First Brew

[Becks]

Started with the Evil Ale from over at AHS in the form of a minimash. From their site "This brown strikes a balance between malt sweetness and hop bitterness. It is a darker beer without the expected bitterness." Includes Vienna, Crystal 60L, and chocolate grains. O.G. = 1.051. Approximately 5% ABV and I went for a bit of an alcohol boost to start. In addition other specs on it include;
Mini Mash - Liquid: 5 lb Liquid Malt Extract, 2.5 lb Base Grains, .75 lb Specialty Grains, White Labs British Ale Yeast. The hops were a mix of Brewers Gold and Kent Golding.
Lastly, having enjoyed some vanilla porters in the past I wanted to try the same thing but on the slightly lighter brown ale and as such threw 2 bourbon vanilla beans into the secondary.

Sat in the primary in my dark closet for 7 days and had developed a nice yeast cake when I checked. It has now been in the secondary in my dark closet for 6 days as of today.
I did have a bit of a problem with the autosiphon however; it seems the tubing I was sent was slightly too large to make a seal and as such killed an "auto" part of the siphoning. I ended up having to pump it by hand for every stroke of the process which seemed to aerate the beer a bit...not sure if that will affect the quality too much or not. You can see the amount of head that occurred due to the pumping.

Anyways I would love any input from you veterans!

In the pot

Primary

Secondary

 

[Mcbobs]

Looks great!

How much trub was left at the bottom of the primary when you racked to #2?

 

[Pappers_]

Becks, that foam in the secondary is a problem. That's a lot of oxygen. The general rule (which you probably already know) is that you want lots of oxygen before fermentation, but not afterwards.

The effects of oxidation (such as a cardboard taste) increase over time, so this might be a good reason to drink this beer early and fast.

Of course, beer can be quite forgiving and it might turn out just fine. But in the future, you don't want to aerate your beer like that post-fermentation.

 

[Becks]

There was probably just under an inch or so at the bottom of the primary. I neglected to say in my initial post that I used one pill of yeast food in the initial brew.

 

[Becks]

Becks, that foam in the secondary is a problem. That's a lot of oxygen. The general rule (which you probably already know) is that you want lots of oxygen before fermentation, but not afterwards.

The effects of oxidation (such as a cardboard taste) increase over time, so this might be a good reason to drink this beer early and fast.

Of course, beer can be quite forgiving and it might turn out just fine. But in the future, you don't want to aerate your beer like that post-fermentation.

Yep, sadly due to the malfunction in the auto siphon I couldnt really figure out a way to get it into the secondary without creating that air. Still quite peeved about that. Like you said I can only hope that the beer gods are in a forgiving mood!

On a side note, unless I can fix the autosiphon do you have any other suggestions for moving it from my secondary to the bottling bucket?

 

[Becks]

And one last question to boot;
The recipe which came with my kit says to keep it in the primary and secondary for 7 days each. Would it hurt to leave it in the secondary an extra week until my friend who is experienced with homebrewing is in town to help with bottling?

 

[Pappers_]

And one last question to boot;
The recipe which came with my kit says to keep it in the primary and secondary for 7 days each. Would it hurt to leave it in the secondary an extra week until my friend who is experienced with homebrewing is in town to help with bottling?

No, it wouldn't hurt, in fact, I almost never bottle beer before 3 weeks - usually longer.

As for your siphon, you can get a new piece of tubing that fits tight. Or you can use your tubing with a racking cane and just do a regular siphon (without the autosiphon to start it).

 

[Becks]

No, it wouldn't hurt, in fact, I almost never bottle beer before 3 weeks - usually longer.

As for your siphon, you can get a new piece of tubing that fits tight. Or you can use your tubing with a racking cane and just do a regular siphon (without the autosiphon to start it).

Excellent, Ill contact AHS about the siphon as well and see what they say.
Thanks for all the info, Ill post updates!