First brew session w/pics..& with a question

[RoadKing]

4 weeks in the primary should be all ya need. After that cold crash it for a couple days
then carb it up.

 

[pcollins]

Quick question, should i take a gravity reading now or just wait? Wish i could actually see the top of the beer to make sure its all good, sides look great but the crauzen wentt nuts and left a crusty film on the top of the carboy preventing me from seeing the top of the beer. Thanks for any advice

I often end up in this situation and the only reason for me to take a reading is to do a rough abv calculation. I leave my stuff in primary long enough that I know they're done fermenting. No question. Always fun to sample, too.

 

[RYANKELLY]

Hey! you can't ferment next to that stuffed animal...It will give the beer a gamey taste..Haha

That's one heck of a blow off tube! What's your occupation, fireman?

You got superb equipment for a first time brewer or for anybody for that matter. Have fun.

 

[Smits07]

drooling over the equipment.... I've been doing this for about a half year. Been doing all grain for a little while now. How big is that pot? You are not filling it up very much. If you are doing a partial boil, at least go full boil! I also recommend, just skipping to all grain!

The beer looks great! Normally that's the part I drool over, but your equipment is what I am really drooling over! Good luck to ya!

 

[poislb]

drooling over the equipment.... I've been doing this for about a half year. Been doing all grain for a little while now. How big is that pot? You are not filling it up very much. If you are doing a partial boil, at least go full boil! I also recommend, just skipping to all grain!

The beer looks great! Normally that's the part I drool over, but your equipment is what I am really drooling over! Good luck to ya!

Thanks, got 2 extracts under my belt now and doing a Caribou slobber all grain next session. Just did the 2.5 gallons like the recipe called for, its a 8.5 gallon pot. My goal was to just by all the equipment early cause i know i wanted to jump right in to all grain. Reason i did a few extracts was just to get familular with the process and sanitizing properly. Thanks for the kind words..

 

[poislb]

Update July 25th: Took a gravity reading on the 18th of July, tasted it and it was a tad bitter and left a little sour bite on the end of my tongue. Took another reading today, was the same reading as the 18th so im gonna give it 5 more days and cold crash it then bottle it and wait another 3-4 weeks. When i tried it today the bitterness/sour was gone. Single stage fermentation for a month is a beautiful thing...God I love this hobby ps, looks about 3.83%abv cause i missed my OG by a few points, good thing is i know why i did....mistakes only make ya learn and the only stupid question is the one not asked..

That was just a 7 day difference from when i tried it last and it has improved that much already, even though im still a newb and it i had one piece of advice to give to anther newbie, wait at least a month before bottleing and only use single stage fermentation unless called for otherwise(lager, stout, so forth)

 

[pcollins]

Just so I understand what you're doing/saying... You're going to cold crash it now for 5 days and then bottle or you're going to wait for 5 days, then cold crash, then bottle?

In my experience if you've got the same reading as a week ago you're definitely good to go. Cold crash now and then bottle after 5 days or so and enjoy!

 

[poislb]

Just so I understand what you're doing/saying... You're going to cold crash it now for 5 days and then bottle or you're going to wait for 5 days, then cold crash, then bottle?

In my experience if you've got the same reading as a week ago you're definitely good to go. Cold crash now and then bottle after 5 days or so and enjoy!

Going to wait 5 days till i crash, work and other events have me tied up till then.

 

[pcollins]

Ah, totally understand. My bad.

Time is always good anyways, I was just sort of curious as to why you would wait.

Carry on. LOL

 

[poislb]

Ah, totally understand. My bad.

Time is always good anyways, I was just sort of curious as to why you would wait.

Carry on. LOL

No worries at all, thanks for the input...still leaning and open to any advice

 

[motleybrews]

Wow. I just started brewing. Nice setup. I was going to go secondary til I read this thread.

Happy brewing

 

[poislb]

Just bottled her up yesterday, very excited...Anywho, would like some input on priming sugar/corn sugar.. Every calculator was giving me different measurements. My desired volume of co2 is 2.0 so what i did was put 3.8oz of priming sugar into 16oz of boiling water (let it cool), then dumped into bottling bucket, then i siphoned the wort from my primary into my bucket, then stirred. Shortly after i bottled them up..Sound right? Thanks again my fellow friends..

 

[passedpawn]

No need to cool your priming solution. Get your beer moving into the bottling bucket then add your solution. When siphoning is done, give a gentle stir with racking cane and you're set.

I quit priming with corn sugar and just use table sugar now. It's one less thing to worry about running out of, and table sugar works exactly as well as corn sugar (dextrose). Only difference: you use 9% less than table sugar because it does not contain as much water as corn sugar.

 

[Oldbrew75]

I agree with you poislb, might as well dive in and get the stuff(gear) you want right from the beginning! Can't wait to fire up my first brew!

 

[poislb]

Well bottled it 2 weeks ago, and knew it was gonna be kinda watered down going into it. Cause i goofed by over adding my top off water by .25/.5 gallons. Still not a bad beer, will see what it tastes like in another week or so. Its very clear, a bit watered down but very drinkable. Since it was my first brew my expectations were very low. My second batch of multigrain red should come out very nice, was a perfect brew day hitting all my numbers. Since then that one has been bottled and will be ready in about 2 1/2 weeks. Got my pipeline some what started and working on my all grain pale ale recipie as we speak

Thanks for following this thread, thanks for all the advise along the way as well. On my next pour i will post a pic of the irish draught, like i said a bit watery but very drinkable. It taste like beer so i guess the result it still very rewarding

 

[Sacrilicious]

Hey poislb... I see in your pics there is adhesive on your floor that used to hold down tiles of some sort. Do you know how old those tiles were? I ask because if it is from the 70's or earlier, there is a good chance the dark-colored adhesive could have ASBESTOS in it. Not a good thing, especially not for an infant or toddler. If that adhesive is old, make sure you don't scratch or sand it, because that could cause the asbestos to get airborne, which is really really bad.

 

[poislb]

Hey poislb... I see in your pics there is adhesive on your floor that used to hold down tiles of some sort. Do you know how old those tiles were? I ask because if it is from the 70's or earlier, there is a good chance the dark-colored adhesive could have ASBESTOS in it. Not a good thing, especially not for an infant or toddler. If that adhesive is old, make sure you don't scratch or sand it, because that could cause the asbestos to get airborne, which is really really bad.

Thanks for the concern, appreciate that. Yeah, last year my basment got flooded and im in the process of renivateing it. Dont know how old the tiles were, there was carpet on top of what ya see. Just plan on putting carpet back cause im not gonna try and remove that glue. The boy stays upstairs untill the basement finished and never tried to sand or remove the glue, stuff looks like a pain to get up. Thanks buddy

 

[impulserush]

DUDE!!! You have a massive pot and a wort chiller?????!!!! GO FULL BOIL:rockin:

Seriously, you have the equipment and setup, I'd consider doing a full wort boil from here on out. I wish I could tell you why, but I don't do a full boil (yet) due to pot size limitations and lack of a chiller, but I hear its a world of difference.

Yes go full boil , you will love your beer more.

Good luck all looks good to me.

 

[DarkPhyre]

I enjoyed reading your first brew!
I haven't bought any equipment yet, but I agree w/you. Buy what you want from the start.