Questions...

[JohanTheMighty]

If anyone posted a similar question, I apologize; I know people generally dislike seeing the same questions over and over, but I was unable to find the exact answers to the questions I have.

Okay, so I'm a little OCD. As I was cooking and preparing for fermentation my first batch, I became a bit overwhelmed with lack of specificity in any of the instructions. Am I supposed to sanitize all of my water? I read people saying that just added the water, but there is nothing said about sanitizing it. I found myself boiling water and refrigerating it in sanitized containers in my refrigerator, and then worrying about contaminating it as I moved it into my sanitized 6-gallon glass carboy to prepare for adding the wort. I mean, I became so overwhelmed with ensuring that everything was wicked sanitized that it almost wasn't fun. And the instructions given me by the place where I bought my kit differed from what I read in the "Joy of Home brewing", particularly as it is relates to boiling the wort (they said 15 minutes, as opposed to the 45 minutes the book recommends, but they told me to follow their instructions to the T, and as I'm new at this...). I don't know, right now it's in my dark pantry, bubbling happily along, but I find that I'm constantly second guessing myself; wondering if I splashed enough sanitizing solution (water and chlorine) in the carboy and for long enough, or if I opened my beer up to contamination when I rinsed with warm water... Can anyone tell me if I'm just being too anal? I mean, how easy is it for me to ruin this batch of beer?

 

[jimrising]

Sanitize, not sterilize. It isn't surgery, it is beer.

Sanitizing your brew water seems like a real waste of time and sanitizer to me... It all gets boiled anyhow. Not sure about off flavors either.

 

[Dogphish]

it is always beneficial to boil for at least 45 minutes. it helps separate the protein out of the grain/syrup.

i think you went a little overboard when you sanitized the water. anything that gets used before the boil does not require sanitizing. the boil will kill anything that might be living.

the only way i would be worried about the water you use after the boil is if you have well water that is know to have bacteria in it or if it smells funny. if you do have questionable well water, just buy 1 or 2 gallon sized jugs of water from the store to use after the boil.

just use unsanitized water next time. it should turn out ok. once you confirm that it is ok you will not have to worry about that ever again.

 

[enkamania]

The only thing I add to my water is campden tablets to remove chlorine/chloramine

 

[jimrising]

Also... I found myself getting frustrated with some of the kit instructions when I first started because some kits had more specific instructions than others. After my first few batches, I began to experiment a bit and realized that there are a small number of things thst were very important, and a large number of details that were not. Relax, have a homebrew. I cook a lot, and so I had gotten used to improvising in the kitchen... So the trantition did not take long. My advice is that if you are finding yourself getting frustrated to the point of not enjoying the process, you are probably selecting brews that are a bit more complicated and should start simple. This seems to be a common mistake.

 

[Dogphish]

...and if you buy gallon sized water, spring water is the best and distilled water is the second best. try not to buy "drinking water".

"drinking water" is just city tap water that is way overpriced and sold at stores. it usually contains high levels of chlorine, which can cause bad flavors in beer. using city tap water for your wort is fine because the chlorine will get boiled off during the 45 minute brewing process. that's one of the reasons that you always boil with the lid off.

 

[JohanTheMighty]

Brew water was sanitized by boiling only. I DO know better than to add chlorine to my beer! But, the cold water that you place into the carboy so that the shock of hot wort doesn't bust the glass doesn't get boiled unless you do it before hand. I'm wondering if THAT is a necessary step. Thanks for your input though.

 

[jimrising]

Are you using a wort chiller? If so, 70-80 degree water isnt going to bust your glass fermenter.

 

[jimrising]

Are you using a wort chiller? If so, 70-80 degree water isnt going to bust your glass fermenter.

Meant "70-80 degree wort".

 

[JohanTheMighty]

Actually, I don't think I'm being clear enough, and I'm sorry for that. Because I'm using a glass carboy, and must first add 3 gallons of cold water to it before adding the "chilled" wort (around 90 degrees, and according to the instructions from the brewery store), I boiled 3 gallons of water and chilled in the fridge overnight in sanitized containers. Then, I added the cold water, added the "chilled" wort, and bam(!), it's in my pantry fermenting now. I just wonder, is boiling the water that is to be chilled and added to the carboy before the wort, is that necessary?

 

[JohanTheMighty]

Jim, I am not. I simply cool the wort by adding it to a sink full of ice and a little water.

 

[mrk305]

The LHBS where I shop teaches an extract brewing class. They top off with bagged ice to cool the wort. I made several batches that way in 2007 and got away with it.

 

[JohanTheMighty]

You're saying that you add ice to the wort?

 

[PT Ray]

What was the recipe? What you see as conflicting information may have to do with your ingredients.

After great reservation I recently used my city water straight from the tap to top off my extract beers. So far no major infections but I have started treating it for chloramines. If in doubt, I always had good results with store bought water.

 

[JohanTheMighty]

So, it sounds like what I'm hearing is that folks are adding water straight from the tap, or water bottles, into their beers and have had no issues with contaminating the beers. Is that right?

 

[jimrising]

I have never boiled the water I add to the wort, but I use distilled water. If I was using tap, I probably would?

 

[JohanTheMighty]

PT, my first batch is Muntons Nut Brown Ale, made from the canned syrup stuff. Another interesting thing is that the book I have says that only up to 1 pound of sugar/malt extract (whatever you use) is recommended for 4 pounds of the syrup, but the store said to use two pounds (not including the sugar for the bottling). So I used two! I guess I'll know what's what in about 4 weeks. Even though I'm freaking just a bit, I'm excited too, especially since I see the thing fermenting along now.

 

[JohanTheMighty]

Jim, I'm talking about the cool water added to the completely cooked wort. It sounds to me like you boil all 5 gallons of water at once. I, on the other hand, was told to boil 2 gallons of water, add the malt, and then, after "chilling" the wort, pour it into the carboy which should already have 3 gallons of chilled water inside of it. I dunno, the information I'm getting right now is still confusing.

 

[PT Ray]

PT, my first batch is Muntons Nut Brown Ale, made from the canned syrup stuff.

That is actually a no boil kit. You just add the kit with your additional 1kg of fermentables (dextrose/sugar/extract) to 2 quarts of boiling water and top off with cool tap water.

My personal method is slightly different. Canned products should be pasteurized as part of the packaging process but bulk extract and sugar isn't. Those items I will add to the pot and bring back to a boil for just a second before mixing with the canned kit.

You store is correct to a degree about the additional 2 pounds, that's your 1 kg of additional fermentables. Using all dextrose or sugar is not going to yield something as good as including some more malt extract.

 

[JohanTheMighty]

But again, can I just add the wort to 3 gallons of bottled water that I don't boil at all but pour into the carboy straight from the gallon jugs? If so, that would save me a lot of time and unnecessary boiling and chilling of water!

 

[PT Ray]

What ingredients will you be boiling? If you're just using extract and dextrose you don't need a 2 gallon boil, 1 at the most. That will be less hot wort to be cooled by your tap water. So yes, you just add straight tap water to the carboy.

 

[JohanTheMighty]

Thank you, PT! You've been very helpful. Not so worried anymore. Now I can just concentrate on enjoying that little airlock popping and up and down!

 

[mrk305]

You're saying that you add ice to the wort?

Not now, but before I found HBT, I was taught to use bagged ice to top off the wort. They have classes in the back room at the LHBS, and the owner probably still teaches that.

I did that for a few months and never had a bad batch because of it. After a few months I found HBT and went to all grain and rigged an immersion chiller and now also a prechiller.

 

[jimrising]

Johan,

I sometimes boil the full 5 gallons, but most of the time only 2.5 to 3 gallons, chill the wort, and then top off the primary with distilled prior to pitching.

-jim