About to brew first batch!!!! Questions of course..

[edco76]

Ok so after wanting to do this for years, I finally got my kit (Birthday gift from the wife!).

At the store I bought

http://bsghandcraft.com/index.php/e...kits-beer-and-wine/k7-beer-equipment-kit.html

http://www.brewersbestkits.com/pdf/1048 2013 Imperial Nut Brown Recipe.pdf

Also bought a spoon lol


Guy told me all I needed was some water and a pot. I already have a pot so, I thought I was good to go.

Did a little research though and decided to go ahead and order some Irish Moss as well as a rinse-less cleaner. The kit came with B-Brite which didnt seem to get great reviews.

I plan (hope!) to brew Wednesday. All of my supplies should be in by then. I'm also nursing a cold and being how high a priority cleanliness sis, I figure I probably should get started while I'm sneezing every 2 minutes.




Few questions:

Cooling.

I don't have a wort chiller. Is the best bet to just fill my sink with ice water? Can you add ice straight to the wort? Or at least really cold water? My recipe says to add water that is 64-72 degrees. My understanding is that the goal is to cool ASAP so why not use like 35 degree water or even ice?

Fermentation.

Recipe says 4-6 days or no bubbles for 48hr. Also has a secondary option to move it a secondary after 5-7 days for 2 weeks. Then to bottle for 2 weeks.

Is that good time frame? I would like some advise on this type beer and the best schedule for fermenting/conditioning.

My closet where I will store it seems to be about 72 right now but will probably drop a degree or two in the next few weeks.


Thanks for any help or tips!

 

[Peyope]

This kit uses extract, basically flavored sugar in dry and liquid form. When cooling you can add water to hit your target volume. Make sure the water is sterile -so either bottled water or boil it for 15 minutes.

For instance, you're brewing a 5 gallon batch but only have a 5 gallon pot. To prevent boil overs you will only fill it with 3-4 gallons. You can use the difference in cold sterile water to fill the carboy or bucket to the desired volume.

 

[Peyope]

The yeast will probably ferment best at 70 degrees. This means the environment should be 5-10 degrees cooler (making alcohol produces heat). You can pitch yeast at 70 degrees f, but the closer you are to 60 the better.

 

[SnakeRidge]

You don't want to add ice directly to the hot wort, since the ice is not sanitary. It could introduce bacteria and wild yeast. If you're topping up after the boil, I would put a couple of unopened jugs of distilled water in the freezer so they can cool to near freezing. Your instinct to add colder water is correct.

Ignore the fermentation instructions that came with the kit. Either go 3-4 weeks in primary (secondary is usually unnecessary) to insure that fermentation is done, or take hydrometer readings over 3-5 days to see if the gravity is stable. If the gravity reading doesn't change between readings a couple of days apart, you can be reasonably sure that fermentation is complete.

You should be aware that during fermentation, the temperature of the beer will be higher than ambient temp. That means that if your closet is at 72*, the beer will be 5-10* higher than that, and 77-82* is too hot. Something as simple as a plastic bin filled with water and ice bottles should be sufficient to keep fermentation cool. Look up 'Swamp Cooler' for some ideas.

Cheers and good luck with your first brew!

 

[morticaixavier]

First thing is, let the yeast make the schedule not the calendar. Get a hydrometer and after two weeks take a sample and test the gravity. The days later do that again. If it hasn't changed the beer is more or less done. If the sample also tastes good you are done.

You can add ice for sure. Just make sure it's either UV sterilized or boiled before freezing. Ice will drop the temp very fast. There are calculators on the internet that will help you figure or how much ice to use to hit your target pitching temp. Generally for ales you want to pitch at around 64 and hold as close to there as you can for a week. Then let the temp rise to about 68 or 70 for the second week. You can use a water bath with frozen water bottles, an evaporative cooler set up with a shallow water pan and a cotton towel or t shirt over the bucket or carboy to wick and evaporate the water, or a fridge rigged with an external temperature controller.

Sneezing isn't really a problem as far as cleanliness goes because the kind of bugs we are worried about are not the ones making you feel ill. But wait till you're well because it will be more fun that way.

 

[morticaixavier]

Also, welcome to the hobby. It's a support rewarding one that can teach you things you can't even imagine right now.

 

[Peyope]

Also the secondary is probably not necessary for this beer. Just keep it in the primary till its done. Best way to tell is by checking the gravity.

OG= Original Gravity.
This is the density of the liquid with the sugar. 1.000 is water. With the sugar water will be more dense. You might see a number like 1.050. When yeast makes alcohol the sugars are converted to alcohol. Less suger in the water and more alcohol makes the liquid less dense. You might have a final gravity (FG) of 1.015. The difference between these two numbers tells you how much suger was converted to alcohol. The lower the final gravity the "dryer " the beer will taste.

 

[unionrdr]

Extract is jus pre-mashed grains where the wort is either condensed or dried. Doing the usual partial boil of 2.5 to 3.5 gallons in a 5 gallon kettle works well. Use 2 to 3 pounds of the extract in the boil if it's "plain" or un-hopped. This will minimize darkening & off flavors called :"extract twang". Do the recommended hop additions for the one hour boil. Then add the remaining extract @ flame out & stir to completely mix them together. The wort is still boiling hot at this point. Since pasteurization happens in seconds @ 160F, the boiling hot wort will do it nicely in the covered kettle in a couple minutes. Place the kettle in the sink & fill the sink around the kettle with ice. Then top that off with cold tap water. I use a floating thermometer in the kettle to keep tabs on the temp. I get it down to 75F or so. Strain into the fermenter with a dual layer fine mesh strainer o get out hop gunk, etc & aerate it as well. I also put a couple gallons of spring water in the fridge a day or two before brew day to top off with. This will get the chilled wort down to 65F or so, a good ale yeast pitch temp. Stir the wort & top off water briskly for a couple minutes to mix the two before taking a hydrometer sample to determine OG before pitching yeast.

 

[jekeane]

The directions for that kit are decent and you should be fine following them. Some kits have very outdated instructions.
As far as your questions are concerned:
Assuming you are doing a partial boil using a sink ice bath is fine if you gently stir your wort while in the bath this will help speed things along. Using cold bottled water is fine for topping off your beer some people even freeze the water then cut the top off and drop the big ice cube in. Make sure you are sanitary whatever process you use. Everything that touches your beer post boil should be sanitized. Most people top off in the fermenter (make sure you premark volumes on it before using). carboys can only withstand a certain amount of heat before they break or melt so you need to lower the temp before moving to the fermenter.

Just let the beer sit in your primary for 2-3 weeks (I usually do 3) then bottle. Secondaries are primarily for adding stuff (hops, fruit, bacon) I you have a hydrometer you should use that to decide when its time to bottle. After bottling beer usually is looking at 2-3 weeks to carbonate and then another week in the fridge.

Temperature for fermentation is highly yeast specific. Active fermentation will raise the beer temperature 5° easily so 70° is really 75° and that is too high for the majority of ale yeasts. High temps during fermentation create significant off flavors in beers and make some down right undrinkable. You should look into a simple swamp cooler (bucket, water, ice packs) to keep the temp of your fermentation in its desired fermentation range. Google your yeast or post it here, you are usually wanting to be in the lower end of the temp range.

My only suggestions that differ from the kit directions would be to look up late extract additions (just changes the timetable a bit, but I felt it made a difference in my extract brews) and to rehydrate your yeast before pitching (this is debatable I suppose).

 

[orghitman]

A) Don’t add ice but topping off with cold water should be fine. I used to keep my top off water in the fridge prior to dumping it in the carboy. Keep in mind that adding some cold water to a pot of boiling water might not lower the temp as much as you expect it would. You want to do the ice bath to get the temp down before topping off with extra water. However if you are really worried about contamination you should boil the water first and then cool it. It’s important that everything that touches the wort post-boil is sanitized. That said when I brewed extract I topped off with cold water without boiling it and everything was fine.

B) I have never seen the point of rushing to transfer to a secondary carboy. Also bubbling is no sure sign that fermentation has stopped. You really need to take hydrometer readings on multiple days to confirm that. If you transfer too early you can get a stuck fermentation and thus a sweet, less alcoholic beer. Also every brew is different so there is no good time frame that can be applied across the board. In general terms 7-14 days in the primary and 14-21 days in the secondary are pretty standard. With all that said to keep it simple for your first brews waiting until you see no activity for 48 hours should work fine but I wouldn’t recommend less than 1 week in the primary.

C) Check the yeast for its preferred temp range. 72 is on the high range for most yeasts. The key is keeping the temp constant. A few degrees of variation is fine but its best to not ferment somewhere that has a 10+ degree temp swing.

Best of luck with the brew.

 

[edco76]

You don't want to add ice directly to the hot wort, since the ice is not sanitary. It could introduce bacteria and wild yeast. If you're topping up after the boil, I would put a couple of unopened jugs of distilled water in the freezer so they can cool to near freezing. Your instinct to add colder water is correct.

Ignore the fermentation instructions that came with the kit. Either go 3-4 weeks in primary (secondary is usually unnecessary) to insure that fermentation is done, or take hydrometer readings over 3-5 days to see if the gravity is stable. If the gravity reading doesn't change between readings a couple of days apart, you can be reasonably sure that fermentation is complete.

You should be aware that during fermentation, the temperature of the beer will be higher than ambient temp. That means that if your closet is at 72*, the beer will be 5-10* higher than that, and 77-82* is too hot. Something as simple as a plastic bin filled with water and ice bottles should be sufficient to keep fermentation cool. Look up 'Swamp Cooler' for some ideas.

Cheers and good luck with your first brew!

ewww! Scary. I guess I wasn't aware about the fermentation process raising the temps. I was under the impression that a dark closet @ room temperature would be fine for ales.

 

[edco76]

Just let the beer sit in your primary for 2-3 weeks (I usually do 3) then bottle. Secondaries are primarily for adding stuff (hops, fruit, bacon) I you have a hydrometer you should use that to decide when its time to bottle. After bottling beer usually is looking at 2-3 weeks to carbonate and then another week in the fridge.

Temperature for fermentation is highly yeast specific. Active fermentation will raise the beer temperature 5° easily so 70° is really 75° and that is too high for the majority of ale yeasts. High temps during fermentation create significant off flavors in beers and make some down right undrinkable. You should look into a simple swamp cooler (bucket, water, ice packs) to keep the temp of your fermentation in its desired fermentation range. Google your yeast or post it here, you are usually wanting to be in the lower end of the temp range.

My only suggestions that differ from the kit directions would be to look up late extract additions (just changes the timetable a bit, but I felt it made a difference in my extract brews) and to rehydrate your yeast before pitching (this is debatable I suppose).

My yeast is Safale S-04

Interesting about the secondary. Most of the tutorials and videos I have seen just always include it so I thought it was just part of the process.......

 

[SnakeRidge]

Yeah, secondary used to be best practice but most have abandoned it for now. Racking the beer to secondary increases the chance of introducing an infection and Oxygen. Most (but not all) will only rack to secondary for adding fruit, oak, or long term aging. You will definitely see differing opinions on the secondary, but for my part, I've only ever done one and I picked up an infection (my only infection in 200+ batches).

Definitely get a swamp cooler or something going. S-04 is a beast and ferments like crazy. Read up on blow off tubes also, or you could have a mess on your hands (and ceiling, floor, walls....)

 

[Peyope]

Using a secondary is not necessary. Typically it's used to help increase clarity in the beer and prevent the beer from sitting on the yeast for extended periods of time -which with weaker strains of yeast or much larger volumes of beer, it can produce off flavors.

 

[edco76]

Sweet. No secondary. One less step is cool with me.

My kit came with a bucket and a carboy.....

If I'm not doing a secondary, which would you advise I do my primary in?


Did some quick research. I have probably a dozen of these things in my freezer

I think I can put a few in a tub w/the beer and be able to monitor the temps fairly well. The temps in the closet seem to be in line with my thermostat right now (72). I can bump that down a couple degrees and maybe knock down a couple more with the icepacks.

 

[edco76]

So no secondary? Ok. One less step!

So if I'm only doing primary, should I use the bucket? Or the carboy?

So I should probably do the blow off tube huh? It seems simple enough but I suppose I will have to order the stuff. Im 50 miles from a supply store.


I think I can manage to lower the temp with a tub and some icepacks. My closet is pretty small and seems to keep the same temps as my thermostat, so I can bump my thermostat down a couple degrees and maybe drop the ambient in the closet a little more with some icepacks. I have a dozen or so.

 

[Peyope]

Don't use ice packs in the wort. You can never be 100% sure the outside isn't harboring bacteria (even if you sanitize thoroughly). I would ferment in the carboy and move to the bucket to bottle. I've never bottled from a bucket but I assume you'd get lots of yeast in the beer bottles.


Edit: you probably mean ice packs for fermenting temp. Nvm then, thought we were talking about cooling the wort.

For that beer you probably don't need a blow off tube. If you think you might just pick one up at the hardware store. It's just a plastic hose the same outside diameter as your carboy opening. Be sure to sanitize the hose before using.

 

[m00ps]

So no secondary? Ok. One less step!

So if I'm only doing primary, should I use the bucket? Or the carboy?

So I should probably do the blow off tube huh? It seems simple enough but I suppose I will have to order the stuff. Im 50 miles from a supply store.


I think I can manage to lower the temp with a tub and some icepacks. My closet is pretty small and seems to keep the same temps as my thermostat, so I can bump my thermostat down a couple degrees and maybe drop the ambient in the closet a little more with some icepacks. I have a dozen or so.

You can use either. I typically use carboys for ones I'll ferment longer since they are impermeable. Buckets are best for anything that will be dry hopped.

Also, to keep things cooler, the easiest cheap method would be to wrap it in a wet t-shirt and put the bucket under the A/C vents. This usually can get more 4degrees shaved off. Just make sure you re-wet the shirt 2-3 times per day. I don't like the icepacks and buckets because its too hard to keep the temperature stable. Temperature fluctuations can have an even worse effect on the beer than a stable higher temp.

If you do end up needing a blow-off I just make one from the 3-piece airlocks. I take off the cap and middle piece and jam a tube down the top of it. Fill a bucket with water and put the other end of the tube immersed. It seals itself and works like a charm every time.

Biggest advice: wait at least a week or so before opening the bucket to check on it. Resist the urge

 

[jekeane]

Do you live near a homebrew store? If so I would recommend getting another large 6-7g bucket for primary fermentation. It doesn't need to have a spigot. Your carboy is 5g so that is to small and your bucket while big enough is also your bottling bucket so it isn't ideal to ferment in that unless you want to rack out of the bucket into the carboy, clean the bucket then rack back into it for bottling... Less movement is always best, thus the reason people don't secondary as much anymore.

 

[unionrdr]

I have a bunch of those ice packs too. I also picked up these black straps with Velcro on them. I thought to strap 3-4 ice packs around the middle of the primary to keep temps down & just change them with a tee shirt over all.

 

[edco76]

Do you live near a homebrew store? If so I would recommend getting another large 6-7g bucket for primary fermentation. It doesn't need to have a spigot. Your carboy is 5g so that is to small and your bucket while big enough is also your bottling bucket so it isn't ideal to ferment in that unless you want to rack out of the bucket into the carboy, clean the bucket then rack back into it for bottling... Less movement is always best, thus the reason people don't secondary as much anymore.

WOW! Thank you so much for pointing that out! I guess I just didnt even realize.


I don't have a homebrew store near. Its about 50 miles away.

So, I guess I either drive 50m to the store, or order a carboy online. I'm assuming those things don't ship cheap either.



Thank goodness I decided to drive over instead of buying online so I could actually talk to a person and not make a noob buying mistake

 

[edco76]

Well, didn't take long to make a boo boo lol

Misread my directions. Instead of "bring to boil, add hops for 40 minutes"

I thought I was suppose to boil for 40 minutes w/o hoops. Of well. I just boiled my wort and sugars for an extra 20 minutes. That shouldn't mess things too much right?

 

[SmokeyMcBong]

Naw. It'll make it darker and you will have less volume because of the longer boil. I'm assuming you'll be topping up to the recipe volume anyway?

 

[edco76]

Naw. It'll make it darker and you will have less volume because of the longer boil. I'm assuming you'll be topping up to the recipe volume anyway?

I is

 

[edco76]

 

[edco76]

 

[edco76]

 

[edco76]

 

[edco76]

Looks like I will have some beer..........of some sort at least lol

 

[edco76]

Bubbling like crazy and a temp of 68 per fermometer.

Wife said it was 64 at 3pm yesterday. I tossed in a fresh icepack in case the rapid fermentation was heating things up too quick.

If I can keep things between 64-68 for the next few days, that should be a decent range for the S-04 yeah? Then take off the shirt and stop with the ice packs and let it hang out at about 72 for a couple more weeks>

 

[morticaixavier]

Yup. If it starts to raise at this point I might even just let it go. I'm not familiar with s04 but some British strains have a tendency to drop out if they get cold. And they are nearly impossible to rouse.

 

[unionrdr]

S-04 seemed fine in the mid-60's range when I use it. Very brisk fermenter.

 

[edco76]

Lookin good!

Been 5 days, most of the fermenting seems done. Was down to 64 though so I took off the T-shirt and put him on a jacket

 

[unionrdr]

My ESB with that yeast rehydrated was done & clearing in 10 days flat! So I'm not surprised that it's slowing down already. Great yeast.

 

[SnakeRidge]

Like I said earlier, S-04 is a hoss. Give it a few more days at 64* and let it warm some up to 70 or so to make sure it finishes out

 

[campbellmike]

Good job, you will get beer and you will enjoy it. Love the jacket. For me, I read everything, evaluate it, ignore half of it and make gradual changes as I learn. I've made 10 batches or so over the past year and they've all made good beer. Some have been very good.

 

[edco76]

12 Days in and I think I have beer!

Took a gravity reading, smelled great, tasted like I think a warm, flat nut brown ale should taste lol

Gravity question. My initial reading was 1.053

This is at about 72 degrees and after adding about 3gal of cold spring water to top off/chill the wort.

Someone told me that isnt very acurate.



Now after 12 days I get 1.022 @ 68 degrees.

That comes to 4.3 ABV


My kit said I should have
OG 1.071-1.075
FG 1.016-1.019
ABV 6.75%-7.75%



So, did I screw up? Is fermentation not done? Or are my numbers just not accurate?

BTW the beer actually tastes stronger than 4.3 but I dont have much experience tasting 12 day old, flat, warm beer.

 

[unionrdr]

After 12 days it might still need to finish up. I've had beers take 3 to 3 1/2 weeks to knock off the last few points.

 

[edco76]

After 12 days it might still need to finish up. I've had beers take 3 to 3 1/2 weeks to knock off the last few points.

Yeah, I pulled the blow-off, added a regular airlock and moved it to a warmer place.

It is still bubbling the airlock maybe once every 45-60 seconds, so I guess its not done.

Since it looks like my FG is going to be very close to what it should be, is it safe to assume that my OG reading was just wrong? Due to the top off or something?

 

[unionrdr]

Your OG could be a bit high from not getting chilled wort & top of water mixed well enough to get an accurate reading. Or your mash/steep efficiency was high, giving a higher OG. I get the later quite often. Higher OG can give higher FG, but not always. I've gotten 1.061OG to go down to 1.012FG many times against an OG that should've been 1.050 ot so. It hasn't hurt the beer, just raised ABV% a little bit.