Just Brewed My First Batch... A Mexican Cerveza

[adpostel]

Well, let me start out by saying, I thought I had it down.... Until I started. I was a nervous wreck, with the timer going and getting hop additions ready, trying to sanitize everything, trying to remember everything. But HOPEFULLY, I'll have something to drink here in a few weeks!! I did an extract kit with steeped grains from my LBH (DeFalco's in Houston) and those guys are awesome!!

First off, my weldless ball valve from HomeBrewStuff seemed to have issues right off the bat. I noticed a leak immediately after I added the first two gallons of strike water. It was pretty difficult to control. So I played around with the washers and the gaskets they sent, and I finally got it close enough to start. Then, once I had the steeped grains done, and I was adding my LME, it went a little haywire. Somehow, the ball valve gasket got pushed up all the way on the 90 degree elbow. Now my boiling wort began leaking out. I took the boil kettle off the fire and over the sink, I sanitized my hands and tilted the kettle until I could reach the elbow and undo it to see what was going on. Once I figured it out, I sanitized all the pieces again, and re-installed the ball valve assembly. I was really worried it was gonna cause an issue, but I continued.

So I began the boil and added my hop additions on time. Once it was all boiled and I was ready to transfer through my plate chiller, more problems arose. I had cold water flowing through my chiller, and as I opened up the ball valve, I got very little flow of wort coming through. I wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but I couldn't get any flow to come out of the ball valve and go through the chiller. I was able to get about 1 gallon worth of the wort through the chiller, and the chiller was working fine. But then the flow would go to absolutely nothing. So I decided to just pour the rest of the wort into the primary slowly, knowing that I had to add water to bring it to 5 gallons anyway. I didn't have much choice at that time. So what I found was my strainer (stainless steel braided line from HomeBrewStuff) was completely covered in hops from the hop pellets. It was so covered that I couldn't get any flow through it. Very frustrated. I wonder if everyone has that issue with that type of strainer. Maybe I need the false bottom for my boil kettle?

So once I topped off the primary with the cold water, the wort was at 70 degrees. I went ahead and poured in the Wyeast pack, closed it up and put on the airlock. My O.G. was at 1.045, the directions said I should be 1.049, so it was a little low. But I left it and hoped for the best. We went out of town for Thanksgiving, so I wasn't able to keep an eye on anything. I sure hoped I didn't come home to some uncontrollable science project all over the floor, LOL... So when I got back home, I was just happy to see that the airlock was still in place, happily bubbling away, and no overflow or explosions, LOL...

Today, I will transfer to the secondary, a 5-gallon carboy, and let the batch finish up. I will check the S.G. and see how that has gone. I really hope there isn't any infection in the batch, but even if there is, at least I have gained some experience. I have another kit that I want to do today or tomorrow, but I really need to figure out how to get the wort to gravity feed through the chiller before I do that. Should I use a different type of strainer? No strainer? Anyhow, I just wanted to document my first batch, I get a lot of information from this site, so thank you to everyone. Hopefully I will have a drinkable beer in a couple more weeks.

 

[Clonefan94]

Don't transfer to secondary until you've reached final gravity. If you are set on doing a secondary, that's fine, but let it finish in primary and clear in secondary.

 

[adpostel]

Interesting. I was just reading about how some of the "kit directions" aren't necessarily the way to go. The directions call for 3-4 days in primary, then transfer to secondary for 1-2 weeks. After reading everything, I guess those instructions are very vague?

So for a Mexican Cerveza, is Clonefan's suggestion the way to go? I have no issue with it, because in the end, the F.G. is the tell-tale sign that the beer is done fermenting, is it not?

Clonefan, what is your opinion on my 1.045 O.G. compared to the instructions 1.049?

 

[NickTheGreat]

It's done when it's done. Check your FG a few days apart and see if it's stable.

I don't mess with secondaries personally, because I'm lazy. But like Clonefan said, move to the secondary then. And if he's an Iowa State Fan, he clearly knows what he's talking about.

 

[gr8shandini]

If you've been out of the game for a while, you might want to read up on the newer thinking on secondaries. Cliff Notes: the term "secondary" is a bit of a misnomer. It's really more of a "bright tank" for clearing the beer, which will happen just as well in the primary. The idea that you need to remove the beer from the yeast cake (or vice versa) comes from commercial brewing and is based on factors that just aren't a concern on a homebrew scale. So, yeah, I'm with these guys. Just leave it in the primary for 2 - 3 weeks and you'll be OK.

By the way, which yeast are you using? A single smack-pack of Wyeast isn't usually enough for most beers. A starter is a good idea for ales and mandatory for lagers.

 

[Yooper]

Interesting. I was just reading about how some of the "kit directions" aren't necessarily the way to go. The directions call for 3-4 days in primary, then transfer to secondary for 1-2 weeks. After reading everything, I guess those instructions are very vague?

So for a Mexican Cerveza, is Clonefan's suggestion the way to go? I have no issue with it, because in the end, the F.G. is the tell-tale sign that the beer is done fermenting, is it not?

Clonefan, what is your opinion on my 1.045 O.G. compared to the instructions 1.049?

I just had to laugh, because I was going to type out my advice and then realized that I'm just a random person on the internet and you have no reason to believe me.

But.........that never stopped me before so here goes: I'd avoid transferring unless you have a 5 gallon carboy and you are just dying to mess with your beer. That is a low OG beer, and will be ready to bottle once it's clear (or clearing) and the SG has been stable.

The current thinking in brewing is that "secondary" (more properly called a clearing tank) is unnecessary in most cases if proper brewing techniques are used.

My beers are generally in the fermenter about 14 days or so, and then packaged. Just do your best to keep the fermentation temperature controlled (at the temperature recommended by the yeast's manufacturer- they have awesome websites for this).

That's hard to do in Texas, I know. I don't brew in Texas, but my neighbors run their air conditioning (even in February) for their fermenting beer!

 

[adpostel]

LOL, Yooper, I've read some of your posts, I'll listen, I'm a GREAT STUDENT, LOL....

Ok, I have a 5 gallon carboy, but again, I don't have any need to re-invent the, proverbial, wheel. So I'll leave my batch be for now. I'll let it go 2 weeks before I even check S.G. again.

I am a true Texas Boy, so my A/C goes non-stop at 68ish degrees. My closet has tile in it and is dark, so I'll let my Ale's ferment in there. I also have a large 4-tap keezer, so when it comes time to lager, I have a perfect setup for lagering....

Still reading about how to prevent my hops from clogging my strainer. Looking at a couple of new methods, so I'll take advice on that too... I have a Plate Chiller and the intent is to gravity feed the wort through that out of my BK. Looks like the Lil' Sparky method may be the ticket, but I'm still reading....

 

[gr8shandini]

A 68 degree ambient temperature is still a little warm. Fermentation is exothermic, so the yeast will warm up the brew by as much as 5 to 10 degrees. A swamp cooler would do the trick, or you could use your keezer as a fermentation chamber if it's not currently in use.

 

[TheSquid]

You should look into putting your hops in a bag. This allows you to extract the goodies and leave the rest of the junk out. And I wouldn't worry too much about your OG....close enough.

 

[Clonefan94]

I wouldn't worry about the OG. It seems to have been proven on here that when topping off with water, it's not easy to get a good mix right away between the old wort and the new water. So, depending on where you took your sample from in the wort, it could be various numbers. As long as you hit your volume correctly, your gravity is probably correct.

 

[adpostel]

Could I just use a muslin bag for my hop addittions?

 

[Yooper]

Could I just use a muslin bag for my hop addittions?

Sure, if you want to. Just make sure they are loose in any bag you use, using more than one bag if needed, and not not packed in tightly. You want the hops, even contained in a bag, to be fully in contact with the wort as it boils.

 

[adpostel]

Ok, so finally checked on my cerveza. I started out with an OG of 1.046, now 12 days later in primary, it is at 1.022. So I guess it's moving right along. Had a very nice and even, thick krausen layer over the top of it. Took a small sample to test and taste, not bad. So I guess it needs to continue fermentation until it gets under 1.015 or so before kegging? It obviously is still very cloudy, should I transfer to a secondary to clean that up, any advice is appreciated. ..

 

[adamdillabo]

Hope everything went well with your Mexican lager. Few things I wanted to add. Extract kits are really hard to mix up evenly enough to get an accurate reading. The heavier sugars sink making the bottom have a higher gravity. Leaving most if the top off water in top. Then after you aerate there's too much foam to get a clear view. I'm sure you were pretty spot on.

As far as worrying about sanitation pre boil, don't. At 15 mins left in the boil. Clean everything you don't need and sanitize everything you do. I have a stainless steel island in my kitchen that is perfect. Just wipe it clean and toss a soaking sponge of star San on it. As far as sanitizing your hands while you worked on the kettle, no need and you did your self no favors. Watch out for anti bacterial soaps. You use it on your hands then work around with your yeast and you set them back.

Good luck with up and coming beers

 

[adamdillabo]

One more thing. Extract kits very rarely finish as cleanly as AG or commercial beers. I finally had a beer finish 1.010. Can't really tell you what I did. But solid practice is a good place to start.

I added my end LME to another gallon of water in a separate pot. Boiled it and added with 5 mins left. This way I didn't have that awkward 15 mins of am I going to get this back to a boil to add my flame out.

Aerate very well. I got an electric whisk. I think that is doing a great job. Plus the bottom comes all apart to its easy to sanitize everything but the motor. Hit it for a min. Put on the lid and fold it in. Then repeat a few more times.

Make starters and pitch healthy yeast.

Avoid secondary's. Most of the "is this infected" are in secondary's. And if you do secondary make sure you won't have lots of head space. Or transfer a bit early so your yeast will fill up the space with co2