Getting ready for my first brew in MN

[fatmoose]

Hi All,

I'm from the south suburbs of Minneapolis and getting ready to do my first brew this weekend. Been wanting to get into this for awhile, been doing some research and finally picked up some gear and a couple recipe kits. This forum has provided some of the most rich information I've found on the web so I figured I better join in. Looking forward to chatting with some of you all and drinking my own beer.

 

[Justibone]

Nice, congratulations! You live in a great state, my brother lives (I believe) not far from you, in Bloomington MN.

 

[DragonTail]

Welcome

 

[fatmoose]

Hey Justibone, Bloomington is in fact not far away from me, just on the north side of the river from me. I'm a big fan of the state and it seems we've got a couple of pretty awesome brewing supply stores in the Twin Cities area.
I got derailed from brewing yesterday by a vicious combination of a honey do list and acquisition of a new puppy on Saturday. Hopefully I'll have time to rock it out tonight.

 

[stedtale]

Good luck!

Whatcha brewing?

 

[fatmoose]

I'm starting out with the Liberty Cream Ale kit from Midwest Brewing Supplies, looks like an easy first beer and something the spouse would drink. I've also got their Hop Head Double IPA kit as well that I'm planning on starting once I get the cream ale into a secondary. I'm a big fan of this style and really looking forward to seeing how that one turns out.

 

[stedtale]

Sounds good. I've been meaning to try the LCA much for the same reason, you'll have to let me know how it goes. Take some pics on brew day and share you experience.

Isn't it great to live by 2 great homebrew shops? NB and MidWest? I always feel so lucky to be able to go and talk to people at both places in person, smell the shop, it's fun.

 

[brewslut]

Welcome to HBT!

 

[fatmoose]

Got sidetracked from brewing on Sunday by new puppy and honey do list, vicious combination. Last night I had to do a server migration which means staying up late while not actually doing very much, good time to brew! I did the LCA and I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out so far, I think it's going to be pretty decent when it gets done. Here's my notes from last night, just stream of consciousness type stuff. It got late and my thinking got less clear so I'm hoping that everything goes okay in the fermentation process.

The grains in the kit came whole, I decided to use my mortar and pestle to crack them. This actually worked pretty well because there isn't a lot of grain with this kit but I just dumped the whole of the grains into my mortar and started smashing. If I were to do this again I'd add small quantities at a time, lightly crack them, dump them into another bowl and repeat. Not sure if I got the crush that I wanted.
@8:55 added grain bag to my water. Temp kinda catapulted past 155 up to about 165 (working over the burner from my smoker/cooker which can fire out a lot of BTU's), killed the flame to keep things from getting hotter..
@9:20 pulled the grain bag and gave it a light squeeze per the directions. Sparked the flame back up and put heat on high to bring to boil.
@9:40 had a good boil going. Removed pot from heat and added extract. Dipped extract jug into wort (is it wort now?) and rinsed to get all of the extract out. Stirred well to dissolve all extract. I had 5 gallons of water in the 6 gallon kettle and the LME looks to be about a 1/2 gallon, didn't take that volume into account, ruh-roh. Returned pot to heat to get it back to a boil. Kept heat moderate in order to avoid a boil over or scorching of the extract. With a full 5 gallons of water and the limited qty of extract this receipe has it seems to have been a non-issue and slowed down the re-heating process.
@9:55 I had a good boil again and added 1 oz Cascade Pellet (%7.2 AA) as bittering hops. This resulted in a brief surge in the boil that I was concerned about but it rapidly subsided. It also resulted in a release of the most fantastic hoppy odor. I'm going to like brewing!!! Things settled into a good rolling boil with minimal foaming or threat of boil over. Waiting.....
About halfway done now, there seems to be very little need to tend to the boil with this beer, it shows no indication of boiling over and when I stir it there's no indication of anything adhering to the bottom of the kettle. The value of having a 6 gallon kettle to boil in.
@10:53 2 minutes left, putting the remaining 1 oz of Cascade Pellet (%7.2 AA) in as aroma hops.
@10:55PM there's the timer, kettle off the burner and lid onto the kettle.
Fuss about with getting ice bath ready, could have probably done this during the boil for this beer, didn't want to do it too much beforehand and lose some of the ice. Probably would have been negligible loss of the ice and would have gotten my cooling started sooner. Would have been useful to have a partner so that one of us could have watched the kettle while the other prepared the bath.
@11:30 - Carrying the kettle in from the garage, through kitchen and living room down to basement for ice bath in my utility sink, most hazardous part of the operation yet.
@1:20AM, wort has reached about 74 degrees, pitching the yeast. Add yeast to fermenter, place lid on fermenter, cover bung with sanitized thumb and shake vigorously to aerate. Take a sample for testing with the hydrometer. OG indicates about 1.050 @ 69 degrees. This is above what is forecasted for the beer (.042 - .046) by Midwest, not sure why.
The beer smells good, like something I would drink! Initial taste shows it to be quite sweet, watery but with nice hop aroma and a good bitterness. The aftertaste is excessively bitter, a bit of an astringent quality. We'll see what time does with that.

 

[PHBalanced]

@9:20 pulled the grain bag and gave it a light squeeze per the directions.

Sounds like a nice smooth brew session. Looking for somebody else to chime in here but I was always told not to squeeze the grain bag but squeezing hop bags was ok.

 

[Justibone]

Not sure if I got the crush that I wanted.

Sounds like a good technique for a small batch. I think you have to be careful not to crush them too small, rather than leaving them a little big.

@8:55 added grain bag to my water. Temp kinda catapulted past 155 up to about 165

Unfortunately, chemically speaking, those 10 degrees can potentially make a big difference. I'm not a grain brewer (so far), but from what I've read, it could have an effect.

@9:20 pulled the grain bag and gave it a light squeeze per the directions. Sparked the flame back up and put heat on high to bring to boil.

I can never remember which bag they say to never squeeze...

@9:40 (is it wort now?)

Yes. If it's boiling and has sugars from the mashing process in it, it's wort. :fro:

didn't take that volume into account, ruh-roh.

Yeah, happened here, too. As a research biochemistry technician I quickly learned that you can't go to full volume right away. It's very easy to add more water later, but very time consuming and/or difficult to remove it.

@9:55 It also resulted in a release of the most fantastic hoppy odor. I'm going to like brewing!!!

Yes, you will. If you like the process, you will enjoy the hobby. SWMBO helps, but she doesn't enjoy the process. I love it. :rockin:

The value of having a 6 gallon kettle to boil in.

One of the main limiting factors for me, and why I've done extract only for beer and wine so far.

@10:55PM didn't want to do it too much beforehand and lose some of the ice. Probably would have been negligible loss of the ice and would have gotten my cooling started sooner. Would have been useful to have a partner so that one of us could have watched the kettle while the other prepared the bath.

SWMBO is my partner. She's invaluable.

@11:30 - Carrying the kettle in from the garage, through kitchen and living room down to basement for ice bath in my utility sink, most hazardous part of the operation yet.

Don't boil yer nuts!!

You need to improve how you do this step for safety's sake.

Take a sample for testing with the hydrometer. OG indicates about 1.050 @ 69 degrees. This is above what is forecasted for the beer (.042 - .046) by Midwest, not sure why.

Predicted OG is rarely perfectly accurate, too many variables are involved.

The beer smells good, like something I would drink! Initial taste shows it to be quite sweet, watery but with nice hop aroma and a good bitterness. The aftertaste is excessively bitter, a bit of an astringent quality. We'll see what time does with that.

Time will tell!

One thing you left out... what were you drinking while you brewed?

 

[fatmoose]

Unfortunately, chemically speaking, those 10 degrees can potentially make a big difference. I'm not a grain brewer (so far), but from what I've read, it could have an effect.

I can never remember which bag they say to never squeeze...

The directions in this kit state to give the grain bag a gentle squeeze. It seems that both trying to get to much juice from the grains (aggressive squeezing) or excessive temps on the grain steeping can give you some off flavors, could be the cause of the astringent flavors I noted. Maybe I'll pass on the squeezing of the grain bag in its entirety.

Yes. If it's boiling and has sugars from the mashing process in it, it's wort. :fro:

Thanks

Yeah, happened here, too. As a research biochemistry technician I quickly learned that you can't go to full volume right away. It's very easy to add more water later, but very time consuming and/or difficult to remove it.

Very true. I seem to make this mistake in a lot of things. I got away with it this time, fortunately this beer doesn't have an aggressive boil.

Yes, you will. If you like the process, you will enjoy the hobby. SWMBO helps, but she doesn't enjoy the process. I love it. :rockin:

I love the process of creation. I do a lot of cooking and the whole process of experimenting with and blending of flavors seems to transition nicely to brewing. SWMBO has no patience with process and would probably have many opinions on how I *should* be doing it, so this is something we're going to do separately

SWMBO is my partner. She's invaluable.

See above

I know one of my neighbors does some brewing, it's a new neighborhood so I don't know him real well yet but may try and hook up with him on future endeavors. Otherwise I got plenty of buddies that I think would like to get involved. This was kind of a last minute deal but I'll definitely try to get a spare set of hands in the future.

Don't boil yer nuts!!

You need to improve how you do this step for safety's sake.

You're not kidding! I'm thinking I'll have to build me a wort chiller. Looks like just flex copper tubing and hose ends, shouldn't be too hard.

Time will tell!

Yep, this beer should be ready for prime grill and chill season. Looking forward to it!!

One thing you left out... what were you drinking while you brewed?

I was working while brewing, so Diet Coke