beer to bottling bucket
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]You do not want to introduce any oxygen
- Mic 1oz/gal of priming sugar with 1 cup water and boil
[FONT=&quot]o [/FONT]More or less to affect carbonation
- Make sure priming sugar is evenly mixed
- Keep at 70-80° for 2-3 weeks
- Refrigerate for 24-48 hours before sampling
- The longer the beer stays in the fridge, the tighter the trub on the bottom

 

[Transamguy77]

To me one thing I always recommend is WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN! After a few batches it will run together an you won't be able to remember what you did that you want to change or keep the same about your process. If you go to Brewersfriend.com they have a brew day checklist (among other things) that is great for beginners.

 

[RMCN]

Well, I finally brewed. Started the hopping with a solid boil over, but got it under control pretty quickly. Otherwise I followed the recipe to the "T". I was able to cool the wort in 33 mins which is way longer than I thought would take. And took my OG after putting in the fermenting bucket. Now my issue is, I have about 5.5 gallons in the bucket and my OG was .95 and the recipe called for 1.053... Is this an issue?

I took lots of notes and I learned a lot. I cannot wait to brew my second batch.

 

[CanAusBrewer]

Did you take the OG reading before or after topping up your fermenter with water? If you took it before dilution that would explain why it was so high. Could also be that the wort wasn't fully mixed with the top up water when you took the sample. You should be pretty much spot on if you're using DME and not mashing any grain.

 

[RMCN]

I boiled 6 gallons, so I did it all at once vs adding water at the end. I took the reading after transferring to the fermenting bucket. I did kind of skim the top of the beer with the turkey baster to get a reading and I used a very thin/narrow tube(container for floating thermometer) for the hydrometer to sit in to get the OG reading. I used a Liqued Malt Extract, and did not do any specialty grains or mashing.