New brewer from Michigan

[mrgrimm101]

Hello all!

My name is Nick and I'm from Lansing, MI.

I am very new to the world of home brewing and so far I am in love with it.

I bought a Brewer's Best Deluxe Kit with a 5 gal glass carboy and a separate 5 gal brewing kettle. Gotta love tax returns! For weeks prior to my first brew I was reading every book I could get my hands on and watching every youtube video I could on how to brew.

My buddy and I brewed our very first batch ever last Sunday, March 30th. It is a Bell's Two Hearted clone recipe that I got from my local home brew supply store. It has been sitting in the glass carboy for 84 hours now and I'm pretty sure the aggressive foaming stage has passed..I had quite the airlock foam situation until I rigged up a blow off hose.

I am very excited to continue the process with this batch and to brew (hopefully) countless more batches.

The styles I like are pale ales, IPAs, red ales, amber ales, wheat ales, stouts, and porters. I am mostly interested in pale ales and IPAs.

The next recipe I am going to attempt is a partial extract Zombie Dust clone.

Thanks for taking the time to read my introduction and any tips, pointers, advice, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers and happy brewing
-Nick (mrgrimm101)

 

[bberg]

I am mostly interested in pale ales, IPAs, red ales, amber ales, wheat ales, stouts, and porters.
(mrgrimm101)

Quite a list of mostly interested in



Welcome to the addiction mate. Good luck with everything.

I assume you'll be bottling? If so, how was the collection?

 

[mrgrimm101]

Haha I suppose I could have said I don't have much interest in lagers. :cross: I guess mostly I'm interested in pale ales and IPAs.

Yes I will be bottling. I am just reusing bottles I have bought from stores. I have an amazing store by my house with a huge variety so I usually just build a 6 pack and then clean and the bottles for later use. I've been saving bottles for a while now, but eventually I will have to start buying new bottles from my local homebrew supply store.

 

[prpromin]

Welcome. I know it's hard, but make sure to give that beer time to finish up (if you've been reading, you already know this). It's really hard to do with that first beer, but it pays off.

 

[mrgrimm101]

Welcome. I know it's hard, but make sure to give that beer time to finish up (if you've been reading, you already know this). It's really hard to do with that first beer, but it pays off.

The recipe says 7-10 days in the primary then 7 in the secondary.

I was so excited on brew day that I completely forgot to take an OG reading so I was planning on giving it the full 10 days. Or would I still be able to tell from the hydrometer by taking readings 3 days in a row? I know if the readings are consistent then it is most likely done, but I didn't know if this was still a reliable test as I had not taken an OG reading.

 

[BadWolfBrewing]

As was said, welcome to the addiction. Very accurate words

I'm also in Michigan, in Plymouth just a couple hours away.

With extract, you can calculate / guess at your OG pretty accurately.

LME (liquid malt extract) = 36 points per pound per gallon
DME (dry malt extract)= 46 "" ""

So, take that number (depending on whether you used LME or DME), multiply it by how many pounds of extract you used, and divide it by the total volume in the fermenter. That's your OG.

You can get the final gravity without an OG reading, but I'd caution you against it at this point. A HUGE part of brewing is getting comfortable with your own sanitation practices. Until you've done this a few times, taking 3 gravity readings increases your chances of an infected batch. The odds aren't high that will happen, in fact they are quite low. But for your first batch, I'd say don't risk it.

I'd say leave it in primary for at least 2 weeks, maybe 3. Then go straight to the bottle (with priming sugar). I'd say the majority opinion on these forums is that unless you are doing something with fruit / oak / stuff like that, or lagering, don't worry about a secondary. People have other opinions, though.

Honestly, I have no idea why the kits always say to secondary it... maybe they are trying to sell more carboys?

Either way, good beer will happen. If it is awesome, you can join the select few who didn't screw up their first batch. If the first batch tastes awful, you are in good company as well (including me).

 

[mrgrimm101]

I used 7.5 lbs of LME. (7.5x36)/5 gallons = 54. Neat.

Do the grains contribute at all or is it solely based on LME or DME?

The recipe calls for dry hopping in the secondary for 7 days so I was planning on doing that. I know there's a difference in opinion regarding secondary, but I feel like I want to do it to utilize the dry hopping and to help separate from the yeast cake.

Would I be able to dry hop in the primary or is that usually for the secondary?

Considering it's my first time I don't want to end up with too much yeast in my bottles. Some is alright, but I feel like I'd have to try it out a few times to see how it ends up.

 

[Valtyr]

Welcome to HBT. I'm also from Michigan, grew up in Hillsdale. Then the Navy brought me out to California.

Some people like to dry hop in their primary, but I believe the majority will transfer to a secondary for that. I always dry hop in a secondary.

An IPA is a great first beer, since they're best fairly young, and most new brewers are anxious to taste the fruits of their labor.

Welcome to the obsession. You're definitely in good company here.

 

[mrgrimm101]

Thanks so much. Im feeling very welcome here. Thanks everyone i can tell you will make this obsession even better

 

[bberg]

Welcome to HBT. I'm also from Michigan, grew up in Hillsdale. Then the Navy brought me out to California.

Some people like to dry hop in their primary, but I believe the majority will transfer to a secondary for that. I always dry hop in a secondary.

An IPA is a great first beer, since they're best fairly young, and most new brewers are anxious to taste the fruits of their labor.

Welcome to the obsession. You're definitely in good company here.

I haven't dry hopped (not a IPA'er, not yet), but I always use a secondary. It's not that I think it's better or worse (and I understand the risk), but my secondary vessel is a 5 gallon carboy so it has less head space.... and, more importantly, my primary is opened for another brew!

 

[Valtyr]

I'll secondary every so often as well, since I only have one 6.5 gallon bucket for now. My secondaries are all 5 gallon. I used to primary in those as well, but with blowoff, I ended up with closer to 4-4.5 gallons in the end.

 

[Homercidal]

Welcome!

I secondary when I feel like it. Like when I want to open the primary for another beer (not an issue now that I have like 4 buckets!)

Some people dry hop in the primary, and I've done it with success, you only need to be careful when siphoning to the bottling bucket to keep as much yeast and trub out as possible.

I think you will like that 2H clone. I haven't seen one yet that hasn't come out great. The dry hop is important to that recipe, so don't forget it!

Lastly, don't follow the instructions for when it's finished. It will be done when it's done, which might be before or after the instructions say. Take gravity readings to be sure. And it won't hurt to leave it in the primary for an extra week. If their are no bubbles coming up, you should be safe to dry hop without the CO2 scrubbing all of the aroma out. Dry hop for 5-7 days and then see if it's clear enough for you to bottle. Note that a lot of highly hopped beers may not be perfectly clear.

Cheers!

 

[mrgrimm101]

Should i be taking gravity readings from the primary before i transfer to secondary?

Also, what is the best way to get gravity samples from a glass carboy? Im worried about repeatedly removing the bung and introducing bacteria to the beer.

 

[Homercidal]

Generally if you see the krausen is falling, then fermentation is tailing off. It's probably safe to move to secondary if you are going to use one.

I would take gravity readings ANY time I'm moving the beer. Everything it probably working just as expected, but a gravity reading will make you sure.

 

[mrgrimm101]

Generally if you see the krausen is falling, then fermentation is tailing off. It's probably safe to move to secondary if you are going to use one.

I would take gravity readings ANY time I'm moving the beer. Everything it probably working just as expected, but a gravity reading will make you sure.

Gotcha. The krausen is still there, but the aggressive foaming has stopped and it is bubbling much slower than a couple days ago. This evening will mark 4 days since brewing, so I'm certain that it still has a while to go in the primary.

I plan on leaving it in the primary for 2 full weeks (recipe said 7-10 days), then transferring to secondary for dry hopping for another week, then into bottles. I'd like to take gravity readings to be sure that it is done in the primary, but considering it is my first time, I am worried I will contaminate the batch by removing the bung so many times for testing.

 

[BadWolfBrewing]

All good advice, and you can see that there are a lot of different methods people favor.

My way of thinking is that I touch the beer as little as possible. I don't test gravity until I keg it, and thats if I remember to. After 2 weeks, its probably done. If it was a higher grav beer, or a lager, I'd wait even longer. I think for certain styles, you want to keep tabs on the gravity. But something like a standard ale I think checking the gravity to make sure it is finished isn't necessary.

There's no harm in grabbing a sample when you are transferring it to secondary or bottles, since you are already in there anyways. Plus, you get a chance to taste the product.

 

[mrgrimm101]

The krausen seems to be stuck to the sides of the glass. Will this fall and settle, or will I just have to scrub the carboy to get it all off?

 

[BadWolfBrewing]

Some might fall, but be ready to clean. There's dozens of carboy cleaning techniques out there. I just use a stiff carboy brush

 

[mrgrimm101]

Ok. But it looks mostly normal, right?

 

[bberg]

OH MY... Looks like it's going to be horrendous!

Do yourself a favor. Wait 2 more weeks (dry hop if you need practice)... prime your bottling bucket with sugarwater, bottle it, ship them my way. PM me for address. I work for a chemical company, I can process the hazardous waste.





Don't worry it looks perfectly fine. RDWHAHB... not applicable to you, yet!

 

[mrgrimm101]

Haha i will once i can actually drink one of the home brews. Until then ill try not to worry. :beer:

 

[BadWolfBrewing]

After years of brewing, I'm still learning the same lesson over and over. Yeast is pretty unpredictable stuff, and strange things happen, but it always ends up as beer. As long as you don't make a big sanitation / cleanliness mistake, it will probably be good beer too.

And if it gets infected, call it a sour beer and tell everybody you did it on purpose. If they don't like it, it is because their pallet isn't as developed as yours.

 

[mrgrimm101]

And if it gets infected, call it a sour beer and tell everybody you did it on purpose. If they don't like it, it is because their pallet isn't as developed as yours.

Haha maybe the best advice I've gotten yet.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Welcome to HBT. I'm also from Michigan, grew up in Hillsdale. Then the Navy brought me out to California.

Some people like to dry hop in their primary, but I believe the majority will transfer to a secondary for that. I always dry hop in a secondary.

An IPA is a great first beer, since they're best fairly young, and most new brewers are anxious to taste the fruits of their labor.

Welcome to the obsession. You're definitely in good company here.

Welcome to the forum Nick, as you are already experiencing, HBT is the single most informative place to be for anything pertaining to brewing. I have been brewing for about 4 years now, starting with the deluxe kit that you purchased and advancing to an automated microbrewery in my basement, so yes it is addictive. For me, the DIY projects associated with brewing are equally as addicting as the beer making process. I couldn't have advance without the help of HBT members. There are truly some brilliant people that are very willing to help. Good luck!

Hey Valtyr, I grew up in Osseo and went to Hillsdale High School. I graduated in '91. Small world.

 

[Valtyr]

Oh, wow. I haven't heard Osseo mentioned in over a decade. Hahaha. I graduated in 2005. If his stories are true, we very well might have had the same chemistry teacher. Very small world.

 

[Vetter]

Welcome and Hi, from another newbie. I lived in Tecumseh/Adrian for many years, use to get to Hillsdale all the time.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

I dated a girl from Tecumseh in high school and have a lot of family in Adrian and Blissfield. Sorry to hijack your thread OP.

 

[mrgrimm101]

Haha no problem.

 

[Valtyr]

Oh, wow. I was born in Adrian, and lived there for a little while when I was really young.