Did my first batch today

[IDoBleedBrew]

Did my first batch today. Well, the first batch where someone wasn't holding my hand all the way through the process. It seems like things went pretty smoothly with my extract Irish Stout, except that my OG is a little low. Recipe list says I should be looking at 1.042-1.046 and I got an adjusted reading of 1.037. I'm not sure if I added too much water. It says go "just" over the 5 gallon mark and I think I may have went about half an inch over the 5 gallon mark. I'm also seeing that there was some extract left in the bottle. I thought I got most of it (even did a little rinse and dump afterwards) but with it sitting on the counter these past few hours I can see there is still some left in there. I also may not have mixed it well enough after topping off the 3 gallons with the other 2+ gallons. Oh well... we'll hit it next time.

Got to play with my newly constructed DIY stir plate this week, so that was cool. I was shocked at how fast the SS wort chiller cooled the wort. It went from 212 to 75 in 4 minutes and 30 seconds.

Got it stored in a dark closet that stays around 68-70 degrees. Will try to be patient and not check on it every few hours... but I can't make any promises. =)

Hope you all had a great brew day!

 

[oljimmy]

Nice! Congrats! An inch over the 5 gallon mark would not have made that kind of a difference. 5 points down is pretty low. With extract, many advise you to actually submerge the container in the boil to ensure that everything comes out. I've had this work for me.

1.037 is a little low, but not completely disastrous. If you used liquid yeast with a starter it will finish nice and dry, so the abv might still be high enough for ya. Another great thing about brewing stouts as a beginner is that there are so many potential flaws you don't need to worry about: clarity, for example, and color, and stouts tend to have nice, coffee-like aromas that hide potential off-flavors. Congrats!

 

[Ole_Smoky]

I just did my second batch this past weekend, I had an issue with my first batch being about .008 below recommended on the OG and my second batch was dead on. These are the few things I did differently, I don't know which one made the difference or if it was luck. 1. Made sure I got every drop out of the extract tubs, 2. Used a wort chiller, 3. Aerated the crap out of the cooled wort, 4. First batch I set up a 6 gal boil expecting to come down to 5 but I ended up with a little wort left over, I didn't know if I could put more then 5 gal in the primary so the extra got dumped. The second brew I boiled 5.5 gals and ended up topping off about a 1/2 to 1/4 gallon.

I'm sure each thing I did differently could have had an effect but those are just a few ideas for you.

 

[IDoBleedBrew]

Yeah, I would say there is pretty close to 3/4 of an inch of extract left in that tub. I didn't think about putting the whole tub in the boiling water for a minute or so. Do you do that before dumping any? Or do you dump everything that wants to come out, submerge it and then dump the rest? I imagine since you are boiling it for an hour afterwards, there really wouldn't be a need to sanitize the bottle?

I definitely could have aerated more than I did.

Thanks for the tips! I'll make sure and give those a go in 3 weeks when I do my next batch.

 

[Ole_Smoky]

The labels on my extract tubs come off when they get wet and make a huge mess so I can't put mine in the boiling wort, I boil a pot of water and fill my sink (one of my sinks is small) to let the extract hang out in there for 5 to 10 mins and get all loose, then when it's time to dump I used a spatula to scrape it out best I could. Then I used a ladle and put a couple scoops of wort into the tub and shake it around then dump that back into the pot. Be careful with that last one though cause the tubs will pressurize, it's hot and makes a mess but seems to get out every last drop.

 

[Calder]

Don't put the container in the boiling liquid. Some plastics can't take the temperature, and you can leach some chemicals out of the plastic in the beer - Sounds tasty.

Take a ladle (or a small Pyrex jug) and put some of the hot wort in the container, then swirl the container around and pour the contents back into the pot.

1.037 vs 1.044. That is a 15% reduction. To get that you would need to have your volume too high by 6 pints, or have left out 15% of the ingredients (assuming you had 6 lbs of LME, that would mean you left out 1 lb). The most probable answer is you didn't fully mix the wort with the make-up water. It happens a lot, go search on this forum, you will find this happens a lot. Don't worry, the yeast will still find it.

 

[IDoBleedBrew]

Yeah... that sounds more like it. Maybe a separate kettle or sink of hot water and soak it in that for a bit.

Well I just checked the closet before calling it a night and there is already some good activity around 6 hours into fermentation. Getting airlock bubbles about every 12-15 seconds right now.

 

[jethro55]

Hey - I am interested to know more about that wort chiller. Please tell me more.

 

[Ole_Smoky]

Just a bunch of copper tube in a big coil, submerge it in the was wort and run cold water though it. Worth every penny if you ask me!

 

[jethro55]

I have one purchased off the shelf at the brew store - a Brewer's Best item.

But this one he is using must be a doozy. Mine takes about 20 minutes to do what his did in less than 5. WOW!!!

 

[Ole_Smoky]

Yah mines not that fast either, ive only used it for one batch so far but it took about 12-15 mins to drop temps.

 

[IDoBleedBrew]

Let me ask... did you guys stir the wort in the opposite direction of the coils in the chiller? When I first placed the chiller in and watched the thermometer... it was dropping steadily and slowly. My friend/neighbor, who is a homebrew n00b as well, and an engineer, said "I bet if you stir that wort in the opposite direction of the coils it will drop faster." Low and behold, the very second I started stirring counter clockwise it started dropping SUPER fast. We were below 120 at the 2 minute mark and right around 75 at the 4:30 mark. I was impressed.

I went with the stainless steel chiller instead of copper. I figured copper would cool better but stainless might be easier to keep clean. Apparently the stainless works just fine in the chilling department as well.

I'm not sure what the rules are for posting links to retail sites... so I won't do that until I can clarify. The chiller I got was the 50' x 3/8" stainless steel immersion chiller. Came with all the hoses and fittings I needed.

 

[jethro55]

Post it by all means. I think mine is a 25 footer. And I will try that stir direction - great tip.

 

[IDoBleedBrew]

Here is the one I got: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004D4WH5A/

I'm sure the cold Colorado water helped a ton. I should have took the temp of the water coming out of the faucet outside to see how cold it was.

 

[eadavis80]

Yeah, to ensure you get all your extract out of those things do a few things:
1. Place the bottles in hot water at the start of your brew day - that will help loosen up the extract so they pour more easily.
2. When it's time to add it, after you pour out everything that comes out easily (because you did step 1) take a ladle, and spoon out a few ladlefulls into the extract jug. Put the cap of the extract jug back on - tight enough so it won't spill when you shake it - but just a tiny bit loose so it won't "explode." A tiny bit will be lost, but you'll get 99.9% out of it if you do step 2 three times. I would suggest having a hot glove or hot pad though because those plastic jugs get really hot to handle when they have 8 or so ounces of boiling wort in there.
Good luck!