First Batch Ever... would enjoy pointers...

[HOP-HEAD]

Long Time Drinker, First Time Brewer.

Spent the day brewing a batch of Brewer's Best IPA, taking into account the directions of John Palmer and his book "How to Brew" instead of the box directions. Things went well i believe, but had a few hiccups along the way that I'd like some input on.

After prepping the yeast in 100°F water (poured it into 1 cup let it sit 15 minutes covered, stirred, let sit another 20 minutes), the temp was still up around 80-90°, with my wort temp down near 70°... any good ways to cool this? I used a few spoon fulls of the wort trying to bring the temps together as slowly as possible, and even sat the yeast in the refrigerator for a while. Added it to the wort when it reached 70°. About 45 minutes from the end of the boil, and about 15 minutes after the wort had reached 70°. Will any harm come from the delay in adding the yeast?

Also couldn't get the syphon working when I tried to move the wort to the fermenter because it kept clogging with trub. I know now to use a copper sponge and swirl the wort first.... any other ideas? Will any harm come from me dumping the 2-3 gal of wort into the fermenter with the other 2-3 gal of water using a strainer to keep as much trub as as possible? I know some did get into the fermenter...


Anyway... looking forward to seeing the bubbles by tomorrow am...

 

[Pelikan]

Long Time Drinker, First Time Brewer.

Spent the day brewing a batch of Brewer's Best IPA, taking into account the directions of John Palmer and his book "How to Brew" instead of the box directions. Things went well i believe, but had a few hiccups along the way that I'd like some input on.

I literally just finished brewing my first batch last night as well, so by all accounts I'm in the same boat as you are. However, I've been looking into the art of brewing for some time, so perhaps can provide some insight (although more experienced members feel free to correct me as required)

After prepping the yeast in 100°F water (poured it into 1 cup let it sit 15 minutes covered, stirred, let sit another 20 minutes), the temp was still up around 80-90°, with my wort temp down near 70°... any good ways to cool this? I used a few spoon fulls of the wort trying to bring the temps together as slowly as possible, and even sat the yeast in the refrigerator for a while. Added it to the wort when it reached 70°. About 45 minutes from the end of the boil, and about 15 minutes after the wort had reached 70°. Will any harm come from the delay in adding the yeast?

My first suggestion in this regard would be to move to liquid yeast for your next brew. I used Wyeast "Slap Packs" with great results. Basically, it's a sterile, sealed bag of yeast culture, with a bag of nutrients inside the bag (if that makes sense). You literally slap the package to activate it (this breaks the internal nutrient sack). I let mine sit for about 12 hours before pitching it, after which time the bag was very swelled and active. After 4 hours I was just seeing activity from the airlock (tiny bubbles stuck to the walls); after 8 there were large bubbles rising through the water -- slowly, but certainly there...so a success by any measure I'm aware of. I see no reason why I shouldn't use these bags in the future, given the good, sterile results.

Dry yeast is kind of a pain, from what I gather. You have the temperature thing to worry about, but I think my concern would be contamination. The culture is open to the outside environment, plus one has to worry about the utensils used to mix it. The refrigerator is a veritable spore breeding ground, and probably best avoided. If you will be using the dry yeast again, a good way to cool it would be to pour into a sterile container with a lid...mason jar, Tupperware, etc. Put that container into a larger container filled with cold water and a bit of ice. Should cool it down in no time.

Also couldn't get the syphon working when I tried to move the wort to the fermenter because it kept clogging with trub. I know now to use a copper sponge and swirl the wort first.... any other ideas? Will any harm come from me dumping the 2-3 gal of wort into the fermenter with the other 2-3 gal of water using a strainer to keep as much trub as as possible? I know some did get into the fermenter...

Your kit or method may be different than mine, but I just dumped the wort from the pot right into the fermenter. One is trying to aerate the wort as much as possible at this point, so a violent dump is preferable to syphon. I'm not sure what trub is, but I used muslin bags for my grain and hops, and didn't need to do any straining.

Anyway... looking forward to seeing the bubbles by tomorrow am...

Let us know how it works out.

 

[lapaglia]

I might be wrong but once the wort is cooled you just pour it so you get some aeration and some O2 in it. The wort needs O2 after being boiled. You just want to let it cool before you pour it.

As for yeast temp as far as I know if you are within 10 deg F you are between the yeast and the wort you are ok to pitch.

 

[jrakich87]

I'm new as well, however on both of the batches I've done, I didn't even strain the wort before pouring on top of the H2O in my fermentor. In my (small) experience, most of the sediment settled out onto the yeast cake, and I just had to be a little more careful not to stir it up when siphoning into secondary or bottling...

As far as pitching temps, I'd wait to hear from some of the more experienced guys/gals on here... but I'd guess that for both of my brews my wort temp was a little different from the yeast temp (I didn't even use a thermometer), and both of my fermentations started off just fine (my IPA is happily bubbling away on day 4 and started up within 8-12 hours). Hope I eased your worrying a tad... Good luck!

 

[lapaglia]

Dry yeast is kind of a pain, from what I gather. You have the temperature thing to worry about, but I think my concern would be contamination. The culture is open to the outside environment, plus one has to worry about the utensils used to mix it. The refrigerator is a veritable spore breeding ground, and probably best avoided. If you will be using the dry yeast again, a good way to cool it would be to pour into a sterile container with a lid...mason jar, Tupperware, etc. Put that container into a larger container filled with cold water and a bit of ice. Should cool it down in no time.

Ive never had a problem with Dry yeast and it keeps forever unopened in the fridge. Its great for spur of the moment brews. A lot of people just sprinkle it on the beer and don't rehydrate it. If you use the same caution with the yeast as you do with the rest of the beer you wont have any problems. Dry yeast is a lot better than some people will believe.

 

[jrakich87]

From what I've gathered, liquid yeast gives you more options as far as different strains, but most people recommend making a starter (which is complex/time consuming enough to keep me away) to get enough viable yeast cells, whereas one 11g pack of dried yeast has enough cells in it as is...

To me, that makes dried a better choice at least for beginners.. Correct me if I'm mistaken.

 

[shertz]

Never used dry yeast, always liguid, either White Labs or Wyeast, so I can't comment on that. But as far as transfering to carboy, dump into a funnel w/strainer attached...you can get that stuff at the grocery store. The splashing gives some oxidation to the wort and keeps out some trub. As far as some trub getting into fermentor, don't worry, when you siphon into bottling bucket that will be left behind.

But more importantly....Congrats on first brew.....You just made beer!!

 

[Yooper]

Congrats on the first brew! I rarely strain my wort, but if I make an IPA I sometimes do, just because of all the hops. Just make sure that whatever touches your wort post-boil is sanitized! If you get some hops debris/cold break/hot break/etc in the wort, don't worry at all. It'll look icky at first, but then will settle out in the bottom of the carboy as trub. As a matter of fact, cold break (those coagulated proteins you may see) is actually nutritive for the yeast.

As to yeast, I use dry yeast often. The only time I use liquid yeast is when I want a specific yeast flavor- like a Belgian, or I'm using a strain unavailable in dry. When you use liquid yeast, you really should use a yeast starter. Even in the so-called smack packs, there aren't really enough yeast cells to ensure a quick and thorough fermentation. If you want to look over some of the threads concerning the research on this, we've discussed it within the last several days. Maybe a search for "yeast starter" will help.

Dry yeast can be sprinkled directly onto your yeast, but it's best to rehydrate it according to package directions. I do that while the wort is chilling, and usually both are at about 70 degrees at the same time. As long as it's close, don't worry. As you learned, you can take a spoonful of wort (in a sanitized spoon) to the yeast to help temper it, and then pitch the entire amount into the wort.

So far, it sounds like everything is going exactly right. Make sure you let us know how it turns out!

 

[eddie]

There's nothing wrong with using dry yeast. The only benefit liquid has over dry is the variety of yeast that are available. If you are trying to brew true to a particular style that is not available in dry yeast then liquid yeast is the way to go. It's true that liquids should be prepared with a starter but even that is pretty easy.

 

[Bob]

HOP-HEAD - Ya done good, son! Hell, you did better than I did on my first brew, lo those many moons ago.

+3 to not worrying about getting some break material in your fermenter. It won't hurt anything. I try to remove as much as possible, because I dislike the loss of beer that inevitably occurs - all that gunk you'll eventually find in the bottom of the fermenter still has beer in it, after all.

But the primary thing to keep in mind is (repeat after me, kids):
Relax
Don't
Worry
Have
A
Home
Brew.

Since you've got no home brew (yet), hie thou forth and get thou a supply of some beer worth drinking. Every time you start to fret too much about your beer, crack a beer, check HBT - be sure to search for your question before posting! - and enjoy the beer. Rinse the bottle and keep it, because you'll need it to bottle your IPA. That, my friend, is RDWHAHB in a nutshell!

We are always here to help.

Cheers!

Bob

 

[HOP-HEAD]

One more quick question... box said OG of 1.050 to 1.054... I read just 1.044 just before adding the yeast. Why is this?

 

[Yooper]

One more quick question... box said OG of 1.050 to 1.054... I read just 1.044 just before adding the yeast. Why is this?

Generally, that happens due to incomplete mixing of the wort. What happens is you add top off water, to bring you to 5 gallons. Even with seemingly thorough stirring, the heavier wort (the boiled wort) settles to the bottom, and the sample is taken from near the top/middle, so that the SG reading is inaccurate. If you topped up to 5 gallons, you can plan on having the OG of 1.050- 1.054, since the sugars are there. When you use extract, the sugars are there, and the SG really can't vary unless you added more water. If you post your recipe, we can run it through some brewing software, to confirm the OG.

 

[Pelikan]

Did you compensate the reading for temperature variation? That might be something to consider.

 

[HOP-HEAD]

Generally, that happens due to incomplete mixing of the wort.

I dumped the wort into the fermenter with the boiled 3 gal of water, then after cleaning and sanitizing the pot, poured the combined wort back and forth several times. Was that not enough? Should I do anything with it now, or will it be okay?

Also what if the fermenter is a tad shy of the 5 gal mark... maybe only 4.75...

 

[Yooper]

I dumped the wort into the fermenter with the boiled 3 gal of water, then after cleaning and sanitizing the pot, poured the combined wort back and forth several times. Was that not enough? Should I do anything with it now, or will it be okay?

Also what if the fermenter is a tad shy of the 5 gal mark... maybe only 4.75...

Well, the first thing is to not worry. With extracts, the sugars are in there- you can't lose them. I marked my fermenter so that I can fill it up to 5 gallons, or whatever my recipe calls for. If you're shy, you can add more top off water. Or, you can let it go, knowing that you'll have slightly less beer.