First Brew, First Post

Hey all,

I am new to these forums and figure I'd make my first post about my first brew session. Just got done making my first 5 gallons of beer ever. Was a really enjoyable process, but one filled with uncertainty and worries.
I started with 4 gallons of water in a 16qt pot, got it to a boil and put in my 1lb. Crystal Malt (20L), 1lb. Munich Malt, and 7.6lbs Briess Pilsen-Light liquid malt extract. After this boiled for 30 minutes, I added 1 oz. Chinook hops and boiled for another 45 minutes. I then added another 1 oz. of Chinook hops and 1 tsp. of Irish Moss and let it boil for 15 more minutes. I then did the cooling process and ended by topping off my bucket with tap water and pitching the yeast. This IPA calls for a secondary and a dry hop.

My worry is: Should I have taken the Malt out after 30 minutes of boiling (left it in for all 90 minutes)? What will this do to my beer?

And is using tap water without boiling it first going to be an issue?

 

You don't want to boil your grains ... May add some tannins. Generally, you'll want to remove after 30 minutes at 165-170. I wouldn't worry about it, though ... You made beer! ... Congrats on your first brew. Be sure to post back with results.

 

first, congrats on your first brew. I am sure you made a mess. However, you are gonna love the resulting beer.

I would not have kept the grains in the water after the boil... I have never done it, but i hear you get tannin extraction with grains in high heat. also, the beer will probably be darker because of caramelization. Since this is your first beer, you probably will not notice it. however, in the future, try to take the grains out of the water when the boil starts, or at some temperature before a boil preferably.

Using tap water without boiling is taking a risk for infection, but you may be ok. is your water source chlorinated? if so, you may have some off tastes from that. when you drink the beer, take a look at some of the common off flavors with chlorinated water and too high of a mash temp and see if you can detect any of them. it is hard to quantify some of these things, only you can be the judge (or someone else who tastes your beer). anyway, the batch should ferment and you should end up with beer...let us know how it turns out!

 

Awesome, thanks guys.

I just checked my brew and the airlock is bubbling. Another question I have is: after how many days should I move the beer into secondary?

 

Patience is key. There's always the 1-2-3 rule that helped me wait it out when I first started. One week in primary, two weeks in secondary, and three weeks in the bottle.

If you are dry hopping this IPA though, I would say leave it in primary even longer. Like until fermentation is done ( only the hydrometer can tell you that) and then some. Leaving it on the yeast cake will only help the flavor. Patience!! Then rack it to your secondary just for the dry hop for no longer than about 6 or 7 days. Longer leaves green, grassy flavors. Btw, are you using pellet hops to dry hop it? If so, I recommend using a bag or a stainless strainer that looks like a long, thin tea ball. The first time I dry hopped with pellets I didn't and they floated on the top where they got pushed up by gasses and blasted out the airlock. Made a huge mess.

Oh yeah, dido on the boiling grains. They should never be in water above 170, but hey, I'm sure it will still be totally epic when you try the first one.

 

You may have to check my math, but 4 gallons = 16 quarts right? How did you have any room in the boil for the ingredients?

 

@ Wherestheyeast: yep. 4 quarts in 1 gallon.

You'll need to get a bigger pot to fit everything in if you're doing full volume boils. You'll also have to account for boil off in your starting volume.

@ HumboldtBrewer: You should rack to your secondary when your gravity evens out. Even then you can still leave your beer on the yeast cake a little longer to let the yeast clean up after themselves. I've even skipped the secondary, dry hopped in the primary for about 7 days, then bottled. It's all preference for the most part.

Congrats on your first beer! It's a great hobby.

 

Whoops, I meant 3 gallons in the pot.

@ thd2146, thanks for the 1-2-3 tip, that's a cool way to make it easy.

Also, how do I know from my hydrometer that the gravity has evened out? Do I look at the recipes FG number and then compare that to my hydrometer reading?

 

I should maybe have been more clear. By "evened out" I mean that the gravity stops changing. When you take a gravity reading if it's the same number consecutively, over the course of a week or so, then the beer is finished fermenting.
You can shoot for whatever the recipe's FG is supposed to be but if you had a different OG than what the recipe called for then your FG might not be the same. Even if you nailed the OG the FG might still not be what the recipe calls for. It all depends on your yeasts attenuation and how well the beer was able to ferment. This is why you take multiple gravity readings to ensure your fermentation is totally complete.