Fine tuning the operation

[Thundercougarfalconbird]

So, I'm a bit of a perfectionist. All of my gear will be arriving tomorrow, thus, my first brew will be tomorrow Since I've had so much time to ponder and hypothesize brewing I've written down a simple 24 step process to brewing(for dummies) based on what I've read. I'd like any input on tweaks/additions because I plan to follow the list word for word.

Ill be using this kit-http://www.midwestsupplies.com/sierra-pale-ale-sierra-nevada.html - with the safale yeast
And this starter kit-http://www.midwestsupplies.com/brewing-starter-kit.html
Also, assume everything is sanitized

Step-By-Step
1. Ensure brewing room is cooler (aprox 7*F) than final fermentation location.(Gonna leave my door by the kitchen open)
2. Have 3 gallons of distilled(bottled)water chilled
3. Bring 2 gallons of distilled(bottled) water to 155*F. Steep grains for 15-30min.Remove grains.
4. Bring water to a boil, remove from heat, add LME
5. Boil with hops for 60min.
6. Add finishing hops for last 2min of boil
7. Add chilled water to carboy(with funnel)
8. Add wort to carboy(with funnel)
9. Cork and shake/stir carboy, remove cork
10. Fill within 3-4 inches with distilled water, shake/stir again
11.Boil pint of water, let it cool to around 70*F, Add yeast
12. Let wort cool to around 70*F, take hydrometer reading,note reading
13. Pour yeast mix into wort.
14. Put in closet(house is 65*f) add blow off hose
15. After 3 days switch to airlock(filled with water)
16. After 3 days of consistent hydrometer readings, move to secondary.
17. After 7 days in secondary, move to bottling bucket
18. Boil 1/2 pint of water.Add 1/3cup of priming sugar. Pour into bottling bucket
19. Stir and siphon to keg(being careful not to splash)
20. Add 5lbs of pressure
21. Age 7-14 days
22. Move to fridge for another 7-14 days
23. Pressurize keg, pour and dump first glass(containing sediment)
24. Enjoy.

 

[Nuggethead]

If your not dry hopping, you don't need to secondary, just primary for 3-4 weeks and siphon to your bottling bucket. Add this step later when your more comfortable with your process.
5lbs of pressure won't seal your keg. You need at least 20psi. to seal. After a couple days, you may want to hit it again to maintain seal. Then your natural carbination from the sugar should produce enough CO2 to keep you seal up. You can also skip the priming sugar all together and just seal with pressure and after ageing, hook up and carbinate to what ever volume you desire. Your beer will be much cleaner and not have as much sediment if you just force carb with CO2.
Remember to sanitize, sanitize, sanitize everything before it contacts your beer, funnels, hoses everything. Any water you add after the boil must be pre boiled to sanitize. Distilled or any water can have bacteria. Just a few thoughts.

 

[Nuggethead]

P.S. Good luck

 

[weirdboy]

A pint of water for yeast hydration is too much, at least for a single packet. I use something like 1/3 - 1/2 cup. Also you are supposed to rehydrate it at a higher temp than 70F. More like 100-105F IIRC.

I personally do not use a secondary unless I am conditioning for a long time or adding fruit or something. I would just leave it in the primary rather than transfer it, especially if it's only for a week or two.

Also before you transfer to the keg, you should purge the O2 from the keg by forcing in CO2 instead.

 

[weirdboy]

Also if you are going to put the keg in the fridge anyway, just skip priming the keg and hook it up to CO2 at your desired pressure for a couple of weeks.

 

[jigidyjim]

Are you going to cool the wort before putting it in the carboy?

Also, it takes time to cool your yeast hydration water down from boiling to pitching temps. Go ahead and boil it well before you plan to use it.

 

[weirdboy]

Looking at this again I notice that you do not have any steps for sanitizing your equipment.

You need to have all your equipment sanitized, especially the fermenter and any hoses/tubing you will be using to transfer wort. I usually have a small bucket that I keep half filled with a star san solution throughout the brew, that I can use to sanitize stuff. You will find that some stuff you'll want to use, put down/drop/etc. and then want to sanitize it again.

 

[rpappi]

bring your 2 gallon batch up to atleast 160 your temp will drop when the grain is added

like mentioned above Sanitize. (anything that touches the cooled wort needs to be sanitized)

 

[Thundercougarfalconbird]

If you pay attention to the top of the post all sanitation is presumed. The secondary is for clarity's sake. The 5lbs is an estimation really I just have one of those co2 guns so force carb is out. In-between the blast of pressure(and the fact my kegs O rings have a nice layer of foodgrade lube)I feel my seal will be solid. The wort will be cooled by/after being placed in the carboy due to the chilled water(guess I should mention the fact I was gonna icebath the filled carboy.
Good point on the yeast pre-pitch temp and preemptively cooling it for timings sake.

 

[phuzz01]

Step #1 should be to throw that perfectionist streak right out the window. Having a detailed plan like you do is great. But you just need to realize that brewing never goes perfectly according to plan, and ESPECIALLY not on your first attempt.

There are veteran brewers on here that have been doing it for years and have still never had a batch go exactly according to plan. You will forget steps, equipment will break or malfunction, and unexpected things will happen. But the good news is that even after several hiccups during the brewing process, you will still end up with beer at the end. Probably really good beer.

So, my advice is just relax, roll with any punches that come your way, and try to have fun. The yeast can sense when you are stressed out, and then they get stressed out too.

 

[ongreystreet]

I wasn't sure what to do with the yeast on my first kit until I got it, then it gave specific instructions on the back of the packet.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

You are using the glass carboy in that kit as a primary fermenter? Then you have a recipe for zero beer and a huge, dangerous mess. Pre-chilling glass and then adding boiling liquid will likely crack or shatter the glass. If that doesn't do it, adding the carboy back to an ice bath ought to do it.

If you want to follow those steps, use the bucket instead of the carboy as a primary fermenter. You really don't need to secondary, even for the sake of clarity.

 

[Minky]

In addition to the previous comments, here's my 2 cents:

I'm not sure I understand Step 1 and how it relates to Step 14. Generally you want the ambient (air) temperature during the early stages of the fermentation process to be approx. 4-7 degrees cooler than the desired fermentation temperature of your beer because the heat produced will raise the temperature of the beer by approx. that much. In other words, if you pitch your yeast when the wort is around 65 deg. and place it in your 65 deg. closet, the temperature of your fermenting beer could reach 70 deg. or higher. This could substantially alter the taste profile of the beer.

As far as Step 10 goes, I would premark the side of the carboy with tape or something at the 5 gal. (or other recipe volume) rather than filling it within 3-4 inches of the top. You will have more control of your OG that way and besides, you're going to want some headspace in the primary. Most of us who use carboys opt for the 6 or 6.5 gallon ones so we don't waste good brew out the blow-off.

Sounds like you have a pretty good handle on it. You should be fine. HAVE FUN!!

 

[superjunior]

You are using the glass carboy in that kit as a primary fermenter? Then you have a recipe for zero beer and a huge, dangerous mess. Pre-chilling glass and then adding boiling liquid will likely crack or shatter the glass. If that doesn't do it, adding the carboy back to an ice bath ought to do it.

If you want to follow those steps, use the bucket instead of the carboy as a primary fermenter. You really don't need to secondary, even for the sake of clarity.

that was the first thing that popped into my head - boiling wort + glass carboy + ice bath... sounds dangerous

 

[rpappi]

If you pay attention to the top of the post all sanitation is presumed. The secondary is for clarity's sake. The 5lbs is an estimation really I just have one of those co2 guns so force carb is out. In-between the blast of pressure(and the fact my kegs O rings have a nice layer of foodgrade lube)I feel my seal will be solid. The wort will be cooled by/after being placed in the carboy due to the chilled water(guess I should mention the fact I was gonna icebath the filled carboy.
Good point on the yeast pre-pitch temp and preemptively cooling it for timings sake.

careful not to Aerate the wort when its hot (look up hot-side aeration) it will add some undesirable flavors. i would cool it in an ice-bath in the kettle till its at 80 then transfer to the carboy. a glass carboy might shatter when adding hot wort to cool water thermo-shock glass doesn't like sudden temp changes.