First Brew Day in the Books!

[Noob_Brewer]

So to update: yesterday I kegged my first beer ever and was a closed transfer! was nervous as hell it wouldn't go well as Ive only practiced with water twice to this point. Anyways, decided to give gravity transfer a try rather than just using the CO2 tank to drive out the beer to keg. Set both the fermonster and serving keg to 5psi each, hooked up gas post to gas post, then hooked up to liquid post on fermonster which has a floating dip tube and put a carb cap on other end. Once I attached liquid QD to fermonster, siphon immediately started and once carb cap had liquid coming out and the liquid line was purged of oxygen, I removed carb cap and attached QD to serving keg. Thanks @Loud Brewing brewing for the tip on purging oxygen from liquid lines! This method worked great! It was uneventful, took about 40minutes so it was slower than using CO2 tank (probably because the floating dip tube was stuck to the side of fermonster and sucking liquid slowly), and I was able to get the keg nearly full (about 4.8gallons due to my falling a little short on brew day AND taking too much of hydrometer samples lol). But who cares, it worked! Other pic is first pull from my keezer EVER after force carbing at 30psi for last 24 hours. Beer has pronounced aroma and is smooth as hell despite being somewhat young/green. It is VERY drinkable with zero hop burn/hop bite at all! Wife is happy too which is always a plus when you are starting a new hobby - besides she loves IPAs. Was amazed at how much more yellow this beer is now after dry hopping and compared to my hydrometer sample (without any dry hop additions) above in an earlier post in this thread. Right now the aroma dissipates slightly as the early carbonation level dissipates but all in all Im please with my first attempt and MANY more beers to come and will continue to improves processes and the beer. For what its worth - that first pull from tap on keezer was most nerve racking because Ive been petrified about introducing oxygen throughout the process and was hoping the serving keg was fully purged. 24hrs later after being in the keg - it looks pretty decent I think.

EDIT: I actually thought it was pretty cool to see the perspiration on keg which showed about where the liquid line is at in keg without opening it. You can see this in the picture clearly. Got the beer down to 40 degrees before transferring nice clean beer with minimal hop particulates.

 

[Loud Brewing]

As long as the wife is happy that's all that matters

Glad to hear everything went so smoothly. I close transfer 90% of all my beers and every time you do it you will become more comfortable with the process. One thing I might recommend is cutting some slits or drilling some holes in to the aluminum pickup tube to prevent it from sticking to the side of your FV.

Your beer looks great especially being served from that sexy ass keezer! And yes, it is very surprising to see how much color dryhopping can impart onto the final product. If you want to reduce the quantity of beer used on the hydro samples pickup a cheap refractometer off amazon, they can be especially useful on the hotside as they require just a drop of liquid (without cooling) to observe gravity.
Enjoy the fruits of your labor, it looks like you're on your way to many more epic brew days! Maybe we can setup a trade sometime?
CHEERS

 

[Noob_Brewer]

Thanks! Yes, I do plan on drilling two slits in the pickup tube for sure for next batch (which will be my third batch as I have the second in fermenter now without those slits in it lol). Yes, the sexy keezer is a running joke with my friends now because it gives the impression that I know what the hell Im doing lol. Truthfully, it was a fun summer project. I do have a refractometer but thought that with alcohol they are off. Can a correction factor be applied on the cold side when alcohol is present? Finally, even though Im just starting, I certainly would be game for a trade. Only problem presently is that Im just kegging and have no bottling capabilities or canning capabilities. However, Ive joined the local home-brew club and many peeps do. So once I get a few brews under my belt, I'll PM ya. Thanks for all your help again!

 

[LittleRiver]

...I do have a refractometer but thought that with alcohol they are off. Can a correction factor be applied on the cold side when alcohol is present?...

Yes, you can use a refractometer calculator to correct the reading for the presence of alcohol. In my experience the calculator works quite well when compared to a hydrometer reading.

That said, my standard practice when preparing to transfer to keg is to first fill up a hydrometer sample flask and take my FG reading with a hydrometer. I do a gravity powered closed transfer, draining from a spigot on the bottom of the fermenter. Pulling the hydrometer sample helps clear out the sediment that can exist at the start of the transfer, and drinking it afterwards gives me a reading on how the taste is progressing.

 

[Noob_Brewer]

So this first brew of mine had been kegged a week ago yesterday. Spent a lot of "research" and "quality testing/sampling" each day along the way to see how this changes. On friday there was a noticeable "turn" in the flavor in that the beer was noticeably more "rounder" and less sharp. Flavor is well defined as tropical/citrus. Most importantly, wife approved too. For my first beer ever, Im very happy how it turned out despite my mistakes on brew day that I posted in the OP. So for the past year or so Ive been on this forum, Ive seen lots post their pints in all their glory, so Ive followed suit. Attached is my "centerfold-esque" pic of the beer bathing in the sun in all its glory! Came out very well! Need to start working on head retention though for upcoming brews. Thanks again for all those who've helped me out on this forum! Still got a ton to learn, but looking forward to the journey.

Many thanks again!