First brew last night

[MikeSkril]

I brewed my first batch last night. Really exciting!

All went very well and I think I made no mistakes. OG turned out a little higher than calculated...I measured 1.062. Cooling down in the ice bath was not my favourite. I used a lot of ice and you have to be very careful not splitting any water into the wort when adding ice. I will definitely build a chiller for the next brew.
I pitched at 68 F and transferred the carboy to the basement. The room temperature is around 58 F. The stick on thermometer on the carboy shows 66 F at the moment.

Brew Method: Extract
Style Name: American Pale Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 2.5 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.068
Efficiency: 35% (steeping grains only)

[B]STATS:[/B]
Original Gravity: 1.057
Final Gravity: 1.013
ABV (standard): 5.77%
IBU (tinseth): 45.93
SRM (morey): 7.86

FERMENTABLES:
3.3 lb - Liquid Malt Extract - Light - (late addition)  (38.4%)
3.3 lb - Liquid Malt Extract - Light (38.4%)
1 lb - Dry Malt Extract - Amber (11.6%)

[B]STEEPING GRAINS:[/B]
1 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 20L (11.6%)

[B]HOPS:[/B]
2 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 6, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 19.42
1 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 7.1

1 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Dry Hop for 5 days
1 oz - Centennial, Type: Pellet, AA: 10, Use: Dry Hop for 5 days

[B]YEAST:[/B]
Danstar - Nottingham Ale Yeast
Starter: No
Form: Dry
Attenuation (avg): 77%
Flocculation: High
Optimum Temp: 57 - 70 F
Fermentation Temp: 60 F

 

[Dixon9717]

Congrats. Good job, nothing like your first brew
( almost like your first girl).
Now your addiction begins.......

 

[MikeSkril]

The bad thing is that I'm tied up on weekends and could only brew at night. So I started when the kids were in bed; at 9pm. All was done and cleaned up at 1 am. :smack:
Went to bed and my son woke me up at 5 am.

Still a great first brew!

 

[HopFart]

Congrats man! I brewed my first one last weekend can't wait to make another batch! Recipe sounds really good too!

 

[MikeSkril]

I brewed my first one last weekend can't wait to make another batch!

Same to you! What did you brew?

 

[HopFart]

Lagunitas clone but I messed a couple things up
1. Broke hydrometer before reading
2. Burnt extract
3. Took forever to filter hop slush

 

[MikeSkril]

Lagunitas clone but I messed a couple things up
1. Broke hydrometer before reading
2. Burnt extract
3. Took forever to filter hop slush

Sometimes its just a bad day.

 

[MikeSkril]

Carboy shows now 59 F. Airlock started to bubble very little after 12 hours. This morning when I checked (30 hours), the airlock is bubbling all the time. Seems to be working. :rockin:

12 hours after pitching:

 

[stpug]

13-14C is a wonderful temperature for Nottingham. Nice and slow (and clean).
Cheers!

 

[MikeSkril]

13-14C is a wonderful temperature for Nottingham. Nice and slow (and clean).

How long will fermentation take in this case?

 

[stpug]

How long will fermentation take in this case?

5 gallons, 1.062, nottingham cool.... maybe 5 days to reach final gravity but, of course, you'd want to let it sit and settle/clear prior to racking/kegging/bottling. A good minimum before bottling/kegging is about 10 days, but it does not hurt to let it go as much as 20 days.

 

[MikeSkril]

5 gallons, 1.062, nottingham cool.... maybe 5 days to reach final gravity but, of course, you'd want to let it sit and settle/clear prior to racking/kegging/bottling. A good minimum before bottling/kegging is about 10 days, but it does not hurt to let it go as much as 20 days.

That's cool. I will let it finish and than dry hop for 5 days before bottling.

 

[MikeSkril]

Fermentation is very active now. Temperature is at 57 F.

 

[joshesmusica]

Lagunitas clone but I messed a couple things up
1. Broke hydrometer before reading
2. Burnt extract
3. Took forever to filter hop slush

1. no big deal if it was a kit, just follow the instructions and it will likely turn out. just buy a new one before the end of fermentation to make sure you reached your FG. although...

2. you may not end up hitting your FG if you caramelized the extract. no too big of an issue if you don't mind the beer being slightly sweeter. but definitely let it ride for at least 2 weeks, after the the vigorous part of fermentation was done, you should've moved it to higher temps to help the yeast out.

3. in the future, you don't really have to worry so much about filtering it out. or if you absolutely do care a ton about it, just use a hop bag next brew. i usually don't worry about the trub after reading this experiment, unless i'm planning on harvesting the yeast. it makes washing the yeast after fermentation much quicker, in my experience, if there's not so much hop crap in there.
http://brulosophy.com/2014/06/02/the-great-trub-exbeeriment-results-are-in/

 

[jlinz]

Looks great! I'm fermenting a brew with nottingham right now. If your notty ends up anything like mine, rig up that blow off tube now!

 

[MikeSkril]

And getting still more active!

 

[MikeSkril]

The active phase of fermentation seemed to have finished after 4 days. Airlock activity slowed down and the Krausen began to settle down. Now its 7 days after pitching and airlock bubbles every minute. Krausen settled completely into the beer.

I think I will take a gravity reading and dry hop today.

 

[HopFart]

Hell yeah man, that's how long I waited before I dry hopped. What hops and how much are you using? And are you using hop bags?

 

[MikeSkril]

What hops and how much are you using? And are you using hop bags?

1oz of Citra and 1 oz Centennial. I'm not sure about the bag. I guess I will just throw it in without a bag.

 

[HopFart]

Cool man sound good I just did that but when I was racking to bottling bucket it really clogged it up. I highly recommend getting on of those paint strainer bags when u syphon to bottling bucket

 

[MikeSkril]

I took a gravity reading and I'm pretty happy with the result. I measured 1.013! The beer looks very good and tastes also good. Sure it tastes a little green and flat but it’s drinkable.

I dry hopped with 2 oz and I think I will bottle in one week.

 

[BA_Brewer]

The bad thing is that I'm tied up on weekends and could only brew at night. So I started when the kids were in bed; at 9pm. All was done and cleaned up at 1 am. :smack:

Went to bed and my son woke me up at 5 am.



Still a great first brew!

Welcome to the wonderful world of brewing with small children. I have a 3, 2 and 1 year old. Brew nights are usually midweek late nights, I can tell you that it is definitely worth the lack of sleep a few days a month.

 

[MikeSkril]

As I said before, I did a gravity reading on Monday and measured 1.013, I dry hopped and I plan to bottle in one week from now. Do I really need to have to more gravity readings?

Airlock is still moving every minute or so, but how low can the gravity go? I don’t expect it to drop below 1.012. Would it be ok just doing a reading when I bottle?

 

[treacheroustexan]

As I said before, I did a gravity reading on Monday and measured 1.013, I dry hopped and I plan to bottle in one week from now. Do I really need to have to more gravity readings?

Airlock is still moving every minute or so, but how low can the gravity go? I don’t expect it to drop below 1.012. Would it be ok just doing a reading when I bottle?

General rule of thumb is to take three consecutive gravity readings before bottling to make sure the gravity stays the same every day. If it changes you're still fermenting. You can't judge when fermentation is complete just by looking at the airlock, even though some kits I have seen say that.

 

[MikeSkril]

So, all is in the bottle.

I'm still wondering why my OG was that high. i calculated 1,057 but came out at 1.063.
FG is 1.013. Any idea why my OG could be that high?

 

[joshesmusica]

did you do a full boil, or top up? if you topped up, it's likely just not mixed well enough, and therefore your beer is likely that gravity.
if you did a full boil, then your calculator is probably calculating a wrong amount for the extract.

 

[MikeSkril]

did you do a full boil, or top up? if you topped up, it's likely just not mixed well enough, and therefore your beer is likely that gravity.
if you did a full boil, then your calculator is probably calculating a wrong amount for the extract.

I did a partial boil (2.5 gallons) and it was well mixed before I did the reading. I poured the 5 gallons 2 times from one bucket into another before I took a sample

Calculator seems to be correct. I compared 3 calculators and it gave me almost the same result.

Could the steeping grain have made such a difference?

 

[joshesmusica]

i've poured a couple of times between buckets before and still had an off reading. i would personally trust the calculator over the mixing. it's unlikely the steeping grains. they only have so much sugars in them to be taken out.

 

[MikeSkril]

This beer came out great! I'm impressed that the first batch is already that good. I will never ever buy beer again!
The 2nd extract batch is in the fermenter.

I will already switch to AG for my next batch. Still getting equipment together but I should be brewing in 3 weeks.

 

[gbing]

Congrats on first brew! I'm about 8 brews in and thinking of stepping up to partial mash.... there is so much to do and learn with this hobby, and the rewards are usually pretty damn tasty!

 

[Rhaop]

Keep your first AG brew simple and you're gonna enjoy it, BiaB is also a simple way to make the transition to AG

 

[MikeSkril]

Keep your first AG brew simple and you're gonna enjoy it, BiaB is also a simple way to make the transition to AG

Yeah, I've looked into BiaB but finally decided to go the traditional way.

I will brew this:
http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/17432/citra-double-ipa-clone-kern-river-brewing-company-cybi-podcast-version

 

[Rhaop]

Thats a big beer good luck!

Not to discourage you but a recipe like that should be saved for after you've ran a few brews thru your AG system so you can figure your numbers out, i'd hate to see something go not according to plan and you use that many hops, and your beer come out sub par, if not then go big or go home i guess lol

Also water plays a big role for AG so advise a water test

 

[joshesmusica]

Thats a big beer good luck!

Not to discourage you but a recipe like that should be saved for after you've ran a few brews thru your AG system so you can figure your numbers out, i'd hate to see something go not according to plan and you use that many hops, and your beer come out sub par, if not then go big or go home i guess lol

Also water plays a big role for AG so advise a water test

meh, with that much hops, he's likely to cover up a lot of mistakes. if he was doing something a little more sensitive, say a lager, then i'd say pay attention to it.

just make sure you got your pH in the right place (5.2-5.6), with that many hops, you may want to think about leaving some residual sweetness though. which means you may want to mash at around 154F or so. and then if you're using city water, treat it with some campden. then you should be good.

 

[Rhaop]

+1 on the campden