First batch

[Tony B]

Saturday morning I bought a “ Once used, Northern brewer kit” from someone through OfferUp. It included everything from the original kit (Brew Share Enjoy Homebrew Starter Kit), 2 cases of 22oz glass bottles and a rec pipe kit for “ Fresh squished” IPA.

Once I got it home, opened it all up to check it out and the only date I could find in the recipe kit was on the yeast packet. It was 4/2023. So I figured I at least need some fresh yeast.
My girlfriend and I went down to the local Home Brew Mart/ Ballast Point tasting room and figured we’d have a couple beers and get some advice and yeast. I showed the instructions for the recipe to the dude there and explained the situation. He said that since everything was about a year old and stored in unknown conditions, the only thing that was probably still worth using was the LME.
He recommended buying all new hops and yeast. There was also a small bag of grain that came with the kit and the instructions said to steep for a half hour before boiling. His advice was…
Skip the grains. Boil the bittering hops ( 1oz CTZ) for 60min. Remove from heat at 45min add all the LME. Return to boil, then drop the other hops ( 2oz mosaic and 1oz Citra) as directed, 5min.
After cleaning everything, that’s what I did. Made 2.5 gallons of sanitizer in the bottling bucket and did my best to be neat and clean.
I finally got the batch down to around 75 degrees and pitched the yeast ( White labs WLP001.
That was about 9:30pm. When I checked on it before work, around 7am, was already bubbling. Just got home a little while ago and it’s still bubbling steadily. More than I expected.
So. Please advise. Should it be bubbling that quickly?
Also, I’m supposed to dry hop with 1oz each citra and mosaic 7 days before bottling. Can I just open the lid and toss it in?
I appreciate any advice.

 

[brewSJ]

Congratulations, sounds like you're well on your way to beer!

Yes, if you want to dry hop, just open the lid and toss it in.

 

[Tony B]

Congratulations, sounds like you're well on your way to beer!

Yes, if you want to dry hop, just open the lid and toss it in.

I was wondering if it would be safer to pull the airlock and then use a sanitized funnel to drop the hops through there and then put the airlock back or does it not really matter at that point?
Thanks

 

[redrocker652002]

I just pitched WLP001 dry and it started to show activity within 12 to 14 hours. It is in a full on bubble fest as of when I left the house. I have been fermenting at about 66 to 67 degrees and it seems to be off and running. will check it when I get home and make sure we are still good. Have fun, and congrats, you will have beer soon

 

[wsmith1625]

I was wondering if it would be safer to pull the airlock and then use a sanitized funnel to drop the hops through there and then put the airlock back or does it not really matter at that point?
Thanks

No harm doing the funnel thing, but likely more trouble than it's worth. I would just crack the lid open and pour the hops in.

 

[heathm922]

I'm curious on the recommendation to avoid the grains? Are they expected to be stale and introduce off-flavors or something like that?

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I'm curious on the recommendation to avoid the grains? Are they expected to be stale and introduce off-flavors or something like that?

Given how the kit was acquired, and with no history on how the ingredients were stored, it's reasonable to anticipate that the ingredients are stale.

Stored properly (cool, dry, and in an enclosed container), crushed grains are generally good for six months. If they taste fresh and are not 'soft', they are good to use.

 

[Tony B]

I'm curious on the recommendation to avoid the grains? Are they expected to be stale and introduce off-flavors or something like that?

Not sure why he recommended that, but that’s what I did.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Not sure why he recommended that, but that’s what I did.

Given how the kit was acquired, he gave you good advice (see reply #7)

 

[HABIT]

CONGRATULATIONS ! ! !
One Batch Down . . . 3 Million more to go.
Find something that you like . . . Try to Duplicate it . . .
Keep a Log and Take notes . . .
Good Luck

 

[Kornssj]

Also, I’m supposed to dry hop with 1oz each citra and mosaic 7 days before bottling. Can I just open the lid and toss it in?

As those that stated this earlier, you're more than okay to open and toss hops into your fermenter. Try to keep the lid open for a minimal amount of time to reduce oxygen exposure. Might help if you only cracked open a small portion of the lid, tossed hops and closed (is possible). You can certainly put it through the airlock hole if you run into issues, it may be just the same to crack the lid and drop hops. For me, it helps to know exactly what I'm going to do before you do it.

It helps to write everything down, that way you know what you need to improve upon in your next batch. You're doing exactly what you need to start making good beer "asking good questions". Once you make a few batches you'll start to understand the fundamentals and make changes to your equipment or technique. You certainly don't need to spend much to make a great beer (although money doesn't hurt). You just need some good knowledge and a supporting community so welcome to the forum! We hope you are addicted when you taste your first beer, just like the rest of us when we drank ours (man that brought a smile to my face).

Cheers!