First beer in fermentor, WOO!

[edwaka01]

Hey all.

Figured I'd sign up for access to the great help that comes from people less new than myself. Super excited to get some quality beer flowing out of my kitchen/brewhouse in the next few months. I work at Ommegang around great beer all the time, but aside from that, this area doesn't have a superb selection. Stoked to not be restricted by store's inventories anymore.

Brewed up my first batch, and its now been in primary for 4 days. Its True Brew's Porter kit - DME, LME, and chocolate malt. I added a cold pot of brewed coffee to the fermentor when adding in the additional water before pitching, so hoping that I get some nice coffee flavor in the end.

Been reading a lot on here about the ongoing "to secondary or not to secondary" debate, and I think I'm just going to leave it in primary for about a month or so. It seems like a lot of people have had experience with the yeast cleaning up some of the off-flavors it produces early on when left to sit for a while longer. Well see how this goes...Im terribly impatient, but I think the promise of better beer will help me get through this.

I'll keep updating, and will likely pose questions along the way. I know there's nothing novel in this post, nor are there and questions thus far, just figured I'd introduce meself and get this rolling.

 

[By-Tor]

yeah baby!!

 

[Haputanlas]

Just letting you know that I typically primary for about a month myself. Always works out the way I want

The only time I take the beer off primary before 30 days is either 1. It's a hef or 2. I use oak in primary and need to get it off the oak quickly.

 

[Stauffbier]

Good job! Now get about 3 or 4 more fermentors and start that pipeline! Also, when you check your gravity on the coffee porter, taste the gravity sample (always taste your samples, by the way) and if it doesn't have enough coffee taste you can put coffee in the bottling bucket on bottling day. Just use pre-boiled water and sanitize your coffee press first. I just brewed up a coffee stout tonight, and that's how I intend to do it...
Welcome to the obsession!

 

[edwaka01]

9 days in and Im worried about a few things...that being said, I brewed my second batch in another fermentor and Im more confident this time.

for my first batch...I used city water, which I found has a bit of chlorine.
also, may not have sanitized thoroughly enough
didn't realize I had to "rehydrate" my dried yeast packet
may have aerated the beer too much being impatient and looking inside after fermentation ceased.

All that said. I did an IPA today and was much more careful - spring water from bottles, proper sanitization, rehydrated yeast, and more patience this time.

 

[HopSong]

Never did a True Brew.. but, if it's like other LME kits you will most likely be JUST FINE. The mantra.. RDWHAHB applies here.

If your tap water is good to drink.. no problems.

Chlorine.. boil up about 6 gallons of tap water and let it cool covered to keep out dust which may have foreign yeasts and bacteria. Or, if your recipe calls for you to boil up "x" gallons to stir your extract into.. deduct that from the 6 gallons. Say it calls for you to boil up 2 gals.. do that and stir in the LME. Boil up 3.5-4 gallons and cool/chill to use as sterile top off water to the 5 gallon mark if that's what your kit is for.

Don't have to rehydreate dry yeast.. altho some say it helps get things going faster.

Looking inside doesn't aerate the beer unless you really disturb the CO2 layer on top.

I'm sure it will turn out fine

 

[edwaka01]

Well most of those points calmed worries a bit.

Like I said, this second batch - IPA - should be a lot better, just considering more precautions were taken. The only thing I still worry about is the chlorine, I've seen a lot saying don't use any chlorinated water at all in the process.

This IPA I made came with some oak chips, which i found suprising. The instructions said steam them a la broccoli, but I don't have a steamer. The answer the internet gave me was to let em hang in some bourbon (yummy) for a bit to sterilize. I used makers, and dumped that bowl of chips and sauce right into the primary. Let's see where this one goes.

Ive heard when primarying with oak to not let it hang out too long...any info on this?