Bioguy1975
Active Member
Hello gang,
Well, I finally jumped in with both feet! A co-worker started me out by giving me 3 glass 5 gallon carboys and all of his homebrew books... needless to say I caught the bug quite quickly. I bought the rest of my equipment after reading Palmer's book, purchased a 6.5 gallon as a primary fermenter (5 gals will be used as secondaries) and went to work this past weekend. I started out with a malt extract-derived kit (clone of popular ale brand) with specialty grains to steep. Overall the boil went quite well, was a lot less messy than I expected. The chill went well also, filled the laundry tub full of ice water, brought the temperature down very quick. The transfer to primary was a bit more concerning, as the crap on the bottom kept blocking my strainer up, and I had to use my spoon to ladle it off to clear. Maybe 15-20 minutes to transfer, not optimal.
And then, I forgot to take a sample to determine gravity!! what a noob.
My primary has been going for about 18 hours, with steady bubbling out of my fermentation lock, about a bubble every 4-5 seconds. However, my 1-inch-thick kreusen from yesterday has now settled back into a thin dark layer. I am concerned, but I remember my mantra, to relax and have a homebrew... but I have no homebrew yet!!!!!
To be continued, but, in any case, good to have a forum like this out there!
-Pete
Well, I finally jumped in with both feet! A co-worker started me out by giving me 3 glass 5 gallon carboys and all of his homebrew books... needless to say I caught the bug quite quickly. I bought the rest of my equipment after reading Palmer's book, purchased a 6.5 gallon as a primary fermenter (5 gals will be used as secondaries) and went to work this past weekend. I started out with a malt extract-derived kit (clone of popular ale brand) with specialty grains to steep. Overall the boil went quite well, was a lot less messy than I expected. The chill went well also, filled the laundry tub full of ice water, brought the temperature down very quick. The transfer to primary was a bit more concerning, as the crap on the bottom kept blocking my strainer up, and I had to use my spoon to ladle it off to clear. Maybe 15-20 minutes to transfer, not optimal.
And then, I forgot to take a sample to determine gravity!! what a noob.
My primary has been going for about 18 hours, with steady bubbling out of my fermentation lock, about a bubble every 4-5 seconds. However, my 1-inch-thick kreusen from yesterday has now settled back into a thin dark layer. I am concerned, but I remember my mantra, to relax and have a homebrew... but I have no homebrew yet!!!!!
To be continued, but, in any case, good to have a forum like this out there!
-Pete
