First Brew Ever

[Just_another_drunkard_666]

So, a friend recently gifted me his homebrew set up. Nothing fancy, but absolutely everything I would need to start brewing in a bag immediately. Always wanted to brew, never tried before. Was recommended to skip extract and go straight to all grain and that works for me.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/52448/basic-pale-ale-first-timer

was thinking of making this recipe, seems pretty simple and straightforward for a first time. I have some centennial and summit hops I might use in stead of cascade but other than that following it to the letter. Kind of confused with some of the steps though. I assumed with beer in a bag like this, I put the full volume in the pot as my strike water and go from there. However the steps on this are very confusing. It keeps saying mash 10.2 L, and when I look at the step by step instructions its giving me two mash steps? one for 90 minutes, another for 60? Maybe the site is just bizarre.

would I be safe just doing the inital 90 minutes at 66 degrees with full volume, removing/draining the grain bag ,and carrying on with my boil? because to me that make's logical sense.

Also, pleased to meet the community. Apologies in advance for any super newbie questions.

 

[Redpappy]

With BIAB (brew in a bag) you mash with your full volume. They have you mash at 66C for 90 min. Once the 90 min is complete, pull the bag of grains out out, let drain and squeeze the bag if you can. Your mash is complete. Now it’s time to start your 60 min boil. ( they have it as a second step in the mash, but it is not part of the mash step, my guess is that they wanted to pass on that they only did a 60 min boil, and not a 90 min.)

As far as the hops, with changing the hops you will be changing the flavor. Have you decided on how you are going to do the hops?

My personal experience, I have only done a 60 min mash, and at times a 8 min mash out. I think it is a personal preference, but I can be wrong. Also, don’t forget to adjust you water volumes to match your equipment.

 

[IslandLizard]

Welcome to HBT and planning your first brew!

Have you attended a brew session somewhere? Have you read up on brewing in general, all the different processes and details involved, such as sanitation, pitching yeast, fermentation temps, etc.?

It really helps to be as informed as you possibly can, brew better beer from the get-go, and prevent problems later.
This place, HBT, has tons of information and helpful people to fill in some of the gaps and questions that may arise along the way.

Many recipes online are very good, others not so, you'll get a feel for them after a while. When in doubt, it's always good to get a 2nd (and 3rd, etc.) opinion.
We have a large Recipe section many with proven excellent results and feedback, definitely worth exploring, even to get ideas of what to brew next.

Here is our BIAB forum you definitely want to visit, as well as some key all-grain topics in general.

Water is important, so know what you're using. Unless your water is known to be very soft, maybe do your first brew with RO water ($.29-$39 a gallon) from an RO machine in your supermarket, Walmart, etc.

Regarding that recipe you linked to, it's a small batch, 9 liters (or 2.4 gallons).
You don't need a 90 minute mash, 60 minutes is usually enough.
A 60 minute boil is standard when using Ale malts.
The recipe should yield a decent Pale Ale, but can be much better with some small tweaks (like move the later hop additions).

 

[Just_another_drunkard_666]

hahah I have not attended any brew sessions, but I have spent hours reading about brewing and feel pretty confident on making a basic first brew. Also, I feel there are some things I just wont get the hang of until I go out on a limb and do it. Thus trying something simple as a first brew. Curious about these tweaks to the hops addition though. A nice first brew would be .... pleasant.

Thanks for the tips on the water, I really know nothing about my tap water here and was just going to rely on campden tablets to sort it all out. I'll look into RO.

 

[IslandLizard]

hahah I have not attended any brew sessions, but I have spent hours reading about brewing and feel pretty confident on making a basic first brew. Also, I feel there are some things I just wont get the hang of until I go out on a limb and do it. Thus trying something simple as a first brew. Curious about these tweaks to the hops addition though. A nice first brew would be .... pleasant.

Thanks for the tips on the water, I really know nothing about my tap water here and was just going to rely on campden tablets to sort it all out. I'll look into RO.

If your domestic water is very hard (lots of minerals) your mash may not work optimally, losing a few points in sugar extraction. If it's very alkaline you may extract some extra tannins. But in the end you'll still make good beer. Or it just hits the sweet spot (for that style) and you're golden!

I agree, get your hands wet and sticky, learn and improve, while you drink your own beer!

Those hops:
Look at the more recent American Pale Ales in our recipe section...

Nowadays we add bittering hops at 60' as usual, late hops no earlier than 10', preferably at 5', or 0' (flameout). Then do a hop stand (whirlpool) at say 170F or 180F for 20-30'. The later and the lower temps you're adding hops, the more flavor and aroma they'll keep.

To compensate for reduced bittering because of adding hops later, add a little more of your bittering hop at 60', use a recipe formulator. 30-40 IBU from bittering hop is a good target for a Pale.
You will gain another 10-15 IBU from the 5' or 0' addition and the hopstand at 170F, depending on the variety(ies) and amount of hops and how fast you chill the wort.
During the hopstand, keep lid on and stir well every 3-5 minutes without splashing. Let the wort naturally drop in temps during that time, it may end up at 160F or even lower, that's fine. Then chill all the way down to pitching temps.

For a Pale you can always add an ounce (or 2) of dry hop 3-5 days before packaging (bottling or kegging) if you feel you want/need some add extra flavor/aroma.

Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress!

 

[Just_another_drunkard_666]

So just to touch base, first brew went ... well interesting. As I previously said I was given everything to brew from a friend, with no formal instructions, so I've been pouring over books and websites. After reading a bunch of different recipes, I kind of just pieced together my own bastardization of the aforementioned pale ale recipe. I guess I should have noted that the grains he gave me were in a bag simply labeled pale ale, so I have no clue if its American Pale ale malt, or a blend designed for a pale ale. went with it anyways.

2.2 kg grains, probably way to many hops

7 g Summit Pellet 16 Boil 60 min 38.11
6 g Centennial Pellet 8 Boil 10 min 5.92
6 g Centennial Pellet 8 Boil 5 min 3.26
5 g Summit Pellet 16 Boil 0 min
5 g Centennial Pellet 8 Boil 0 min

ended up with about 9 litres-ish wort post boil, which was what I was looking for.
That's when I ****ed up.
Reading some recipes in imperial but working in metric I misread my thermometer and pitched the yeast waaay to hot. Kinda panicked and at first thought it was too cold until I did the conversion. Like over 100F.
Also did a hydrometer reading when it was way to hot. That's probably when I noticed that what I was holding was way warmer then I thought. came up to 1.065 after correcting for temperature. Also much higher then I expected.

Brought the temp down, left it over night, no activity after 24hrs, so I pitched another yeast and it was going pretty good pretty quick. Was it already fermenting? who knows. Beginner mistake and panic. I'll see how it tastes in a few weeks, but I imagine it won't taste spectacular and I'll probably let it condition for as long as my curiousity can hold out. Mean while, looking to brew another batch as soon as possible and learn from my mistakes.

 

[Andrew Hodgson]

As many will no doubt advise you on this forum, even if you screwed up in this case I think you did the right thing, RDWAHAHB, er well if it was your first buy some good beer to enjoy. It may not have gone the way you planned, but you will unmistakably come out with beer.

Sometimes waiting for fermentation to pick up is fine, but pitching your first yeast above 100 ensured your knee-jerk repitch was necessary IMO.

I have done 4 beers and learned something from each brew. It sounds like you already have the brewing bug so welcome to the family. And take notes. It seems silly at first but I have only been brewing for about 2 months and done only a few projects and the notebook is already invaluable. Get ready to start hoarding brown bottles, sniffing airlocks and showing your friends a product that you created with your own hands, and will likely be darn good to boot.