First brew day

[WhiteCaps]

First post, but I've lurked for a bit now.

So, I just completed my first brew day earlier today. Everything seemed to go as planned. For my first time I went with the Brewer's Best Double IPA kit.

Some things I hope to change for next time:

Definitely need a bigger brew pot. I only had a 3 gallon stainless steal pot handy, and it was a constant struggle during the entire 60 min boil to keep it from going over.

It took quite a while to cool down the wort to a suitable temperature to put into my fermenting bucket. I filled the sink with ice and water and I'd say it took a good 45-60 min to get it down to 70 degrees. Definitely will be investing in a wort chiller in the future.

Also a bit of a bummer that once I got to the point of getting my first gravity reading I found out my hydrometer was busted. Never bothered to take it out of the protective tube it came in and it was cracked in half . Although after reading a few posts here it doesn't seem to be that huge of a deal being that this was a kit brew. Still would have liked to get the practice getting a reading.

Overall I had fun and am looking forward to bottling and brewing again.

 

[metanoia]

Congrats, and welcome!

The bigger brewpot will certainly be helpful, even if you can just get a 4 gallon one. Boiling 3.5 gallons versus 2.5 gallons is a huge difference, and even better if you can get a 8+ gallon pot for full boils (this will help your hop utilization in some cases).

A double IPA sounds pretty adventurous for your first brew! What kind of yeast did the kit come with, or that you chose?

 

[dkevinb]

Congrats! Sounds like a pretty good brew day. Don't fret about the hydrometer. I brewed for quite a while without owning one. Beer was brewed for several thousand years before they were invented. The beer still came out OK.

Brew kettle size is always an issue. I went from 1 gallon to 5 gallon to 8 gallon and now I'm looking at 15 gallon.

Chilling is also always an issue. An immersion wort chiller is easy to make and not that much more expensive to buy. The only down side is that if you live somewhere where the tap water is warm (here in SoCal it's about 85F right now) you still can't chill as far as you want even with an IWC, but it beats the heck out of a water bath.

Good luck and keep brewing! You now have a pipeline you need to fill.

 

[WhiteCaps]

Congrats, and welcome!

The bigger brewpot will certainly be helpful, even if you can just get a 4 gallon one. Boiling 3.5 gallons versus 2.5 gallons is a huge difference, and even better if you can get a 8+ gallon pot for full boils (this will help your hop utilization in some cases).

A double IPA sounds pretty adventurous for your first brew! What kind of yeast did the kit come with, or that you chose?

Thanks!

Yeah I thought a Double IPA was a pretty odd choice for a first timer also, but that's what the guy at my local home brew store recommended.

Unfortunately, I threw the yeast packet out earlier and don't recall the name. The Brew sheet it came with also just labels it as "yeast".

 

[WhiteCaps]

Congrats! Sounds like a pretty good brew day. Don't fret about the hydrometer. I brewed for quite a while without owning one. Beer was brewed for several thousand years before they were invented. The beer still came out OK.

Brew kettle size is always an issue. I went from 1 gallon to 5 gallon to 8 gallon and now I'm looking at 15 gallon.

Chilling is also always an issue. An immersion wort chiller is easy to make and not that much more expensive to buy. The only down side is that if you live somewhere where the tap water is warm (here in SoCal it's about 85F right now) you still can't chill as far as you want even with an IWC, but it beats the heck out of a water bath.

Good luck and keep brewing! You now have a pipeline you need to fill.

Thanks!

I'm from Miami and didn't even think of the tap water temperature(which is probably same as you, If not warmer). You're probably right, it wouldn't speed it up too much compared to what I did.

 

[Minky]

Yo WhiteCaps,
This hobby can be expensive, but you don't need all the cool toys at once. I struggled at first with the same issues you are now. I started with a cheap 5 gallon kettle and went through the ice-in-the-sink cooling crap so I know what you're going through. Then came the attempts at siphoning into the fermentor, then trying to pour, and it really wasn't much fun.

Do yourself a favor. I don't know how much you can afford to spend on equipment, but at least get yourself a kettle that you can live with for awhile. In other words, don't go out and buy a cheap 5 gallon kettle because your 3 gallon kettle is too small, then save up for a little bigger one, and on and on. If you can afford $69.99, this is a great step up:

http://www.homebrewing.org/One-Weld-9-Gallon-Stainless-Steel-Pot_p_1683.html

I don't know if anyone can beat this deal. It's a 9 gallon kettle with a fitting welded on for a valve. Even if you can't afford the valve and dip tube now, you have something you can grow with. I have one that I still use for heating sparge water, and they're really a nice kettle for the price.

 

[Peyope]

What minky said. That looks like a great deal.

Since you're only doing extract, I assume (maybe seeping some grains), it's going to be fairly difficult to not hit your OG. If this happens in the future and you really need the reading simply take a sample (refrigerate it) and pick another one up at your home brew store the next day.

Cheers.

 

[RM-MN]

Yo WhiteCaps,
This hobby can be expensive, but you don't need all the cool toys at once. I struggled at first with the same issues you are now. I started with a cheap 5 gallon kettle and went through the ice-in-the-sink cooling crap so I know what you're going through. Then came the attempts at siphoning into the fermentor, then trying to pour, and it really wasn't much fun.

Do yourself a favor. I don't know how much you can afford to spend on equipment, but at least get yourself a kettle that you can live with for awhile. In other words, don't go out and buy a cheap 5 gallon kettle because your 3 gallon kettle is too small, then save up for a little bigger one, and on and on. If you can afford $69.99, this is a great step up:

http://www.homebrewing.org/One-Weld-9-Gallon-Stainless-Steel-Pot_p_1683.html

I don't know if anyone can beat this deal. It's a 9 gallon kettle with a fitting welded on for a valve. Even if you can't afford the valve and dip tube now, you have something you can grow with. I have one that I still use for heating sparge water, and they're really a nice kettle for the price.

I'll agree that you should step up to a much bigger pot if you want to continue to brew (who doesn't once they make one batch successfully?) and continue with 5 gallon batches. If you decide that you'd want to try all grain brewing, (its easy, fun, and less expensive for ingredients too) you'll need a pot big enough to boil the full volume of wort, not just the concentrated with top off. I bought a turkey fryer setup and can make it work but the 7 1/2 gallon pot is just minimal for the 5 gallon batch. If you can afford it, buy bigger pot and a better burner than what came with my turkey fryer because mine won't bring wort to a boil on a cold, windy day and struggles on a warm, calm day.

 

[nightrider069]

There are right I bought a 8 or 9 gallon pot when I first started and still using it now 2 years later even after switching to an electric system. The investment will go a long ways.

 

[ericbw]

That 9 gallon pot above is a good deal. They had the same one without the welded port for the same price, I think.

 

[WhiteCaps]

Thanks for all the tips guys. That 9 gallon pot does look like a great deal, may have to jump on that.

Also I wasn't sure if I could put aside some wort in the fridge to get a measurement later or not. Thanks I'll remember that for the future.