Finally decided it was time to try this out. A friend and I split the equipment cost, and ingredient cost on this first brew.
I am sure I will eventually start to upgrade slowly, but for now, the $70 buckets will have to work.
First brew 3/3/13
Malt Base 12 Lbs Dark LME, 8 oz Malto Dextrin
Specialty Grains: 1.25 LB Chocolate, 8 oz Carafa II, 8 oz 60L Crystal
Hops: 8 HBU Cluster Hop Pellets
Other: 3 Vanilla Beans, 2 oz toasted/charred oak cubes soaked in bourbon
Yeast: Wyeast 1056 American Ale Yeast
A bunch of first time OOPS were made, hope it comes out ok.
Oops #1 (not really sure if this is an oops)
Added .25 lbs of extra chocolate than the recipe called for (recipe was for 1 lb
#2
Added all the extract at beginning of the boil (again not sure on this one, but read about late additions after the fact)
#3
Dropped the liquid malt extract container into the boil, splashing a sticky mess all over the kitchen and stove. (Wife was not happy with my attempt to clean this)
#4
Did not aerate the wort. Although I did dump the wort into the fermenter with cold water pretty vigorously
#5
Used the snow bank method to cool the wort. This took about 2 hours @ 20 F outside
#6
Used a ****ty digital cooking thermometer. It worked perfectly while steeping the specialty grains, and during the boil. Although it read 219 before it was a full boil. Trying to use it once it dropped below 100 degrees was worthless. It kept bouncing all over, so I ended up using the stick-on thermometer and pitched once it read 75 degrees.
#7
Stuck my hand into the cooled wort just before pitching the yeast. I did actually sanitize my arm before doing this.
Pretty awesome experience though, and was pretty pumped to see the airlock bubbling the next day.
Cheers
Shawn
I am sure I will eventually start to upgrade slowly, but for now, the $70 buckets will have to work.
First brew 3/3/13
Malt Base 12 Lbs Dark LME, 8 oz Malto Dextrin
Specialty Grains: 1.25 LB Chocolate, 8 oz Carafa II, 8 oz 60L Crystal
Hops: 8 HBU Cluster Hop Pellets
Other: 3 Vanilla Beans, 2 oz toasted/charred oak cubes soaked in bourbon
Yeast: Wyeast 1056 American Ale Yeast
A bunch of first time OOPS were made, hope it comes out ok.
Oops #1 (not really sure if this is an oops)
Added .25 lbs of extra chocolate than the recipe called for (recipe was for 1 lb
#2
Added all the extract at beginning of the boil (again not sure on this one, but read about late additions after the fact)
#3
Dropped the liquid malt extract container into the boil, splashing a sticky mess all over the kitchen and stove. (Wife was not happy with my attempt to clean this)
#4
Did not aerate the wort. Although I did dump the wort into the fermenter with cold water pretty vigorously
#5
Used the snow bank method to cool the wort. This took about 2 hours @ 20 F outside
#6
Used a ****ty digital cooking thermometer. It worked perfectly while steeping the specialty grains, and during the boil. Although it read 219 before it was a full boil. Trying to use it once it dropped below 100 degrees was worthless. It kept bouncing all over, so I ended up using the stick-on thermometer and pitched once it read 75 degrees.
#7
Stuck my hand into the cooled wort just before pitching the yeast. I did actually sanitize my arm before doing this.
Pretty awesome experience though, and was pretty pumped to see the airlock bubbling the next day.
Cheers
Shawn
