First Brew

My loving wife got me a kit for Christmas and today was the first real day since then that I had enough time to brew.

I started off with a Panico Holiday Merry Ale.


Everything was going quite well. The only hiccup happened when I was boiling the wort. After it reached a boil, I tossed in the hops after avoiding a potential boil over. For 15 min or so couldn't stay at a boil due to my crappy electric range. I had to keep the lid on to get it back up to a boil. I decided to add some additional 10 minutes to the boil to account for this.

The second hiccup happened after I put in the flavoring hops. I just opened a Sam Adams Holiday Porter, I turn around to toss the cap and I hear the bottle hit the ground. Not sure how it happened, I didn't bump it or anything. While attempting to clean up a bit, I forgot to add in an ingredient (Dried Bitter Orange Peel)! Not a big deal really. Just tossed it in and figured it would get some flavor while the wort was cooling.

I cooled the wort in an ice bath in my sink, and then moved it over to the Ale Pail where the chilled top-off water was waiting. I was almost done, or so I thought. I let the wort and yeast starter cool a little more and I cracked open a Sam Adams Cream Stout. I watched a few skits of SNL and figured the two were the same temp. I opened the lid on the Ale Pail, pitched the yeast, and put the lid back on and attempted to put the air lock back on. I didn't notice that the o-ring was not on right. I gave it a little push and it fell through! I didn't have anything long enough to get it off the bottom. I ended up having to sanitize my carboy and rack the wort in there.

I thought I had a 6.5 gallon carboy. It doesn't appear to be since it was almost topped off after the racking. The recipe called for 5.5 gallons of water and I guess my boiling issues caused me to have more watered down wort (could also be the cause for my lower OG: 1.052 recipe has it 1.062-1.064).


I pored some out into a plastic water jug and created a blow off tube with my racking cane and tube. I stuck it in the closet and cleaned up.


What an experience to say the least.

Well, at least your not mopping your ceiling yet. Just wait until that happens.

It sounds like you did really good. Most of us had our first brew spin horribly out of control. Like have a boil over that ruins the countertop...

Just wanted to update you all on the progress. Looks like fermentation started. Every time I check the temperature in the closet, it's always been 68-70. I'm glad I put that blowoff tube.



Quick question: when should I change out the water in the jug and/or clean out the tube? My guess would be after the initial fermentation activity when it would no longer be needed.

Thanks in advance.

After 2.5 days of fermenting, it looks like the initial boom of a activity has subsided. I'm planning on taking off the blowoff tube this evening and replacing it with the normal airlock.

The temperature in the closet has been pretty steady at about 70 +/- 2 degrees.

Would this be a good time to take the first hydrometer reading? It seems really early to me, but then again, this is my first brew.

What are some of the typical hydrometer reading schedules from some of the veterans out there?

End of Day 1




End of Day 3




Looks like there was almost a 1/4 gallon of blowoff. I replaced the blowoff tube with an airlock since most of the activity has subsided. It's still bubbling away though. I didn't take a hydrometer reading since I'm in no rush to bottle it. Still curious about people's hydrometer reading schedules...

Thanks for all the pictures!

Most people take a hydrometer reading after fermentation appears to have stopped, and it's been at least a week or so. Then, if it's the same reading for at least three days, they rack to secondary (if using). If you're not using a secondary, you can wait a couple of weeks and check the SG over a couple of days. If it's the same, and it's in the expected range, it's ok to bottle.

I lost my grommet from my bucket lid in my first brew, also! I left it in there, and just stuck the airlock in the hole. I worried about it (and made my first post here!) and then left it alone and it turned out to be a great beer. Yours will be good too! Welcome to the obsession!

Congrats on first batch!!! As far as the o-ring falling in to your pale (if I read this right) as long as you cleaned and sanitized it there shouldn't be a problem. There are tons of posts in this forum about parts and pieces falling in to carboys and Ale Pales, and every response is as long as it's clean and sanitized you're alright.

It really looks like you did your homework by putting the blow off (I certainly wouldn't have on my first batch...or umteenth when I had raspberry mead explode all over my ceiling...ah good times). Great job and good look with your batch.

I won't be using a secondary on this brew since I'm already using the carboy I would have used as my secondary as my primary. In the future, I think I will use a secondary to free up my primary for more brew.

Grommet!! I've been trying to think of the name of that little piece of rubber... damn little thing. I wish I could have left it alone, but I feared that I would have gotten an infection, not from the grommet falling in, but because there wasn't an air tight seal around the airlock. Got a link to your first post? I would like to read it.

It is definitely an obsession - I have been reading a ton online and watching/listening to video/audio podcasts from basicbrewing.com (not affiliated with them - hope it's ok to link them). It's nice to listen to the show during the working hours.

Thanks Jimbob!

Since I couldn't brew right after getting the kit (not enough time after Christmas and getting sick, etc), it left me plenty of time to read up everything and begin lurking this awesome forum.

thesanch said:

It is definitely an obsession - I have been reading a ton online and watching/listening to video/audio podcasts from basicbrewing.com (not affiliated with them - hope it's ok to link them). It's nice to listen to the show during the working hours.

Click to expand...

Check out The Brewing Network also they have 3 great shows:

The Session - A bit long but lots of fun and great info
The Jamil Show - Goes through each of the styles and has some excellent tips and suggestions...I have learned TONS from this show
Brew Strong - This is their newest show, and it is fantastic (John Palmer who wrote "How to Brew" and Jamil Zainasheff)

The Brewing Network.com - The Brewing Network.com

Thanks again Jimbob. I have listened to a few Brew Strong shows. Will give them another listen.

Looks like after 4 days the yeast have started settling. Sign the fermentation has stopped?

I would give it a couple more days, maybe on day 6 pull a sample and take a hydrometer reading to see where you're at. Just because the yeast are starting to fall out doesn't mean that fermentation is complete. Like I said I would give a bit more time and then take the reading.

Not in a rush to much of anything with this brew. I'm planning on leaving it in the primary for 3 weeks since not using a secondary, and bottling on the 31st. I will be taking a hydrometer reading about every week, just to see how everything is progressing, and maybe a few more towards the end.

Just trying to figure out the best time to begin brewing the next batch... a Brewer's Best Irish Stout.

Today makes a week since I brewed this batch. Thought I might as well take a hydrometer reading. I sanitized my baster and took out maybe a 1/4 cup. I chilled the sample down to ~60F by popping the hydrometer tube filled with beer into the freezer for a couple minutes.



That looks to me like 1.014. The bottom limit specified by the recipe. Which was:

Yield: 5 gallons, (Will be less due to blow off)
OG: 1.062, (measured 1.052)
FG: 1.014, (measured 1.014)
ABV: 6.0% (calculated 4.99%)
SRM: 80.1
IBU: 34.1
Ingredients: Amber Dry Malt Extract, Amber Candi Sugar, Crystal Malt, Black Patent , Cinnamon Stick, Chocolate Malt, Carapils Dextrine Malt, Spices, Northern Brewer Hops , Cascade Hops , Priming Sugar, Yeast, Steeping Bag,.


I'm going to let it sit for another couple weeks before I bottle. Probably take another hydrometer reading in another week.

Forgot to mention that after I took the measurement, I tasted it. It didn't taste too bad... like warm, uncarbonated beer, exactly what it is. I can only imagine what it'll take like after 3-4 weeks in the bottle.

I'm preparing to bottle this on Saturday 1/31 and would like to be prepared with the correct amount of priming sugar I need for this batch. The recipe called for 5.5 gallons of water to make a 5 gallon batch and it came with 5oz of priming sugar. However, I'm not sure how much water/wort was lost to grains, hops and boil off, but I did lose maybe 1/4 a gallon to blow off and another 1/5 - 1/4 gallon dumping some wort out to create some room at the head of the carboy.

Without knowing the exact amount of beer, how much priming sugar should I use? What's the typical amount per gallon?

Here's a picture of the 5 Gallon carboy - maybe someone just knows how much this is... I'm planning to mark my carboy in the future.

... bump ...

I bottled my beer on Saturday 1/31. It was in the primary for 3 weeks. I was quite surprised at how much clearer it got from last week. I had some questions about priming sugar which got answered here. I used 4.5 oz of priming sugar (measured out with a baby scale) since I thought I had maybe 4.5 gallons and I didn't want to under carb my beer. We'll see if that was too much. The SG jumped after I added it to 1.016 from 1.014 which I was reading as normal.

I sanitized 48 new bottles in my dishwasher the night before using the hot settings. I left them in there until I was ready to bottle. I only ended up having enough beer for 44 of them. Ends up I had a little less that I thought, 4 1/8 gallons.

The only thing that went "wrong" was when I was boiling the caps. I used a metal spoon to stir them around. It looks like I ended up scratching off a tiny amount of the plastic stuff at the bottom of them. Next time I know just to leave them be.

Will update again once I taste it. which will probably be in a few weeks.

Yesterday I popped one of my brews in the fridge to give it a taste. I'm not in a hurry to drink these brews. I want to condition them for as long as they need it. Since this is my first brew, I don't want to miss what the beer tastes like at each step of the process.



This afternoon I opened it up. It gave a gentle hiss when I popped the cap. I poured it into a pint glass making sure not to pour out the yeast. I created a very small head, probably since it's only been a week since I bottled it. It smelled good, a slight hoppy aroma with maybe a hint of spice and no odd odors. I took a sip and it still tasted "green," whatever that really means. I noticed it was cloudy. What are some things that can cause this?

I took my time drinking the rest of it. It seemed to get better with every drink. I could definitely notice the 5-6% alcohol in it. I was ready to drink another one, but settled on a New Belgium - Giddy Up. I will defiantly be making a coffee beer in the future. I can't wait until my next one and see how much better the second one tastes!

Congrats man!

I popped 4 in the fridge last Friday as my friend from out of town wanted to try one. On Saturday (the two week mark), we both popped one open. It was a whole lot better then it was just after one week, but it wasn't as good as store bought stuff. However, I felt it had lots of potential of becoming great beer.

Tonight I decided to open another one, and man did I notice a HUGE difference. Maybe it was the extra few days of being in the fridge or the extra conditioning time, but it was pretty damn tasty. SWMBO tasted some of it and noticed a huge improvement as well. She doesn't even like beer... I'm seriously considering going back for the last one I have in the fridge, but I won't since it'll give me something to look forward to on Saturday.

I'm planning on brewing again this weekend. I can just hope the process is smoother than before.