Need first timer tips-first brew day on Sunday
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Read the directions, get familiar with your equipment and get everything set up, read the directions, make sure everything is sanitized, read the directions, relax and pay attention to what you are doing, read the directions, watch your temperatures.
Ferment at the low end of the temperature range printed on your yeast package. Use a swamp cooler to control your temps.
Skip transferring to secondary and just do your primary fermentation for 3 weeks then bottle.
Bottle condition at about 70° for 2-3 weeks before cooling and testing one bottle. If it is not ready wait another week.
Sanitation, temperature control, and patience are the keys to making good beer.
Ferment at the low end of the temperature range printed on your yeast package. Use a swamp cooler to control your temps.
Skip transferring to secondary and just do your primary fermentation for 3 weeks then bottle.
Bottle condition at about 70° for 2-3 weeks before cooling and testing one bottle. If it is not ready wait another week.
Sanitation, temperature control, and patience are the keys to making good beer.
I started with NB kits last year. From what I've gleaned from experience and the forum, I would:
1. Bring your water to 170 degrees, turn off heat, pour steeping grains into muslin bag, and put the grains in water. Dunk up and down a few times to make sure all the grains get wet. Remove after 20 minutes, and bring water up to a boil.
2. While water's coming up to a boil, empty out the grain bag and cut in half length-wise to use as hop bags later.
3. When water boils, remove from heat and stir in 1/4th or so of the malt extract. Tie knots as necessary and dump the 60 minute hops into one of the grain bag halves. Bring water back to boil and add the hop bag, dunking it every so often.
4. Do the hop-bag thing with the second hop addition.
5. After 60 minutes, turn off the heat (flame-out) and stir in the remainder of the malt extract.
6. Follow instruction up to Step 16. Ignore Steps 16, 17, and 18.
7. Four weeks later, follow instructions to bottle beer.
8. Let beer condition 2~3 weeks, refrigerate for 1 week. ENJOY!
1. Bring your water to 170 degrees, turn off heat, pour steeping grains into muslin bag, and put the grains in water. Dunk up and down a few times to make sure all the grains get wet. Remove after 20 minutes, and bring water up to a boil.
2. While water's coming up to a boil, empty out the grain bag and cut in half length-wise to use as hop bags later.
3. When water boils, remove from heat and stir in 1/4th or so of the malt extract. Tie knots as necessary and dump the 60 minute hops into one of the grain bag halves. Bring water back to boil and add the hop bag, dunking it every so often.
4. Do the hop-bag thing with the second hop addition.
5. After 60 minutes, turn off the heat (flame-out) and stir in the remainder of the malt extract.
6. Follow instruction up to Step 16. Ignore Steps 16, 17, and 18.
7. Four weeks later, follow instructions to bottle beer.
8. Let beer condition 2~3 weeks, refrigerate for 1 week. ENJOY!
bchurch
Well-Known Member
Definitely keep the fermentation on the cool side or else you might get an excessive amount of fruity esters.
Spartangreen
Well-Known Member
The brew kit I got is the Irish Red Ale ( OG 1.044) that says it requires second fermentation, although the DVD that came with the kit says no need to do second fermentation just leave for extra week. I read that you should do a second regardless so i bought a glass carboy for that reason. Am i going overboard?
The Irish Red Ale kit is a great one BTW!
I do basically the same as HBngNOK except that I steep the grains while raising the temperature. I put them in the water when it is hot and continue for 20 minutes or 170°. The timing and temperature have always been withing a couple of minutes, so if it is reaching 170° too soon I just lower the heat.
I do basically the same as HBngNOK except that I steep the grains while raising the temperature. I put them in the water when it is hot and continue for 20 minutes or 170°. The timing and temperature have always been withing a couple of minutes, so if it is reaching 170° too soon I just lower the heat.
paulster2626
Well-Known Member
All of the above, but do it on Saturday. Your beer will be ready a day earlier.
I did my first ever brew two weeks ago. It was a Northern Brewer kit (the dry Irish Stout). It's as easy as cooking mac and cheese. Seriously. The instructions are easy to follow and comprehensive.
Take a look at all your equipment before you get started. Watch the CD that's included in the kit. It only takes a couple minutes, and it explains the process quite well.
The biggest pain I discovered was being able to cool the wort to room temp before pitching the yeast. I was able to get my kettle in my kitchen sink, sitting in ice water. But I didn't have enough ice in my freezer. Next time I'll take ice out and put a bunch in gallon zip locks starting the week before the brew so I have enough to make a bad-ass ice bath.
If you don't have one, get a cheap food thermometer. It's not vital for an extract brew, but the steeping grains have ideal temps, and getting used to temperature control is a good habit in this hobby.
Good luck!
Your instructions probably won't tell you this but you need to leave the lid OFF of your pot while you are boiling. I strongly agree with the late extract addition instead of adding it all at the beginning and fermentation temperature control is a must. Good Luck!
You can do a secondary. Secondary fermentation is really a misnomer. More accurately it is a bright tank. It is for making the beer more clear. In days past it was considered necessary. I would say that most home brewers skip the secondary these days. Others think it makes their beer better. I is really personal choice.
Overboard? Not really. Necessary? No.
I don't know why NB doesn't make the choice more clear in their directions.
XombieDeath
Active Member
don't pitch your yeast till the wort is at the right pitch temperature. If you are doing a 5 gallon batch with a 2 gallon boil, put those 3 gallons of water in the fridge and get them GOOD AND COLD. Then dump the cold water in the fermentor right before you put the wort in. It should get the wort to (or at least much closer to) pitch temperature almost instantly.
If you are doing a 5 gallon boil, get a wort chiller. $40 + Lowe's = Immersion Chiller FTW.
If you are doing a 5 gallon boil, get a wort chiller. $40 + Lowe's = Immersion Chiller FTW.
Corrected this for you!
Good corrections... :rockin:
Keep a spray bottle of starsan handy, you will never know what you might forget or need to sanitize. Put some water bottles in the freezer to add during your crash cool but make sure they are sanitized
Your extract will be gooey, make sure you keep it upside down and possibly in a warm water bath to help get all that goodness out and into the boil!
CLEAN, SANITIZE and make sure you have a way of measuring your water additions. Use good water
Your extract will be gooey, make sure you keep it upside down and possibly in a warm water bath to help get all that goodness out and into the boil!
CLEAN, SANITIZE and make sure you have a way of measuring your water additions. Use good water
After I've poured as much extract out as I can, I carefully funnel some of the hot wort into the extract container and slosh it around. This will get virtually all of the extract out.
paulster2626
Well-Known Member
Really? I just grab a pair of tongs and toss the whole container in for a few seconds. This gets ALL of the extract out.
Take the labels and glue off first, of course.
XombieDeath
Active Member
Remember to make sure SWMBO is contented and unlikely to maliciously disturb the beermaking process. Loving and/or presents the night before the brew is always useful.
Meatyboy
Well-Known Member
I brew after the family goes to bed. While my wife sleeps and before I start brewing I wash the dishes and clean off and bleach countertop space. When I'm on the boil phase and got time to kill I finish cleaning the rest of the kitchen, sweeping and mopping and generally washing everything down. Keeps SWMBO extremely happy and me in home brew.
Edit: just remember to clean up any spills and messes when your done, if you're married you gotta keep the boss happy. You don't want her coming in and seeing a trashed kitchen.
Edit: just remember to clean up any spills and messes when your done, if you're married you gotta keep the boss happy. You don't want her coming in and seeing a trashed kitchen.
LandoLincoln
Well-Known Member
If your wife asks you "how long is this going to take?" then say "14 hours."
It won't take anywhere close to that, but nothing seems to piss off wives more than a brew day that takes longer than an estimated amount of time.
