7 hours and counting

[pava]

Finally, it is almost time. I didn't think I was going to be able to get my first brew session in until the middle of June, but thanks to some schedule shifting and an understanding SWMBO I am going to get my first crack at it tomorrow morning at "O Dark Thirty". I have my starter already done and chilling in the fridge, the grain has been crushed, all calculations have been entered into ProMash (I hope I did that part right ), and I have things laid out and in order to begin bright and early. Hopefully all goes as planned or at very least I learn a lot about the process through all the things that I am sure are going to go wrong. Either way, I am like a kid on christmas eve over here, doubt I will sleep a whole lot tonight. Thanks for all the knowledge I have learned here over the past months, anything that goes right tomorrow is a result of the knowledge learned from this site. . .here goes!!

 

[ohiobrewtus]

Holy monkey! You're going to start brewing at 5 am??!!

Now that's dedication! It sounds like you've done your homework so I'm sure that things will turn out just fine.

 

[Jester369]

Best of luck! Just remember, it's pretty darn hard to make something undrinkable

 

[BeerSmith]

Congrats,
Let us know how it turns out!

Brad

 

[pava]

I dough'd in at 5:30 (uugghhh yep I really did get up at 5am to brew. . . .originally I was going to have the whole day, but then a family event came up that I just couldn't get out of, so, here I am at this godawful hour) and nailed my mash temps at 153. At 6:30 I am going to mash out at 170 for 10 minutes and then sparge away. I am batch sparging and will need a total of 4 more gallons to hit my preboil target, I am going to split that up into two 2 gallon sparges and then it is onto the boil. Hopefully I will not get any stuck sparges, that is my main worry right now, although I think that is somewhat less of an issue with batch sparging. Alright back down to the cooler so I can keep ahead of the game here.

 

[EvilTOJ]

You're doing your first batch, it's hella early in the morning, and it's ALL GRAIN. I salute you good sir. :rockin:

Also if you want help, I'll be in the chat in a few minutes, I'm bored and at work

 

[Revvy]

Well I'm here at work...and bored, so you better keep me posted. You didn't think of hooking up a web cam, didja?

Okay so it's 8:08...So, what's happenin' now?

 

[etp777]

I'd say if you could actually get up at 5 am, you didn't have enough homebrew last night.

But seriously, good on you man. I'm craving starting my first batch. Just ordered my new stock pot for boils, and can't wait to open first wine kit too. Course, then have to wait at least a month before I'll have a possibly drinkable beer, longer on the wine.

 

[pava]

quick update. . .

HOLY %$&*
I hit my preboil vol and and OG!!!!

I was a bit nervous about the temps. .. after I posted that I had hit my temps I went back down and noticed that the lid to my brand new coleman cooler is a bit warped . . .not sure if it was like that when I bought it or if the heat did it (I am thinking it was the heat) anyway I could see a bit of steam escaping so I checked again at 30min into the mash and I was down to 149 and after a good stir it was actually showing 145 YIKES!!! So I quickly heated up the mash out water and added some of it (probably about 3-4qts and got it back up to 150 at least). .. left it there for the remaining 30 minutes and drained, mashed out and sparged.

I was getting a bit nervous about hitting by preboil volume and actually started heating up some more water for a 3rd sparge, but I hit just over 7 gallons exactly!!

I did a 90 min boil since the kit I am using (NB Belgian Wit) had 3.5 lbs of pilsner in it so I wanted to boil off the DMS. I actually lost quite a bit more than I expected to evaporation, it looks like I am just a bit over 5 gallons now and the wort is not in the fermenter yet, so I know I am going to lose more to trub in the pot.

It is whirlpooling now (thought I would give that a try) and should be just about done. Gotta go try to get this thing in the fermenter, starter decanted, yeast pitched, blowoff secured, and remaining odds and ends cleaned up. . .I will post back when all is done with my OG going into the fermenter.

All in all, I would say things have gone about as smoothly as I could have possibly asked . . .knowing what I know now, I would not have gotten up at 5am . . oh well I guess I just have more time for some celebratory brews before heading out for the family event.

Thanks for all the support and interest.

 

[pava]

Well you had to know sooner or later I would be crying for help

Wow, I am way under on my volume in the fermenter, looks to be about 4 gallons. I am also way over on my gravity. .. 1.054 going into the fermenter, it should have been 1.044. . yikes!! Now I am not one to shy away from a stronger beer so I am not too concerned about the higher gravity, but I do want it to taste good and I also would like a bit more of it.

So what would you do. . .just let it be, or add some more water to it. . .Oh, also just another side note, I just pitched the yeast, so I am not sure if that will make any difference as to what to do next.

Any suggestions are appreciated. thanks

 

[Bernie Brewer]

Top it off with some water. If you want to that is. It won't hurt anything to do that, esp since your gravity is high. Topping off ti five gallons should even things out all around. But if you're going to do it, do it now before fermentation kicks in, because you don't want to add the oxygen from the top-off water once fermentation is going.

 

[pava]

Well I think it might be a bit late. . . it looks like I already have signs of fermentation. . . no bubbles in the airlock yet, but there is definitely positive pressure building, in fact if I sat there for a couple of minutes I would not be surprised if I would see a bubble. I think at this point I will just let it go. I am hoping it is still a fairly balanced brew. Anyone have any thoughts on how much this will affect things. Obviously the ABV will be higher, anyone have a guess as to how much and how much the flavor will be affected?

 

[Jamo99]

I think it's still safe for you to top off. As to the differences, you'll have a higher abv, slightly more bitterness, flavor, aroma from hops, and if you added anything else (coriander, orange peel) they will be a bit more pronounced as well. Your wit probably is low on the IBUs anyway so it won't make a very discernable difference.

If I were you I'd top off. You'll definately want the extra volume at bottling because your first batch does not last very long at all. It'll be good if you top off and good if you don't though.

Congrats on your first brew. It's very obvious that you did all your homework.

 

[EvilTOJ]

If you still want to top up by now, boil and cool some water first to drive off all the oxygen. And welcome to the obsessi... erm the addicti.... welcome to the forum!