Finally took the plunge

[CdrDave]

Ok, I've been thinking about home brewing forever but have never been brave enough to actually try it. So today, I had some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket and decided to take a ride to the closest homebrew shop.

I picked up a stainless steel 20QT pot, a deluxe starter kit (glass carboy, ferm. & bottling buckets, and related utensils/equipment) an American Pale Ale kit, and 2 cases of bottles. I plan on getting everything cleaned up and put together this week, as well as read through the kit instructions multiple times before starting the brew next weekend.

I'm a bit nervous but excited.

Wish me luck. I'm sure I'll be back in here with some questions soon enough. Feel free to insert words of wisdom here...

 

[Glynn]

Grats your gona love it

 

[worksnorth]

Lol no bravery needed.
Patience, cleanliness and attention to detail helps though.
Welcome and you'll love it
Cheers

 

[trogdor447]

Welcome to the club! You are def going to enjoy the hobby. Dont try to over think things.. Once its done its done.. not much you can do if you make minor mistakes during the way. Heck sometimes we end up w/ some of the best brews we cant reproduce

 

[Bithead]

Your next task is to build a pipeline

 

[rklinck]

Two pieces of advice.

1. I would take the 20 qt pot back and get a bigger one. To boil the entire wort, you will need a 32 qt pot. Might as well get a slightly bigger pot.

2. Cleaner is not sanitizer. My beginner kit only had cleaner. You need to make sure to sanitize.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[pmcint01]

You're on the slippery slope now.

 

[KimmiC]

New to this myself! Enjoy and this forum is awesome if you need help or have questions.

 

[CdrDave]

You're on the slippery slope now.

I know right! I'm already price shopping for more of a 'production line' (more fermenters, bottles, better capper, etc etc lol)

 

[Trail]

Two pieces of advice.

1. I would take the 20 qt pot back and get a bigger one. To boil the entire wort, you will need a 32 qt pot. Might as well get a slightly bigger pot.

I second this, but you should just get a 10-gallon (40-qt) pot and be done with it. I do five-six gallon batches and boilover is seldom a problem... but if all I had was an eight gallon kettle I'd be worrying about boilover all the time.

Check out ka-tom's site. You can get a 40-quart aluminum kettle and lid for $55. That's what I did and I couldn't be happier... and with all the money I saved I s̶a̶v̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶ ̶l̶i̶t̶t̶l̶e̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶k̶i̶d̶s̶'̶ ̶c̶o̶l̶l̶e̶g̶e̶ ̶f̶u̶n̶d̶ bought a second carboy and a brew hauler.

 

[CdrDave]

1. I would take the 20 qt pot back and get a bigger one. To boil the entire wort, you will need a 32 qt pot. Might as well get a slightly bigger pot.

Seeing that I am a beginner (and incredibly easy to please), I expected to only do partial boils for quite a while. I'll be doing 2.5-3g boils, then using cool water in the fermenter bucket (5g total) to help finish the cool-down a little quicker. That, and this is all that fits in my budget at the moment

 

[Trail]

Seeing that I am a beginner (and incredibly easy to please), I expected to only do partial boils for quite a while. I'll be doing 2.5-3g boils, then using cool water in the fermenter bucket (5g total) to help finish the cool-down a little quicker. That, and this is all that fits in my budget at the moment

You'll be fine... and when you realize that you can't live without that 10-gal kettle, you'll have a 20qt sparging pot/sanitizer vessel/hat.

I went from a 4 gal -> 5 gal -> 10 gal, and I still use the first two for all manner of brewday chores. Plus in the dead of winter, the 5 gal kicks ass for brewing up a little batch on the stovetop.

 

[feinbera]

Welcome!

+1 on the bigger pot -- even if you're only boiling two or three gallons for extract batches now, you're probably gonna get curious about all-grain some day, and lemme tell you, it's a lot easier to boil three gallons in a ten-gallon pot than it is to boil six and half gallons in a five gallon-pot pot.

The other piece of advice: tell friends/coworkers to save their (brown, non-twist-off) bottles for you; you'll have enough for your second batch well before you need 'em, and you'll have to tell your friends/coworkers to stop saving bottles by the time you're brewing your fourth batch and have enough bottles for batches six and seven.

 

[CdrDave]

I've read through the instructions several times today and am getting pretty excited. Considering it's 2-3 weeks from brew day before I can even enjoy one of these, not sure I can wait to the weekend. I might have to start tonight LOL!

 

[Steve271828]

This was on homebrewfinds the other day: 10 gallon aluminum pot for $33 ( http://www.rakuten.com/prod/40-quar...team-rack-and-lid-cookware-set/232943708.html )

 

[NickTheGreat]

welcoe to the addiction!

I did a couple of extract kits, then a partial mash, then AG. I think the extracts helped me figure out how to do things (clean, bottle, keg, whatever)

Things will go wrong, but you'll probably end up getting beer out of the deal. As they say on here, Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew

 

[CdrDave]

Wow, wish I had seen that before I made my purchase - thanks. I'll probably grab one of those on a future payday.

 

[benco]

Don't worry! This is just the beginning! Take your time! Enjoy! You will make some really good beer! Almost everytime I brew some beer and when it's ready to drink, I say, wow that's the best beer I've made yet, until the next one! The money part is just starting, you will always be wanting to buy something! Their is no end! Later after you get few batches done, you might look into biab.

 

[CdrDave]

Ok! Finally did my first boil and learned a few things (and definitely made some mistakes). I now know what was meant by, "...be careful to not allow the malt to carmalize on the bottom of the boil pot..." :/ I now have a nice, doughnut shaped circle of unmovable blackness on the bottom of my pot. ( I really thought I was stirring better than that!)

I also need to get a thermometer for the boil - preferably one that is safe to just leave floating in the wort. No fun constantly checking temps by hand.

And finally, I definitely need a better burner! Unfortunately, doing this boil allowed me to discover that my gas stove just doesn't put out enough heat. I am required to cover the pot to get a boil, then have to occasionally throttle the lid to keep it that way.

My airlock has finally started bubbling! So other than that, I need more fermenters and cases of bottles lol. Thanks for the feedback / advice.

 

[Trail]

Nice work... it's good that when you had bad stuff go down, you didn't sweat it and kept on brewin'. Worst case scenario, you'll have beer.

Instead of getting a floating thermometer, you might consider getting one that clips to the side of your kettle. This is superior because when you need to remove it, you won't need to handle a metal device at boil temps.

That said, you don't really need a thermo for the boil... as hot as possible without boiling over, is the temp you want. The only time you really need a thermometer is when finding your steep temp, or at the end to verify that your wort is cool enough to pitch.

 

[NickTheGreat]

Good deal! I've started using my IR temp gun for my stuff. It's almost as accurate as my floating one, and a helluva lot easier!

 

[CdrDave]

Well, it's 2.5 days after my boil and it seems that activity in the fermenter has stopped. I've hung around as long as my patience will allow and have seen no more action in the airlock. 36 hours after pitching, I was getting a bubble every 5 seconds which I'm told is pretty good movement.

The kit instructions say that it usually ferments for 4-6 days, so I'm wondering if I somehow reduced the sugar content by overcooking the malt? That, or sometimes it just takes less time to ferment?

I'm going to check again this evening and then assume it's time to give it 48 hours and then bottle unless you have a different recommendation.

Thanks.

 

[Fordzilla]

Did your kit include a hydrometer? You cannot tell if yeast is done fermenting by time or by airlock activity. Yeast is an unpredictable living organism. You need to take hydrometer readings to know when to bottle. Two readings at the same value, 3 days apart, means fermentation is complete.

Personally, I don't bottle or keg a beer until at minimum 2 weeks in the primary fermenter. Usually closer to a month. This gives the yeast time to clean up any byproducts of fermentation.

Check out www.howtobrew.com for some more in-depth instructions and information than your kit provided.

 

[knelson13A]

Welcome to the addiction! I'm a new brewer myself, having just bottled my next batch. I've got a new outdoor propane burner on the way so I can move my brewday activites outside, and keep them from "overpowering the scentcy in the kitchen," in my wife's words!

My first batch fermented a little hot (my next step in the learning process is fermentation temperature control) and there was no sign of airlock activity after 2-3 days. I sucked it up (I'm normally a very impatient person) and left it alone for 2 weeks. I took the time to make a trip to my LHBS and picked up a hydrometer, some sanitizer (my kit didn't come with much), and the ingredients for my next batch. With my new hydrometer, I started taking readings after 14 days. Same reading for 3 consecutive days, so I bottled this past Tuesday.

 

[jflongo]

Well, it's 2.5 days after my boil and it seems that activity in the fermenter has stopped. I've hung around as long as my patience will allow and have seen no more action in the airlock. 36 hours after pitching, I was getting a bubble every 5 seconds which I'm told is pretty good movement.

The kit instructions say that it usually ferments for 4-6 days, so I'm wondering if I somehow reduced the sugar content by overcooking the malt? That, or sometimes it just takes less time to ferment?

I'm going to check again this evening and then assume it's time to give it 48 hours and then bottle unless you have a different recommendation.

Thanks.

If you don't have a hydrometer, let it sit a minimum of 12 - 14 days in primary, and then bottle.

 

[Trail]

The kit instructions say that it usually ferments for 4-6 days, so I'm wondering if I somehow reduced the sugar content by overcooking the malt? That, or sometimes it just takes less time to ferment?

I'm going to check again this evening and then assume it's time to give it 48 hours and then bottle unless you have a different recommendation.

Thanks.

Definitely don't bottle it that soon! Just because the visible signs of fermentation have stopped (churning, krausen, etc) doesn't mean that the process isn't done. It's actual pretty normal - the bulk of the fermentation finishes, and the remaining 1/3rd or 1/4th of your sugars take longer to ferment... alcohol slows down yeast activity, after all!

I know it's hard advice to take, especially that first couple times, but if you possibly can leave it in the primary for three weeks minimum. Your beer will be deliciouser for it.

Edit: It's not impossible that you "overcooked" the malt, with that burnt ring on the bottom - a frequent problem with extract brewing is that the extract sinks to the bottom and burns, caramelizing portions of your fermentables in the process. This renders them unfermentable, and gives the beer a sweeter taste. I'd bet you have some proportion of caramelized sugars in the brew - the good news is, an APA will bear this flavor profile pretty gracefully. I'd drink it!

 

[BigFloyd]

Now that you've got the bug and tried your hand at a batch (fun, ain't it?), it's time to turn your attention to the #1 most important aspect of brewing delicious beer (assuming your sanitization is good - hint:use StarSan) and that's controlling the fermentation temperatures.

Unless you live atop a mountain in KY where your house temps are below 65*F, you probably fermented that first batch too warm (which is likely why it finished so quickly). Kit instructions tend to be overly generous about giving a max temp at which to ferment and they often don't take into consideration the exothermic nature of an active fermentation (think room temp plus 7-10*F).

I may have missed that if you already posted it, but what were your pitch and ferment temperatures?

 

[CdrDave]

I may have missed that if you already posted it, but what were your pitch and ferment temperatures?

I did check the temp of the wort and made sure it was in line with the kit instructions (70 o) before pitching / transferring. I'm lucky to have a 'man-cave' in this place - my basement (at least this time of year) was staying right at 70 o which I realize is almost at the max suggested range of 64-72.

 

[CdrDave]

I know it's hard advice to take, especially that first couple times, but if you possibly can leave it in the primary for three weeks minimum. Your beer will be deliciouser for it.

Oh, I'm gonna cry lol.

With timeframes like this, I'm going to need at least 4 fermenting buckets going at all times :cross:

 

[BigFloyd]

I did check the temp of the wort and made sure it was in line with the kit instructions (70 o) before pitching / transferring. I'm lucky to have a 'man-cave' in this place - my basement (at least this time of year) was staying right at 70 o which I realize is almost at the max suggested range of 64-72.

Glad to hear that you're checking it. Some newer brewers miss that part.

Your 70*F basement temp will give you a ferment temp up to almost 80*F during the most active part of fermentation. If you can cool your pitch/ferment temps down to the lower end of your yeast optimal range for the first 4-5 days (you can let it come up to 70*F after that), you'll be much happier with the result. Just a little bit of reading around the HBT forums will give you a good idea about your options for that. Living in Texas with a 75*F house temp much of the year, I went the electronically-controlled ($19 STC-1000) fermenter chamber (used fridge/freezer) route and couldn't be more pleased.