Just poured my first homebrew ever...

[Lazer Wolf Brewing]

First off, I would like to thank everyone on this site for help. The amount of hours I've spent reading thousands of threads on HBT, combined with the quick responses from helpful vets, has made my first homebrew ever GOOD. I'm shocked, to be honest. It seemed like everything went wrong on brewday:

- Broke hydrometer (had a refract thank god).
- Boiled for 30 minutes longer than anticipated because I couldn't hook up the CFC to sink. Overshot OG, undershot volume.
- Leak in fermenter, had to sanitize arm and reach into the cooled wort to tighten nut.
- 10 other panic moments I have chosen to forget.

Anyways, I was too impatient to clear this beer up, but here it is, Zombie Piss 1.0. I went all grain zombie dust clone, and although it tastes only slightly similar to zombie dust, I actually am enjoying it. Zombie Piss 2.0 is still fermenting, so I will be patient with that one and let it get clear/carbonate it properly.

Again, thanks everyone. My sort-of-zombie-dust-cloudy citra-bomb is dedicated to all of you! Also, no, I did not let a child do my artwork. This is the artwork of a 30 year-old man.

OG: 1.065
FG: 1.016
ABV: 6.2%

 

[Rockn_M]

Very nice!

I like the artwork

 

[jwlubich]

Also, no, I did not let a child do my artwork. This is the artwork of a 30 year-old man.

That is funny. Lol!

 

[passedpawn]

You're ahead of the game with the keezer and 650ss. Homebrewed zombie killer... I can see inside you, the sickness is rising...

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxuOtbtnSDE[/ame]

 

[jcav]

Congrats on the first homebrew!! Also welcome to the club, every brewer breaks a hydro or two along the way!

Have one for me!

John

 

[eightysixCJ]

Awesome! Congratulations!

I got my first batch (partial grain rye IPA) going last week. I overshot my OG as well (ended up with an OG higher than the recipe.) As an aside, do you know why you overshot? I was steeping and boiling outside in the cold at night and had trouble tracking the boiling and think I overcooked.

Tom

 

[kev211]

Ha! That artwork is awesome! Chalk art is hard! I have a lousy flamingo drawn on my tap board right now :rockin:

Congrats on the first brew! And like passedpawn said, you're WAY ahead of the game!

On a side note, it would be cool if you left enough of ver 1.0 to do a side by side comparison with 2.0 to see what improvements you've made

 

[Lazer Wolf Brewing]

Have one for me!

John

Already Done! By the way, I was trying to come up with names for my homebrewery and guess what my first idea was? Lone Wolf Brewing. So now whenever is see your avatar, which seems to be pretty often, i cry a little. Hehe.

 

[Lazer Wolf Brewing]

On a side note, it would be cool if you left enough of ver 1.0 to do a side by side comparison with 2.0 to see what improvements you've made

I am definitely going to do that. I also have been saving one bottle of zombie dust to bust open and compare all three side by side. I live in CA so I had to trade some Plinys for the ZDs.

 

[Lazer Wolf Brewing]

As an aside, do you know why you overshot?
Tom

Sorry for all the posts, I need to figure out how to multi quote in one post. Looking up now...

As far as why I overshot, its because I boiled for a lot longer than I wanted to. I actually ended up about where I wanted to in FG, so really all that did was give me less beer with a higher abv.

 

[seabrew8]

NIce keezer! Congrats. I recently discovered gelatin myself - it works great. The last batch doesn't even have chill haze!

 

[passedpawn]

Sorry for all the posts, I need to figure out how to multi quote in one post. Looking up now...

As far as why I overshot, its because I boiled for a lot longer than I wanted to. I actually ended up about where I wanted to in FG, so really all that did was give me less beer with a higher abv.

Scroll down to How to Multi-quote

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/homebrewtalk-tips-tricks.html

 

[kev211]

Sorry for all the posts, I need to figure out how to multi quote in one post. Looking up now...

Are you on mobile or PC? Pc you hit the button next to quote with the small + symbol on all the posts you want to quote, thn hit quote once you've selected them and it will load them all into the same reply as multiple quotes.

Basically the same as on mobile only you just tap the messages you want to quote and then hit the little message button (mines in the top right on android)

Good call on trading Plinys for the ZD btw

 

[jcav]

Already Done! By the way, I was trying to come up with names for my homebrewery and guess what my first idea was? Lone Wolf Brewing. So now whenever is see your avatar, which seems to be pretty often, i cry a little. Hehe.

There is a few of us that use Lone Wolf Brewery, Brewing, etc on this forum. I can't claim to be the originator of it, the phrase has been around forever. I remember "Lone Wolf McQuade" on tv when I was younger, and because of what I did for my career (I am retired now) and other things about me, it just fit perfectly for me. Go ahead and use it if you want, I don't mind!

John

 

[Mexibilly]

You're ahead of the game with the keezer and 650ss. Homebrewed zombie killer... I can see inside you, the sickness is rising...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxuOtbtnSDE

There is no turning back now, you've woken up the brewer in you

 

[passedpawn]

There is no turning back now, you've woken up the brewer in you

You're ready for the zombie apocalypse...

 

[pugsly07]

Congrats on your first brew! Glad to hear it came out great. I just brewed my 2nd batch. It really is an itch!

The wealth of knowledge on this site is amazing and everyone seems to be very friendly and open. Helped me thru my first batch as well!

 

[eightysixCJ]

As far as why I overshot, its because I boiled for a lot longer than I wanted to. I actually ended up about where I wanted to in FG, so really all that did was give me less beer with a higher abv.

Thanks, this helps. I had a feeling I was boiling too long (because I could not tell when the boil stared etc). I was looking for 1.061 and ended up with 1.087, I'm thinking my abv will be higher than the planned 6.2%.

Tom

 

[passedpawn]

Thanks, this helps. I had a feeling I was boiling too long (because I could not tell when the boil stared etc). I was looking for 1.061 and ended up with 1.087, I'm thinking my abv will be higher than the planned 6.2%.

Tom

If you get a refractometer you can check your gravity during the boil.

 

[ballsy]

Congrats on your first homebrew....holy crap at that keezer though!!! Hahahaha, here I am 3 yrs and 35 batches later and I'm still using picnic taps!

 

[Lazer Wolf Brewing]

Congrats on your first homebrew....holy crap at that keezer though!!! Hahahaha, here I am 3 yrs and 35 batches later and I'm still using picnic taps!

Haha...it was definitely expensive and time consuming. I work for a brewery and hence, get free kegs, which is why I built it. I didn't buy it for Homebrewing, but it worked out perfectly. Reading about bottling, it sounded like a PITA to me!

 

[eightysixCJ]

If you get a refractometer you can check your gravity during the boil.

I have one! Is there a quick strategy you can share? I did the steeping for 30-minutes @ 165*, added dry malt, boiled 30-minutes after hot break with hops, then added liquid malt, boiled another 25-minutes, hops for another 5-minutes.

When would I check the sugar and what action would I take when I see my target level?

Thanks,

Tom

 

[passedpawn]

I have one! Is there a quick strategy you can share? I did the steeping for 30-minutes @ 165*, added dry malt, boiled 30-minutes after hot break with hops, then added liquid malt, boiled another 25-minutes, hops for another 5-minutes.

When would I check the sugar and what action would I take when I see my target level?

Thanks,

Tom

OK, I'll tell you what I do, every time. It works for me, but as many times as I've recommended it here, nobody else likes it. But I can hit the OG I want every time. Because the following assumes you might need to boil longer than an hour, it's easier for me since I have an electric boil kettle.

1. Wait for the boil to begin. This ensures that the contents are all mixed up and the same gravity. No hops have been added yet. Use a metal spoon to get a sample onto the refractometer and measure the initial concentration (C1). Note the volume at this time (V1).
2. Use simple math to determine what your final volume needs to be (V2) to achieve the OG you want (C2).
3. V2 = ( C1 * V1) / C2.
4. So now you know the final volume you need (V2). If you know your boiloff rate (e.g., 1g per hr) then you know when you'll hit that final volume. Look at the clock, note the time whey you'll hit that final volume, back off an hour, and that's when you throw in your 60 hops, and that's when you start your hop addition timer.

Note: the units for the "C"s above is gravity points. So, if you measure 1.050, C1 would be just 50.

Note 2: If for some reason the gravity is higher than expected, and you calculate that you'll reach your desired OG in less than an hour, just do a 1-hr boil, add hops as your recipe requires, and add sterilized water at the end of the boil (or to the fermentor) to get to the gravity you want. You can figure out how much to add using the same equation above. I doubt many people would do this, but there's no reason not to.

 

[eightysixCJ]

OK, I'll tell you what I do, every time. It works for me, but as many times as I've recommended it here, nobody else likes it. But I can hit the OG I want every time.

Cool! I'll give that a try.

Thanks.

Tom