Not quite freaked out newb here.

[BradTheGeek]

Working on my first batch and was hoping for some input on several questions I have. Before getting to the questions I will give some info on my beer and setup.

I am cheap and poor (but love great beer) and have cobbled this together on a shoestring. The first step was when someone gave me a MR Beer kit. I did my research and saw that they were not great, so before jumping in, I decided to 'adjust' things. Their keg fermenter did not even have an airlock, just slits under the cap for CO2 to escape (and bacteria/wild yeast to get in). So, here is what I did.
I obtained 3-1 gallon glass carboys (only using 2 right now), to use as primary fermenters (not currently using a secondary). Of course I have stoppers and airlocks. I used the Mr Beer Pale Ale hopped extract and their (corn sugar) I believe 'booster'. Without going to get the paperwork, that would give a target of ~4.7abv, which was lower than I wanted, so I added more sugars. I used brown sugar and honey (I later read brown sugar and pale ale may not taste well together, but I will have plenty more batches to experiment with recipes). That brought my approx abv to~5.5-6.5. I did not use the Mr Beer yeast. I pitched safale us-05. After the boil I poured into my carboys and let it bubble away in dark place (in addition I have dark fleece pillowcase with a drawstring around the carboys insulating and protecting them up to the neck)

Fermentation took off quickly, and ran steady for a while. I do not have AC, but air temps have been between 73-80, so not too bad. After a week, I decided to have some fun, and (loose pellet) dry hopped one carboy. Racking that one is going to be fun I am sure, as there are lots of hop particles on top.

It has now been 13 days. On day 12 I took a sample of the non dry hopped carboy as airlock bubbling has all but stopped. Gravity was at 1.018 (1.020 if I corrected for 60deg the right way). Tomorrow I plan to sample again to compare gravity readings (I am reusing bottles and have a capper, and I do not want glass bottle bombs!) I did not sample the hopped carboy as I did not want to disturb the hops, and give them more time to settle/separate, and I did not think that the hopping would affect fermentation rate much/at all.

My questions are thus:

1. Am I correct in my assumption about hopping not affecting fermentation rate?
2. The sample I took did appear to still be fermenting. It was very clear, but there were fine bubbles being generated from the sides of the smple tube, is this a sign that it is not done?
3. After testing, I of course tasted the sample. It seemed to taste a bit yeasty (and warm and flat of course), will this wear off after more settling, conditioning, and chilling?
4. Will chilling the hopped carboy make the floating particles sink? (I know I should have used a nylon bag, but the ones I had are too big to really fit into a small neck 1 gallon carboy.)

Thanks for any input, and I love this hoppy hobby so far. My next step is to use better extract and partial grain. Next year I may try to grow my own hops in the garden.
Below are a couple of pics, just for fun.
Right after pitching:

A bit of my sample from yesterday:

 

[J187]

Hi, welcome to the hobby and the forums!

1. No, dry hopping will not affect the fermentation - and after a week the primary is more than likely done anyway. Usually you dry hop after primary anyway.

2. Try not to use things like bubbles as evidence of fermentation. They can be misleading. Taking gravity readings, having a solid process, and allotting enough time are the ways to ensure things are on point. Give it enough time - a week to 10 days, I usually primary for 14 days to allow yeast to clean up and settle. Then check gravity. Check again in a couple of days and if the gravity hasn't changed, it's done fermenting.

3. Yes... tasting your samples is a good way of getting to know your beer, but always bear in mind things will change dramatically when it's been conditioned, carbonated, chilled, aged, etc.

4. I usually strain my wort going into the fermenter. I filter out the break material that way. Many particles will settle with time, and try not to disturb those too much when racking from vessel to vessel. The yeast should settle quite a bit in time and still leave enough in solution to carbonate when the time comes. You can probably strain the wort very carefully either through a muslin bag or a strainer or something before bottling if you are concerned. - if you do this... make sure you don't oxygenate or shake up the wort too much. You could also just siphon carefully into a bottling bucket and see what makes it through.

 

[flars]

You said your ambient air temperature was 73° to 80°. In a 1 gallon fermenter the temperature from fermentation can rise 3° to 5°. This is getting high enough for the yeast to begin producing off flavors. Set up a swamp cooler. Basically a tub of water to cover 1/3 to 1/2 of the fermentor, wet cloth over the fermentor, and a fan. This can reduce the wort temperature 5° to 10°. Wort temperature in the low to mid 60°s is considered optimum for most ale yeasts.
Your set up looks good.

 

[brewkinger]

Looks like everyone covered the basics and thoroughly answered your ?'s

The only thing that I will add pertains to #2.

The bubbles that you saw on the side of your sample tube is just CO2 that is dissolved in the beer. It is referred to as off-gassing and perfectly normal.

 

[Gary22]

I need more one gallon glass carboys. Could u point me in the direction in which u got urs? Cheers. N welcome to the hobby

 

[brewkinger]

I need more one gallon glass carboys. Could u point me in the direction in which u got urs? Cheers. N welcome to the hobby

Northern Brewer has a "value pack" that includes (4) 1 gal glass carboys, stoppers and airlocks for like $40.

 

[Gary22]

That's friggen awesome. Much appreciated. Thank u

 

[flars]

I need more one gallon glass carboys. Could u point me in the direction in which u got urs? Cheers. N welcome to the hobby

You could also use large pickle and pepper jars. Can add a little more headspace to keep the airlock from clogging.

 

[brewkinger]

You could also use large pickle and pepper jars. Can add a little more headspace to keep the airlock from clogging.

Am I missing something? What do you use for an airlock in a pickle or pepper jar?

 

[Gary22]

What about an airlock on these pickle/pepper jars? I love new ideas for ghetto rigged brewing 😎

 

[flars]

Am I missing something? What do you use for an airlock in a pickle or pepper jar?

I just drill a hole in the lid to install a rubber grommet to fit the airlock through. Others that use a blow-off tube drill the hole to squeeze the tubing in, no grommet.

 

[reverendj1]

You said your ambient air temperature was 73° to 80°. In a 1 gallon fermenter the temperature from fermentation can rise 3° to 5°. This is getting high enough for the yeast to begin producing off flavors. Set up a swamp cooler. Basically a tub of water to cover 1/3 to 1/2 of the fermentor, wet cloth over the fermentor, and a fan. This can reduce the wort temperature 5° to 10°. Wort temperature in the low to mid 60°s is considered optimum for most ale yeasts.
Your set up looks good.

This. You need to get those temps down.

I need more one gallon glass carboys. Could u point me in the direction in which u got urs? Cheers. N welcome to the hobby

I think a lot of people use those Carlo Rossi jug wines. I think they are only like $5-6, and come filled with wine!

 

[BradTheGeek]

I need more one gallon glass carboys. Could u point me in the direction in which u got urs? Cheers. N welcome to the hobby

I found mine in two places. An old cider jug (White House brand), at a yard sale, and two brand new ones at a flea market.

Also, my local brew store sells them for I think 5.99

Another question, since I am doing this on the super cheap... If I want to use a plastic bucket fermenter, would it be possible to make one from a food grade 5 gal buttercream icing bucket? My local grocery stores have them aplenty, and I can ad a spigot easily. My concern is how to seal the lid, as I do not know how they attach and if they reattach well. Anyone done this?

 

[evrose]

I ferment small (less than 2 gallon) batches in cheap, white 2 gallon buckets I got from Home Depot. Just drill a hole in the lid, and add stopper and airlock. Bucket and lid cost < $5.

 

[MindenMan]

I found mine in two places. An old cider jug (White House brand), at a yard sale, and two brand new ones at a flea market.

Also, my local brew store sells them for I think 5.99

Another question, since I am doing this on the super cheap... If I want to use a plastic bucket fermenter, would it be possible to make one from a food grade 5 gal buttercream icing bucket? My local grocery stores have them aplenty, and I can ad a spigot easily. My concern is how to seal the lid, as I do not know how they attach and if they reattach well. Anyone done this?

I use bakery buckets all the time for <5 gallon batches., My local bakery is Wally World, and charge $1.00 for either size container. In my experience, the 2 gallon buckets do not have a seal in the lid, so making a seal for them is a pain, and the larger buckets are all rectangular with tapering sides, and putting a spigot in these and being able to set them on the floor means either they have to be on a shelf, or applying a heat around the installed spigot, and pressing the side in so it will be fairly flat and level.

 

[BradTheGeek]

Well, an update on my first real beer.

I primed and bottled the unhopped 1gal carboy today. The hopped carboy had hop particles in abundance on top, on the bottom, moving in between, so I made a decision, hopfully the right one (pun intended).

After bottling the first carboy, I washed and sanitized it. I then racked off the hopped carboy into the first bottle, capped it and am now cold crashing it in the fridge. The auto-siphon prevented most of the hop particles from transferring, but there were some, especially the floating ones as it got down near the bottom before I raised the siphon.

My hope is the cold crash will help clear the beer. The yeast flocculated well, so it is mostly hops floating/in suspension. If it does okay, in a day or two I will rewarm, prime, and bottle that carboy.

I will say this. I tasted both batches. The non dry-hopped is just meh. It is okay, the yeastiness has gone down some and I hope after conditioning it will improve. I can certainly taste the imprint of the brown sugar.

The dry-hopped beer though. Holy **** is it good. I am a hop loving hop head, so I am biased, but I have had some hoppy beers that were crap (like legend IPA.. tasted like sucking a rusty nail).

This however was good, the hops seem well balanced to my taste, and I cant wait til it is bottled and conditioned.

Meanwhile, if anyone made it through this novel, if you have an comments or suggestions, I am all ears.

Any good IPA/DIPA/APA/Wee Heavy beers you think I should try through these weeks of waiting, I will listen to that too