Need advice :) First Beer

Hi everyone, first sorry for my bad english, i'm french.
I'm 19 years old ( don't worry in Quebec is 18yrs legal age Ha ha )
I just started Brewing, and i need few advices.
I brought Black rock Mexican lager from my local brewery store with IO Star and PBW cleaner.
I read everything on the label, sanitize everything and cleaned my carboy with PBW
But i have a question, When they say no rinse does that mean Dry or not. does i need to let my carboy dry after draining the IOstar water solution ? I pour my beer mixture inside my carboy when my carboy was still wet from the Io star solution ( 1 oz for 5 gallon ) My brewing spoon was also still wet with the IOstar solution, Everything that came into contact with my beer was still wet from the IOSTAR solution. ? Does it matter, should i worry about poison myself ? i pour the black rock beer inside 2 liter of warm water with 17 liter of room temperature water inside my carboy and put the airlock immediately


Thanks for the answers

(here a picture after 3 day in the carboy with airlock )

Phil

 

Do not let no-rinse sanitizer dry! You did the right thing. Once the sanitizer dries it’s possible for that surface to become contaminated again. Good luck and have fun!

 

No rinse so make sure surfaces are wet. Get a spray bottle and mix up a liter of sanitizer so you can have it to spray down your spoons, etc.
I'm confused about the water you added. You did a mash and boil right? What's the 2L and 17L of water for? Just looking for a little clarification.

 

I suspect it may be a pre-hopped extract kit that doesn’t require a boil.

 

As the others have stated, your good to go with keeping your stuff wet with the sanitizer. Just make your you really rinse the PBW off well. Hope your first batch turns out delicious!

 

Never seen those kits in my neck of the woods. If that's the case hope the water was sterile before adding.

 

Thanks everyone for the answers, Glad I did the right thing by keeping all my equipment wet from the sanitizer solution, and thanks for the tips, Very happy to have found this forum
The label on the beer kit say that it didn't needed a boil, just 2 liter of warm water then add the Beer kit and 17 liter of cold water and put the yeast,

@brew703 yes my water was sterile
@NGD Thanks, I hope so man, I would be very happy if my first batch turn out good

 

@NGD For the PBW, I put water inside my carboy to rinse and shake it I did that 4 time in a row, do you think it enough to wash all the PBW ?

 

I used to suffer the same thing... if sanitizer kills all the bad stuff, why doesn't it kill the yeast, or you? after I watched an experience home brewer pour beer into a bottle that still had the foamy bubbles of starsan in it, I stopped asking questions and just went with it.

You'll be fine.

 

It's a matter of concentration. It is deadly to bacteria at full concentration, but when you add your beer onto it, it is diluted 1000 times.

By the way, StarSan uses phosphoric acid, which is also a key ingredient in Coca Cola! All those life hacks using Coke to clean battery cables and such make much more sense now!

 

@Phil5150 Absolutely! As long as the water was warm to hot that sounds like a good strategy. I think the directions call for rinsing 3 times. Sounds like you have all your bases covered.

This no-boil setup is probably good for getting your sanitation dialed in which is crucial for the cold side (anything that happens after the boil).

For my first batch, the hardest part for me was waiting and not messing with it. I used buckets so I couldnt see anything unless I peeked in. It turned out to malty woth a slightly high gravity. Likely I didnt aerate enough before pitching. It was still decent and very drinkable. Lately I just check it at 48 hrs and leave most batches in for a few weeks before checking again.

Just leave it alone, try to keep it temp controlled and away from light the best you can. I would recommend one of those cheap stick on thermometers. Its a small investment and gives you a good idea of what temp your beers fermenting at.

Look forward to seeing how your first batch turns out.

 

Leanred the hard way, dont store StarSan in the same container as your extra tap. Leaked out after getting tipped and took the finish off the chrome.

 

The fermentation looks c'est bonne so far. It should be fine, as mentioned before, don't let the sanitizer dry out, it defeats the purpose.

 

I hate to always be the harrumph around here when talking about sanitizing with five star products, but besides phosphoric acid Starsan also has a surfactant. The Starsan directions say to let everything air dry after using it. I just looked at the IO star directions and they only suggest air drying when it comes to bottles. To me the beautiful thing about Starsan is that I can get great sanitation without a residue after it drys, so no sanitizer makes it into my beer, but clearly the way most people use it suggests it doesn’t make that much of a difference. All that said, I don’t think I’ve met or heard of a brewer like me that follows the instructions on the back of the bottle.

 

Again thanks for all the answers, I appreciate it a lot!

@NGD thanks for the tips buddy

@JKenshi Glad that I'm not alone lol

@angry_gopher Thanks my man, I hope it stay that way, gonna Post a update for you guys, can't wait to taste it

@AZCoolerBrewer I am pretty much like you, I like to follow the instructions on the back of a bottle hehe. do you think I'm much more in risk of a contamination if I let my stuff dry before ? I'm kinda lost to be honest lol.. so far I love brewing but I hate cleaning my stuff ahaha. Next batch I'm gonna try All grain brewing wish me luck hehe

Thanks again

Phil

 

I carefully clean everything first with oxyclean and then immerse it in Starsan. Each brew day and each bottling day I make a new batch of hot cleaning and sanitizing solutions. I mostly let everything dry before using it. If there is a drop or two left, I don’t worry about it. I don’t think I have ever had an infection while using this process. I am a fairly young brewer at 17 batches.

 

Hi everyone
@AZCoolerBrewer Thanks for the tips

So here is an update


Does it look good ? lol
Bubbling decreased a lot in the last 24 hours, still bubbling but less often
i can count at least 5 second in between each bubbling
Gonna do a hydrometer test later tonight to see the gravity

Thanks

Phil

 

Hey Phil I think it looks great. Be careful with those glass fermentors, they can be extremely dangerous. If you have a strong stomach, you can see on the broken fermentors injury thread. A lot of people still use them. Glass won’t let any oxygen migrate through where it is shown that gasses can slowly move through plastic, although it’s probably not enough to make a difference. I also use glass but my fermentors are much smaller. I use two one gallon glass carboys for each batch. The smaller batch size allows me to brew inside which is a good thing in AZ around this time of year. Today I am bottling a Barleywine. It’s cold crashing in my fridge. I will be happy if I can get 7 beers out of it. I’m going to let the bottles lager in my fridge until Christmas.

 

Looks good, Phil. As AZ says, be careful with that glass! Glass directly on a tile or concrete surface is bad ju ju! A milk crate is ideal, but a rug, a piece of plywood, even a scrap of cardboard could prevent disaster. Brew safe!

 

Good luck with your first homebrew! It looks like you’re off to a good start!

 

The easiest way to minimize the risk is to ferment in place, ie. Put the carboy somewhere that it won't need to be moved. I'm lucky, so far I've been sticking to ales and I have a cool basement that makes it easy to control fermentation temperatures.

 

This is true. However, you still need padding under the carboy. Glass is funny stuff. Immensely strong in compression, but the slightest tap in the wrong place..... Add that to slick and heavy, well, you need padding.

 

Greeting everyone

I'm bottling all the beer today, just did the hydrometer test and everything look fine
Smell like beer, probably a good sign lol
I had a lot of dos esquis beer bottle and some Corona, I removed the label (except for the Corona, it not removable, look like it been print on the bottle ) with warm water and put them in the dishwater at Sanitize mode, I'm gonna soak them into my iostar solution just to be sure and my caps too, should I let them dry just a bit ? I'm worried lol @AZCoolerBrewer make me want to let it dry lol
Currently waiting for my dishwasher to finish having a few cold one, I'm excited
Can't wait !!!

@AZCoolerBrewer that barleywine look delicious, would love to taste that !!

 

@AZCoolerBrewer let me know how your barleywine turn out, I would love to does a barleywine batch one-day,

As for the Carboy dangerosity I get it lol
I saw the broken fermenter injury but I just can't stand to put my brew into a plastic bucket lol I don't know that just don't feel right for me lol
@ancientmariner52, I'm gonna try to find a Milk crate for my next brew, I put a towel under my carboy just for precaution

I'm going to does a update on how my Beer turn out, can't wait

Thanks again

Phil

 

I had a little taste of it when I bottled on Sunday and it is so good. As good as it was without any real carbonation, I think it is going to be super delicious when it’s done. One of my bottles isn’t quite full and has some hop debris in it because I put that together with the last dregs in my bottling bucket and the hydrometer sample. If that bottle is done in 3 weeks, I’ll set the rest aside for Christmas.

As far as your bottles drying or not, I would say do whatever you want if it was Starsan, but you are using IOstar, which I don’t have any experience with. If it were me I would follow the directions and let the bottles dry, but then I am in the vast minority of brewers who do it that way with Starsan. I have read up a little on Idophor though and I think people who use it tend to let it dry.

 

But my carboy and everything was still wet from the iostar solution, should I worry about drinking it or not? Lol
I would love to use star San but my local brewery store don't have it in stock
Gonna let my bottle dry and my caps

 

You'll be fine. I used to add iodine tablets to jugs of river water to sanitize it for drinking while I was on long canoe trips. You won't even notice the small amount that makes it into your beer from your bottles and caps.

 

Iodine is an ingredient in some salt and is a necessary micro nutrient, so I wouldn’t worry since you used the sanitizer as directed. My guess is that the concentrations of the sanitizer in the bottles might be slightly higher if left wet and could possibly impart a flavor that you wouldn’t get with the surface to volume ratio of your fermentor. There is a saying from Charlie Papazion that is repeated so often in his book that he abbreviated it. RDWHAHB, which is relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew. With the products and processes we have today any reasonable brewer can make good beer. You are well on your way to a very nice beer.

 

RDWHAHB! When I used iodine for sterilizing I rinsed with HOT water from the water faucet and bottled with the bottles wet. It will be fine! It always came out well.
You might want to avoid clear and green bottles to put your beer in. It is my understanding that light affects your beer and dark glass works better.

 

If my math is right, you would need to drink 1-4 beers to get your daily allowance of iodine from leaving the fermentor wet and depending on how wet it was.

 

I left my iostar solution in my 5 gal bucket for a while and now my bucket stink iodine, do you think that smell gonna affect the taste of my beer ?

 

There you have it. You need to drink at least 1-4 beers a day to get your daily dose. AzCoolerBrewer may not be a Doctor, but he did stay in a Holiday Inn!

@Phil5150 Just a heads up on the dishwasher. If your using a spotless rinse aid in there it can have an impact on the head. If your using the corona bottles, make sure wherever you place them is dark. If they get alot of direct light it can skunk your beer after awhile. No idea how long that takes though. I’ve just had a few skunky coronas in my day. Your almost there dude! Only a little more time until your sippin away. Patience will be rewarded.

 

@NGD thanks brother, small question for you or anybody who know, I'm currently bottling, but I'm wondering if my bucket that had iostar in it will affect the taste of my beer, i left my iostar solution for a couple hours in it , it smell very strong, im currently transferring all my beer from my carboy in that bucket for bottling

Thanks

 

@NGD am I weird, I like that skunky smell in Corona lol

 

Hard for me to say for sure as I only have used Starsan for sanitizing. Since your already transferring I would just say bottle as quickly as you can and let it ride. I promise your first batch will turn out better than the oxidized malt bomb Pale ale I made. It was still good enough to finish the batch.

@Phil5150 much to others dismay, I enjoy the occasional corona. Brew on!

 

I heard a rumor that they purposely skunk corona at the factory and that there is so little hops in it that the beer gets its distinctive flavor from the very mild skunking.

I really can’t say about the iodine smell. I would like to try idophor because in Randy Moshers book radical brewing it says you should change up you sanitizer from time to time so that the bacteria around your brewing spot don’t get resistant to the one you always use.

 

That’s interesting. I was thinking about this exact issue a few days ago. Looks like I may grab a bottle next time I’m at the homebrew shop.

 

Too lazy to read the whole thread, if you end up fermenting past primary you have way too much extra space. If you are bottling immediately after primary is complete you’re fine because co2 will fill it but if you are leaving it after primary you need to top up with water or heavy gas. Cheers