First brew - solo

[tanktop]

So getting ready and doing some final cleaning. Thinking of doing a little vinegar and baking soda diluted in water to wipe down counter tops and rinse pots and bucket. Then starsan everything that will come in contact with the brew.

 

[JimRausch]

Hee,hee. Just thinking of the highschool science fair volcanoes that use vinegar and baking soda.
But seriously, you don't have to bother with sanitizing anything that contacts until postboil.

 

[brewkinger]

Agree with JimR.
The vinegar / baking soda process is not necessary.
I brew outside in a barn using a plastic table and a table made from saw horses and a sheet of plywood.
Focus the OCD (lol) part of your process on the post boil.

And most of all, RDWHAHB

 

[tanktop]

RDWHAHB?????


I'm going to strangle the next guy who.... Lol, never mind....

The cleanliness was mostly for my boil pot and pail which are new, wanted to get any manufacturing residue off.

Look at the hops for this recipe...

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1427059935.788999.jpg

I should probably know this before starting but dry hopping really means adding hops at secondary without heat, right?

 

[tanktop]

Dangit, almost ruined my first brew...

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1427060268.316088.jpg

Forgot to pour a beer first

 

[turkeyjerky214]

Just a tip, frosty mugs are for Banquet and Silver Bullets, not craft beer. When it's that cold, you lose a ton of flavor and aroma.

 

[tanktop]

I know but I like my beer cold

 

[tanktop]

And I already screwed up. Supposed to add whole cascade to steeping bag of grain. Too late , already added all sugars. Turned off heat and added them in a bag. I know it will take some sugar when I pull the bag so I'm going to compensate with a pound of table sugar turned into a simple syrup with a squeeze of lemon. Local brew supply gave me the idea

 

[Peruvian802]

^^^i wouldn't bother. Seriously-follow the R part of RDWHAHB. you will enjoy the hobby much more.

 

[tanktop]

^^^i wouldn't bother. Seriously-follow the R part of RDWHAHB. you will enjoy the hobby much more.

I am currently way too uptight trying to make this just right to try to figure out what RDWHAHB means, thank you =)

 

[kh54s10]

And I already screwed up. Supposed to add whole cascade to steeping bag of grain. Too late , already added all sugars. Turned off heat and added them in a bag. I know it will take some sugar when I pull the bag so I'm going to compensate with a pound of table sugar turned into a simple syrup with a squeeze of lemon. Local brew supply gave me the idea

I am not sure what you mean by " it will take some sugar when I pull the bag"

If you already used the sugars described in the recipe it is in there. You will not lose any sugars by pulling a bag out. Whatever that means..

I would NOT add any more. That will make the beer thinner, more dry and increase the ABV. And not likely for the better.

 

[brewkinger]

Relax
Don't
Worry
Have
A
Home
Brew

 

[tanktop]

Relax
Don't
Worry
Have
A
Home
Brew

LOL, awesome! I'm slightly exaggerating my stress over this.

So my bucket, thief, and everything else I need to finish is soaking in starsan.

Basically if I don't let anything get contaminated and get close to following the directions I should end up with beer?

 

[adamdillabo]

Yep beer is on the way. In about a month or two. Make sure your pitch temps are right and you put the bucket some where that will be 65 degrees for the next week.

 

[kh54s10]

Don't get too hung up on soaking in Starsan. Use a spray bottle wet everything that comes into contact with the wort after chilled. It works in less than one minute. Leave it wet. If things dry out they are no longer sanitary.

IMO it is relatively difficult to infect the beer unless you do something unsanitary. More that just not having everything super soaked in Starsan. People have stuck their arms in the wort to retrieve something dropped in and not had an infected beer.

 

[tanktop]

So a first time mother is being a little too worried about germs. Every time her infant even sneezes she rushes him to the doctor. This goes on for several visits. Finally the doctor, growing a little weary of the OCD mother pulls her aside.

"Miss" says the Dr, "there is only one way you can be sure your newborn doesn't have any germs"
"Yes" says the mother, "I'll do anything!"
The Dr replies, "you must boil the child,it's the only way to kill all the germs!".

 

[joshesmusica]

i don't know why everyone's so obsessed with getting rid of all the germs and bacteria. did you know that for every single cell that has your dna inside it, there are 3 more cells that don't have your dna that make up "you?" so really you are only 25% of "you."

 

[adamdillabo]

My first brew I didn't even use starsan or any sanitizer. Just a no rinse cleaner. Worked out fine.

 

[tanktop]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1427075589.579098.jpg

That's what it's supposed to be, and here is where it is.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1427075640.786550.jpg

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1427075698.532174.jpg

 

[TheCondor]

Did you do a 5 gallon boil? If not have you topped off your fermenter up to 5 gallons with water? May explain the high gravity

 

[tanktop]

Yes, my fermenter bucket is at 5 gallons. Was about 2 21/2 to 2 1/2 wort/water ratio.

 

[TheCondor]

Hmmm. Did you give it a good shake to aerate your wort and make sure it is all mixed up? Just throwing ideas out

 

[tanktop]

I poured the wort into the bucket with 2 1/2 gallons water already in it from about 2 feet above quickly. I didn't give it a chance to settle so there was a bit of hops in with my measurement. I also pulled the sample from pretty deep using the wine thief. I did ad an extra pound of sugar to the recipe.

What's the worst case scenario of an OG of 1.1? I'm new, what does an OG indicate?

 

[TheCondor]

The extra pound of sugar definitely explains your high gravity. OG is original gravity. Basically is a measurement of sugar you have in your wort. You can take your original gravity and use that to determine alcohol content when the beer is done fermenting. There are calculators online to help with that.
With such a high OG, your yeast may have a hard time consuming all that sugar and converting to alcohol. Also you need to be able to pitch enough health yeast, control your fermentation temperature. If you are using liquid yeast, probably should have made a starter, with dry yeast, I would pitch a few rehydrated packages.

 

[tanktop]

LOL, I noticed i was at about 4 1/2 gallons. I added water to get to just over 5 gallons, figured doing it now was better than later. I'm going to leave it alone and see if my airlock is doing anything in the next day or two. If so I'm going to just let it go. I think from here on out leaving it alone is the best option.

I'm trying to figure out the best way to dry hop in secondary as that's what the directions call for. Should I use a bag or just pitch it in?

 

[StrongBad42]

Is that a Pliny the Elder recipe?

 

[tanktop]

Yes it is. I think I botched it a couple different ways but I'm sure it will still be a great double IPA. We'll I have to go to sleep before my wife beats me silly.

 

[StrongBad42]

That's a tough one for a first solo, but it sounds like you did just fine. As far as dry hopping hoes, you'll get different views. Try it with a bag and then try it without and see what you like.
The great thing about home brewing is that we can tailor it to what suits us best.

 

[joshesmusica]

The extra pound of sugar definitely explains your high gravity. OG is original gravity. Basically is a measurement of sugar you have in your wort. You can take your original gravity and use that to determine alcohol content when the beer is done fermenting. There are calculators online to help with that.
With such a high OG, your yeast may have a hard time consuming all that sugar and converting to alcohol. Also you need to be able to pitch enough health yeast, control your fermentation temperature. If you are using liquid yeast, probably should have made a starter, with dry yeast, I would pitch a few rehydrated packages.

what's weird is that according to those instructions, an extra pound of sugar shouldn't be raising it to 1.100 from 1.070. BUT i typed the recipe from the top into beersmith, and without him adding an extra pound of sugar, just following the recipe that already has the 1 pound of corn sugar, it should've been 1.084 OG! how could the recipe be so far off? another reason i don't like kits. in order for that recipe to be 1.072 it would need to be 5.8 gallons.

then if you throw in another pound of sugar on top of that, you end up with about 1.093 OG! add onto that the likelihood of not mixing the water and wort really, really well, and that explains your reading of 1.1 (really probably even higher. with all that foam it's hard to see exactly where it is).

what type of yeast did the kit come with? with a 1.093 OG you need about 2 packets of dry yeast (depending on how old the packets are). make sure you really have control over the fermentation temps, you don't want this one getting warm on you. about 60-63F ambient temps is what i would suggest. if you can use a swamp cooler type of method, even better, and then you could go for about 65F in the cooler.

as far as the dry hopping, there are many opinions on here about it. with your beer being so big, if you don't have any brews coming up anytime soon, you could leave it in primary for like 4 weeks, then dry hop, then bottle. if you do plan on brewing something soon, rack it to secondary after like 2 weeks in primary. then let it sit in there for 2 weeks, then dry hop, then bottle. with either method, i would just throw the hops in there without a bag. let them sit for 5-7 days.

 

[TheCondor]

Yea I just throw my hops in the primary without a bag. As far as beersmith, I find it isn't as accurate when using extract. That's just me though.