Brew Day #1 - IN THE BOOKS!

[Ramathorn937]

Hey everyone! I just finished up with my very first brew day and figured I'd talk about it here and show pictures. I do have some questions/concerns that didn't arise until I was in the act of doing something... so here goes.

This is an extract kit that I purchased from Midwest Supplies.

"Front Porch Pale Ale"


Heating up the strike water

Once the water reached 155 I inserted the specialty grains

The water got a littler higher than 155 and I removed from the heat... I left it removed from the heat but it stayed approximately 172... So first question, is this too high? Will this be a problem?

While the grains are steeping, I've got all the tools, airlock, yeast packet, and LME sitting in the sanitizer water.. and of course my brew buddy had to get her nose in the kitchen and see what was going on lol.

I was concerned for a moment about the yeast packet sitting in the water (the water was pretty warm) could this cause problems with yeast activity?

Of course I had to have something to drink while brewing up my own batch. Listermann's is in Cincinnati, very close to where I live. Had to give this a try.

I know this is the wrong glass for this beer, gimme a break lol.

It took me a while to get up to a boil after steeping.... then I realized I had the burner set to 8 instead of max temp.... duh...

Removed from heat... added LME... return to heat and begin boil..

Once boil started I added the bittering hops.

Boil for 60 minutes......

Entertaining herself with the paper from the extract kit box... no idea why I buy her toys lol...

Finished up the boil and used my home-made immersion chiller to cool it down... went from 200+ to 80 in about 14 minutes... pretty happy about that!

Sorry - no photo of this in action, I was busy holding the tubing for the return line... next time I'll come up with something to hold it for me.

Poured the contents of the kettle into the sanitized fermenting bucket. This is when I realized that all I had available for top-off water was tap water.... I hope this won't be a problem, I understand the chlorine/chloramine may give an off-taste. Next time I should either boil and cool my topoff water... or add a campden tablet?

Rehydrated the yeast in boiled/cooled water, pitched it with the wort at 78 degrees.

Placed her in the coat closet, approximately 77 degrees in here.... Next DIY will be a fermentation chamber with temp control.

Please feel free to give any and all feedback. I'm ok with constructive criticism. It's a great way to learn!

 

[Lazarusnz]

Congrats On your first brew. Now the hard part - waiting till you can drink it!

 

[mgortel]

Just a couple comments that pop into my mind on first read.....

First off...Congratz on your first homebrew! Welcome to the obsession!

On the steeping temperature.....you do want to try to keep it at the 155 F temp..or close to that.....if you get above 168F you can extract some tannins (which can give some bitter taste) from grains (do not worry about it on this one though....it will be fine). How did your water magically go from 155 to 172 when you took it off burner? Maybe you left on burner too long after inserting grains.....turn off heat once you get to 155F.....I also like to stir water as it heats to make sure it is uniform temp......do that in future especially when you get close to target temp.

How warm was water yeast pack was setting in? Looks like room temp....70-80 F ....no problem at all.

Tap water for top off...only concern would be you should boil ahead of time to sanitize it... and cool and put in sanitized jug, etc...........I would NOT worry about that on this one though.....you should be fine. When I used to do extract I would boil all water for top off ahead of time and put in sanitized (with Star San) jugs and ready for use. Also, I have a simple Britta filter on my faucet to remove chlorine, etc. Again....don't sweat that on this batch....you should be fine.

Accurate temperature control will be a HUGE upgrade for future beers.

Do you have a temperature strip on bucket to monitor fermentation temp...?? If so...monitor and keep track....if temp stays in 70's that is a bit high......depending on yeast type...generally for ales you want to be in 60's max. (at least I do)

Love your little helper.....enjoy and let us know how it turns out!

 

[brewkinger]

Couple of points
Don't worry about tannin extraction, it's more of a pH thing than temperature.
Get that ferment temp down!!
Look up swamp cooler.
What kind of yeast is it?

 

[fimpster]

Congratulations! It sounds like your first brew day went pretty well.

One question... what yeast are you using? 77* is likely too high, and the temp of your fermenter can be 5 or more degrees higher than ambient when your yeast are at their most active. If you have a way to bring the temps down, your beer will thank you for it.

As for your process, you didn't have any real critical errors that I noticed. Don't be afraid to add a cup of cold water to your steeping grains to bring the temp down if you have that problem again. I know the instructions say to steep in X amount of water, but volume in this step isn't important, and it would only take a small amount of cold water to bring you down to proper temp. But for now it's minor and you shouldn't worry about it.

The instructions also tell you to boil X amount of water, but when I was using extract I would always boil the most water my pot would allow. Don't be afraid to boil a larger volume than the instructions indicate if your pot and your stove will accommodate it. This will have many benefits on your beer, but will also allow you to add less top-up water at the end. I have used tap water for top-up without any horrible results, but I always tried to use gallon jugs of spring water or boiled and cooled water for this.

Now comes the hardest step; waiting. Don't rush it. In fact you should go out and buy another fermenter and start planning your next batch. It's easier to be patient waiting on your first batch if you're already working on your second (and third, fourth, etc )



Don't forget to come back and tell us how things are going.

 

[Ramathorn937]

Don't forget to come back and tell us how things are going.

Bubbling away nicely in the fermenter. I need to get a sticker thermometer for the side of the bucket. I don't think this probe is giving accurate readings that low... My AC unit in my apartment is set to 68 and it hasn't been running for a while.

The Yeast is Munton's dry Brewer's yeast.

 

[MadHomebrewer]

Welcome to home brewing! Looks good overall, a few things mentioned above but they are learning experiences. Yeah, the firm chamber will help a lot keeping your temps under control. I'm working to build one now. I would advise to get a notebook and take notes on what you did and what you would do different next time. Your notes will come in handy to reference later.

 

[Schecter]

Your questions have been well answered by the other posters (hooray for comradery), but welcome to the community.

This will become your favorite, most rewarding hobby. The community (particularly here and often seen at local home brew shops (LHBS) ) is astounding and always ready to help.

Advice I'd give that I had wished someone gave to me when I started would be to do a few SMaSH beers (single malt, single hop) to understand certain qualities, and to invest as soon as you can into fermentation control. Controlling that temperature may be the single biggest improvement in homebrew.

Best of luck on that pale ale. It will turn out great, regardless of your steeping temperature mishap. Always aspire to improve!

Cheers

 

[Subdivisions]

Congrats! You'll have your own beer soon.

A couple things. The steeping temperature isn't real critical except to keep it below 170F. I used to get it in the low 160s and just let it drop to whatever it got to over a half hour. We're not mashing the grains so it's not imperative to keep it at a certain temperature. Another way to do the grains is to put them in as soon as you fire up the heat and take them out when the temp gets to 170F. This usually takes 20 minutes to a half hour depending on water volume and your stove. It speeds the process up a little since you're not waiting a half hour at X temperature.

If your water has chloramine in it then you'll need to use a campden tablet since boiling doesn't remove it. For the top off water you can prepare it a day before and put it in gallon jugs in the refrigerator. That will help chill the wort down to pitching temp quicker.

 

[MadHomebrewer]

Oh, one more thing! Check to see if there is a homebrew club in your area and join. You will learn a lot from them and they are usually generous and provide good feedback.

 

[Ramathorn937]

Oh, one more thing! Check to see if there is a homebrew club in your area and join. You will learn a lot from them and they are usually generous and provide good feedback.

Cincinnati has BBL (Bloatarian Brewing League) I think this is the only homebrew club in my area.