Another noob finishes his first kit

[ZigZagMarquis]

Okay, I just finished up brewing my first batch. It was a 1 gallon White House Honey Ale kit from Northern Brewer. Yes, I now know that Northern Brewer was bought out by "those guys", but please forgive me, I didn't know that when I ordered the kit.

A lot more trub than I was expecting after the boil. I heated the water to 150F, turned off the fire, and steeped the specialty grains for 10min. I think that's were most of it came from to start. Hope I didn't do something wrong.

Continued with the recipe adding the LME and 1st hop addition at the start of the boil. Added the 2nd hop addition at the 30min mark and boiled for another 15min for a total boil of 45min. Added the honey at flame out, as per instructions.

Cooled the wort to pitching temps in an ice bath and then racked to fermenter. I was not very impressed with the mini-auto siphon which came in the kit. Operator error, I'm sure, but I ended up carefully poring the last of the wort out of the boil kettle and into the fermenter trying to be careful to leave as much of the trub behind.

The recipe called for 1.25 gallons at the start of the boil, which I did, but I ended up with less than a gallon by the time I got it in the fermenter, so I topped it off with cool water to get to a gallon.

Fermenter with blow off is sitting in an ice chest with a couple of bottles of frozen water, its still warm where I live so I hope this will keep the fermentation temps in the prescribed range. I'll be swapping out frozen bottles of water morning and evening and see how it goes.

Now just 2 weeks until fermentation is done. Bottling, conditioning and carbonation for another 2 weeks... but I'd like a beer now!!

 

[skraeling]

I tried something new with my last batch. I dumped EEEVERYthing (well spiphoned) into the fermentor junk and all. It will be interesting to see what happens, im not expecting much.

 

[jbunton]

Welcome to the pipeline. Now keep filling it up and hoping it come out good on the other end. A wort chiller is an investment I see in your near future

 

[ZigZagMarquis]

Welcome to the pipeline. Now keep filling it up and hoping it come out good on the other end. A wort chiller is an investment I see in your near future

Maybe, but the "cold" tap water where I live isn't all that cold. I'd probably have to do an ice pre-chiller anyways.

Actually, I'm thinking besides some bits, my next investment will be a larger brew kettle.

My goal in this, such as it is, is to attempt a BIAB all grain clone of a certain Lager brewed in Pottsville, PA that one cannot get in the People's Republic of California.

 

[jsharp4684]

I picked up a immersion chiller for my second batch. The way I did it, I bought a small fountain pump from harbor freight for $15 and stuck it in a cooler with a 5lbs bag of ice and just cycled the water front the cooler. I put a second bag of ice in at the halfway mark. It took 30min to get down to 70F without an ice bath. My first batch took two hours with just an ice bath. I think you'll really see the difference when you step up to 5 gal batches.

 

[Knkbrand]

I tried something new with my last batch. I dumped EEEVERYthing (well spiphoned) into the fermentor junk and all. It will be interesting to see what happens, im not expecting much.

http://brulosophy.com/2015/03/22/the-impact-of-kettle-trub-part-2-exbeeriment-results/

he has done a couple of experiments with trub, and has determined no noticable difference....dump it all in. Especially such a small batch. IMHO.

 

[RM-MN]

Maybe, but the "cold" tap water where I live isn't all that cold. I'd probably have to do an ice pre-chiller anyways.

Actually, I'm thinking besides some bits, my next investment will be a larger brew kettle.

My goal in this, such as it is, is to attempt a BIAB all grain clone of a certain Lager brewed in Pottsville, PA that one cannot get in the People's Republic of California.

If you plan to make 5 gallon batches, plan on a 10 gallon pot. It will save you some grief.:rockin:

I make a lot of 2 1/2 gallon batches BIAB and a 5 gallon pot isn't quite big enough. I usually need to do a smaller mash and sparge to get to my volume without overflowing my pot.

Lagers require (maybe not, experiments are being done to challenge this) colder fermentations. You may need a better fermentation temperature control than what you have.

 

[skraeling]

http://brulosophy.com/2015/03/22/the-impact-of-kettle-trub-part-2-exbeeriment-results/

he has done a couple of experiments with trub, and has determined no noticable difference....dump it all in. Especially such a small batch. IMHO.

Why i did it as well

trust, but verify

 

[ZigZagMarquis]

If you plan to make 5 gallon batches, plan on a 10 gallon pot. It will save you some grief.:rockin:

I make a lot of 2 1/2 gallon batches BIAB and a 5 gallon pot isn't quite big enough. I usually need to do a smaller mash and sparge to get to my volume without overflowing my pot.

Lagers require (maybe not, experiments are being done to challenge this) colder fermentations. You may need a better fermentation temperature control than what you have.

RM-MN,

I hear you. And I'm probably not going to jump into BIAB anytime soon. I'm figuring on getting a few 1 gallon extract kits under my belt first, but I was thinking on trying a 1 gallon BIAB recipe for my first BIAB experience, when ever that turns out to be. I figure that will take at least a 3 gallon kettle. If I'm way off in that assumption, please, anyone, chime in. Understand too that to do a true lager will require some sort of fermentation chamber that can get down to lagering temps and my set-up is not that.

Also, I'm limited to boiling on a kitchen gas stove, so a full 5 gallon (or more) boil is probably out of my reach for the time being.

I'm sure I'll be back talking about bottling too after my first go around on that, but from what I can tell from reading and youtubes is that folks move past bottling and kegging pretty quick in their home brewing career.

 

[ZigZagMarquis]

So fermentation of my first batch seems well under way.

Bubble coming out of blow off every 5ish seconds or so.

I've got the fermenter in an ice chest with 3 bottles of frozen water that I swap out morning and night.

The temp strip on the side of the carboy was in the 60-62F range yesterday and this morning, but seems to be now moving more towards the 58-60F range which I believe is approaching the bottom end of the fermentation temp range for an Ale yeast?

** Information ** Safale s-04 is what was in the kit. Fermentation temperature: 12-25°C (53.6-77°F) ideally 15-20°C (59-68°F)

Should I go to just 2 frozen bottles of water so the fermentation temp comes up a bit or let it ride as so long as the temp doesn't drop much more or am I good?

Thoughts?

 

[DoctorMemory]

I'd probably go with just two bottles. Your fermentation temps were higher at the outset due to the yeast activity, but now that the initial rush has subsided, the temperature will drop (as you have seen). Since you're on the low end anyway, I'd let the temp rise to ensure that the yeast complete the fermentation and don't fall asleep. As long as you can keep it below 65 (well, 70 anyway) you'll be fine.

 

[skraeling]

RM-MN,



I hear you. And I'm probably not going to jump into BIAB anytime soon. I'm figuring on getting a few 1 gallon extract kits under my belt first, but I was thinking on trying a 1 gallon BIAB recipe for my first BIAB experience, when ever that turns out to be. I figure that will take at least a 3 gallon kettle. If I'm way off in that assumption, please, anyone, chime in. Understand too that to do a true lager will require some sort of fermentation chamber that can get down to lagering temps and my set-up is not that.



Also, I'm limited to boiling on a kitchen gas stove, so a full 5 gallon (or more) boil is probably out of my reach for the time being.



I'm sure I'll be back talking about bottling too after my first go around on that, but from what I can tell from reading and youtubes is that folks move past bottling and kegging pretty quick in their home brewing career.

If you are in the US and have access to Target they sell a 20qt tamale steamer pot for very very cheap. It's what I do my 5 gallon batches in when I don't feel like lugging all my 10g allgrain stuff outside.

I boil about 3.5gallons. Top off with water to a tad over 5 in the carboy.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1477451148.949702.jpg

Also note my electric stove can boil that much your gas burner should have zero issues doing it even better.

IView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1477451186.829180.jpg
It works quite well.

Give 5 gallon extracts a try till you move to biab/ allgrain.

Hell I still do 5g extracts if I need to bang out a quick Batch for a keg or want to try something out. It still tastes like beer.

 

[estricklin]

Great job on that batch, and don't worry about the trub as others have mentioned. Welcome to the forum as well if I haven't had a chance to say so yet.

 

[Sadu]

I brew a lot of 1 gallon batches. They are just easier and faster all round. Once you go all grain I highly recommend sticking with 1 gallon batches until you are happy with the recipe, then brew bigger. Depends what you are brewing of course, but something tricky like a Pilsner is going to take you several tries before you are happy. On the other hand pale ales and blonde ales are pretty reliable and you can get great results on the first try.

1 gallon BIAB is a sweet way to brew by the way. You can buy a large sized grain bag (ie for 5 gallon batches) and it works just fine for 1 gallon batches too. Apart from the bag you shouldn't need any extra equipment, and it adds about 90 mins to brew day. I find that I can brew 1 gallon batches while I cook dinner or generally carry on with life.

 

[RM-MN]

I brew a lot of 1 gallon batches. They are just easier and faster all round. Once you go all grain I highly recommend sticking with 1 gallon batches until you are happy with the recipe, then brew bigger. Depends what you are brewing of course, but something tricky like a Pilsner is going to take you several tries before you are happy. On the other hand pale ales and blonde ales are pretty reliable and you can get great results on the first try.

1 gallon BIAB is a sweet way to brew by the way. You can buy a large sized grain bag (ie for 5 gallon batches) and it works just fine for 1 gallon batches too. Apart from the bag you shouldn't need any extra equipment, and it adds about 90 mins to brew day. I find that I can brew 1 gallon batches while I cook dinner or generally carry on with life.

You might need to tighten up your technique. I've gotten to where a BIAB batch takes the same time as an extract with steeping grains used to take.

If you find that your stove's output is a little anemic, you can buy a heat stick that will help you get to temperature faster. I'm not advocating that you use Amazon but they have several models listed here for you to get ideas. https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&k...o=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_23jmuqlpcy_e_p13

 

[ZigZagMarquis]

My first batch update, 10/26/2016, 1200L-ish:

Only put 2 frozen bottles of water into the cooler / fermentation chamber with the carboy last night and this morning, the temp strip on the side of the carboy was back up to the 60-62F range.

Noted this morning too that the Kraeusen has started to fall back into the wort.

When I checked at lunch time, I noticed that the temp strip on the carboy was back reading in the 58-60F range, so I took out one of the partially frozen bottles of water. Also, activity coming out of the blow off has slowed to a bubble about every 30sec.

 

[ZigZagMarquis]

Here's a photo of my noob-set-up for all to see.

 

[ZigZagMarquis]

Update...

I bottled off my first batch today. I can totally see why folks move to kegging.

I had hopes that I'd get 2 six packs, but only came out with 9 bottles.

There was a lot of spillage. The bottling wand that came with the kit leaks and my siphon technique sucked.

But, my first batch is in bottles conditioning and carbonating (I hope... I added the fizz tabs as advertised).

Two weeks and we'll see.


Annnnd.... while I was at it. I cleaned everything up and brewed up batch #2. This time a Cream Ale. I have hopes it will come out like something like the Genesee Cream Ale I remember. Oh the good old days of college getting kicked by the horse. We'll see.

Anyway, batch number #2 is in my low budget fermentation chamber.

Wish me luck.

 

[curtisbrewer]

i brewed a 5 gallon batch of the white house honey a couple years ago. got it kegged and carbed up and made the mistake of advertising it at a family party the next weekend. never seen a beer go so fast in my life ! you will be wishing you had tons of it when you get to tasting it ! it is definitely an easily brewed crowd pleaser

 

[robc311]

I got a keg of Gennessee Cream Ale for my kegerator a few months ago and I remember feeling slightly embarrassed ordering it because I thought the guys at the beer shop would judge me for getting such a cheap beer. To my delight the guy was like oh good old Genny...I love that stuff and it's so cheap! Now I can't wait to brew my own cream ale!

 

[ZigZagMarquis]

Update...

I just opened my first bottle of brew.

It doesn't taste too bad, but it has little to no carbonation.

It was 2 weeks in the primary and to weeks in the bottle at room temp and yes I remembered to put the fizz tabs in when I bottled.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

Did you use EZ-Cap flip top bottles? Those bastards leak. Did you let the bottles prime at room temp? If you put them in the fridge they won't prime. If you kept them at fermentation temps it will take three weeks to prime. Sometimes, based on the instructions, people will put the sugar in the primary before bottling day and it ferments out leaving nothing for priming the bottles.

Sorry just noticed options 2 and 3 are accounted for in your post.

 

[mullet6577]

If you are in the US and have access to Target they sell a 20qt tamale steamer pot for very very cheap. It's what I do my 5 gallon batches in when I don't feel like lugging all my 10g allgrain stuff outside.

I boil about 3.5gallons. Top off with water to a tad over 5 in the carboy.

Also note my electric stove can boil that much your gas burner should have zero issues doing it even better.

It works quite well.

Give 5 gallon extracts a try till you move to biab/ allgrain.

Hell I still do 5g extracts if I need to bang out a quick Batch for a keg or want to try something out. It still tastes like beer.

I thought something looked familiar in your first pic, and then I realized I have that exact stove.

 

[mkdewinter]

http://brulosophy.com/2015/03/22/the-impact-of-kettle-trub-part-2-exbeeriment-results/

he has done a couple of experiments with trub, and has determined no noticable difference....dump it all in. Especially such a small batch. IMHO.

I have only brewed a few batches in the 10 years I've had my kit so I'm by far not an expert. I think I have always dumped the whole boil pot into the fermenting bucket, but after fermenting stopped after a couple weeks I used a siphon to rack into the finishing glass carboy. I'm going to start a new batch tomorrow so we'll see how it goes!

 

[Jettison]

After letting my first batch carbonate for a week, I just couldn't wait to see if I'd screwed it up.

Great news, it was really good! I'm sure it's not a patch on what most everyone brews around here, but I am just so happy it tastes like a good beer.

FWIW, it is a kits and bits Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone.

Excited to see what it will be like in another week.

Cheers!

 

[RM-MN]

I tried something new with my last batch. I dumped EEEVERYthing (well spiphoned) into the fermentor junk and all. It will be interesting to see what happens, im not expecting much.

I'm not expecting much to come of this either, just good beer. Some of us have been dumping everything in for years. We get good tasting, clear beers for our efforts. We expect you to also.

 

[GHBWNY]

...it has little to no carbonation. It was 2 weeks ...in the bottle at room temp and yes I remembered to put the fizz tabs in when I bottled.

Sounds like your bottle-conditioning procedure was correct. You should be getting noticeably carbed beer after even 1 week. Unless... you have a sealing problem with the bottles, your capper, your crowns...? Or the fizz tabs hadn't thoroughly dissolved in solution. Or... ?

 

[mkdewinter]

Update: I brewed my Ockotberfest (box kit) Tuesday afternoon and got O.G. of 1.044. By Wednesday morning I already had really active fermentation. It bubbled pretty good until Thursday morning when it was pretty slow and stopped by Thursday night. I was afraid my fermentation had stalled so I checked with a friend about it. He said he sometimes had his be done that quick and suggested taking a reading. It was 1.014, done! I racked to secondary to get some clarity and see if it ferments out a bit. It smells and tastes good already!

 

[Jettison]

After letting my first batch carbonate for a week, I just couldn't wait to see if I'd screwed it up.

Great news, it was really good! I'm sure it's not a patch on what most everyone brews around here, but I am just so happy it tastes like a good beer.

FWIW, it is a kits and bits Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone.

Excited to see what it will be like in another week.

Cheers!

It's not been a week, but I threw another bottle in the fridge midweek to chill for a football match tonight.

Sad to say the beautiful hoppy aroma and flavour was far more subdued.

I'd out another bottle in earlier this afternoon, and tried that as well. Same result.

It's still beer, and it tastes fine, just not as hoppy or good as a few days ago.

Any ideas what might have caused this?

 

[RM-MN]

Update: I brewed my Ockotberfest (box kit) Tuesday afternoon and got O.G. of 1.044. By Wednesday morning I already had really active fermentation. It bubbled pretty good until Thursday morning when it was pretty slow and stopped by Thursday night. I was afraid my fermentation had stalled so I checked with a friend about it. He said he sometimes had his be done that quick and suggested taking a reading. It was 1.014, done! I racked to secondary to get some clarity and see if it ferments out a bit. It smells and tastes good already!

Sorry to say it but this might be doing just the opposite of what you want. By racking to secondary you stirred up yeast that was starting to flocculate and removed the beer from the bulk of the yeast. For most beers, secondary is no needed or wanted as beer will clear in the primary as quickly as secondary and with a bit of care when racking to the bottling bucket there will be no more yeast stirred up than when you rack from secondary.:rockin:

 

[mkdewinter]

By racking to secondary you stirred up yeast that was starting to flocculate and removed the beer from the bulk of the yeast.

So leave it in the primary longer even though the f.g. is good?

 

[Roland_deschain]

My personal rule of thumb....3 weeks primary, no secondary(unless I'm adding oak or fruit,etc). Patience is a virtue, especially when making beer.

 

[RM-MN]

So leave it in the primary longer even though the f.g. is good?

Yes. I usually leave my beers in primary for 3 to 4 weeks. At 3 weeks most of the yeast has settled and I get clear beer. After 4 weeks even more yeast settles out so I have very little in the bottom of the bottles.

 

[mkdewinter]

I guess another reason I thought it best to rack to secondary is that I would inevitably get some of the trub when racking, and if I went to secondary I'd have yet another chance to have even less when racking to the bottling bucket. I guess just don't try to get every last drop from the fermenting bucket then.

 

[martiniw2olives]

If you are in the US and have access to Target they sell a 20qt tamale steamer pot for very very cheap. It's what I do my 5 gallon batches in when I don't feel like lugging all my 10g allgrain stuff outside.

That is exactly what I used for years before switching to electric. Works great and it's cheap.

 

[martiniw2olives]

RM-MN,

I hear you. And I'm probably not going to jump into BIAB anytime soon. I'm figuring on getting a few 1 gallon extract kits under my belt first, but I was thinking on trying a 1 gallon BIAB recipe for my first BIAB experience, when ever that turns out to be. I figure that will take at least a 3 gallon kettle. If I'm way off in that assumption, please, anyone, chime in. Understand too that to do a true lager will require some sort of fermentation chamber that can get down to lagering temps and my set-up is not that.

Also, I'm limited to boiling on a kitchen gas stove, so a full 5 gallon (or more) boil is probably out of my reach for the time being.

I'm sure I'll be back talking about bottling too after my first go around on that, but from what I can tell from reading and youtubes is that folks move past bottling and kegging pretty quick in their home brewing career.

Don't be afraid to dive into all grain, it's not much more difficult and very rewarding. Here is the set-up that I used for years and wasn't expensive. It's not BIAB, but there are many advantages to this type of system and can be done on the stove top as well. I personally don't like handling the heavy grain bag and think sparging may be a little for efficient. I moved to an electric Brewha BIAC system and kinda miss the old process.

1. 32 quart tamale steamer pot for boiling (about $30)
2. Turkey fryer pot with spigot for hot liqueur sparging (about $40)
3. Water cooler mash tun with false bottom (about $100)

Yes, bottling gets old fast. I went to kegging aster one year.

 

[Sadu]

It's not been a week, but I threw another bottle in the fridge midweek to chill for a football match tonight.

Sad to say the beautiful hoppy aroma and flavour was far more subdued.

I'd out another bottle in earlier this afternoon, and tried that as well. Same result.

It's still beer, and it tastes fine, just not as hoppy or good as a few days ago.

Any ideas what might have caused this?

My experience with pale ales is that they keep getting better and better up until about 8-10 weeks. Mine often start off a bit plain in the hop department but find they mature very nicely after just a bit more time. Also if the carbonation isn't done you won't get the full hop character. Chill them in the fridge for at least a few days as well. After 10 weeks the hop flavour and aroma is fading, leaving just bitterness.