A few noob questions

[LoadedFront]

Hello all. I've got my first batch fermenting presently, and thought I would post a few questions/observations I had.

1) When boiling, it seemed that a lot of the hops ended up as kind of an oatmeal consistency caked to the lid of the brew kettle. I did my best to occasionally knock them off and keep them immersed in the wort. I used 2 different kinds of hops in pellet form, dropped directly into the wort.

2) Fermentation (you knew I would ask). I had some vigorous fermentation within the first 10-12 hours. It happened while I was sleeping, but I'm positive it happened as there was some wort in the airlock, and some debris (?) on the sides of the carboy above the liquid level. I assumed that was about it for the obvious fermentation, but did notice that there was still pressure against the stopper when I would push it down. Then yesterday, I noticed that there was about a 3/4" foamy head on the liquid. That was 10 days in. Is it normal for fermentation to go in stages like this? Where it is rapid for a while, then slower yet sustained?

3) I didn't take an OG reading as I didn't know at the time that I should have. Does it make sense to take one at this point, or am I better off just waiting another 10 days (3 total weeks) and bottling from there?

If it matters, I can provide ingredients and the "recipe" I followed. It was more kind of a rough outline that I found on a website, and I added my own non-sense along the way based on an amalgamation of information. This may sound crazy, but I saw everyone complaining about how they screwed up their first batch and decided to just go all in and see what happens. This is supposed to be a fun hobby after all, yes?

Thanks all.

 

[Parker36]

1) The hop pellets will disintegrate into that type of material, but you should try to keep your lid off.
2) Fermentation happens all different ways for all different yeasts and conditions. You haven't mentioned anything to be alarmed about, so no worries there.
3) Use your hydrometer to find when the fermentation has completed (remains the same for 3 readings in a row). If you post your recipe and which yeast you used, we can get you an estimated OG and FG.

 

[hoffmeister]

I agree with Parker36, but am going to expand on those answers just a bit...

1) You do want to keep the lid off during your boil. I don't know the exact science or chemistry behind it, but you want to let the wort breathe during the boil-keeping all those vapors trapped in there can be harmful to to the finished beer.
2) There are a lot of different factors that can affect fermentation-temperature, yeast type, time, etc. My experiences are similar to what you described-pretty vigorous at first, but then trailing off over the course of the next week to ten days. My concern, however, is the wort in your airlock. What size carboy/fermenter are you using, and how high did you fill it? Everything else sounds good, but if some of the wort is getting out, there is the potential for contamination.
3) Typically, you want to take your OG reading before fermentation begins. The hydrometer measures the density of the wort, so when you compare the OG to the FG you can determine the change of the density of the liquid (the change of heavy malt sugars into lighter alcohol). This is an oversimplification and there is some math involved there, but what I'm really trying to get at is that there isn't a way for you to take an OG reading at this point. If you're ten days in, I would say that fermentation is mostly, if not entirely, complete. If you'd like, post the recipe and we can help you figure out what your FG should be.

And yes, you are right, this is supposed to be fun and stress free. Hope all this helps, and welcome to brewing!

 

[Zen_Brew]

Everything sounds like it is going well. Fermentation can varry, but usually starts off vigorous then settles to a steady pace for a period of days.

You should not have the lid on your kettle once the boil starts!

I know it seems logical as you can use lower heat to keep the boil up, and lose less liquid, but there are compounds in the wort that must escape during boiling that can impart some nasty off flavors to your brew. You need to leave the lid off so they can escape, or they simply condense on your lid and drip back in.

It is less of a problem with extract brewing than all grain as many of these compounds are already driven off when extracts are made, but it is still a good habit to be in. Also you'll have much less risk of boilover.

 

[LoadedFront]

Thank you all for your replies. Here is the recipe/steps I followed...

*Brought the water to a boil (3 gallons), removed it from the heat, and poured in 2 cans of Muntons Light LME (3.3 lbs each).
*Put the kettle back on the heat and once it started boiling, I started my 60 minutes. At this time, I dropped in 1.5 oz. of Amarillo pellets (AA 8.0%).
*30 minutes in, I dropped in 1.0 oz of Cascade pellets (AA 6.0%) and an additional 0.5 oz. of the Amarillo.
*With 15 minutes remaining in the boil, I dropped in 1.0 oz. of the Cascade pellets.
*The entire time, I was trying to stay on top of the boil, but I did have several boil overs, and I frequently took the lid off to stir, scrape the hop materials off the lid, control the boilover, etc. When I cleaned the kettle, there was no scorching on the bottom at all (the stove was a different matter).
*Removed the pot from the heat at 60 minutes, and proceeded to cool it with cold water bath. During this time, I also rehydrated 2 packages (6 grams each) of Muntons Active Brewing Yeast.
*Once I had the wort cooled to ~76 degrees, I poured it into the carboy. I used a strainer to get what I could of the hops (although my strainer did tip early in the pour and let some through). I put a solid stopper in the carboy (which I had cleaned with PBW and sanitized with Star San; question on this to follow) and vigorously shook it to try and oxygenate it. I removed the stopper and let stand for 30 seconds to a minute, and then repeated this process. I did this 4 times. Probably not as effective as pouring some of the materials back into the brew kettle, but better than nothing, I suppose.
*At this time, I added 2 gallons of tap water to the carboy, and pitched the yeast. I moved the carboy to a temp controlled room, and inserted the air lock (vertical bubbler type). I had seen people talk about the "sanitized water" in the airlock being drawn back into the carboy (Ideal Gas Law! Way to go HS chemistry!), so I used some flavored vodka that someone had brought to our house and left that we don't like. Good move to, as I did get some of the wort in the airlock and/or vodka in the carboy.
*As stated previously, there was some wort that got into the airlock after the first night. This is a 5 gallon recipe in a 6.5 gallon carboy, so I know that there was a pretty vigorous process to make up that ground. Once I saw the wort the next day, I removed the airlock, cleaned and sanitized it, and replaced it in the carboy with some "clean"? vodka.
*I am now on day 12, about to begin day 13. As stated previously, there has been consistent CO2 pressure on the stopper, but I did get some more rapid fermentation beginning around day 10, and settling back out around day 11.5. The beer in the carboy is a nut brown color, and fairly cloudy, but there is a beer smell coming from the air lock, and some signs of slight carbonation n the surface of the beer. The bottom of the carboy looks like it has some kind of layer of material, maybe 1/2" to 3/4" height. It is an off-white/tan color.

Thanks to all who have replied, and thank you for the information on leaving the lid off on the boil. I had not heard/read that previously. Now for my Star San question. The directions say not to rinse, and I can buy that. However, there was a heavy amount of bubbles in the carboy after I dumped the fluid. I followed the amounts exactly, and I shook out what I could, but I did have some concerns about these bubbles. There was no fluid on the bottom of the carboy, just some large soap bubbles in roughly 1/3 of the carboy. Normal?

Thanks for everyone's time.

Regards,
MD

 

[Zen_Brew]

and vigorously shook it to try and oxygenate it. I removed the stopper and let stand for 30 seconds to a minute, and then repeated this process. I did this 4 times. Probably not as effective as pouring some of the materials back into the brew kettle, but better than nothing, I suppose.

That aeration method is fine.

*At this time, I added 2 gallons of tap water to the carboy, and pitched the yeast.

Did you boil the tap water first to sanitize? Once the wort is cooled everything that comes in contact with it should be sanitized.

The bottom of the carboy looks like it has some kind of layer of material, maybe 1/2" to 3/4" height. It is an off-white/tan color.

This is more solids settling out (trub) and the yeast flocculating out of the beer. The off white/tan color is the color of the yeast.

Now for my Star San question. The directions say not to rinse, and I can buy that. However, there was a heavy amount of bubbles in the carboy after I dumped the fluid. I followed the amounts exactly, and I shook out what I could, but I did have some concerns about these bubbles. There was no fluid on the bottom of the carboy, just some large soap bubbles in roughly 1/3 of the carboy. Normal?

Completely normal. The mantra is don't fear the foam. learn it, live it.
It does somehow make you want to get it out of there the way it looks, but it is just what starsan does. I believe the ceo went so far as to drink a properly diluted glass on a podcast to prove to people the stuff is not harmful.
You can reduce the foam a bit if you do you starsan rinse early and turn the carboy upside down in a big funnel to let it drain for 10 or 15 minutes, but you will still have some foam. It won't hurt anything and the remaining yeast still in suspension in the beer actually will eat the stuff so no worries.

 

[LoadedFront]

Did you boil the tap water first to sanitize? Once the wort is cooled everything that comes in contact with it should be sanitized.

Zen. Thank you for your reply. I did in fact use boiled water to get to the total 5 gallons. Although, we have VERY good tap water here on the Front Range of the Rockies.

Completely normal. The mantra is don't fear the foam. learn it, live it.
It does somehow make you want to get it out of there the way it looks, but it is just what starsan does. I believe the ceo went so far as to drink a properly diluted glass on a podcast to prove to people the stuff is not harmful.
You can reduce the foam a bit if you do you starsan rinse early and turn the carboy upside down in a big funnel to let it drain for 10 or 15 minutes, but you will still have some foam. It won't hurt anything and the remaining yeast still in suspension in the beer actually will eat the stuff so no worries.

Thanks so much for this info. I will always appreciate the foam moving forward.

Any comments/concerns on the "recipe"? Again, this wasy pulled together as a rough stab at something I might like from various sources.

 

[hoffmeister]

I have to say, that's really ambitious to create your own recipe for your first brew! As far as the recipe goes, the only thing that I might see being a problem is the amount and types of hops you used. I plugged your information into a "recipe calculator" at tastybrew.com (a pretty helpful site that has a lot of tools to help you put together recipes) and guessed that you were going for an English Brown Ale. What you have might end up being too bitter for the style, but it should still be a good beer. If you like hoppy beers, you should be fine. After all, why brew your own beer if you're not going to create something that suits your tastes? Looks like a good start!

 

[brian_g]

The reason for leaving the lid off is that when the wort is exposed to heat a chemical called dimethylsulfide (DMS) is formed. This chemical will produce really nasty flavors in your beer. Fortunately is has a very low boiling point so it will escape as a gas. If you leave the lid on it wont have a chance to escape.

I wouldn't panic though, as extract have already lost a lot of the DMS during processing. You may not notice anything at all.


Also, IMO, boiling top off water is optional. It's probably a little safer if you boil it and it wont hurt anything. I never do it, and haven't had a problem yet. I don't think the water source is a likely cause of infection, assuming, of course, that your water is safe to drink. I know some would disagree with me on this. Make up your own mind, it's your beer after all.

 

[Zen_Brew]

Thanks so much for this info. I will always appreciate the foam moving forward.

Any comments/concerns on the "recipe"? Again, this wasy pulled together as a rough stab at something I might like from various sources.

The recipe looks pretty basic. Unless I missed something you have 2 cans of LME and some hop additions. Someone earlier mentioned it looked like an english brown and I kept thinking I missed something in your recipe because I see more of an IPA.

The hops you used go well together and the higher amount added up front will help with your utilization on a partial boil. The beer will be on the bitter/hoppy side, but neither of those varieties are overly bitter. The beer will likely finish a bit on the dry side as it could have benefitted from some specialty grains or malto dextrim to round the body out, balance the hop bitterness, and lend a bit of residual sweetness.

It's your brewing and by all means do what makes you happy. When first starting out though it is adviseable to try to stick at least a bit towards tried and true recipes. This way you know basically what to expect and can work on consistency and troubleshooting any obvious flaws in the finished product.

 

[LoadedFront]

Thanks all who have replied. I appreciate the input. I suppose it does make sense to go with a known good recipe to allow for better troubleshooting of your process if that is off. I am thinking I will probably go with some kind of kit for the next go round. Something in the stouts.

Anyhow, I don't know if I knew exactly what I was doing, but what I was shooting for was something like a slightly less hoppy Dale's Pale Ale (Oskar Blues microbrew if anyone is familiar). Obviously, I don't really know which end is up right now, but from what I had read ahead of time, I thought that my recipe might get me in the ballpark.

Any recommendations on bottling at this point? Secondary fermentation? Next steps in general?

Zen, any recommendations for a good solid stout recipe for my next go round?

Thanks again to all. This forum is a tremendous resource for those new to this deal. You guys are the best.

 

[Zen_Brew]

Hey loaded.

Never had Dale's Pale Ale but I took a quick look some clones on line. At 6.5% + alcohol and 65+ IBU's that is a fairly solid looking IPA. You should definitely achieved knocking some of the hoppiness down with your hop additions as Beer Smith shows around 55 IBU's for your recipe. You will have lower hop IBU's and a lower alcohol content at around 4.6% depending on your final gravity. You could have actually gone with 3 cans of Muntons it looks like, or at least 2-1/2 which would have lowered your hop IBU's even further and brought your alcohol content up closer to Dave's Pale. I did notice that the two clones I looked up used a crystal malt and at least one of them used some Munich malt. You would have benefitted from steeping 1 lb of crystal 40 or 60 to add some body. Your recipe will be good, but it may be a little hop forward as there isn't any malt sweetness to balance the hops.

In an earlier post you were talking about waiting 3 weeks. At 3 weeks you should be able to go right into bottle and let the bottles carb up for 2 weeks or so and you should be set. You can go to secondary if you want. It is a personal preference and many home brewers do not. If you want to secondary I'd say you can move into secondary right now as you are at 2 weeks I believe, and then can bottle after an additional 1-2 weeks in secondary.

I do not have a good stout recipe recommendation as I have not gotten around to brewing any stouts yet. If you look near the top of the main HBT page next to the HBT logo on the brown bar across the top you will see a recipe button. Click on it and you will find a bunch of stout recipes that HBT members have brewed.

Cheers.

 

[LoadedFront]

I bottled this batch this weekend. I was 16 days in primary. I purchased a hydrometer in the interim and my numbers were 1.012 @ 77 degrees. Does this seem reasonable for the recipe discussed? Since I didn't have an OG number, I don't know how useful the FG number is. I did taste the beer, and it tasted about like I expected. It smells like beer, and you can really taste the citrus of the Amarillo (I think that's where it comes from). However, it was very yeasty tasting. I had a buddy over and he tasted it and told me, "it's kind of like drinking bread." I'm assuming this is partly to do with the yeast being stirred up and the beer being "green". There was nothing terrible about it, though. I plan to go 2 weeks in the bottle before I even open one to try it. Any feedback appreciated.