Brewed my first batch

[intense3123]

Brewed my first batch last night. Sierra Nevada clone from NB. Whew, what a learning experience. Did a full boil which takes forever to heat up. Thought my Wyeast pack had already been activated because it arrived swollen. I mean SWOLLEN, where you couldn't really squeeze it to feel the inner bag. Realized once I pitched inner bag wasn't open, so I popped that and dumped it in there too. Also pitched at a pretty high temp, about 86-88*. But about 12 hours into it now quite a bit of activity in the airlock, bout 1/second. I can also see a little movement too. Had a hard time trying to not fear the foam since a lot was left in the carboy, but went for it.

Things I learned: Wort chiller or a lot more ice next time. Refrigerate and check the yeast pack.

 

[TTB-J]

Congrats!

I would suggest making a yeast starter ahead of time for your next batch, pitching the right amount of yeast is crucial in making really good beer. Look on this website for more details:

http://www.mrmalty.com/pitching.php

 

[intense3123]

Thanks for that site, some good info there. My original plan was to make a starter, even purchased a flask. But once I thought the yeast was activated, I said, "Sh!t, this has been on a truck shipping for the last 5 days, better use it now." Question on starters, is there a general rule of thumb for amount of DME to water for a 1000ml flask. 2/3, 1/2 cup?

 

[FensterBos]

Boom.
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter6-5.html

Congrats on your first batch. I definitely recommend the immersion or counterflow chillers.

 

[TTB-J]

Boom.
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter6-5.html

Congrats on your first batch. I definitely recommend the immersion or counterflow chillers.

Palmer is always a good source to follow! The rule of thumb I've always used is that you use a 10:1 ratio of mL of water to grams of DME. Thus, for a 1L starter, you would use 100g of DME. I haven't converted Palmer's suggested ratio but I bet it's quite similar to that.