pentachris
Well-Known Member
First of all, let me say that I've been lurking here for a week or two - this looks like a great community. I've learned a lot already, and I've tried to answer all my questions by searching here and reading through John Palmer's site, as well as some other resources. I've put together the following equipment and brew day checklist; any input is appreciated.
I got this kit, a floating thermometer, a bottle blaster for bottle cleaning & 36 22oz bombers from my LHBS. I also got this 50' immersion chiller, this 8 gal. brew kettle and an ounce of Fermcap from Amazon.
I also got this recipe kit from my LHBS. It's 2 cans of LME at 3.3 lbs each, 2 packets of hops at 1 oz each, a packet of dry yeast, priming sugar, bottle caps and sanitizer.
The instructions are for a partial boil with a late LME addition. I'll be doing a full boil, so I'll be putting both cans in early. The recipe calls for a packet of the hops to go in at 45:00 as bittering hops, and another packet to go in at 15:00 for flavor. Converting to a full boil in BeerSmith told me to decrease the hops to .44 oz at each addition. That's close enough to 1/2 oz, so I'll just open one packet & divide in half.
Here's the plan:
1 Begin soaking LME cans in hot water
2 Put 6 gals of filtered water on heat and to a boil
3 Remove water from heat and stir in both cans of LME along with 18 drops of Fermcap
4 Return wort to heat and bring to boil
5 Add 1/2 oz of hops
6 Start timer counting down from 45:00
7 Prepare sanitizer solution, and: sanitize fermenting bucket, bottling bucket (& spigot), immersion chiller, hydrometer, floating thermometer, small thermometer for yeast, cup for yeast & mesh strainer
8 At 15:00, add 1/2 oz hops
9 Boil a cup of water and put small thermometer in - keep an eye on the thermometer, we want the temp to be down to 100F when timer reaches 0:00
10 At 0:00, remove wort from heat, drop in the floating thermometer and start up the immersion chiller
11 Sprinkle yeast in the cup of water, which should now be warm, around 100F
12 Stir wort in opposite direction of chiller water flow until wort temp is ~70F
13 Drain wort from kettle into bottling buket through mesh strainer (aeration)
14 Drain wort from bottling bucket into fermenting bucket through mesh strainer (aeration)
15 Take OG & pitch yeast, which should be nice and frothy now
16 Cover fermenting bucket, insert airlock and fill airlock halfway with water
17 Wait a few hours & check for signs of fermentation...
What have I forgotten? What am I dong wrong?
I know that my aeration method is a bit risky for infection, and not the most effective, but it should work well enough, right? I'm no weakling, but - how vigorously can you really shake 5 gallons of liquid?
I got this kit, a floating thermometer, a bottle blaster for bottle cleaning & 36 22oz bombers from my LHBS. I also got this 50' immersion chiller, this 8 gal. brew kettle and an ounce of Fermcap from Amazon.
I also got this recipe kit from my LHBS. It's 2 cans of LME at 3.3 lbs each, 2 packets of hops at 1 oz each, a packet of dry yeast, priming sugar, bottle caps and sanitizer.
The instructions are for a partial boil with a late LME addition. I'll be doing a full boil, so I'll be putting both cans in early. The recipe calls for a packet of the hops to go in at 45:00 as bittering hops, and another packet to go in at 15:00 for flavor. Converting to a full boil in BeerSmith told me to decrease the hops to .44 oz at each addition. That's close enough to 1/2 oz, so I'll just open one packet & divide in half.
Here's the plan:
1 Begin soaking LME cans in hot water
2 Put 6 gals of filtered water on heat and to a boil
3 Remove water from heat and stir in both cans of LME along with 18 drops of Fermcap
4 Return wort to heat and bring to boil
5 Add 1/2 oz of hops
6 Start timer counting down from 45:00
7 Prepare sanitizer solution, and: sanitize fermenting bucket, bottling bucket (& spigot), immersion chiller, hydrometer, floating thermometer, small thermometer for yeast, cup for yeast & mesh strainer
8 At 15:00, add 1/2 oz hops
9 Boil a cup of water and put small thermometer in - keep an eye on the thermometer, we want the temp to be down to 100F when timer reaches 0:00
10 At 0:00, remove wort from heat, drop in the floating thermometer and start up the immersion chiller
11 Sprinkle yeast in the cup of water, which should now be warm, around 100F
12 Stir wort in opposite direction of chiller water flow until wort temp is ~70F
13 Drain wort from kettle into bottling buket through mesh strainer (aeration)
14 Drain wort from bottling bucket into fermenting bucket through mesh strainer (aeration)
15 Take OG & pitch yeast, which should be nice and frothy now
16 Cover fermenting bucket, insert airlock and fill airlock halfway with water
17 Wait a few hours & check for signs of fermentation...
What have I forgotten? What am I dong wrong?
I know that my aeration method is a bit risky for infection, and not the most effective, but it should work well enough, right? I'm no weakling, but - how vigorously can you really shake 5 gallons of liquid?
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