tag0304
Active Member
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2014
- Messages
- 34
- Reaction score
- 3
Ok I finally got my first batch in the primary. Other than helping my dad 20+ years ago when he got into brewing this is my first time on my own. Started with a basic extract kit. Brewers Best American Light.
I started with about 6.3 gallons of water. I had read some online that average is 1 gallon loss an hour boil. Some people said they hit the 5 perfect with 6 gallons, and others with 6.5 gallons start. I went in the middle. Everything went perfect (in my newbie eyes). I followed the schedule and hit all the times correct. I know my turkey fryer and have used it lots so I was able to control any boil overs with quick adjustments with the burners. Got close once to foaming over but corrected quickly.
FERMENTABLES
3.3 lb. Light LME
1.0 lb. Pilsen DME
8 oz. Corn Sugar
8 oz. Rice Syrup Solids
HOPS
.5 oz. Brewer’s Gold
.5 oz. Cluster
Schedule
1. Add .5 oz. Brewer’s Gold hops
2. Boil 40 minutes
3. Add 1 lb. DME, 8 oz. Corn Sugar
and 8 oz. Rice Syrup Solids
4. Boil 5 minutes
5. Add .5 oz. Cluster hops
6. Boil final 10 minutes
7. Terminate boil
Everything above went on schedule. One thing I can say, it being over 20 years since helping my dad so I dont even remember much about it. But the smell was terrific. Great aroma after adding those hops. The only thing I had go wrong was during the cool down. I used a wort chiller and had it hooked up to the hose. Started the water and watched it for awhile as it was first time using one (dad did ice baths to cool) and wanted to really see how much faster the temps dropped. And they did drop quickly. I briefly went inside after about 10 minutes of watching it during cool down and came back out 2 minutes later. I noticed a water drip from chiller connection falling into wort. More so right on the edge of pot but some was dripping into wort. I would estimate and the drip rate that at most in the time I was gone (it was not dripping for the first 10 minutes before going inside) is maybe 10-20 drips. It was extremely slow. I quickly adjusted the copper so the ends hung outside and slightly lower then pot so no more drip. Also tightened the ends which stopped in anyways but now I know, next time just make sure those are over edge. I found more then a few cases of this here in the forums and the consensus seems to be everything will be fine. Most don't do full boil and add tap with no bad results.
I have a hydrometer and a refractometer. My dad always used hydro, but I was intrigued by the refracto so picked one up. Aware of all the calculations that go into using a refracto especially post ferm I figured I would always count on the hydro. But I did like the ability to use a sterile clean spoon to take a small sample during boil near end and cool it and get a reading. Doing that I was right on track to hitting the projected O.G. of 1.037 - 1.041. After cooling I took another reading with hydro and was at 1.039. And I hit my 5 gallon mark when transferring into my carboy almost perfect.
I tried to splash as much as I could during transfer, and also gave some agitation to it prior to pitching yeast. Now the part I already know I will get pointed out as not the way to do it :cross: . I dry pitched the nottingham yeast directly on the wort. Thats what the directions say and I know already many say to rehydrate regardless. Its even what Danstar says to do. But I also know most will say it will still work fine. Next time I will do it different, and I was planning on rehydrating this time but during all of it somewhere along the lines I said screw it, Ill just follow the written instructions.
So its been sitting now 24 hours in the basement at a constant 60 F. No action yet from the yeast but pointed out many times in these forums stickies is dont worry about it, 24-72 hours it can take sometimes. I expect not rehydrating and the 60 F may slow the start down some? Im not worried yet, just happy to have my first batch in a primary and already thinking about what to make next. I had originally planned on transferring to a secondary but I am undecided now if that is what I would do. Anxious to start another batch and only have one Primary right now so the sooner I can free it up the quicker I can start another.
I started with about 6.3 gallons of water. I had read some online that average is 1 gallon loss an hour boil. Some people said they hit the 5 perfect with 6 gallons, and others with 6.5 gallons start. I went in the middle. Everything went perfect (in my newbie eyes). I followed the schedule and hit all the times correct. I know my turkey fryer and have used it lots so I was able to control any boil overs with quick adjustments with the burners. Got close once to foaming over but corrected quickly.
FERMENTABLES
3.3 lb. Light LME
1.0 lb. Pilsen DME
8 oz. Corn Sugar
8 oz. Rice Syrup Solids
HOPS
.5 oz. Brewer’s Gold
.5 oz. Cluster
Schedule
1. Add .5 oz. Brewer’s Gold hops
2. Boil 40 minutes
3. Add 1 lb. DME, 8 oz. Corn Sugar
and 8 oz. Rice Syrup Solids
4. Boil 5 minutes
5. Add .5 oz. Cluster hops
6. Boil final 10 minutes
7. Terminate boil
Everything above went on schedule. One thing I can say, it being over 20 years since helping my dad so I dont even remember much about it. But the smell was terrific. Great aroma after adding those hops. The only thing I had go wrong was during the cool down. I used a wort chiller and had it hooked up to the hose. Started the water and watched it for awhile as it was first time using one (dad did ice baths to cool) and wanted to really see how much faster the temps dropped. And they did drop quickly. I briefly went inside after about 10 minutes of watching it during cool down and came back out 2 minutes later. I noticed a water drip from chiller connection falling into wort. More so right on the edge of pot but some was dripping into wort. I would estimate and the drip rate that at most in the time I was gone (it was not dripping for the first 10 minutes before going inside) is maybe 10-20 drips. It was extremely slow. I quickly adjusted the copper so the ends hung outside and slightly lower then pot so no more drip. Also tightened the ends which stopped in anyways but now I know, next time just make sure those are over edge. I found more then a few cases of this here in the forums and the consensus seems to be everything will be fine. Most don't do full boil and add tap with no bad results.
I have a hydrometer and a refractometer. My dad always used hydro, but I was intrigued by the refracto so picked one up. Aware of all the calculations that go into using a refracto especially post ferm I figured I would always count on the hydro. But I did like the ability to use a sterile clean spoon to take a small sample during boil near end and cool it and get a reading. Doing that I was right on track to hitting the projected O.G. of 1.037 - 1.041. After cooling I took another reading with hydro and was at 1.039. And I hit my 5 gallon mark when transferring into my carboy almost perfect.
I tried to splash as much as I could during transfer, and also gave some agitation to it prior to pitching yeast. Now the part I already know I will get pointed out as not the way to do it :cross: . I dry pitched the nottingham yeast directly on the wort. Thats what the directions say and I know already many say to rehydrate regardless. Its even what Danstar says to do. But I also know most will say it will still work fine. Next time I will do it different, and I was planning on rehydrating this time but during all of it somewhere along the lines I said screw it, Ill just follow the written instructions.
So its been sitting now 24 hours in the basement at a constant 60 F. No action yet from the yeast but pointed out many times in these forums stickies is dont worry about it, 24-72 hours it can take sometimes. I expect not rehydrating and the 60 F may slow the start down some? Im not worried yet, just happy to have my first batch in a primary and already thinking about what to make next. I had originally planned on transferring to a secondary but I am undecided now if that is what I would do. Anxious to start another batch and only have one Primary right now so the sooner I can free it up the quicker I can start another.