KPSquared
Well-Known Member
Well, I lost my brewing virginity yesterday afternoon. It was great! I have a couple of questions about my experience so I can do better next time. . .
Hopefully it'll be good to drink soon enough.
I decided to do a Fat Tire clone with a Partial Mash kit from hopdawgs.com. Everything went smooth except for one part. . . I had done the first step which was to keep the grain at 150 - 155*F for 40 minutes, dump the wort into my boil kettle, then steep the grain again. The instructions said to get the water up to 170*F then cover and let sit for 15 minutes. I did that, then I moved the pot over to the next burner on the stove which I thought was off. . . turns out it was on. . . so my grain sat and boiled/simmered at an unknown temp for those 15 minutes. I had read "RDWHAHB" enough times on here to know not to freak out, but I felt kind of stupid. I figured I'd get away with no errors. Anyway, I dumped that wort into the kettle, and moved on.
Can anyone tell me what effect that may have? My OG was 1.045 (ish) and the recipe called for 1.049 so I was close.
Also, I poured straight from the brew kettle into my primary carboy. When it all settled out there was a good inch and a half of stuff on the bottom. I think I've read that that's ok but I wondered if it would have been better to avoid that?
Everything went great other than that. Almost had a boil over (5 gallon batch in a keggle. . .) but my spray bottle kept it under control.
I threw together a quick and simple immersion chiller and it took it down to 70*F in about 12 minutes. Worked like a charm. I kinda want to start it over though and make the coils prettier. . .it looks a little ghetto 'cause I was in a rush.
Here's a few pics of the day. . .
SWMBO loved the mess I was making. . .
The ill fated burner on the left. . . I was heating extra water in that pot and forgot it on. . .
My Immersion chiller v1.0
I wanted to RDWHAHB, but being as this was my first, I had to RDWHAAS. . .
Hopefully it'll be good to drink soon enough.
I decided to do a Fat Tire clone with a Partial Mash kit from hopdawgs.com. Everything went smooth except for one part. . . I had done the first step which was to keep the grain at 150 - 155*F for 40 minutes, dump the wort into my boil kettle, then steep the grain again. The instructions said to get the water up to 170*F then cover and let sit for 15 minutes. I did that, then I moved the pot over to the next burner on the stove which I thought was off. . . turns out it was on. . . so my grain sat and boiled/simmered at an unknown temp for those 15 minutes. I had read "RDWHAHB" enough times on here to know not to freak out, but I felt kind of stupid. I figured I'd get away with no errors. Anyway, I dumped that wort into the kettle, and moved on.
Can anyone tell me what effect that may have? My OG was 1.045 (ish) and the recipe called for 1.049 so I was close.
Also, I poured straight from the brew kettle into my primary carboy. When it all settled out there was a good inch and a half of stuff on the bottom. I think I've read that that's ok but I wondered if it would have been better to avoid that?
Everything went great other than that. Almost had a boil over (5 gallon batch in a keggle. . .) but my spray bottle kept it under control.
I threw together a quick and simple immersion chiller and it took it down to 70*F in about 12 minutes. Worked like a charm. I kinda want to start it over though and make the coils prettier. . .it looks a little ghetto 'cause I was in a rush.
Here's a few pics of the day. . .
SWMBO loved the mess I was making. . .
The ill fated burner on the left. . . I was heating extra water in that pot and forgot it on. . .
My Immersion chiller v1.0
I wanted to RDWHAHB, but being as this was my first, I had to RDWHAAS. . .