First Brew Night

[deercreek]

I picked up a free Northern Brewer starter kit and their Irish Red extract kit during their recent sale. I watched the DVD that came with it Saturday morning and finally made a trip to my LHBS. They had a decent price on bottles and I went ahead and picked up a thermometer with a long probe and a clip I can hang it on my stock pot with, and a long stainless steel spoon (I figured I had to have one of those).

I decided to give it a go that night. Things seemed to go fairly well. One thing I need to do better next time is control my temperature while steeping grains. I went from 150 to 170 faster than I expected, so I backed off the heat to try to steep for 20 minutes.

I did a cool water bath in the sink to chill the wort. It didn't seem that efficient having to drain and fill the sink several times, but it got the job done. One oops I made was not removing the stock pot lid well. I accidentally dumped some of the water that had accumulated on the lid into the wort. At least I had sanitized the lid.

I got into trouble when I tried to use my hydrometer. I thought I saw that I could use the tube it came in for the test, but that confused me. Then I knocked the airlock out while I carried the fermenter to the basement. After taking it back upstairs and resanitizing it, I figured out how to position the lid so I can still use the handle without hitting the airlock.

Earlier today I had a dream about it and decided to sneak downstairs to check on it. I heard something that scared me at first, but then realized it was the happy sound of the airlock bubbling.

I figure I've got a couple of weeks to do more hydrometer research. I may go back to my LHBS to pick up a test tube that made sense. I'm afraid if I do that I might go ahead and pick up another bucket so I can start a second batch. I wasn't sure if this was going to be for me until I heard the yeast doing its thing.

 

[grem135]

lol sounds like you got sucked in too. I brewed my second batch last monday and bottled the first batch thursday. Good thing I have a few different commercial craft beers in my fridge because looking at those bottles on the shelf is ...well you will find out lol

 

[beergolf]

Welcome to the hobby/addiction.

It is easy to get sucked into this hobby. Before long you will have multiple fermenters and brews all over the house........ask me how I know this.

This forum is a wealth of information. SO read as much as you can and you will learn a ton about brewing good beer.

 

[GoodDogShelby]

Welcome to the support group. Be prepared to spend money and gain weight. Keep us posted.

 

[dfc]

My first batch was 7-21-10. My second batch? 7-26-10. I enjoyed brewing the first batch so much I had to brew up a second one right after it and went out to buy another kit right after the first batch was brewed. Go for it. Your garage could use a chest freezer (which you'll end up buying in no time).

 

[drew1d]

Sounds like success to me. :rockin:

I never thought of using the hydrometer tube as a beaker. Good luck.

 

[brewvac]

Congrats on your first (of many) brew nights! The second wave of addiction will come when your friends like the beer that you're making. Then it's on!

 

[deercreek]

Sounds like success to me. :rockin:

I never thought of using the hydrometer tube as a beaker. Good luck.

I think I saw this in the Northern Brewer DVD and I know I read it in their kit instructions. When I got to that point, I didn't think it would hold liquid well and still wanted to use it to keep the hydrometer in. The funny thing is I was flustered after that and almost sealed the bucket without putting in the yeast. I'm pretty sure I would have noticed the yeast pack floating around in my bucket of Star San at some point though.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

I have always just used the hydrometer tube for checking gravity. I pull a sample with a sanitized turkey baster and place the baster in the freezer to cool down before transfering to the tube if it is still hot from the boil. After checking the gravity I just rinse and dry with a paper towel.

 

[tre9er]

I used my tube for test jar at first but then I wanted something that would stand on it's own so I paid the $4 for a test jar (plastic). I put it in a bucket of ice water to cool it for preboil samples.

In terms of getting sucked into the hobby:

I started brewing end of January of this year. I borrowed a turkey fryer, burner, and bought just an ale pail and a hydrometer. Did one extract kit that day.

Not quite 5 months later I've brewed 15 batches, have two electric kettles, a cooler mash tun, 50' DIY immersion chiller, 3 kegs, 4 fermenters, a scale, drill-driven grain mill system, a gallon of starsan, and more gadgets, gaskets, tubes, and containers than you can shake a stick at...Oh, and just burned through a 50# sack of 2-row, 25lbs. of pale, have 4lbs. of hops in the freezer and half-dozen jars of harvested yeast in the fridge...

Yeah, you could say it's addicting.

 

[deercreek]

I made the mistake of going down to the basement for something else and decided to take a peek at my bucket. It had been ~54 hours since I pitched the yeast, and there doesn't appear to be any activity in the airlock. I know that doesn't necessarily mean anything, but when the beer is in a sealed bucket that's the only thing I can see without popping the lid.

So now I'm questioning things. My basement stays a pretty constant 65 degrees year round, but I never thought about how being in a bucket sitting directly on the cold floor might affect temperature. Did I aerate well enough? Should I have made a starter? Should I have bought a clear fermenter instead? Why do I keep forgetting to put my Upland Gilgamesh or Sour Reserve in the fridge so I can have something drinkable for a time like this? Should I stick to a relatively inexpensive kit for my next brew instead of going straight to trying skeeterpleaser's Zombie Dust clone recipe?

I have a fear that I may not be able to stick to my original plan of not popping the lid for at least two weeks.

 

[brewvac]

I know it's tough to be patient with the first brew, but it sounds pretty normal to me. You'll see a pretty aggressive fermentation in the first couple of days and then things die down for a bit. If you are going to transfer the beer to s secondary, then you can do that after about 5-7 days in the primary. Be sure to sanitize your secondary fermenter and your racking cane & tubes. And don't splash it around too much. As Tom Petty said, The waiting is the hardest part:rockin:

 

[looneybomber]

Something I find frustrating with this hobby vs my other hobbies (weight lifting excluded), is I have to wait forever for results. "How will these hops taste?" Won't know for 5 weeks... With audio, you tweek a crossover, or change the place of a speaker, and you can instantly get new measurements. No waiting 5 weeks.

 

[rifraf]

Something I find frustrating with this hobby vs my other hobbies (weight lifting excluded), is I have to wait forever for results. "How will these hops taste?" Won't know for 5 weeks... With audio, you tweek a crossover, or change the place of a speaker, and you can instantly get new measurements. No waiting 5 weeks.

Yup...just check my sig.

 

[fergusmj]

It's very addictive. Just started a couple months ago. 2nd batch in bottles and going this week to get 4 cornies, another bucket and some more kits to hold me over.

Gotta get the pipeline filled!

 

[tre9er]

Gotta get the pipeline filled!

Easier said than done when your kegs go in < 2 weeks

I need to step up my batch size...

 

[BrewinHooligan]

I need to step up my batch size...

I have been thinking the same thing lately... Unfortunately at the moment I only have room to temp control one fermentor at a time so I have to try to control the rate of consumption. It's hard when it just tastes so good though

 

[tre9er]

I have been thinking the same thing lately... Unfortunately at the moment I only have room to temp control one fermentor at a time so I have to try to control the rate of consumption. It's hard when it just tastes so good though

I've been using my double sink in basement for ferm control. I put ale pails in there and tape thermometer to side of bucket, check temp after a while and if needed I put towel, t-shirt, etc. on them and fan. Try to keep temps just below where I want them since internal will be higher. After initial ferm is done I take out of sink and let them warm normally, as ambient is about 68-70*.

I'm getting another fridge, small, but will be putting temp controller on it so I can use it for ferms. Still, either method only holds two 5g. FV's at a time. Time for a CL deep freezer I guess.

All of this to say that I too can only control 2-4 5g batches at a time. I make wits often for SWMBO, though, and they ferment so nicely at higher temps, so that helps.

 

[deercreek]

My first brew has been in my fermenter for just over a week, so I decided to take a sample and check the gravity. When I opened the bucket it didn't look that different than when it started, but I could smell the alcohol. I used my thief to mostly fill the test jar I picked up at my LHBS. It looked like beer.

I tried the hydrometer and it seemed to hit the bottom of the jar. I gave it a spin and it seemed to read 1.014. The final gravity for this kit is supposed to be 1.011-1.014, so I hope my reading was for real and not just luck since the liquid level was at 1.010 with the hydrometer resting on the bottom.

I took a taste of the sample. It tasted flat, but was good enough that I drank the whole sample. I can't wait to see what it tastes like after bottle conditioning, but I went ahead and sealed the bucket back up for now.

 

[Rocky71]

Congrats on your first brew! You'll find that your first brew went better then a lot of peoples but don't sweat the small stuff. Welcome to the club.

 

[deercreek]

I bottled this first batch early this morning/late last night. Early on I had worried that I wouldn't have enough bottles when I bought two cases. Just in case, I cleaned up three commercial 12 ounce bottles and one 22 ounce one. Well, I ended up only filling 39 bottles. I really suck with the auto siphon, and not in a good way. Once I finally got it going pretty well, I kept sucking up trub and then it stopped with about a gallon left. I got it started a few more times, but I was afraid I was going to aerate it too much and finally gave up. Next time I guess I'll try the suggestion in the Northern Brewer instructions and find an object the size of a hockey puck to title the fermenter with.

One of my biggest problems was I should have tested the hose related equipment beforehand. I made the mistake of thinking both pieces of tubing were the same until I dropped one into the bottling bucket and realized it was shorter than the other one. Once I switched to the longer piece, I figured out that it wasn't long enough to have my fermenter on my kitchen counter and the bottling bucket on a step stool if I wanted to run the tubing to the bottom where the water/priming sugar was. I ended up having to prop the bottling bucket up on my bucket of Star San, and that worked ok. Then I had fun with the bottle spigot. I thought I had noticed the bottling wand directly attached to it in the Northern Brewer DVD, but there was no way that was going to work. Then I remember reading in Revvy's botting thread about how he didn't like using tubing with it, so I tried using the shorter piece of tubing since it would make sense. I couldn't get it to fit the spigot or the bottling wand. I ended up cleaning and sanitizing the tubing I used with the auto siphon and that fit. The bottling wand dripped, the tubing would leak if I had the spigot wide open, and then the bucket started dripping around the spigot (I tested it with water first, but I guess I didn't fill the bucket with enough for a good test).

I thought I would have some trouble with capping, but that actually went pretty well and was probably the most enjoyable part of the night. I only messed up one cap. Of course it makes me worry that I might have done something wrong since it went so well.

I made a pretty big mess on the floor so I ended up mopping the floor when I was done. After I got everything rinsed off (I decided to save real cleaning until tonight since I might be brewing my second batch if UPS shows up today), I went and found the instructions that came with my equipment kit. I keep thinking that I've watched the DVD and read the instructions and done enough research that I don't need the instructions... until I get confused in the middle of something. According to it, the shorter piece of tubing is supposed to be used with the bottling wand. It makes sense that the ID of the longer one was slightly more which would explain why it leaked. I'm going to have to try to sort all of that out before the next time I bottle.

Next time I want to get my bottles sanitized and hanging from the bottle tree before I start instead of doing a few at a time. I also need to get out a plastic boot tray or something to sit the filled bottles on so I don't make that mess on the floor. I put each empty bottle in a bowl before I started filling it, and that definitely helped.

I'm curious to see how well my priming method works out. Luckily I'll be away on vacation next week, so there won't be any temptation to try a bottle for over a week. I intend to not put the first one in the fridge for at least 3 weeks.

 

[MMJfan]

I made a pretty big mess on the floor so I ended up mopping the floor when I was done. After I got everything rinsed off (I decided to save real cleaning until tonight since I might be brewing my second batch if UPS shows up today), I went and found the instructions that came with my equipment kit. I keep thinking that I've watched the DVD and read the instructions and done enough research that I don't need the instructions... until I get confused in the middle of something. According to it, the shorter piece of tubing is supposed to be used with the bottling wand. It makes sense that the ID of the longer one was slightly more which would explain why it leaked. I'm going to have to try to sort all of that out before the next time I bottle.

Next time I want to get my bottles sanitized and hanging from the bottle tree before I start instead of doing a few at a time. I also need to get out a plastic boot tray or something to sit the filled bottles on so I don't make that mess on the floor. I put each empty bottle in a bowl before I started filling it, and that definitely helped.

I don't know if you have a dishwasher or not, but I have found that an easy, no mess way to bottle my beer is to put my bottling bucket on the counter above my dishwasher with the door opened. I always wash my bottles on the sanitize setting in my dishwasher so I just take them from the dishwasher as I'm filling them. All the spillage and drippage just collects in the dishwasher door and there is no mess! Of course, if you don't have a dishwasher, this won't work for you...

 

[deercreek]

While I was waiting for the next hop addition to my second brew, I cracked open the first bottle of this one. I poured it into a Flat 12 Bierwerks pint glass for good luck. I could hear some carbonation escape when I popped the top and got just a thin head that disappeared quickly. It tastes great though. I'm pretty stoked that I made a drinkable beer. I just bottle conditioned the first bottle a little over two weeks and only had it in the fridge for 24 hours, so the next one could taste even better.