Okay...so the beer is now fermenting (my first attempt). The recipe ( a supposed clone of Dogfish Head 60 min IPA) was seriously thin on details. I had some grain. several packets of various hops. two 3.3 lb cans of liquid malt syrup and about a half cup of "priming sugar".
I boiled the bag o' grain, removed it, poured 1 3/4 of the 2 cans of malt, added a 1 oz of Warrior hops (all my hops were pelletized) and the sugar,
I let it boil for 30 min, added a couple oz of simcoe and palisade hops, 20 min later I added 2 1/2 oz of some other hops. and finished boiling for another 15 min or so.
I cooled it and strained it through a sanitized kitchen strainer to catch most of the solids (the big stuff anyhow), added some ale yeast, then added enough (brita type filter) filtered water to top off to 5 gal and put the lid on (with the "breather/relief valve").
It looks like a very brown ale at this point, I am hopeful that the color will lighten as it ferments but....time will tell.
Now ....how do I know when it's ready to bottle?
I boiled the bag o' grain, removed it, poured 1 3/4 of the 2 cans of malt, added a 1 oz of Warrior hops (all my hops were pelletized) and the sugar,
I let it boil for 30 min, added a couple oz of simcoe and palisade hops, 20 min later I added 2 1/2 oz of some other hops. and finished boiling for another 15 min or so.
I cooled it and strained it through a sanitized kitchen strainer to catch most of the solids (the big stuff anyhow), added some ale yeast, then added enough (brita type filter) filtered water to top off to 5 gal and put the lid on (with the "breather/relief valve").
It looks like a very brown ale at this point, I am hopeful that the color will lighten as it ferments but....time will tell.
Now ....how do I know when it's ready to bottle?