My first batch of beer is bottled, a blackberry wheat. because I am a noob I made it 3 times harder than it needed to be. Overall, because I was using a Brewers Best kit it was all pretty simple. But there was lots of room for improvement in my process and organization. I can definitely see that after I have 4 or 5 batches under my belt that this should be a lot easier, and a lot more fun. So, I made a list of thing I am going to do differently when I brew my second batch later tonight.
Brewing:
1) Boil my 2nd 2.5 gallons of water ahead of time. My first time I didn't boil and cool the 2nd 2.5 gallons of water until the recipe asked for it.
2) Sanitize everything at one time in my extra 5 gallon bucket. Last time I did everything separately in a little bowl.
3) Use a wort chiller. Last time I put my big pot in my little sink and had problems with cooling and splashing. Oh yeah, it was at that point I realized that my teenage son had used all the ice too.
4) Use a real timer, not the wall clock. Several times during the boil process I zoned out and was late for scheduled steps.
5) Use the test tube for the hydrometer. Last time I just dropped the hydrometer in the bucket and I had a hard time reading it due to lots of foam and bad eye sight.
6) Start my yeast. I just threw the dry yeast in my bucket last time and then it all clumped up and required a lot of vigorous stirring to get it blended in.
7) Skip the bucket. Last time I cooled wort and pitched the yeast in a separate bucket prior to racking into the fermenter. This time I will do everything in the brew pot and then go straight to the fermenter.
Bottling:
Sanitize the bottles and caps first. Today when I was bottling I moved the beer into the bottling bucket and sugar before I sanitized my bottles and caps.
Brewing:
1) Boil my 2nd 2.5 gallons of water ahead of time. My first time I didn't boil and cool the 2nd 2.5 gallons of water until the recipe asked for it.
2) Sanitize everything at one time in my extra 5 gallon bucket. Last time I did everything separately in a little bowl.
3) Use a wort chiller. Last time I put my big pot in my little sink and had problems with cooling and splashing. Oh yeah, it was at that point I realized that my teenage son had used all the ice too.
4) Use a real timer, not the wall clock. Several times during the boil process I zoned out and was late for scheduled steps.
5) Use the test tube for the hydrometer. Last time I just dropped the hydrometer in the bucket and I had a hard time reading it due to lots of foam and bad eye sight.
6) Start my yeast. I just threw the dry yeast in my bucket last time and then it all clumped up and required a lot of vigorous stirring to get it blended in.
7) Skip the bucket. Last time I cooled wort and pitched the yeast in a separate bucket prior to racking into the fermenter. This time I will do everything in the brew pot and then go straight to the fermenter.
Bottling:
Sanitize the bottles and caps first. Today when I was bottling I moved the beer into the bottling bucket and sugar before I sanitized my bottles and caps.
