Year Zero, Day One is today!

Hi guys. Time to really start my life as a homebrewer. I'm about to fire up the burner and start heating mash water for my first brew. I'm trying to keep it as simple as I can for this one- shooting for 11 gallons of 1.045 OG two row/sterling SMaSH. I'll post some pics later when the day is done. Wish me luck!


Edit: Link to my brewshelf build, of which this thread is a natural extension: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/custom-shelves-brewery-bling-209396/

Member for over a year and you're just getting started. You must have been doing a lot of research. Good luck and have fun!

Rdwhahb!

Ambitious of you to do AG for your first batch. I think you'll be pleased when you're done. There's a lot of worrying until you do one and realize how easy it is. Good Luck! and relax, you'll make beer.

For when you are done. Here are the answers to the questions you are going to ask:

Yes, it sometimes takes yeast that long to start.
Yes, it can take that long/short to finish.
No, it is not infected.
No, it is not ruined.

Whew! Think I ended with more like 9-10 gallons of 1.053 brew... not worried. The brew day was looong... definitely some inefficiences in in my process to clean up. Had some trouble with the sparge sticking, but overall, it was fun!

what parts took you the most time?

I had a delay in starting the sparge... My propane bottle was very light... and I started to worry I would run out, so I rushed to the store to get a fresh tank. Turns out tank one made it through the boil, but just barely.

The sparge took a long time because 1) I tried to run it very slowly, and 2)it kept sticking.

A lot of time was lost because I'm a rookie who's not 100% in tuned with my process and equipment yet.

ah yes, a stuck sparge can turn a five hour brew day into a ten hour day from hell. as for the propane problem, that is *precisely* why i had two tanks

but if i were you, i'd revel in the fact that your first brew was AG!!!. good. frackin. job.

Thanks! I'm working on editing some pics so I can post a few before I turn in.

1 down, too many to count to go.

humann_brewing said:

1 down, too many to count to go.

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I hope so!

Pics, not necessarily in the order they were taken:

BOIL KETTLE:


MASH / LAUTER TUN:

rjwhite41 said:

Member for over a year and you're just getting started. You must have been doing a lot of research. Good luck and have fun!

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actually.. it looks like he was saving up for his 2 vessels.. geezum, they is purdy.... or maybe it took that long just to polish them

Wow, you arent screwing around are you? Been brewing almost a year with over 15 brews under my belt and I just made my first keggle. Its not even polished yet. Your already ahead of the game, hope you really enjoy this hobby

Filling the HLT during the Mash:

Everything working together... kind of ...

HItransplant said:

actually.. it looks like he was saving up for his 2 vessels.. geezum, they is purdy.... or maybe it took that long just to polish them

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Polished it till my eyes hurt... man it was a lot of work. I'm not in a rush to do any more.

EricT said:

Wow, you arent screwing around are you? Been brewing almost a year with over 15 brews under my belt and I just made my first keggle. Its not even polished yet. Your already ahead of the game, hope you really enjoy this hobby

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Thanks... think I'm gonna dig it. I've been trying to put this together for about a year. It was almost that long ago I made my kettle. The mash tun- I got lazy on that one and just bought the low end Sabco model.

I still don't have a wort chiller... so I've got my wort in the cubes (Australian style no chill). Should be cool enough that I can tranfser to the fermenter and pitch yeast tomorrow night.

Get a pump... The top of your car will thank you.

I'm surprised that you had a stuck sparge with a full false bottom and a slow runoff. What was the mill gap, and did you use wheat or any really dark malt?

klyph said:

I'm surprised that you had a stuck sparge with a full false bottom and a slow runoff. What was the mill gap, and did you use wheat or any really dark malt?

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It was all two row malt... the mill is old, borrowed from a friend. It's brand name is "Malt Mill," I think. It does not have an adjustable gap. He's used it for years and claims that it's not been problematic for him.

I was thinking that my problem may have been more my lines getting clogged with solids, than an actual stuck sparge. I didn't take the time to make sure the false bottom was properly seated in the bottom of the keg, so I think I had grain slipping through somewhere. I'll pay closer attention to it next time.

BrewMoreBeers said:

Get a pump... The top of your car will thank you.

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Ummmgg... Good car, with strong back! The paintjob is already screwed. That tank is heavy, but not as heavy as it looks. More of it's volume is insulation than fluid. It only holds 10 gallons.

A pump would be REALLY NICE, though.

you sure jumped in with both feet. I haven't polished my keggles and doubt I will.

humann_brewing said:

you sure jumped in with both feet. I haven't polished my keggles and doubt I will.

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They work just fine without being polished... I did my kettle and a sixtel sankey, and the two nearly took all day. I don't have any ambition of polishing all my vessels (present and future).

Just transfered from the cubes into the keg, aerated, pitched the yeast and set the keezer for 64 degrees. Now for the waiting....

Last night it was 24 hours after pitching the yeast- and still no signs of fermentation. It was hard to relax and not worry, and I had no homebrew on hand. So I had to draw comfort from some commercial beer, which is exiled from the keezer since I'm using it as a fermentation chamber.



Fortunately, it's been so cold this week, I've had to use very minimal amounts of ice to keep this nice and frosty.

This morning I awoke to find... bubbles!





...Magic!

I want to let this go for a day or so, then reassemble and install the spear (with spunding valve) back into the keg. I have no way of taking samples until I do so.