First ever brew day tomorrow

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Whatsupbrew

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Hey all,
Joined the forum a couple days ago, been reading lots, watching the vids etc etc.. and finally picked up some gear today, and a recipe, hoping to brew tomorrow. Thought I'd post my setup and the recipe, ask a question or two and see if anyone has any advice. Keep in mind I'm brand spanking new at this and have zero experience.

I'm jumping right into partial mash. First recipe is a Harp style beer.

Steep cara helles grains for 20 minutes at 158'F (in 5 gals)
Boil 2 litres PME
28grams of Willamette hops for 60 mins
28grams of Fuggles hops for last 4 mins
Cool and yeast is Lallemand Dry-97

Just curious if anyone has any input on the steep temp / time. Is 158' a little high?

My setup is 8 gallon brew kettle with a ball valve, and thermometer mounted, plastic bucket for primary and carboi for secondary. I figure 7 days in the bucket, 7 days in carboi should do it?

I'm pretty comfortable with getting into the process, my biggest question has to do with cooling the wort. I was going to ice bath the whole kettle, then when its ready to dump into the bucket i was just going to open the valve and let it pour in hoping it helps with the aeration. That or pour it right into the bucket after the boil and cool it in the bucket then pitch yeast...but Im curious if that way will just increase the potential for contamination?? or is there an aeration problem??

As far as cooling the wort is there a time I should be aiming for? 1 hour? 30 mins? 4 hours? At what point should I get worried?

Thanks for any help, tomorrow I'm just going to giver and learn the hard way.
 
I have ice bathed my kettle before, it works fine and will transfer heat better than a bucket.

Traditionally, you would want to chill your wort in 30 minutes or so, in order to reduce chill haze. Many people have done away with this and chill their wort over the span of a longer time.

The ice bath will take quite a while, so don't be discouraged. One impact of slower cooling is that you generate more bitterness from your hops, but I wouldn't be concerned since fuggle doesn't produce much to begin with.

Once it is cool enough, transfer to a (sanitized) bucket or carboy for fermentation. Leave it there for 14-21 days. I would do away with the secondary since it will really only increase the risk of infection on your first brews. It's better to limit the things we can screw up at the start :)
 
Whatsupbrew said:
How much would you all recommend a wort chiller? ...$100
Click to expand...


There are a few types of wort chiller out there, ranging from about $40 to $120 for the scale of homebrewing you're doing. Your setup will help decide which is best (kettle type, indoor/outdoor brewing, etc.).
 
As far as steeping temps goes anything under 170F is fine. 20 minutes is plenty of time as well.

For fermentation I would keep it in the bucket for 2 weeks and skip the secondary in the carboy.

Definitely cool the beer in the kettle before adding it to the fermentor. Your aim should be to cool the beer as fast as possible. When you put your kettle in the water bath continuously stir the wort with a sanitized spoon to allow for better heat exchange. I wouldn't use all of your ice at once either. Once your wort gets around 100F I would change the water and add the rest of your ice. Your wort will quickly drop from boiling to around 100F but getting from 100F to 65-70F takes much longer. Changing the water and adding more ice will help.
 
Whatsupbrew said:
How much would you all recommend a wort chiller? ...$100
Click to expand...

An immersion chiller will make a big difference but for you first beer just use the ice bath method and see how it goes. If you shop around I'm sure you can find one for less than $100.
 
Nice quick replies thanks guys. Good to see a healthy forum. Alright sounds good, I'll Ice bath the kettle and do away with the secondary. Thanks for the tips
 
siphoning was my ultimate pain when I first brewed. You better have some good techniques by now.
 
Welcome to this great hobby!
Good recommendations so far. Cool in the kettle, gently stir the wort while cooling to move it, change water and ice part way through, skip the secondary, etc.

Noticed a couple questions didn't get answered.

I would chill in the kettle and once cool, use the valve to transfer. It will be helpful in starting the aeration process. You could also stop part way, cover the bucket, and shake it like it offended you, then finish it up.

As far as chilling time, as quickly as your process allows without getting stressed out. Some do not chill and leave it overnight with good results (I personally have not done this).

Remember, cleanliness and sanitation are king, beer is very resilient, RDWHAHB (relax don't worry have a home brew). Good luck with brew day #1 of many.
 
Not knowing your resources, this suggestion may or may not be a nonstarter, but take it for what it's worth:

There's a saying that goes "buy once, cry once" where getting high quality at the outset is sometimes the most-cost effective approach is that which spends more up-front.

If you think you're likely to continue on this brewing odyssey, as resources allow, do what you can to buy higher quality than what you think you need. You can buy a cheap chiller, or an expensive one, or one in the middle. Lean toward the higher-quality, more effective chillers.

I do not know how exchange rates, shipping, and so on will apply to you in Ontario, so maybe this won't work, but look at Jaded Brewing for their chillers. https://jadedbrewing.com/collections/all?page=2 They have taken immersion chilling to the next level by increasing the amount of tubing in their chillers, effectively increasing the surface area of the chiller that comes in contact w/ the wort.

I used to have a "silver serpent" from Northern Brewing, a 25' stainless immersion chiller. Depending on chilling water temp, it would take me up to 15 minutes to chill a batch using that.

Using Christmas money plus other I had set aside, I bought the Jaded Hydra. Stunningly fast. Four minutes to take a 5.5-gallon batch from boiling to 70 degrees.

Pricey as hell, but worth every penny. If that's outside your resources, consider a chiller that has the most surface area, i.e., a 50-foot coil is more effective than a 25-foot coil.

********************

As Jtk78 notes, some people even do no-chill and brew good beer doing that. This was especially important for homebrewers living in places with water shortages (think Australia).

The traditional reasons for chilling fast were encouraging the cold-break of proteins precipitating out of the wort, and getting the wort into the fermenter as quickly as possible to reduce exposure to possible infection.

I'd love to see an exbeeriment comparing the two, but for now I prefer chilling as fast as possible to get that beer into the fermenter as fast as possible, pitching the yeast and finishing.

********************

THE keys to getting an immersion chiller to work at optimum efficiency are having a high rate of water flow through the chiller, and agitating the wort to keep warm wort in contact with the chiller. I used to swish my Silver Serpent around in the wort to do that. I can't swish the Hydra, so I use a sanitized long-handled spoon to stir. If you don't agitate the wort, a layer of cool wort stays adjacent to the chiller, preventing the cooling from quickly chilling the rest of the wort.

********************

Good luck, enjoy, and welcome to homebrewing!
 
Quick question.... as the kettle is in the ice bath as we speak. Top up water? Tap water ok? Do I need to top up for first time? Bottled water? I started with 5 gallons exact and after an hour there's maybe 4 2/3 gallon... who knows what will make it into the fermenter.
 
If your tap water is chlorinated I would top with bottled water. I would wait until you get a gravity reading and then add water to hit your target OG.
 
Yeah I'd top it off to 5 gallons if that's what the recipe calls for. As for tap water as long as it isn't chlorinated it should be fine. My tap water is fine but I know some people get a plasticy band-aid off flavor of chlorine or chloramines are present in the water. If your not sure your best bet would be RO water
 
OP, have fun! This is the hobby to end all hobbies. I started about 2 months ago and 6 brew days later I am obsessed. Nothing like drinking your own awesome beer!
 
Thanks guys! All done brewing and it's sitting in the carboy about an hour now. Ice bath worked pretty well, only 40 mins to get to 76'F. Drained into carboy, I think well aerated (half way shook it up really well and the little hose setup sloshed it pretty good) topped up with a bit of bottled water, hydrometer was 1.054. Pitched the yeast and now it's sitting. Hopefully it's drinkable when it's all done.
 
Congrats. I'm sure it will be very drinkable when it's done. I forgot if you mentioned how your controlling fermentation temps, but keep an eye on it without obsessing. If it starts to creep too high, there's some pretty easy ways to control it, i.e. swamp cooler.
 
That should work well for you as a starting point. Fermentation does produce heat though, and I would expect your beer to get into the mid 70s during this time. However, that's certainly cool enough for a wide range of beers.

Now comes the fun part: the waiting game! Congrats on your first brew.
 
Good luck, looks like you've got the right idea and mentality. Easy hobby that can get very expensive. Just keep it as cheap as you want because you have the important stuff for extract and you don't need much else for all-grain. The rest is just toys.
 
Last edited:
Slapped the sticker thermometer on the side of the carboy. Looks to be a steady 67' ....although no signs of fermentation yet (coming on 21 hours). I think I need to refine my pitching method for next time. Have a feeling that not as much yeast got in as it should've. I'm being patient as I'm sure something will start happening. I did read a couple posts about pitching yeast a second time after several days if there's no sign of ferment. I'll keep reading.
 
Whatsupbrew said:
It's just sitting in my basement. It's steady 66' day and night.
Click to expand...

If I were you--I'm not, but if I were--I'd put that fermenter in a pan of water and set up a swamp cooler arrangement. You may end up w/ that fermenter in the 70s, and that may or may not result in flavors you did not intend in your beer.

Since this is your first shot, the best bet at producing good beer comes from controlling fermentation temperature.
 
Whatsupbrew said:
Slapped the sticker thermometer on the side of the carboy. Looks to be a steady 67' ....although no signs of fermentation yet (coming on 21 hours). I think I need to refine my pitching method for next time. Have a feeling that not as much yeast got in as it should've. I'm being patient as I'm sure something will start happening. I did read a couple posts about pitching yeast a second time after several days if there's no sign of ferment. I'll keep reading.
Click to expand...

Btw, I forgot to mention that by using a maglite or small flashlight will greatly improve viewing the temp on your fermometer strip :)
 
Visual observations can be misleading. Sometime the beer explodes through the airlock, other times I am serenaded by days of a steady gurgle, and others I swear the yeast was dead. Yet they all seem to make beer.

If you have a clear carboy, you may see motion as the yeast multiplies before it begins to eat up the sugars. It's not uncommon for this stage to take two days.
 
I was away at work for the past 4 days. Came home today and it's bubbling away nicely. Good froth layer on top and the wort is rolling away. It's day 5 in the carboy, was told there was no action yesterday... although not desired to have a 4+ day lag time what effect may that have if any? I'll keep searching and reading...

On another note, I'm planning on brewing the exact same recipe next week with a few minor changes and seeing how it effects the final product.. namely a better yeast pitching process (I think may lag time might have been a result of not rehydrating the yeast well, and there was quite a bit of yeast stuck / leftover in my measuring cup after pitching) as well as straining the wort while going into the fermenter and aerating better. Possibly using RO water as well...I'm not sure where my ph / chlorine is in the tap water.

...I need to buy bottles
 
That's what it looks like. Day 5. This is more of a test to see if I can post a pic.

IMG_4378.jpg
 
Cheers. Just did my first ever brew day late last night. Here's mine after 22 hours.

Here's to us both having a successful first brew.

My airlock is starting to go nuts.

Should I dry hop in the primary or secondary? Or even use a secondary at all?

20170516_175055.jpg
 
KC_Rockaholic said:
Cheers. Just did my first ever brew day late last night. Here's mine after 22 hours.

Here's to us both having a successful first brew.

My airlock is starting to go nuts.

Should I dry hop in the primary or secondary? Or even use a secondary at all?
Click to expand...


No secondary for most situations. If it's a big beer (Belgian, barley wine, etc.) that needs to sit for a few months then fine. Otherwise the consensus is a secondary adds unnecessary risk. I dryhop in primary or in the keg. If you bottle you can't do the second but you can do the primary for a few days and then cold crash, add gelatin or no if not needed and then bottle.
 
I brew 2 gallon batches and sprinkle my yeast onto the cool wort most of the time. My last six batches showed signs of life in less than eight hours and were bubbling along excitedly in under 24. I saw movement in my last batch after just 2 hours. 7 batches ago, I used a liquid yeast that was expired. That beer took 48 hours to start. It was a lager yeast, but honestly, I think it should have started sooner since it was a steam beer lager yeast and my fermentation temps were purposely higher. The beer turned out ok, but wasn't one of my best. I used the yeast cake from that beer and fermented cooler to make a märtzen, which started right up and was great. So anyways, I think your beer will turn out fine, but definitely pitch your yeast based on the calculators, except that the amounts get to be kind of silly for bigger beers, but for five gallons of 5-7% two 11.5g satchets are not unreasonable IMHO. If you go all grain or save your yeast, you'll easily make up the cost of the extra yeast. People swear by rehydrating the yeast and I do it with Danster yeasts because that manufacturer recommends it, but if I'm using Fermentis I just sprinkle. Fermentis' directions say that their yeast can be sprinkled. I guarantee that someone will "correct me" on this thread, but seriously if someone believes they know more about US-05 than the manufacturer...

Have fun, I loved my first beer, I am certain you will be pleasantly surprised with how yours comes out.

Btw, don't buy bottles. If you and a couple friends can't get together 50 bottles in 3 weeks, thats a sixer each per week, you joined the wrong hobby bro. Mostly kidding, many brewers don't drink that much, but I'm absolutely sure you can find someone near you to throw themselves on that grenade for you if ask them to rinse and save their bottles for you. My favorite bottles as far as utility are Redhook. The prettiest bottles look like little wine bottles from Boulevard, but that would be an expensive 50 bottles. Don't use flip tops unless you plan to change the gaskets every batch. I found out the hard way that those bastards start to leak carbonation after the first batch.
 
OP, you probably didn't see any action for a while because you've got a lot of headspace in that carboy. I have the same issue when I use mine, it's a 7.5 gallon and I wind up with too much headspace in a 5 gallon batch. NTTAWWT. As long as your sanitation is on point it won't be a problem.
 
Congrats on the debut batch. Sounds like the ice bath worked well, but I think a wort chiller is a good thing to buy. Buying ice get$ old in a hurry... AFter a year's worth of brewing it'll pay for it$elf.
 
When I did ice baths, I would fill soda bottles with water and freeze them. as needed I'd swap them out. also, if you're doing top ups, you can get an extra few degrees lower by (this takes thinking ahead...) putting a bottle of water in the fridge or freezer (don't let it get solid) and using that for top up. I think I got a good 20 degrees lower that way once, I used almost 2 gallons of top up, it went from high-80s to mid-high 60s just by using near freezing water for it.
As they said, ice baths do work, but chillers are way quicker. I found a sale on copper tubing at home depot - $20 for 50' of 1/2" tubing (yeah, I couldn't belive it either...) so with a bit of work and another $20 of tubing and fittings I made my own. Gets from boiling to mid-60s in 15 minutes, even in the dead of summer.
 
Starting to think a little more about bottling. For a first time brew should I consider gelatin or cold crashing? Besides a more clear beer does it have much effect on the drink ability?
 
Whatsupbrew said:
Starting to think a little more about bottling. For a first time brew should I consider gelatin or cold crashing? Besides a more clear beer does it have much effect on the drink ability?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't bother, save that for later in your "career". I have done 93 batches and have only used gelatin in the keg once. And if you can call that cold crashing, only when putting the kegs in the fridge. Then drawing off the sediment in the first couple glasses.

It really has no effect on drinkability unless you are squeamish about cloudy beers.
 
At this point I couldnt care less about a cloudy beer. If it tastes good is all I'm worried about...that and getting it into a bottle.
 

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