First batch questions

[myelo]

Planning my first attempt this weekend. I've already learned a lot of valuable stuff here but have a few last minute questions.

It's an amber ale, 5 gallon, with LME, steeping grains and dry yeast, SG 1.042-46.

1. How much to boil. I have a 6-gallon stainless pot and 17,000 BTU propane burner on my stove. I was thinking of boiling 3 gallons and then top off to get 5 gallons. Sound doable?

2. Cooling the wort. I don't have a chiller so will be cooling in the sink with water/ice. I was thinking of boiling the top-off water ahead of time, covering it and then cooling it to 40 F or so to help cool the wort. Is it OK to add cold water to hot wort like that?

3. Fermenting. I have a finished basement on a separate thermostat I keep at 65 F. Is that about right?

4. Silly question … what does boiling wort smell like? The Supreme Allied Commander has expressed concerns about me stinking up the house -- she is imagining a frat house on Sunday morning I think. I've assured it it won't be bad. Anyone had problems with this?

Thanks in advance for your expertise.

 

[CRoth36]

That will all work. I did that same process many times when I first started. To mean the boiling work smells sort of like bread baking. Good luck and enjoy the brew

 

[Hamaki]

My thoughts...

1. Sounds doable. With a partial boil your hops utilization will be slightly reduced but not enough to really worry about.

2. Pre-boiling & chilling your top up water is an excellent way to bring the temp down in a hurry. Back in the day when I did the ice bath method on full boils it always took me about 90 minutes to get to pitching temp.

3. For most ale yeasts that should be a good temp to ferment. Remember that your wort will be warmer, maybe 5 - 10 deg F, from the yeast activity so you may want to be prepared to chill things a bit more with a swamp cooler - fermenter in a tub of water, wet shirt or towels over the fermenter. Check the info on your yeast for best temps and target that in your wort.

4. Boiling wort smells delicious! Smells like food. Nothing like alcohol or frat house stink. Fermentation can give off some odors she may not like but I ferment in my basement and never really noticed anything objectionable.

 

[flars]

If you will have your wife lending a hand she will think it smells delicious also.

 

[savannahbrew]

Leave your LME at room temperature for a bit to soften it up and make sure it doesn't burn on the bottom of the pot. A lesson I learned the first time I ever brewed was to wait until I was done to enjoy a few beers. To each their own I'm just saying for me. Adding boiled tap water to top off sounds like alot of work.I would just get a couple of gallon jugs of water from the store and put them in the fridge and use those to top off they will be sanitary enough I promise. The single best thing you can do to improve your homebrew is control fermentation temps. I understand you dont have a dedicated area of your house just put your carboy in a a bigger jug of water it will take longer to warm up and you can always add a bit of ice if its getting to hot. It does not smell anything like beer especially stale beer the morning after a beer pong tourney. Croth was right more like a bread smell. HAVE FUN

 

[myelo]

Thanks for all the advice, it's very helpful.

 

[zdbrown1]

The only thing that smells better than brewing beer is...HOPS!

 

[freisste]

I will say I love the smell of boiling wort. However, SWMBO is NOT a fan.

I now brew outside.

 

[stpug]

Planning my first attempt this weekend. I've already learned a lot of valuable stuff here but have a few last minute questions.

It's an amber ale, 5 gallon, with LME, steeping grains and dry yeast, SG 1.042-46.

1. How much to boil. I have a 6-gallon stainless pot and 17,000 BTU propane burner on my stove. I was thinking of boiling 3 gallons and then top off to get 5 gallons. Sound doable?

2. Cooling the wort. I don't have a chiller so will be cooling in the sink with water/ice. I was thinking of boiling the top-off water ahead of time, covering it and then cooling it to 40 F or so to help cool the wort. Is it OK to add cold water to hot wort like that?

3. Fermenting. I have a finished basement on a separate thermostat I keep at 65 F. Is that about right?

4. Silly question … what does boiling wort smell like? The Supreme Allied Commander has expressed concerns about me stinking up the house -- she is imagining a frat house on Sunday morning I think. I've assured it it won't be bad. Anyone had problems with this?

Thanks in advance for your expertise.

1) Boil as much as you can reasonably fit in your kettle keeping in mind you WILL need headspace for the foam-up (i.e. hot break). I would start with 4 gallons and expect 3 after the boil. Then you would top up with 2 more gallons of cold, sanitary water.

2) Yes, it's fine to add cold water to hot wort. If you have 2 gallons of 40F top-up water then you probably only need to cool your wort to ~75F so that they level out at between 60-65F when mixed (a good pitching temp).

3) 65F ambient air temperature is so-so, 4 degrees cooler is better. Fermentation will drive up the fermenter temperature by 2-10 degrees depending on strain and vigor (I would expect 4-6 degrees). If you're using US05 then 65+5=70F which would be fine. You could also put your fermenter in a larger, water-tight container and put cold water around the fermenter to stabilize the fermenter temperature. This helps keep the spike from going as high and keeps the temperature more stable throughout the fermentation.

4) Boiling wort smells like the best oatmeal breakfast you can think of and only get more beautiful when the hops are added. At least that's my opinion. Some folks don't like the smell when the hops are added, while other don't like any part of the smell. It just brings to mind grainy morning goodness to me. I love it!!

 

[myelo]

65F ambient air temperature is so-so, 4 degrees cooler is better. Fermentation will drive up the fermenter temperature by 2-10 degrees depending on strain and vigor (I would expect 4-6 degrees).

Excellent. I'm using Munton and Fison ale yeast. I'll knock the thermostat down to 61F and keep a close eye on the fermenter temp.

 

[stpug]

Excellent. I'm using Munton and Fison ale yeast. I'll knock the thermostat down to 61F and keep a close eye on the fermenter temp.

That would be great - 61F ambient room temp. You should be safe for M&F yeast but DO keep an eye on things and make sure the fermenter doesn't get above 70F (the first few days especially), lower is better though (~65F).

I don't have any experience with M&F ale yeast but I do know there are some good dry yeasts out there that I'm familiar with (Safale US-05 is a prime example for an american ale). While I won't fault the M&F yeast, I suspect the finished beer will be more favorable with US05 (and forgiving). This is totally unsubstantiated opinion though so take it with plenty of salt

 

[myelo]

So far so good. Fermenting away at about 63 F. Thanks again for all of the advice.

The major thing I learned is I will be making a wort chiller for the next batch.