weaver
Active Member
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2014
- Messages
- 26
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- 5
My supplies were shipped a few days ago and I was finally able to get to brewing tonight for my first time. I think the process went well but I guess we'll see in the coming days. It took me about 5 hours from start to finish including cleanup.
Nut Brown Ale Extract Kit
Recipe Volume: 5 gal
Malts
.25 lbs English Chocolate Malt
.25 lbs Belgian Special B
.25 lbs Belgian Biscuit
.25 lbs Briess Special Rost
6 lbs Gold malt syrup
Hops
1 oz Fuggie
Yeast
Danstar Nottingham Ale Yeast
Procedure:
Heated 3 gallons of water and poured crushed grain into the Muslin Bag. Steeped for 25 minutes and let drain while starting the boil. Brought mixture to a boil (which took a lot longer than anticipated) and then moved off burner. Stirred in malt syrup extract and brought to a boil again. Added Fuggie hops and boiled for 60 minutes. Added a tablet of Whirlfloc 10 minutes before the boil ended. Turned off heat and chilled the pot in an ice water bath in my sink. I want to say it took about 25 minutes and the temp was down to 66 degrees.
I made sure to sanitize everything with StarSan.
Here's where I believe I made a mistake. Instead of pouring 2 gallons of cold water into my fermenter, I poured the 2 gallons right into my pot with the wort. Don't ask me why, I realized what I did after the deed was done. I then poured everything into my fermenter. I was planning on pouring the 2 gallons into my fermenter and then slowly pouring my wart into the fermenter and was going to leave behind the sludge at the bottom of the kettle. Instead it got all mixed up when I poured the 2 gallons in the pot with the wart. I started aerating by sealing it and then rocking it back and forth for about 5 minutes. I then realized I still needed to add another gallon of water to bring my level to 5 gallons. Did that and aerated another 5 minutes.
I took Original Gravity reading with my Hydrometer which was about 1.042. I need to get a turkey baster or something to make it easier to get my beer in the test jar.
Rehydrated the dry yeast by pouring 4oz of water in a sanitized glass and microwaving it to about 87 degrees. Poured dry yeast in and let sit for 15 minutes. Stirred and let sit for 5 minutes. Stirred again and let sit for 5 minutes. Since my temperature in the fermenter read 64.6 degrees, I added cold water to the yeast until it read about 67 degrees and then pitched the yeast. Added 10 drops of Fermcap-S.
Fermentation
Fermenter is sitting in a closet which I have been monitoring the temperature for the last few days. It's been a consistent 68 degrees. It's only been fermenting for 3 hours so far. I guess I'll check the gravity again in 2 weeks? And then I'll probably bottle for about 3-4 weeks? The whole process is still new to me and it's going to be a learning process but I'm very excited!
Nut Brown Ale Extract Kit
Recipe Volume: 5 gal
Malts
.25 lbs English Chocolate Malt
.25 lbs Belgian Special B
.25 lbs Belgian Biscuit
.25 lbs Briess Special Rost
6 lbs Gold malt syrup
Hops
1 oz Fuggie
Yeast
Danstar Nottingham Ale Yeast
Procedure:
Heated 3 gallons of water and poured crushed grain into the Muslin Bag. Steeped for 25 minutes and let drain while starting the boil. Brought mixture to a boil (which took a lot longer than anticipated) and then moved off burner. Stirred in malt syrup extract and brought to a boil again. Added Fuggie hops and boiled for 60 minutes. Added a tablet of Whirlfloc 10 minutes before the boil ended. Turned off heat and chilled the pot in an ice water bath in my sink. I want to say it took about 25 minutes and the temp was down to 66 degrees.
I made sure to sanitize everything with StarSan.
Here's where I believe I made a mistake. Instead of pouring 2 gallons of cold water into my fermenter, I poured the 2 gallons right into my pot with the wort. Don't ask me why, I realized what I did after the deed was done. I then poured everything into my fermenter. I was planning on pouring the 2 gallons into my fermenter and then slowly pouring my wart into the fermenter and was going to leave behind the sludge at the bottom of the kettle. Instead it got all mixed up when I poured the 2 gallons in the pot with the wart. I started aerating by sealing it and then rocking it back and forth for about 5 minutes. I then realized I still needed to add another gallon of water to bring my level to 5 gallons. Did that and aerated another 5 minutes.
I took Original Gravity reading with my Hydrometer which was about 1.042. I need to get a turkey baster or something to make it easier to get my beer in the test jar.
Rehydrated the dry yeast by pouring 4oz of water in a sanitized glass and microwaving it to about 87 degrees. Poured dry yeast in and let sit for 15 minutes. Stirred and let sit for 5 minutes. Stirred again and let sit for 5 minutes. Since my temperature in the fermenter read 64.6 degrees, I added cold water to the yeast until it read about 67 degrees and then pitched the yeast. Added 10 drops of Fermcap-S.
Fermentation
Fermenter is sitting in a closet which I have been monitoring the temperature for the last few days. It's been a consistent 68 degrees. It's only been fermenting for 3 hours so far. I guess I'll check the gravity again in 2 weeks? And then I'll probably bottle for about 3-4 weeks? The whole process is still new to me and it's going to be a learning process but I'm very excited!