First brew need advice please

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tealsmoke

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I just completed my first brew which is a brewers Best American light lme kit. I cleaned and sanitized everything on the hot and cold side. I added the 3.3 lbs. of Brewers Best Extra light lme and 1 oz. of Willamette hops to 4 gallons of r.o. water when it came to a gentle boil. boiled for 40 minutes and added 8 oz. of rice syrup solids, 8ozs. of corn sugar, ib. of cbw pilsen light dme which came with the kit. I also added 8 oz. of brew master light dme that I pulled from another kit, both kits are about 7 months old. Added 1 whirlfloc tablet at 15 minutes lft and 1 ounce of Williamette hops at 2 minutes left in the 60 minute boil. I place my immersion cooler in with 15 minutes left to sanitize. Cooled down to 70 degrees and transferred to fermenter and added ro water to 5.5 gallons. not sure if it suppose to look like this. 1st pic is after transfer to fermenter and 2nd pic is after 30 minutes. Is it suppose to look like this? i have not pitched yeast yet. Tia for any advice.
 

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Thanks for the replies. It being my first time I didn't know if that was the norm or not.
I haven't pitched the yeast yet. I will be doing this outside in my building using Lallemand voss kviek ale yeast as I do not have a fermentation chamber yet. I just aeriated it with a pump and 2 micron stone and man did that ever make a big head in the fermenter.
I will be pitching the yeast dry, should I wait until the foamy head recedes or will it be okay to pitch now. The head is up to the top of the fermenter.
 
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@tealsmoke. You write "...when it came to a gentle boil. boiled for 40 minutes...".

Was a protein break done in the boil? To me, the first picture (clumps) appears as malt proteins. Things may not have gotten property mixed with the gentle boil. I realize "gentle boil" is subjective. Perhaps understanding of "gentle boil" is different.

You want a rolling boil. Nothing crazy, but a nice rolling boil.
 
I will be pitching the yeast dry, should I wait until the foamy head recedes
Yes, wait, do not pitch dry yeast on top of the foam, she needs to be in direct contact with the wort.

Now you could re-hydrate the yeast first, per the manufacturer's instructions, then pitch the whole suspension. That way you won't have to wait for the foam to recede.

Next time, when you pitch dry yeast, follow the manufacturer's instructions ("just sprinkle on top of the surface"), wait for it to have slowly dissolved. Then aerate/oxygenate.

BTW, dry yeast does not need aeration or oxygenation at all. Allegedly, the yeast granules contain all she needs, including well-needed sterol reserves. So there's that take... no foam, no rehydration, no waiting.
 
That's a ton of trub in the fermentor, which allegedly has no impact on the finished beer. In fact, you want at least a small amount in the fermentor for yeast health purposes. I'm assuming you went something like cool while stirring to pouring immediately into the fermentor? If so, that looks completely normal, a ton of protein coagulation. If you want to avoid that, you can let the cooled wort sit, covered, for at least 15 minutes (closer to an hour will be more effective), then all that trub will settle to the bottom and you can pour slowly and carefully from the top of it and leave that crap in the kettle (like how you'd pour a bottle conditioned beer from the bottle into your glass).

The trub will compact as it ferments, the yeast will settle on top, and you'll be fine.
 
@tealsmoke. You write "...when it came to a gentle boil. boiled for 40 minutes...".

Was a protein break done in the boil? To me, the first picture (clumps) appears as malt proteins. Things may not have gotten property mixed with the gentle boil. I realize "gentle boil" is subjective. Perhaps understanding of "gentle boil" is different.

You want a rolling boil. Nothing crazy, but a nice rolling boil.
It was a real slow gentle boil rolling slightly maybe next time I'll get more aggressive with the boil. As I said I'm a newbie trying to learn, could you tell me what a protein break is? Thanks for replying.
 
BTW, dry yeast does not need aeration or oxygenation at all. Allegedly, the yeast granules contain all she needs, including well-needed sterol reserves. So there's that take... no foam, no rehydration, no waiting.
I didn't know you could pitch dry yeast without aeration. thanks for that great tip.
 
I'm assuming you went something like cool while stirring to pouring immediately into the fermentor? If so, that looks completely normal, a ton of protein coagulation. If you want to avoid that, you can let the cooled wort sit, covered, for at least 15 minutes (closer to an hour will be more effective), then all that trub will settle to the bottom and you can pour slowly and carefully from the top of it and leave that crap in the kettle (like how you'd pour a bottle conditioned beer from the bottle into your glass).

The trub will compact as it ferments, the yeast will settle on top, and you'll be fine.
Should I rerack to another fermenter or just go with it like this. I cooled it from boil down to 90 degrees and then sent it to the fermenter, guess I need to wait longer next time. Thanks for replying. I need all the help I can get LOL
 
Should I rerack to another fermenter or just go with it like this. I cooled it from boil down to 90 degrees and then sent it to the fermenter, guess I need to wait longer next time. Thanks for replying. I need all the help I can get LOL
Nope. Let it ride. If you haven't pitched the yeast yet, I suppose you could. But it'll be fine if you don't.

Edit: To clarify, I say "If you haven't pitched your yeast..." because you want to avoid oxygen exposure as much as possible after you pitch yeast (maybe even before if you subscribe to some low O2 principles), due to oxidation.
It was a real slow gentle boil rolling slightly maybe next time I'll get more aggressive with the boil. As I said I'm a newbie trying to learn, could you tell me what a protein break is? Thanks for replying.
The protein break, or hot break, is where all the protein starts to coagulate and clump together. When you start boiling, right as it boils, it should start to build a thick, fluffy "head" on it. That "head" will build until it threatens to boil over. That's when you need to back off the heat until it stops building, but only that far. Ride that edge. Eventually (a lot of places say it can take up to 20 minutes, but usually happens way quicker than that), clumps of stuff will be floating in the wort. That's hot break. If you want to reduce the heat again to a gentle boil at that point, feel free. But you should shoot for getting the break first.

Also, this site has a ton of good content for new brewers. It's a bit dated, so anything advanced, take with a grain of salt (or outside advice).
 
It was a real slow gentle boil rolling slightly maybe next time I'll get more aggressive with the boil. As I said I'm a newbie trying to learn, could you tell me what a protein break is? Thanks for replying.
Boil initially foams up to boiling over. Turn down the heat and let the foam subside. Also, skim off the dark colored foam (foop) and throw away or put in the sink.
 
Thanks for the advice and explanation duffy5018. I'm taking notes and learning as i go. I have read a lot here and some of my "How to brew" book but not enough I guess. Just really excited to jump on the brew train and try things out, and if it doesn't work out that will in no way discourage me, I'll just keep on reading and trying until I get right ( or close to right). After all what else am I'm going to do now that I'm retired. LOL. Thanks for the advice everyone.
 
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It's easy to get overwhelmed. Think of our shop class where the teacher said something similar to "Well, Bob was hammering with a ball pein hammer and took out Jim's eye!" Scared the sh*t out of us. Of course, this never actually happened. The teacher was only trying to make us be aware. Same goes for homebrewing. Be aware, read, pay attention, learn.
 
@tealsmoke Do wish we lived closer as I'd invite over for a few (probably more) homebrews and BSing...

NC is a very nice state. Where in NC? OK to message me privately.
And I'll be more than happy to take you up on the " probably more" LOL
I'm just south of Wilmington on the east coast. A town called Leland which has been growing as one of the fasted towns on the coast for the last few years or so they say.
 
And I'll be more than happy to take you up on the " probably more" LOL
I'm just south of Wilmington on the east coast. A town called Leland which has been growing as one of the fasted towns on the coast for the last few years or so they say.
Been to Raleigh/Durham area. Very nice place.
 
One additional piece of advice for the next time, don't add ingredients with heat on. Heat off to add and stir / dissolve anything that will dissolve (sugar, syrup, salts). Even if it's during the boil. Only turn the heat back on after everything is well mixed and dissolved.
 
... with dry ingredients, one can make a slurry in a side dish, confirm that it has dissolved, then add the slurry to the kettle.

This technique works well in combination with "stove top" brewing (half water/extract up front, half at the end) as one can use some of the cool 'top-up' water to make the slurry. Add the slurry with about 5 min left in the boil to ensure pasteurization.
 
One additional piece of advice for the next time, don't add ingredients with heat on. Heat off to add and stir / dissolve anything that will dissolve (sugar, syrup, salts). Even if it's during the boil. Only turn the heat back on after everything is well mixed and dissolved.

I will definitely keep this in mind.
Thanks
 
I regularly have beer in the fermenter that looks like this especially if I transfer all the trub with the wort. Except for having to be more careful when transferring to my kegs (or bottles) it has never been a problem as it settles out fine. Also, a number of people talk about adding only a third of your extract at the start of the boil and the remaing 2/3's at 15 minutes left
 
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I just completed my first brew which is a brewers Best American light lme kit. I cleaned and sanitized everything on the hot and cold side. I added the 3.3 lbs. of Brewers Best Extra light lme and 1 oz. of Willamette hops to 4 gallons of r.o. water when it came to a gentle boil. boiled for 40 minutes and added 8 oz. of rice syrup solids, 8ozs. of corn sugar, ib. of cbw pilsen light dme which came with the kit. I also added 8 oz. of brew master light dme that I pulled from another kit, both kits are about 7 months old. Added 1 whirlfloc tablet at 15 minutes lft and 1 ounce of Williamette hops at 2 minutes left in the 60 minute boil. I place my immersion cooler in with 15 minutes left to sanitize. Cooled down to 70 degrees and transferred to fermenter and added ro water to 5.5 gallons. not sure if it suppose to look like this. 1st pic is after transfer to fermenter and 2nd pic is after 30 minutes. Is it suppose to look like this? i have not pitched yeast yet. Tia for any advice.
I won't say that it is supposed to look like that but, I am an all grain brewer and I have seen it several times in my boil and fermentation kettle before in my batches. When it happened to me, there were no adverse results since the sediment packs down very well and the batch clears up really well like what your has done.
 
Sometimes you get break material like that, here are pictures showing variation between batches. Never an issue.

Most of the trub on my batches goes into the final jug. I usually finish out at 6 gallons and run the first clearer 5.25 gallons into the carboy, last of the batch trub goes into the gallon jug for fermenting separately for experiments or weird beer drinking.
 

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