First Brew

HI All-

Brand new to brewing and cooked up a batch last night. I was wondering what the expected results might be for the following basic ale recipe.

• Cooper's Real Ale hopped malt extract
• Real Ale unhopped malt extract (house brand)
• Burton water salts
• Liberty hop pellets a3.4 / b3.2
• Cooper's brewing yeast
• Bru-Vigor
• Filtered water
• B-T-F Iodophor sanitizer
• Cooked on propane stand in a 21qt enameled pot

Pretty sure we followed the directions supplied by DeFalco's where we got everything. The initial gravity was 1.045-ish, it was kinda hard to tell with the foam gathering around the hydrometer

I haven't seen any action at the fermentation lock yet,the pail is resting at 68° in the dark.

Any input?
Thanks

 

Do you have any specific questions?

 

Being fresh out of the gate I'm full of questions...

I was wondering what that recipe might taste like, anything in the store cooler similar?
I didn't have a thermometer handy so I was guessing at temps while checking the SG or adding yeast. Did the baby bottle type test, was that a screwup?
I have a glass & a plastic carboy, does one produce better results than the other?
I started the fermentation last night. Should I be seeing any gassing at the lock yet?

Thanks for any feedback

 

Well okay, don't have an answer for that so we'll just move right along then...

Not necessarily the best way to do things, but doesn't mean anything was screwed up either. I've done the same thing a couple times in the past and never had issues. That said before your next brew I'd go out and pick up an inexpensive digital thermometer, especially one that can be calibrated. Put it in a glass of ice water and it should read 32.. If not and it can be calibrated you can adjust the thermometer appropriately.

I use them interchangeably. Never noticed better results with one over the other. Just don't clean the plastic with anything abrrasive because little scratches inside can harbor bacteria. I do replace my buckets every year or so because even being careful I generally get them dinged up a little over time.

don't worry about it. Just because you're seeing no activity in the airlock doesn't mean there is anything wrong with your yeast or your brew. Especially with some dried yeasts I've had a couple days with no noticeable activity what so ever. Give it time and you'll see some bubbles. Depending on your fermentation temps it might never be more than a slow steady bubbling, or if it is a little warner you can see some serious activity. Don't let the air lock fool you though, it isn't what is going to deal you if the beer is fully fermented or if it has stalled. Only a hydrometer reading will do that. Let it sit a couple weeks and it'll be fine.

Welcome to the addiction!

 

Thanks for the welcome and the info Gduck
Just started & I'm all a flutter with anticipation, LOL.

I have my sights on a digital thermometer on Amazon, looks like it can be calibrated too.
Good info on the plastic abrasions, I'll be as gentle as possible

The wait seems to be a big question in my mind.The sheet from the store says "After 3 - 4 days, if the rocky head has subsided, the beer is ready to rack". Is that too soon?

 

+1 on what Gduck said.

I was to emphasize the importance of a good thermometer in brewing. I recommend this one. It's very accurate and not too expensive. I found it at a local cooking store for $12.

 

First, congrats on your first homebrewing experience! Let's hope it's a good one.

A) You've given birth to an ale. My bet is that it will be mellow and malty and reminiscent to a lot of medium IBU (medium bitterness) ales out there. Liberty is a good all purpose hop that produces good aroma with only a little bit of bitterness. That particular yeast doesn't impart a lot of flavor other than a biscuit maltiness. If it was attached to the can, one can only hope the yeast is viable. If the fermentation doesn't kick in within 72 hours, you can bet it wasn't that viable and you've underpitched the beer. For now, no worries.

B) Let it continue to sit in the dark for about three weeks in the primary fermenter. If you can put one of those liquid crystal strip thermometers around your primary fermenter, do so. It'll help you keep track of the beer temperature and keep the yeast/beer in the proper temperature range. The beer will warm up as it ferments, which means you may need a means to lower the temperature of the beer to keep it below 75 degrees f.. If it gets much over that, the yeasts can produce off flavors and more fuesel alcohols.

The most vigorous part of fermentation is when the krausen (bubbly crap) forms on top of the beer. Your bubble lock will start farting out a brewery and make the whole house smell like Germany in October. In three weeks time, begin taking small samples to measure for final gravity. When the final gravity has stabilized for 2-3 days in a row, let it sit a few more days and then bottle it.

C) Relax. Patience is key. Leave it alone in the dark. I'm sure the beer will be fine.

 

Thanks aiptasia

So I can pop the top off the pail after about 3 days to check if the fermentation is kicking in?

If I'm catching your drift, after about 3 weeks in the primary I rack it into the secondary (carboy) or go strait to bottles?

No worries about waiting on the final product. I am, however, anxious to get the 2nd batch going. I've a dark ale kit waiting in the cupboard

 

You can, but any time you open that lid up your creating another chance at infection. Yes, it's likely to be a very small chance and as long as all your equipment you use to take a sample is sanitized and you're careful you'd be fine. Though personally I don't think there's much of a need. Even if you see no airlock activities I'd likely wait a minimum of a week before checking the gravity to see if fermentation has been going on.

This is one of those questions that can turn in to a war! Seriously though people tend to have very strong opinions about racking beer over. I've both racked my beer to a secondary, and also just used only the primary. I've gone with only in the primary now unless I am adding fruit, or oak, or nibs or something to the beer and then I'll use the secondary to add that flavor. If you do decide to secondary you want to wait until the fermentation is almost fully complete, 10-14 days generally. Think of the secondary as a conditioning tank, helping to reduce cloudiness of the beer. There are other uses for secondary, but clarity is one of the most conmon, at least it was when I was doing secondary.

Either way you go, after 3 weeks total your beer will be ready to be packaged so that it can carb up and condition in those bottles, and then the big day, drinking beer you made!

 

Oh damn, didn't want to start any wars!
I think I'll just keep an eye on temps for the time being and keep swiggin the store bought
Thanks for the info Gduck, this place rocks! :rockin:

 

There are a few topics that will get folks right up on their passive-aggressive soap boxes:

Stainless Steel vs. Aluminum vessels
Plastic vs. Glass containers
To rack or not to rack after primary fermentation

Welcome and have fun brewing!!

 

Heheheh, thanks for the heads up and the welcome helibrewer

 

OOOOOOOOOOOOO first signs of fermentation :rockin:
The lid on the pail is bulging a bit & pressing slightly gets the airlock farting!! WoooooHooooo

 

Well to comment on the thermometer - I did my first kits without anything more than an aquarium thermometer stuck on my fermentor ($2-3 at walmart pet dept). this will give you a surface temp reading of the fermentor. When you pitch yeast, ideally you want to be around ferment temps - like 70. Although I've gotten ok results pitching at 85 and letting it decend down over the next day. It was late and I wanted bed.

Other ones to measure your kettle temp are good to have, but for your process you needed to know "is it the right temp to pitch" and a stick on LCD will work. That said, I use a few termometers now to monitor my steep and boil. I'm extract brewer with steeping grains. And getting a quality themometer to check temps at times is not a bad thing to have.

 

Well, the 1st batch has been 9 days in the primary and I decided to pop the Ale Pail open.
I've an SG of 1.009 now, taste is decent and has a cloudy caramel color.



Starting SG was 1.044, any thoughts on how low I should let the FG get before sugar & bottling? As far as alcohol content I'm figuring 4.585%. I'm thinking about racking it to clarify some but thinking usually gets me in trouble...

Thoughts?

{Oh, I did pick up a CDN digital thermometer for future batches}

 

You can just leave it in your primary and given time it will settle out, if you're worried about racking over shennanigans.

1.009 is a pretty good finishing gravity to be at. I'd be surprised if it went much lower than that. But if you let it sit another day and check the gravity again, and a day after that as well it'll be a pretty good indication of whether or not fermentation has finished up.

 

Now is the time to make another batch and keep yourself occupied so you don't feel rushed to drink your first brew to early

 

You should leave the beer on the yeast for at LEAST a week after your gravity has stopped dropping. This gives the yeast a chance to clean up after themselves (to get all sciency, this is the yeast actually in starvation mode, pulling out all of the byproducts of fermentation and using them for energy, as they can't metabolize the remaining long-chain sugars). The longer you can wait the better. If you can leave it on the yeast for a month, do that.

 

BillyBroas, can you clip this to the side of your brew pot while steeping? I'm looking for a thermometer where I can do that without having to drill a hole and doing a probe method.

 

Well, I've let the first batch sit in the primary for a month & 2 days, SG is now 1.005 at about 65°, down from 1.045. Gonna see about racking it outta the pail to a carboy for a couple weeks. What should I do with the trub or yeast sediment or whatever it is?

 

I know racking to a secondary or not is a touchy subject sometimes but should I have bottled tonight instead of going to the secondary? My tastebuds aren't working well tonight but my better half said it tasted bitter to her.
Thoughts?

 

Yeah I would've just bottled at this point. I do 3-4 weeks in primary and only rack to the secondary if I am going to be adding fruit, wood chips, or letting a big beer like barleywine age more before bottling. You can always bottle sooner and let it age in the bottle as well.

 

Is there any sense in letting it sit for a couple weeks in the secondary?

 

Racking it to the secondary probably won't accomplish much of anything. Most things have probably already dropped out of suspension and cleared up. I'd go ahead and bottle it since you still have yeast in the liquid. That bitter edge will smooth out in the bottles. 2-3 weeks in bottles will carbonate as well as finish up some conditioning of it.

Oh, and with the trub in the bottom, I always just dump it down the drain. The disposal is good at breaking it up and washing it down. In an old apartment I live in it clogged the drain once and that got messy, so when I lived there I just dumped it in a ditch along the road.

 

Cool, sounds good. Next burst of energy I have I'll sugar it up & cap it. Notes I have says 3/4 cup of priming sugar in a cup of boiling water.

It was looking pretty clear, a lot clearer that the fish fry oil it was looking like, LOL.



I chucked the trub down the crapper, hope the bacteria down in the septic tank likes it. I looked at washing the yeast but I'd need to prepare ahead of time to get it done.

 

Looking good!

 

Don't dump it in the street like I did. It will look like a hobo threw up in front of your house.