First Brew - A brew tale

[True_Sycko]

So after getting all my equipment from NB, I was super excited to start my brew. One problem, The stock pot I ordered from a local restaurant supply store didn't get it in and they had no time table. Hmm. So I cancelled that and went ordered the winware 40 quart aluminium pot from amazon (So glad I have Prime). So Friday I was so pumped to brew. Then it started snowing ( I am brewing outside)! So I think well we shouldn't get much maybe a dusting. So I go with my buddy to see Sugarblue at a local music hall. He was good and definitely worth going to see. Anyways I digress. We go to leave and we have 3 to 4 inches and its still snowing. Uh oh. So I cleared the snow Saturday morning and set up my gear to brew. It was actually a nice day. I had to season the aluminum piot and didn't want a boil over turning to ice in the garage so I moved everything to the back patio. Jeeze, it took forever to boil the 40 quarts of water, must have been 50 or so minutes. And the flame kept blowing out so I couldn't stray far from the doorwall.

Finallly after the seasoning is complete I dump that water and add some fresh water to start to bring to a boil. While I waited for it to come to a boil I steeped the Crystal malt for the Dead Ringer Recipe. I steeped it for 20 minutes at 160. Then I took that and added it to the kettle outside. I added in 3 pounds of the 9 pounds of extract and let it come to a boil...

Finally the clock starts, add the first once of Centennials, 40 minutes later the next ounce, then finally I add the remaining malt, bring back to a boil and add the last 2 ounces of Centennial hops. I also put the wort chiller in there to sanitize it. So I then man handle the thing inside to the laundry room (outside pipes are froze) I sit in the sink on a cutting/heat board. Go to hook up the chiller to the sink and I can't seem the thread it on. Tried for about 10 minutes getting more and more frustrated. It doesn't help working right above scorching hot wort either. I finally realized the sink adapter I had bought did indeed work (I had tried it fine without the adapter when I first got the chiller).

So I sanitize the rest of the equipment with Star San. Man, now I know why they say dont fear the foam!!! I get the wort chilled down to 68 and carry the thing into the kitchen. So I start to autosyphon it to the better bottle and then realize I have an extra muslim bag. So I have my mom put it on the "out" end of the syphon and I will filter the hops out. Yea great idea until the bag gets full about 7 times! Oh well I just kept emptying it and sanitizing it and repeating. So the OG was 1.068 and the target OG was 1.064. I was happy to be that close. I then shook it as much as I could and pitched the S-05 that I created a starter for (I know, I know) and shook it some more. I then took it downstairs and into the shower to ferment. The temp is about 65 to 66 in that area of the house during winter. I think i missed some of the action because when I woke up the krausen was formed and there was some nice sticky stuff up high on the carboy. The krausen turned from being a nice creamy white to dark brown and now is creamy white again.

Today I checked and still had krausen but the airlock was bubbling once every 11 or so seconds and well I am curious, So i took an SG. It was 1.019 or so. I want to rack to secondary to dry hop on Sunday (I know, I know) but I really want to make another beer and want to free up the primary. I was going to dry hop on the Centenials for 14 days then bottle.

So for my next beer I really want to make a rye beer. I never had one but I love everything rye. I am thinking of doing a partial mash of the NB RyePA or even an all grain stove top/outside burner recipe.

Anyways here are the pictures from Brew Day. The first one is my favorite.

Sorry for the long post, I just am just really excited.
Thanks for viewing...

 

[smokeyfisherman]

Nice! If you can find it, which i am sure you can seeing as its over here in MA, grab a sixer of ruthless rye ipa from Sierra nevada. It's a damn fine beer.

 

[msujack]

might have missed it in your post, but how long have you had it in the primary? should stay there for a min of 2 weeks, probably 3, then rack to a secondary if you want. To move onto the next beer quicker, buy a bucket and get after it. Rushing a lot of beer will get you a lot of crappy beer. Fermenting a couple batches for the proper amount of time will get you a lot of great beer.

 

[two_one_seven]

might have missed it in your post, but how long have you had it in the primary? should stay there for a min of 2 weeks, probably 3, then rack to a secondary if you want. To move onto the next beer quicker, buy a bucket and get after it. Rushing a lot of beer will get you a lot of crappy beer. Fermenting a couple batches for the proper amount of time will get you a lot of great beer.

I disagree. Let the beer tell you when it's ready to move to secondary. Once fermentation has slowed and the krausen clears it can be moved to secondary. Most of my ales go to secondary after 7-10 days. Never had a crappy beer yet.

Cheers and love the write up.

 

[msujack]

I disagree. Let the beer tell you when it's ready to move to secondary. Once fermentation has slowed and the krausen clears it can be moved to secondary. Most of my ales go to secondary after 7-10 days. Never had a crappy beer yet.

Cheers and love the write up.

Personally, I think fermentation should be stopped before moving to a secondary. Not slowed. Nothing wrong with your preference; just feel that SG readings tell you more than time in the fermentor. Time is dictated by too many variables to make broad strokes of statement. I think we both agree on that.

 

[two_one_seven]

Personally, I think fermentation should be stopped before moving to a secondary. Not slowed. Nothing wrong with your preference; just feel that SG readings tell you more than time in the fermentor. Time is dictated by too many variables to make broad strokes of statement. I think we both agree on that.

I disagree with that too. You are on batch number 1, per your post in this forum. I have done several hundred, started brewing in 1996, stopped for a few years and restarted recently. New to forum but not new to brewing. With that said............

I prefer to transfer before the SG drops to my FG as I still want some fermentation occurring before I move it to help purge O2 from the secondary vessel.

With experience comes the ability to make broad strokes of statement......

Cheers!

 

[jerryboy]

Nice write up and photos. I enjoy the newb enthusiasm.

I think you'll find 2 camps to everything, find what works for you. IIRC, I read that dry hopping works best after the yeast have fallen out.

 

[True_Sycko]

It will be in the primary for 8 days on Sunday. I already hit my expected FG, I know some say to leave it in the primary for a little longer to help clear up off flavors, But I dont see why that wouldn't happen in the secondary. When looking at it too there is very little movement inside the carboy too, and the movement I see was all down with the krausen looking like its about to fall. Plus I want some good homebrews to drink lol. The next batch I will let it sit longer.


Smokey, I am sure I can find it, thanks!

 

[Trokair]

Congrats on the batch. My first batch is in primary too. Sometime during days 4 and 5 the krausen fell and airlock activity really slowed. It is a Belgian Dubbel though so I'm leaving it in primary for 60 days. Supplies to do my next batch (and some wine) should be arriving on Monday. Hope your beer turns out great.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Good write up. Brought back memories of my first brew day. If you are doing extract recilies, you can usually do partial boil and top off on the kitchen stove. Save you some frozen fingers. Cheers!!!

 

[True_Sycko]

Nice! If you can find it, which i am sure you can seeing as its over here in MA, grab a sixer of ruthless rye ipa from Sierra nevada. It's a damn fine beer.

On the way home from work today I swung by the a local wine/beer store that stocks the most variety of wine and beer that I have seen around my area. They had a couple Sierra Nevada's but none of the ruthless rye. I picked up some Founders Red RyePA instead. They were also out of the Dogfish Head 120 that I wanted to try.

So I went to check my SG again and it was the same, and the krausen has basically all fallen. I sat there staring at still with the newb amazement and noticed little pieced of the trub were releasing off the bottom and zooming up to the top then about 3/4 the way up it would slam on its breaks and fall back down. I noticed this a few more times and each one got to different heights and one only making it up maybe 2 or 3 inches up. It was pretty fun laying on the bathroom floor watching these little trub/yeast races!