JeffoC6
Well-Known Member
Greetings all,
I just finished up my first homebrew today, roughly an hour ago. I tried my absolute best to be clean and sanitize everything. I followed the instructions (Brooklyn Brew Shop) to a T and I'm hoping that what I've created turns out somewhat drinkable haha.
I've done some reading here and there before I decided to brew, so I could familiarize myself with the process the best I could. But as you know, you sometimes need to just jump in and go for it. That's what happened today. One thing I remember reading is that it's very important to take good notes. I did so today, and am hoping that I could share them with the forum in order to gain some construction feedback for my next experience. I highly doubt that I nailed it the first time out, and seeing how I finished up about an hour ago, I won't really know for awhile. Anyways, here are my notes, I appreciate any comments, feedback, etc. Thanks so much for having me!
Brew Diary #1- Chestnut Brown Ale (Brooklyn Brew Shop)
-Completely wiped down all counters and stove with soapy water and sponge, removed everything from the area.
-Added 1/2 pack of C-Brite sanitizer (as instructed) to the 1 gallon jug (carboy that they provided) and filled with cold tap water to "1 Gallon" mark.
-Filled a large deep foil pan (11x14) with about 3/4 of a gallon of the sanitizing solution. Added all pieces of brewing kit to solution to soak for about 30 min. Left remaining sanitizing solution in the 1 gallon jug. Put the half used packet of C-Brite in a tupperware container for next use.
-After soaking all pieces, I placed them all on 2 large sections of paper towels, which were laid out on the cleaned counters. These were left out to air-dry.
-I left the sanitizing solution in the large foil pan to use throughout my brewing process if I needed to re-sanitize something, or if I needed to dip my hands in it and then rinse off if necessary.
-I filled my large black stock pot with 2 quarts (8 cups) of spring water. I did not sanitize the large black pot, but did wash it out thoroughly with hot soapy water earlier, but I did sanitize the measuring cup.
-I put the large silver stock pot on the other burner, empty. I did not sanitize this pot, but I did wash it out thoroughly earlier with hot soapy water.
-I brought the spring water in the black pot to 160 degrees and added the grains provided to me in the kit (I put the yeast and hops provided to me in the kit, on a paper towel, on the cleaned counter-top) and set the timer for 60 minutes.
-I stirred a few times to incorporate all of the grains into the water and then lowered the heat almost immediately to make sure the grain/water was between 144-152 degrees. I continuously prodded around the pot with the sanitized thermometer, making sure the mixture never went above 152 degrees, although I noticed that certain areas were hotter than others, and at times, certain areas did go above 152, but the majority of the mixture stayed between 144-152. When the temperature would fall, I'd turn the heat back on for another boost to the temperature, trying my best to keep it between 144-152. At exactly every 10 minutes, I would stir the mixture with a black plastic spoon that I had previously sanitized.
-As I approached the 60 minute mark, I filled up 2 other (small) with 1 gallon of spring water. I did not sanitize these pots, but did wash them out thoroughly with soapy water. I brought the gallon of water (divided between both pots) to a boil and then turned the heat off in order to achieve 170 degrees. Next time, I feel that I should have an additional large pot for this job, as using 2 smaller pots was harder to gauge the temperatures of both.
-After 60 minutes, I put my sanitized strainer over the mouth of the large silver pot and carefully (also using a ladle that had been sanitized) put the grain mixture/water through the strainer. I made sure to get all the water out, but the strainer wasn't large enough to hold ALL of the grain, so I ended up just throwing a little of the grain away so it didn't spill over into the wort that was collecting in the pot.
-After making sure that the water in the 2 small pots were at 170 degrees, I used the same ladle (re-sanitized it) to ladle the water over the grains in the strainer until I felt comfortable simply pouring it over. At this point, all of my wort was in the large silver pot, and all of my grain was in the strainer. I removed the strainer and started to bring the wort to a boil over moderately high temp, but not too high.
-After the wort came to a rolling boil (not too aggressively), I set the timer to 60 minutes and added 2/3 of the hops that were provided to me (using sanitized scissors to open the package). I did not use any chestnuts per the recipe, as my store didn't have them and a trip to a speciality store wasn't possible.
-The wort then came to the "hot break" and started to foam (about 1-2 minutes into the beginning of the boil). At that time, I lowered the temp, but kept a steady, easy, boil, stirring occasionally. I would raise and lower the temp during the remaining of the boil to make sure the boil was never too high, or too low.
-When the timer read 20 minutes left, I added the last 1/3 of the hops that were provided to me (per the instructions) and stirred, keeping the same consistent boil. Never too high and never to low.
-I cleaned out the sink and filled it with cold water with 10 minutes left in the boil process. Once the sink was filled, I waited until 2 minutes were left in the boil process and added all of the ice and ice packets that I had in the freezer to the water in the sink, then, as soon as the 60 minute boil was up, I put the large pot in the sink and surrounded it with the ice and waited for it to achieve 70 degrees (using the re-sanitized thermometer). I did not get any water into the wort, as I made sure the faucet was moved away so it didn't drip into the wort.
-After the wort dropped to below 70 degrees (which took approx 10 minutes), I shook up the carboy (1 gallon jug) that had the remaining sanitizing solution in. I poured it out and then rinsed it with spring water, right from the bottle, making sure the bottle didn't touch the lip of the carboy.
-I then took my sanitized funnel and put it over the mouth of the carboy. Above that, I rested a smaller sanitized strainer that I have, and poured the wort through the strainer, down into the funnel, and into the carboy. Towards the end, there was a lot of residue that was collected in the strainer.
-Per the instructions in my kit, I cut open the packet of yeast with my sanitized scissors and poured it into the carboy. I then sanitized my hands and held my palm up to the mouth of the carboy and shook vigorously to activate the yeast. I capped the carboy with the sanitized cap and attached the sanitized blow off tube, affixing the other end of the blow off tube into a bowl full of sanitizing solution.
-I put the carboy and bowl of solution in my dark walk-in close and will check periodically, but plan to attach the airlock in 3 days, per my instructions.
I just finished up my first homebrew today, roughly an hour ago. I tried my absolute best to be clean and sanitize everything. I followed the instructions (Brooklyn Brew Shop) to a T and I'm hoping that what I've created turns out somewhat drinkable haha.
I've done some reading here and there before I decided to brew, so I could familiarize myself with the process the best I could. But as you know, you sometimes need to just jump in and go for it. That's what happened today. One thing I remember reading is that it's very important to take good notes. I did so today, and am hoping that I could share them with the forum in order to gain some construction feedback for my next experience. I highly doubt that I nailed it the first time out, and seeing how I finished up about an hour ago, I won't really know for awhile. Anyways, here are my notes, I appreciate any comments, feedback, etc. Thanks so much for having me!
Brew Diary #1- Chestnut Brown Ale (Brooklyn Brew Shop)
-Completely wiped down all counters and stove with soapy water and sponge, removed everything from the area.
-Added 1/2 pack of C-Brite sanitizer (as instructed) to the 1 gallon jug (carboy that they provided) and filled with cold tap water to "1 Gallon" mark.
-Filled a large deep foil pan (11x14) with about 3/4 of a gallon of the sanitizing solution. Added all pieces of brewing kit to solution to soak for about 30 min. Left remaining sanitizing solution in the 1 gallon jug. Put the half used packet of C-Brite in a tupperware container for next use.
-After soaking all pieces, I placed them all on 2 large sections of paper towels, which were laid out on the cleaned counters. These were left out to air-dry.
-I left the sanitizing solution in the large foil pan to use throughout my brewing process if I needed to re-sanitize something, or if I needed to dip my hands in it and then rinse off if necessary.
-I filled my large black stock pot with 2 quarts (8 cups) of spring water. I did not sanitize the large black pot, but did wash it out thoroughly with hot soapy water earlier, but I did sanitize the measuring cup.
-I put the large silver stock pot on the other burner, empty. I did not sanitize this pot, but I did wash it out thoroughly earlier with hot soapy water.
-I brought the spring water in the black pot to 160 degrees and added the grains provided to me in the kit (I put the yeast and hops provided to me in the kit, on a paper towel, on the cleaned counter-top) and set the timer for 60 minutes.
-I stirred a few times to incorporate all of the grains into the water and then lowered the heat almost immediately to make sure the grain/water was between 144-152 degrees. I continuously prodded around the pot with the sanitized thermometer, making sure the mixture never went above 152 degrees, although I noticed that certain areas were hotter than others, and at times, certain areas did go above 152, but the majority of the mixture stayed between 144-152. When the temperature would fall, I'd turn the heat back on for another boost to the temperature, trying my best to keep it between 144-152. At exactly every 10 minutes, I would stir the mixture with a black plastic spoon that I had previously sanitized.
-As I approached the 60 minute mark, I filled up 2 other (small) with 1 gallon of spring water. I did not sanitize these pots, but did wash them out thoroughly with soapy water. I brought the gallon of water (divided between both pots) to a boil and then turned the heat off in order to achieve 170 degrees. Next time, I feel that I should have an additional large pot for this job, as using 2 smaller pots was harder to gauge the temperatures of both.
-After 60 minutes, I put my sanitized strainer over the mouth of the large silver pot and carefully (also using a ladle that had been sanitized) put the grain mixture/water through the strainer. I made sure to get all the water out, but the strainer wasn't large enough to hold ALL of the grain, so I ended up just throwing a little of the grain away so it didn't spill over into the wort that was collecting in the pot.
-After making sure that the water in the 2 small pots were at 170 degrees, I used the same ladle (re-sanitized it) to ladle the water over the grains in the strainer until I felt comfortable simply pouring it over. At this point, all of my wort was in the large silver pot, and all of my grain was in the strainer. I removed the strainer and started to bring the wort to a boil over moderately high temp, but not too high.
-After the wort came to a rolling boil (not too aggressively), I set the timer to 60 minutes and added 2/3 of the hops that were provided to me (using sanitized scissors to open the package). I did not use any chestnuts per the recipe, as my store didn't have them and a trip to a speciality store wasn't possible.
-The wort then came to the "hot break" and started to foam (about 1-2 minutes into the beginning of the boil). At that time, I lowered the temp, but kept a steady, easy, boil, stirring occasionally. I would raise and lower the temp during the remaining of the boil to make sure the boil was never too high, or too low.
-When the timer read 20 minutes left, I added the last 1/3 of the hops that were provided to me (per the instructions) and stirred, keeping the same consistent boil. Never too high and never to low.
-I cleaned out the sink and filled it with cold water with 10 minutes left in the boil process. Once the sink was filled, I waited until 2 minutes were left in the boil process and added all of the ice and ice packets that I had in the freezer to the water in the sink, then, as soon as the 60 minute boil was up, I put the large pot in the sink and surrounded it with the ice and waited for it to achieve 70 degrees (using the re-sanitized thermometer). I did not get any water into the wort, as I made sure the faucet was moved away so it didn't drip into the wort.
-After the wort dropped to below 70 degrees (which took approx 10 minutes), I shook up the carboy (1 gallon jug) that had the remaining sanitizing solution in. I poured it out and then rinsed it with spring water, right from the bottle, making sure the bottle didn't touch the lip of the carboy.
-I then took my sanitized funnel and put it over the mouth of the carboy. Above that, I rested a smaller sanitized strainer that I have, and poured the wort through the strainer, down into the funnel, and into the carboy. Towards the end, there was a lot of residue that was collected in the strainer.
-Per the instructions in my kit, I cut open the packet of yeast with my sanitized scissors and poured it into the carboy. I then sanitized my hands and held my palm up to the mouth of the carboy and shook vigorously to activate the yeast. I capped the carboy with the sanitized cap and attached the sanitized blow off tube, affixing the other end of the blow off tube into a bowl full of sanitizing solution.
-I put the carboy and bowl of solution in my dark walk-in close and will check periodically, but plan to attach the airlock in 3 days, per my instructions.
I hope you scrubbed down and sandpapered yourself in the shower first!
