2nd Batch down. More questions.

[wulfsburg]

Well, I have bottled and drank about 8 beers from my Brewer's Best kit I had purchased at the beginning of the year. I know the bottles should probably sit for another week or 2, but after sitting for 3 weeks the beer has GREAT head, pretty clear, and a really really hoppy flavor. Needless to say I have been really happy with the results I have had!! I had a few hiccups. I got drunk while brewing my first batch (actually I was just emptying bottles for the bottling process) and somehow in the midst of things I managed to break my floating thermometer, and drop a ladle that was not completely sanitized into my fermentation bucket.

. OOPS!!! At any rate... the outcome was good, and the steel shot left little tiny rust stains on the bottom of my fermentation bucket. I have been trying to get it out, but don't want to scratch the bottom of my bucket.

EDIT: Picture of my beer 3 weeks after bottling.

Last weekend I brewed/boiled my 2nd batch, and substituted the dry yeast for a liquid White Labs Hefeweizen yeast. I broke my hydrometer prior to using it (dropped it) so I just made the batch and didn't take an OG reading.

The White Labs yeast says that it should be cooled to room temp prior to pitching and that the wort should be approx 70-75 degrees prior to pitching. I was being impatient and pitched my room temp yeast into 84 degree wort. Snapped the lid on it and put my fermentation lock into place. There was one section of the lid that wouldn't make a snap noise...

Now... when sanitizing all of my equipment, I soak everything in a 5 gallon bucket with my solution that came in my equipment kit. I bent my fermentation bucket lid so it would soak for a little bit in the bucket. I think this affected its form a slight bit so there was not an airtight lock on my fermenter. I was not seeing bubbles out of my airlock. HOWEVER I know it was fermenting because it has bubbled up to the lid. So I know that fermentation has begun. I took my reading today and it was 1.020. I will check again tomorrow and if it is the same I will bottle. My question is..... is 1.020 a high FG? The OG gravity according to the recipe should be about 1.056 or so but it doesn't specify FG...... Is not having an airtight seal on my bucket pose a greater risk of bacterial infection?
ALSO...
I cannot get a raging boil on my glasstop stove unless the lid is on it. My new metal probe thermometer says it gets to about 98 degrees celcius. It looks like it is boiling, but it doesn't go too fast.... not like a bowl of pasta about to boil over if you know what I mean. Is this ok?

And last but not least, about kegging. I have a friend who is going to ship me a cornelius keg for the cost of the shipping. I will be getting a fridge and plan on doing a keg-a-rator, but kegging vs. bottling. Which has more alcohol in it? I would assume the bottles do given the fact they have more sugar added to bottle them...
I have been told once fermentation is complete you just keg it, force carbonate it and then drink it. Is this accurate? How does one recipe taste in a keg vs. in a bottle? I can get a cheap fridge off of craigslist, but don't know how much all the rest of the stuff will cost to put a tap on the door. My local brew supply says 70 for the guages and all the rest of the stuff, but didn't give me an exact price. If I was to guess 150 bones for that setup...
Anyway, I am rambling, and want to jump into kegging to remove the headache involved with bottling, and the reduce the time it takes from brewing to drinking .

Thanks for reading!!

 

[Netflyer]

Dude, I'm a little worried (but I'm a worrier) about the broken thermometer. That scares me, did mercury get into your brew? Was the weight that broke in their lead?

When I was doing extract boils on the stove my electric stove really was bad at heating the wort. I kept the top 2/3 on during the boil to encourage a stronger boil. You really should boil the wort uncovered to get rid of important things that need to condensate off, but a 2/3 cover will give you a hotter surface (to promote a little better boil) and still give you 1/3 exposure to let stuff that needs to go away leave.

The amount of alcohol from bottling as opposed to kegging is pretty negligible, you might gain 1/8% in the bottle due to priming but you also get a yeast/trub throw on the bottom of the bottle. I'm a bottler myself, I use 1L ezcap bottles and I really like them.

 

[wulfsburg]

Well first off I called the establishment that sold me the equipment and kit. The owner told me that the weight is made of steel shot (NOT lead) , and that the thermometer is not filled with mercury. If your thermometer is like mine..... it has a thermometer that floats inside of a glass tube that has weight on the bottom. The actual thermometer itself did not break... the floating tube did. The owner also told me I had nothing to worry about. So I did not dispose of the batch and ended up bottling it.
After cleaning out my bucket.. there was tiny rust stains on the bottom of the bucket that I cannot remove. As for the glass.... I was really afraid that it would be a problem, but consider this. Glass is heavy and does NOT float. After numerous days of sitting.... all of that glass will become embedded in the sludge/trub/sediment, and I would assume that it will not become a problem.
I have drank about 6-9 of them now and have not had any issues. HOWEVER... if any complications come from me ingesting glass I WILL be sure to let the forum know......

As for using ezcap bottles... I have heard that it takes longer to pop that spring loaded cap on, that it does to use a capper. PLUS.. you have to pay for those bottles... as where my friends donate bottles to me for free. (Granted I DO have to clean them...)

 

[marubozo]

I have been told once fermentation is complete you just keg it, force carbonate it and then drink it. Is this accurate? How does one recipe taste in a keg vs. in a bottle? I can get a cheap fridge off of craigslist, but don't know how much all the rest of the stuff will cost to put a tap on the door. My local brew supply says 70 for the guages and all the rest of the stuff, but didn't give me an exact price. If I was to guess 150 bones for that setup...
Anyway, I am rambling, and want to jump into kegging to remove the headache involved with bottling, and the reduce the time it takes from brewing to drinking .

For the most part, yes. You can just use CO2 to force pressure into your keg, which then gets dissolved into your beer and creates carbonation. All things being equal, there should be no difference in flavor. You may experience some slight differences in overall feel of the beer since you have more control over carbonation levels with a kegging system, but the flavors will ultimately be the same.

As for price, you can make it as cheap or expensive as you want it But at a bare minimum you'll need:

Fridge/freezer to keep the keg cold
A keg
A CO2 tank
A regulator and a gas hose to the keg
Disconnects for the keg
A hose to transport the beer from the keg to a tap
A tap (Anywhere from a 1 dollar picnic tap all the way up to expensive permanent taps)

$70 for all of the hardware minus the fridge to run a single keg? It's possible, but plan on spending a little more. Depending on what your plans are, a dual or triple regulator alone could run you $70.

 

[bigjoe]

"My question is..... is 1.020 a high FG? "
IMO yes way too high for a hefe which I assume is what yo brewed based on the yeast.

The OG gravity according to the recipe should be about 1.056 or so but it doesn't specify FG...... Is not having an airtight seal on my bucket pose a greater risk of bacterial infection?
No don't worry about it.I don't get an air tight seal on 50% of my brews.

Your bent bucket lid shouldn't be a problem. I usually just get mine wet with sanitizer and let it sit. It diesn't have to be submerged the whole time. I use the sanitize cycle on my dishwasher 99% of the time when I sanituze my fermenter. I'll put it in there the day of brewing as I'm starting my session or sometimes the night before.