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bthorn9435

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Well guys this is it, the kit will be here tomorrow and I'm am pumped. I have done tons of research on this forum, almost non-stop reading and research. The truth is I'm not that big of a beer drinker per se. I like the occasional beer but I have always enjoyed the craft brews. A couple of Saturdays ago I purchased....cough..cough.. a Coors Light Homebrew Draft System. Before you think it, I know..crappy beer. After this experience I got to researching the setup just to see what other people thought. Next thing I know I am on this forum and purchasing a beer kit. I really like the idea of crafting my own brews and controlling the flavors, and the additional savings that comes along with it. So I have a few questions I am going to ask below, if anyone has any tips for my first go around please feel free to comment.

P.S. I am hooked on this hobby and haven't brewed the first batch.

Questions

1. Do I need to sanitize or clean the area where I will be working.
2. Should I clean anything that comes with the kit prior to the boil? Some places including here refer to after the boil as the time in which sanitizing becomes paramount.
3. When I get the wort cool and transfer what is my target temp for pitching?
4. I am getting the Midwest Everything Kit, does anyone know for sure if it comes with a spoon?
5. Should I add at least 2.5 gallons of water to to the 4 gallon kettle to get
better results?
6. If my O.G. is off how do I correct?
7. After a week or so in the primary is it safe to check the gravity, what are
the rules regarding this?
8. My water tastes fine but I know it is treated with Chloramine, will this ruin my beer? Should I get bottled water?
9. Can I reuse the muslin bag multiple times. You know for the grains, then
the hops?
10. Don't have any special tools what are recommended methods of aeration?
11. Apartment temp is easy to control. Keep it about 70 in the house. Should I still use frozen water bottle, t-shirt, and water to sit my ale pale in?


Sorry for all the questions, I am excited about this and want to be successful on the first go around.
 
Wow, lots of questions, are you sure you've read up on this:cross: LOL

Relax, you will do fine as long as anything that touches the beer after you cool it (fermenter, hoses, spoon, strainer, and anything else) is sanitized!
You will need to buy a spoon and should have a decent thermometer, a hydrometer is helpful but not a necessity, scale helps too!

You can reuse the hops bags but if you dryhop with them they have to sanitized.

Campden tablets clear up chloramine, don't boil more than 3 gallons in a 4 gallon pot(boilovers!!!).

Rocking your carboy for 5-10 minutes can help aeration. Don't check your gravity for about 3 weeks(really, 3 weeks)!!

Pitch at 70° or below if you can chill that low, no need for a secondary unless you are dry hopping. 3-4 weeks in the primary then 3-4 weeks in the bottle if you are bottling and you'll have good beer!!

Good luck and keep us posted!!
 
1. Yes clean it up as well as you can.

2. You can clean and sanitize stuff during the boil. After a few batches you'll get a rhythm down.

3. Somewhere around 75ºF or below should be good. Closer to 65º-70º would be great.

4. No, idea. Spoons are easy to come by.

5. Use as much water as your kettle will hold without having to worry about a boil-over.

6. For your first kit, just make sure all the extract/sugars make it into the wort. And make sure that your volume in your fermenter is where it's supposed to be at. When only doing partial boils, it's difficult to get an accurate reading of what the OG truly is due to the fact that water + wort may not mix together well before fermentation begins. Typically though, with a high OG, add water; with a low OG add fermentables.

7. Sure, it's safe to check as long as you sanitize. But I'd wait at least two or three weeks first.

8. Chloramine doesn't boil out very well (or so I've read). It may lead to some off flavors. Bottled water is cheap as long as you don't buy it in individual 20oz bottles.

9. Sure, just be sure to rinse it out very well if using it within the same batch. But you're only doing grains once, and probably around three hop additions. No harm in just putting the hops into the boil kettle loose. Especially if they're pellet hops, they will just sneak through the bag.

10. Pouring back and fourth between kettle/bucket/fermenter (all sanitized) several times should be sufficient for now. There are oxygenation devices available though, but not 100% necessary.

11. Check out the yeast that comes with the kit. You should be able to determine what optimal temp is for that strain of yeast. Adjust as necessary. (For all we know, you ordered a lager kit. In that case 70º is way too high)
 
I ordered the Autumn Amber Ale Kit from Midwest. I figured I would try this
first before moving to one of my favorite types of beer, the Irish Stout.
 
start early... your first brew day will probably not be quick. make sure you have time to enjoy the process, and remedy any problems that may arise.

have fun.
 
HItransplant said:
start early... your first brew day will probably not be quick. make sure you have time to enjoy the process, and remedy any problems that may arise.

have fun.
Click to expand...

So true. I've done 5 or 6 brews now and it still takes 3 or 4 hours (including cooling without a wort chiller).

My advice: Don't start drinking until you're at least steeping the grains. :mug:
 
I like my homebrew and those of others. But you gotta respect what commercial brewers like coors do. Good luck with your brew!!!
 
A few other tips...

Keep and eye on your boil. The moment you wander off to take a leak or get a beer is when it will foam up, climb the sides of the pot and boil over. Work makes a HUGE mess on the stovetop. It'll be more prone to boil-overs when you add anything to it. Hops hit wort and wort foams up.

You just need a steady, rolling boil. If it's boiling like crazy, feel free to back it down to a good roll and you'll have less problems with boil overs.

When you add the extract, take the pot off the heat first. Bring the pot pack once the extract is completely mixed in. Having a friend to help stir while you pour it in is a big plus.

If you top up with storebought water, stick a couple gallons of it in the fridge the night before. It's a big help when you get your wort cooled down to about 90 and are having trouble getting it further down.

Don't worry too much about aeration. Pouring into the fermenter, plus a good stir does a good job of it. Especially if you pour through a kitchen strainer (sanitized first, of course) to get the hops out.
 
Reading the directions online and they have me puzzled. Do I put in the grains and bring up to 155 Degree. Or do I bring up to 155 then place grains in?

It says to steep the grains for 10-30 minutes, 10 if your pressed for time. Whats the benefit of longer steeping?
 
I got the same kit for my first brew just over a week ago. I got it up to 155 then stuck the grains in.
 
then once I had it going i just a nice boil going and left it be. just watch for foam ups when adding the pellet hops.
 
bthorn9435 said:
When I start the boil what temp should it be on. Or how hard can it boil?
Click to expand...

You just want a steady rolling boil. That'll start as it hits 212 if you're at sea level or close to it. When it reaches that steady roll, back the heat off just a touch. If it keeps boiling harder, back it off a little more until you have that nice roll going. The wort doesn't have to be jumping around in the pot. Just a nice roll.
 
borden said:
So true. I've done 5 or 6 brews now and it still takes 3 or 4 hours (including cooling without a wort chiller).
Click to expand...

it was the clean-up that pushed my first brew day into the next one. (I started after work, and had a boilover).

borden said:
My advice: Don't start drinking until you're at least steeping the grains. :mug:
Click to expand...

now, thats where Im gonna have to dissagree :drunk:
 
oh, and speaking of boilover-- watch for that hot break.. I had quite a mess on my hands after my first brew (funny because i was on the phone with my brewing mentor bitching about how long the kettle was taking to boil.. looked away for a minute and blamo). I worked on my stovetop for the next 2 weeks. My wife was super-stoked. Needless to say, my next brew was outside on my new banjo :)
 
borden said:
Oh lord yes. Besides the expense of AG, the time commitment frightens me.
Click to expand...

same here with college and work i'm lucky if i have 1 day off to do nothing during the week. with extract i can get up early and be done by noon and have the rest of the day to watch football or play videogames.
 
borden said:
Oh lord yes. Besides the expense of AG, the time commitment frightens me.
Click to expand...

check out deathbrewers stovetop method.. its actually not that much longer of a process, and.. you will probably find it cheaper after a couple of batches to recoup the 100 bucks or so on extra equipment. I just had to buy another big mesh bag and a larger pot for full boils.


something to think about.. extract is expensive!!
 
sportscrazed2 said:
same here with college and work i'm lucky if i have 1 day off to do nothing during the week. with extract i can get up early and be done by noon and have the rest of the day to watch football or play videogames.
Click to expand...

play videogames while you wait for your mash and during your boil.... I can get through like 4 or 5 rounds of hardcore HQ pro on call of duty if the timing is right. ;)
 
Sanitize whatever u cut the yeast packet open with. If u can at least hydrate that stuff w some boiled and cooled wort. Or better yet make a starter this morning it is worth the effort. Btw shake the snot out of that fermenter after you pitch the yeast.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys, its greatly appreciated. And to go back to an earlier point someone made. I did read the forums as much as possible, the reason I am still asking questions is for a newb to see all of the different opinions of how people think
things should be done, it gets confusing. Everyone seems to have a method. Some of the posts are older so I wanted to make sure the school of though hasn't changed.
 
A couple of Saturdays ago I purchased....cough..cough.. a Coors Light Homebrew Draft System. ... Next thing I know I am on this forum and purchasing a beer kit.
Click to expand...

I love it! I bet their marketing dep't didnt think of that one! Driving customers towards homebrew!

You are coming up with lots of questions - you know the basics, go ahead and brew. Most of those questions will answer themselves. With a little time you'll be a pro and it's pretty hard to screw stuff up, really.

When you're boiling, dont worry too much about infection, because boiling will kill all of it. The time you need to be careful is when you have done the boil and cooled the wort.

Make sure it's nice and cool before pitching. I just fill the bathtub with cold water and let it soak with the lid on the pot. After a couple hours it's room temperature. Someone will surely say faster is ideal, but i have not had any problems in 10-12 batches... It's KISS for the win.

Mix your yeast up ahead of time (dry is fine but liquid is better). Make sure your fermenting buckets do NOT go above 70degF!! This will affect taste big time.

Don't mess with the bucket once fermentation has begun. If you must, peek at the krausen. Wait at least 10-14 days before taking hydro readings. Ferment in primary 2-4 weeks (your choice) then bottle or keg.
 
Ok guys everything is boiling, almost had a major disaster. Girlfriend was trying to
talk to me and took my eye off pot, almost boiled over. I had just put it back on the
stove and she came in to nag me about something. Well, you know!! Anyway got it off
just in time. So far so good. I didn't hydrate the dry yeast just don't feel comfortable
with that yet. Plan on pitching when I get it to 65 D, is this a good temp to pitch for
my Ale?
 
bthorn9435 said:
Ok guys everything is boiling, almost had a major disaster. Girlfriend was trying to
talk to me and took my eye off pot, almost boiled over.
Click to expand...

right !?!?!?

it totally knows when you arent watching it.... just call the brew kettle your mistress (dont tell your GF ;)).
 
Tired and going to bed, this really whipped my tail. I did everything to the
best of my ability, was sanitizing like a mad man. The sample has an
O.G. of 1.042. Is this good?
 
bthorn9435 said:
Plan on pitching when I get it to 65 D, is this a good temp to pitch for
my Ale?
Click to expand...

I dunno. What's 65 D in fahrenheit? ;)

65 is great. That's right about what I shoot for when I pitch most of my beers since that's right about what I want to ferment at.
 
Houston We Have Fermentation!

Hey everyone, came home today and she was fermenting. I guess now its just
a waiting game. I plan on brewing an Irish Stout as soon as I get the Amber Ale
bottled.

Tempature is holding at around 65F using wick method and no ice bottles.


P.S. I find myself walking to the pantry to check the status of fermintation every
hour or so. heehehheheheheh
 
Using the the thermometer that came with the kit. It actually says
64 but I don't know how accurate that is in relation to the center liquid
temp. How accurate are the liquid crystal thermometers?
 
bthorn9435 said:
Using the the thermometer that came with the kit. It actually says
64 but I don't know how accurate that is in relation to the center liquid
temp. How accurate are the liquid crystal thermometers?
Click to expand...

Surprisingly, they're about as accurate as the display can be. If you can make out that it's saying 64, then it's probably right within a couple degrees. My problem is that I can't tell if the 64 is more lit up or the 62... or maybe the 66... though, I can see the 70... what color am I looking for again?
 
I use a flashlight to shine on it, and from what I understand you should have three colors
with the one in the middle being the correct one. I make sure to get level with the thermometer, trying to read it standing up is useless.
 

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