Answers/Advice/Encouragement Needed!

[Skeptidelphian]

Hey everyone,

This is my first time brewing in 4 years. The first time I made some horrible marzen which was cloudy and medicinal - my fault for being young and not following good sanitation outlines. The second brew I made was a failed kit Irish stout - fermentation never happened.

So now comes the past couple of weeks and I've more and more wanted to try again - but seriously. I've dusted off The Complete Joy of Homebrewing and borrowed How to Brew from the library.

Going back and forth between them, sources on the internet, and beer smith, I've attempted to pick (and tweak) a recipie I found. I wanna make a nice, crisp American Pale Ale for my family to quaff at Thanksgiving.

7.0 lbs pale LME
0.5 lbs 15L crystal
0.5 lbs 60L crystal
1.0 oz Magnum (bittering)
1.0 oz Cascade (bittering)
1.0 oz Cascade (aroma)

I have some concerns however - not of the recipie, but of the brewing. I'm taking things seriously and reading up on a lot of things, but my three primary concerns:

Yeast to use, partial boiling, adding half of the malt after knockout, and the amount of hops I need to use.

What yeast should I use? Liquid or dry? I'm having difficulty undestanding what a starter is all about.

If I want to boil the whole wort - how much would I need to start out with in the pot (I will be running to the store tomorrow to get an appropriate pot). I have a powerful gas oven, but if I can only find a 4-5 gallon pot, then what do I do? I am having a difficult time correlating the amount of hops needed with the volume of water they're boiled in if it's all gonna be 5 gallons anyway. And how does the amount of malt in the boiling wort play into all of this?


And finally...any advice or encouragement. I'm just trying to get all my ducks in a row so that when I get ready to brew, I can relax.

 

[TxBrewHouse]

That's similar to our pale ale. We are making 10 gallon batches. And for ease of use just use white labs yeast 001. Just pitch it in after letting it sit at room temp for a few hours and seal it up and it'll ferment. We found using centennial hops ends up with a citrus note at the end. I think 1/2 oz for 60 minutes, 1/2 oz for 10 minutes and 1/2 oz for 5 minutes. I would start with about 6 to 6 1/2 gallons if you want to perform a full boil.

 

[Albadia]

Don't know much about the partial boil methods as I've never used them. But for a full boil 5 gallon batch you'll want at least a 7.5 - 8 gallon pot to boil your (starting) 6.5ish gallons.

Nowhere near beersmith and not awesome enough to judge it perfectly off the cuff but I'm sure someone will come along. That looks similar to a pale recipe I've made before but I'd turn the cascade addition into a later addition. 1-2oz of magnum for 60, then cascade for 10 and either @ 1 or @ flameout. Or switch the last addition to centennial or citra for some nice different flavor.

Other than that.. go for it! brewing is fantastic! When at first you dont succeed =D

 

[treehousebrewing]

Hey everyone,

This is my first time brewing in 4 years. The first time I made some horrible marzen which was cloudy and medicinal - my fault for being young and not following good sanitation outlines. The second brew I made was a failed kit Irish stout - fermentation never happened.

So now comes the past couple of weeks and I've more and more wanted to try again - but seriously. I've dusted off The Complete Joy of Homebrewing and borrowed How to Brew from the library.

Going back and forth between them, sources on the internet, and beer smith, I've attempted to pick (and tweak) a recipie I found. I wanna make a nice, crisp American Pale Ale for my family to quaff at Thanksgiving.

I have some concerns however - not of the recipie, but of the brewing. I'm taking things seriously and reading up on a lot of things, but my three primary concerns:

Yeast to use, partial boiling, adding half of the malt after knockout, and the amount of hops I need to use.

What yeast should I use? Liquid or dry? I'm having difficulty undestanding what a starter is all about.

If I want to boil the whole wort - how much would I need to start out with in the pot (I will be running to the store tomorrow to get an appropriate pot). I have a powerful gas oven, but if I can only find a 4-5 gallon pot, then what do I do? I am having a difficult time correlating the amount of hops needed with the volume of water they're boiled in if it's all gonna be 5 gallons anyway. And how does the amount of malt in the boiling wort play into all of this?

And finally...any advice or encouragement. I'm just trying to get all my ducks in a row so that when I get ready to brew, I can relax.

Ok. I'd say this:

First, don't worry too much.

I did a bunch of stove top brews similar to this and here's what worked for me:

Use as much water in the boil as you can without dealing with boil over. For me in my 5 gallon pot that was about 3.5 gallons.

Add half the LME in the last 15 minutes of the boil. Cut the heat, stop timer, add LME, stir, bring back to boil, start timer.

Do a cascade addition at 10 and one at 0 minutes and stir.

Don't mess with liquid yeast. There are a bunch of excellent dry strains out there that will serve just great for a recipe like this. My recommendation would be Safale US-05. Given that this recipe shapes up to be around OG 1.050 for a 5 gallon batch, I'd say sanitize the yeast pack and some scissors and just dump the stuff into the cooled wort. If you want to rehydrate (which increases the yeasts viability), visit the fermentis website for instructions on how to do it.

If you don't have any, get some star-San.

Good luck and have fun. You'll be happy you did this. I promise.

 

[menerdari]

I agree completely with Treehouse, I brewed a pale ale almost identical to what you plan with the exception That I used 2 oz cascade at boil and 1-1/2 oz. Willamette at 5 minutes.
That said I usually do a 3 gallon boil in my 5 gallon pot. I boil about 3-1/2 gallons the day before to use for top off and whatever other things need to be done like rehydrate yeast.
I second the Safale US-05, perfect for a pale and ferments quickly, safer bet for a successful brew IMO.
Sanitation, Star-San is great but if you are on a budget Iodophor works just as well and a 4 oz bottle is only $5
In either case only use the recommended amount, and only cold to lukewarm water with Iodophor.
Sanitize everything that will come in contact with your wort or your yeast, even the scissors you cut the pack open with.
PS: putting
half of the LME in at the beginning and half later in the boil helps keep the color a bit lighter.

 

[menerdari]

Here are the instructions for the pale I brewed if it might help.
http://www.brewersbestkits.com/pdf/1013_American_Pale_Ale.pdf

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

OP, you're over thinking it. Boil as much of the volume you can. I regularly boil ~6.5 gal in my 7.5 gal kettle, a few drops of Fermcap-S before the boil ensures that I never get a boilover. As for adding the extract late vs. at the beginning, make it easy and add it all at knockout. Add it as soon as you kill the flame, stir it in very well and let it sit hot and covered for ~10 mins or so to pasteurize the extract before cooling. I've been doing that with my extract beers lately and it's made a big improvement in quality. As others have said, dry yeast is fine. Something like Safale us-05 would be perfect for a pale ale. No need for liquid yeasts yet, get the brewing process down first, then play around with yeast choices. Just try to avoid the not so great brands of dry yeast like Munton's or Cooper's (blech!!!), go with Fermentis (Safale/Saflager) or Danstar brands. Lastly, RDW and HAH (or "c", commercial) B. Making beer is easy, and fun. Enjoy.

 

[DrummerBoySeth]

If you want to play with different boil volumes and late additions and see what the result will be in terms of bitterness and color, I suggest going to the website www.brewersfriend.com. They have a free trial function that lets you calculate up to 5 recipes. You can experiment with boil volumes, boil times, hop quantities, late additions and nearly every other aspect of your recipe. This way you will know what the result will be BEFORE brew day! This is my go-to resource when I am developing or modifying recipes. That way you can test out these suggestions and any ideas you might have without accidentially brewing 5 gallons of bad beer.

 

[Skeptidelphian]

Thanks everyone so far for the advice!

I went to the local homebrew store and got a TON of advice, a few free beers, and left with my kit. I am very serious about brewing and decided to kit myself out with a 7.5 gallon pot and went and got an outdoor propane burner.

It took me nearly 5 hours, but I got it done.

Ended up putting an extra pound of DME in to balance out the hops.

I went to 170 with my steeping for a few minutes but got it back down to a safe temp for most of the time.

I did go with the Safale US-05 yeast, rehydraded it before I pitched.

I think I didn't mix it well enough before adding the yeast because my OG was off by 7 (est: 1.057, actually 1.050). If the temp doesnt go down (it was 76 when I put it downstairs), I'll shove it in my closet and set the AC for 65.

I am concerned about whether I should rack it after 2 weeks to a secondary or just bottle it - everything I read goes back and forth (primary clears it! secondary clears it! fightfightfight).

 

[menerdari]

For future reference, a teaspoon of Irish moss or a whirlfoc tablet put into the boil pot the last 15 minutes will help clear your beer a bit more.
I never racked mine to a secondary and it is just slightly cloudy but very drinkable.

 

[Skeptidelphian]

I threw whirlfloc in!

 

[Skeptidelphian]

So, it's sitting happily in my closet at 68F! Every so often I sniff the airlock because it smells so fantastic. I'm having a difficult time resisting opening it to test the gravity and/or take a sip.

I was planning on letting it sit in primary for two weeks, then bottle it. Is that good for a pale ale or would it be better to let it sit for three weeks?

BTW, I'm planning on running to the LHBS for another fermenter and ingredients for a partial-grain winter warmer.

 

[helibrewer]

So, it's sitting happily in my closet at 68F! Every so often I sniff the airlock because it smells so fantastic. I'm having a difficult time resisting opening it to test the gravity and/or take a sip.

I was planning on letting it sit in primary for two weeks, then bottle it. Is that good for a pale ale or would it be better to let it sit for three weeks?

BTW, I'm planning on running to the LHBS for another fermenter and ingredients for a partial-grain winter warmer.

Honestly, I would let that sit in primary until the last week of October, getting it as cold as possible after reaching FG. There is no need to rack it to a secondary unless you are dry hopping. Bottle it that last week of October and it will have plenty of time to carb up by Thanksgiving. Store the primed bottles in an area that is in the low 70's while it carbs.

You can chill a bottle down in mid-November to taste and see how the carbination is coming along.

Cheers!

 

[Skeptidelphian]

Why so long in primary? I wasn't planning on racking to secondary regardless.

 

[treehousebrewing]

That does seem like kind of a long time to me for a medium gravity pale ale. 21-24 days without secondary is my usual number. I find my beers are cleaner and clearer if I give the yeast enough time to do their work.