Last summer I picked up a copy of How To Brew because I wanted to make my own beer. Fast forward to the present and I finally collected enough equipment to make my first extract batch, NB's Bourbon Barrel Porter. The few months I've spent reading HBT really paid off, because my first brew day went by without so much as a hiccup.
I'm using a 20 gallon Bling-mann because I wanted to eventually go up to 10-12 gallon batches. I used Beersmith to convert the recipe to a full boil, because 2.5 gallons in that pot would have been embarrassing. If any other noobs want some advice, here is what I did for a full boil:
1) Steep the specialty grains in 1.5 gallons of water in a smaller stovetop pot. I brought the water up to 164, wrapped in a towel, and the grain was at 153 when I pulled it out 30 minutes later.
2) I brought 5.25 gallons to a boil in the Blichmann and then added the specialty grain wort, bringing the volume up to about 6.6 gallons. I ended up with 5.4 gallons post-boil, with about 5 going into the carboy.
3) Adjust the hop schedule to 0.65 oz of Chinook at 60 minutes, and then 0.35 oz for each of the Gouldings additions to account for utilization for the full boil.
I hooked up a stainless steel immersion chiller from NYBrewSupply to a 3/8" compression tee and hose bibb under the kitchen sink. I thought this was an easier route to go than messing around with an aerator conversion kit. It worked surprisingly well. I got down into the 80s in about 15 minutes, and brought it down to 65 in another 10. Racked to a carboy, shook the crap out of it, and then pitched my Wyeast 1728 starter.
I was super proud of myself when the refractometer read 1.065, spot on with the recipe
So there's my obligatory first brew thread.
I'm using a 20 gallon Bling-mann because I wanted to eventually go up to 10-12 gallon batches. I used Beersmith to convert the recipe to a full boil, because 2.5 gallons in that pot would have been embarrassing. If any other noobs want some advice, here is what I did for a full boil:
1) Steep the specialty grains in 1.5 gallons of water in a smaller stovetop pot. I brought the water up to 164, wrapped in a towel, and the grain was at 153 when I pulled it out 30 minutes later.
2) I brought 5.25 gallons to a boil in the Blichmann and then added the specialty grain wort, bringing the volume up to about 6.6 gallons. I ended up with 5.4 gallons post-boil, with about 5 going into the carboy.
3) Adjust the hop schedule to 0.65 oz of Chinook at 60 minutes, and then 0.35 oz for each of the Gouldings additions to account for utilization for the full boil.
I hooked up a stainless steel immersion chiller from NYBrewSupply to a 3/8" compression tee and hose bibb under the kitchen sink. I thought this was an easier route to go than messing around with an aerator conversion kit. It worked surprisingly well. I got down into the 80s in about 15 minutes, and brought it down to 65 in another 10. Racked to a carboy, shook the crap out of it, and then pitched my Wyeast 1728 starter.
I was super proud of myself when the refractometer read 1.065, spot on with the recipe
So there's my obligatory first brew thread.
