First brew!

[Thomas_S]

I built a kegerator last year and have had some local breweries on tap. I always wanted to brew my own and finally got everything I needed.

Went with the AIH Bell's Oberon extract clone. Everything went smoothly. It took me about 3 hours from start to finished and cleaned up. Most time was spent heating and cooling (no wort chiller yet).

OG was 1.050, which is close to the 1.053 the kit advertises. May have put a touch too much water when topping off the fermenter.

Currently I am using a bottling bucket as a primary fermenter with a blow off tube. I probably don't need the blow off but I didn't want my first brew to blow the top. I plan on transferring to a 5 gallon keg late next week (as long as the FG is close). I know this will probably be too early but I don't think I can wait much longer for my first brew. I only have 1 tap currently and plan on brewing my next right away. It will have more time to sit and condition.

I will keep this post updated with my first brew progress.

And who doesn't like pics...

 

[ricshayne]

Transfer when it is done, not on a timeline. THIS is rule #1 you need to learn as a homebrewer. Other then that good luck and welcome to the obsession!

 

[mrgrimm101]

You have to learn to be patient and wait..fermentation is done when it's done..not based on a calendar. Make sure your FG readings are the same a couple days apart to make sure that your beer is done fermenting. I know you're excited, but unconditioned green beer does not taste nearly as good as conditioned carbed beer.

Congrats on your first brew!!

 

[ncbrewer]

Good luck with the brew.

 

[GHBWNY]

I plan on transferring to a 5 gallon keg late next week (as long as the FG is close). I know this will probably be too early but I don't think I can wait much longer for my first brew.

I concur with all the rest above. Don't hurry this. Time, you will find, is your greatest ally in brewing. It's all about the yeast. Those little critters have to finish eating, so give them time. You know how you'd feel if you were dining on a delicious steak and halfway through, someone came and took your plate away. Just sayin'...

And welcome!

 

[Thomas_S]

Fine fine . I will report back with gravity readings before I keg it and make sure they stabilize.

 

[aprichman]

Honestly you'd probably have the best luck to transfer that thing into the keg as soon as primary fermentation is done (i.e. hitting stable gravity). If you had a really healthy pitch of an aggressive yeast fermentation could easily be done in around 10-12 days. You could then use the keg for "secondary" fermentation if you keep it at room temp. Kegs are pretty much the ideal environment to keep beer in since you can purge the oxygen out of them.

Are you using temperature control for your fermentation? If you're not I would definitely give your beer at least 1-2 weeks to condition in the keg before you serve it, which will help the yeast clean up a bit from uncontrolled fermentation temps.

 

[Michigan_Wolfman]

Adventures In Homebrewing is a good home brew store, you really can't go wrong with any of their brew kits. +1 on the other comments regarding kegging it when it's ready, not when it's close to OG. Happy Brewing!

 

[Thomas_S]

Are you using temperature control for your fermentation? If you're not I would definitely give your beer at least 1-2 weeks to condition in the keg before you serve it, which will help the yeast clean up a bit from uncontrolled fermentation temps.

I am not. The location of the fermentation bucket is in an interior closet and the temp probably only swings a few degrees.

 

[aprichman]

I am not. The location of the fermentation bucket is in an interior closet and the temp probably only swings a few degrees.

Fermentation throws off a lot of heat which can heat a bucket up 5-10F when things get going. Do you have a thermometer that you are monitoring the temperature with? Usually stick on ones are popular choices since they are only a few bucks and are fairly accurate. You want your buckets temperature to stay around 60-70F for most ale yeasts. If your ambient temps in the closet are around 54-62F you are probably okay. Even if you are within those temp ranges I highly suggest using a swamp cooler. You can make one with a plastic bin, a T-shirt, and water. It helps lower your beers temp a few degrees below ambient AND keep the beer at a more steady temperature by providing more thermal mass. My beers hugely improved when I started using a swamp cooler and improved again when I started using a controlled fermentation chamber.

 

[ncbrewer]

Even if you are within those temp ranges I highly suggest using a swamp cooler. You can make one with a plastic bin, a T-shirt, and water. It helps lower your beers temp a few degrees below ambient AND keep the beer at a more steady temperature by providing more thermal mass.

A popular variation on the swamp cooler is to add bottles of ice for cooling - this can be with or without the T-shirt. You can select the temperature that way, rather than go with whatever temp it naturally settles to. I don't use the T-shirt because I use a bucket, and the T-shirt doesn't seem sanitary.

 

[aprichman]

A popular variation on the swamp cooler is to add bottles of ice for cooling - this can be with or without the T-shirt. You can select the temperature that way, rather than go with whatever temp it naturally settles to. I don't use the T-shirt because I use a bucket, and the T-shirt doesn't seem sanitary.

Yeah, I used ice bottles and a water bath for a long time. When I added a t-shirt it made the system even better. Granted I did have a carboy which is a great shape for a t-shirt to slip over. I added a couple of teaspoons of bleach to the water in the swamp cooler - otherwise the water would get a little funky after 10 days

 

[Thomas_S]

I will look into this guys. Thanks for the input.

 

[Thomas_S]

UPDATE:

I took your advice and added a swamp cooler with a towel and ice packs. I fermented for 2 days before adding the cooler. At first I was just using ice packs in the water and then went to frozen milk jugs. The first day in the swamp cooler a stick on thermometer read 72 degrees. I notice the temps start dropping when I went to milk jugs. This morning it was at 62 degrees (4.5 days of fermentation). The air lock has really calmed down as well.

 

[aprichman]

Sounds like you've found a pretty good system. I'd let the temps free rise to around 66 - 68F and try to hold the temperature around there until you check gravity, if you have the tools to do so. Once you hit terminal gravity there is no need to worry about temperature as long as you're holding below 80-90F