First time brewer.

[blueline_king]

I finally decided to brew a batch of northern brewers extract chinook IPA. Directions were easy to read and straight forward. I had one small boil over but caught it right as it was peaking the top of my kettle. One mistake I made right off the bat was not heating my syrup before hand to make it easier to get out the bottle. I should have also added some of the kettle water to the bottle to help dissolve the rest.

According to the directions I should have ended up with an OG of 1.053 but instead I ended up with 1.046. (I think). I believe this happened because I didn't get all the extract out of the bottle.

Once everything was in the fermenter and the yeast was added in, fermentation took off in just a few hours with my airlock going crazy. I kept the temp at or around 70° as recommended for the yeast.

Fermentation slowed drastically by 1.5 weeks and completely stopped at week 2 (today).

I took my FG reading and it came in at 1.008 so if I'm correct I should still have an ABV of 5%. The smell was just like you'd expect flat beer to be, but the taste was pretty incredible. Flat, bitter with a slight alcohol taste that coats the tongue. I will be adding in 1oz of chinook pellets for the dry hop in 3 weeks.

I'm going to attach pics of the readings so if I'm wrong, please inform me.

This recipe includes

.75lb Belgian cara 8
.25lb Briess caramel 120
6lb Pilsen malt syrup
1lb Pilsen dry malt extract
3oz chinook hops
Safale US-05 ale yeast

View attachment IMG_0658.jpgView attachment IMG_0711.jpg

 

[Deckers_Beers]

Yea, that looks right, 1.008. Pretty nice! Don't worry about the liquid extract issue, I did the same thing my first time using it.

You mentioned that you will be adding the dry hops in 3 weeks? If you're 2 weeks in, & you're already at that low of a FG, you're set. If I were you, I'd add your dry hops now, check the gravity again in 3 days, & if it's the same, you're good to bottle/keg.

You may want to give it one more week, just to give the yeast a chance to clean up the beer just a bit, however. If a beer is only 5%, but it's got a mouth-coating boozy flavor, it may still be a bit green. The yeast will most likely clean that up in 4 - 6 days, at least in my experience.

& there's lots of debate as to how long to leave hops in the fermentor. Leave them in too short of a time, & you don't get all the hop goodness you're looking for. Too long, & you get grassiness. I think rule of thumb is 3 - 5 days, normally, but personally I've left hops in beer for almost 3 weeks, & I didn't really get any grassiness.

Anyway, hope your beer turns out delicious, it looks great!

 

[ElJefeBrews]

Sounds like a successful first brew day. If you're getting noticeable alcohol presence at 5% then you might have fermented too hot. Was that 70 degrees fermentation temp or ambient air temp?

 

[blueline_king]

Sounds like a successful first brew day. If you're getting noticeable alcohol presence at 5% then you might have fermented too hot. Was that 70 degrees fermentation temp or ambient air temp?

I used a fermagraF° adhesive LCD thermometer attached to the side of my carboy. Since it was reading 70 I'm assuming that was my wort temp. I keep my stuff in my garage and it had stayed at this temp since then. View attachment IMG_1508658034.778763.jpg

 

[RM-MN]

I finally decided to brew a batch of northern brewers extract chinook IPA. Directions were easy to read and straight forward. I had one small boil over but caught it right as it was peaking the top of my kettle. One mistake I made right off the bat was not heating my syrup before hand to make it easier to get out the bottle. I should have also added some of the kettle water to the bottle to help dissolve the rest.

According to the directions I should have ended up with an OG of 1.053 but instead I ended up with 1.046. (I think). I believe this happened because I didn't get all the extract out of the bottle.

Once everything was in the fermenter and the yeast was added in, fermentation took off in just a few hours with my airlock going crazy. I kept the temp at or around 70° as recommended for the yeast.

Fermentation slowed drastically by 1.5 weeks and completely stopped at week 2 (today).

I took my FG reading and it came in at 1.008 so if I'm correct I should still have an ABV of 5%. The smell was just like you'd expect flat beer to be, but the taste was pretty incredible. Flat, bitter with a slight alcohol taste that coats the tongue. I will be adding in 1oz of chinook pellets for the dry hop in 3 weeks.

I'm going to attach pics of the readings so if I'm wrong, please inform me.

This recipe includes

.75lb Belgian cara 8
.25lb Briess caramel 120
6lb Pilsen malt syrup
1lb Pilsen dry malt extract
3oz chinook hops
Safale US-05 ale yeast

View attachment 418077View attachment 418078

Unless you left an awful lot of the malt extract in the bottle your OG was 1.053 or very close. Mixing the dense malt extract with the top off water is more difficult than most would believe and you got a sample that wasn't completely mixed. Next time use some hot water to rinse the last of the malt extract from the bottle as you want to get all the sweet sugars.

70 degrees would be near the top of the fermentation temperature for that yeast and it may have peaked at a higher temperature than you saw which will give you a "hot alcohol" taste. I try to keep my fermentation between 62 and 64 for that yeast.

Your fermentation was done by day 3 and cleanup was over by day 4 or 5. From then on your yeast and trub were settling an letting the beer clear. You probably had bubbles yet at 1.5 weeks but those were from the outgassing of the CO2 dissolved in your beer.

http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html

Congratulations on your first beer and may you make many more.

 

[flars]

You have had a successful brew day. My FG for the Chinook IPA is typically 1.007 to 1.008. I add the DME and almost half the LME at the beginning of the boil. Use hot wort to thin the remaining LME to add just before the 10 minute hop addition. Fermentation temperature starting at 66°F and free rising to max 68° to 69°F.

I'll dry hop as the beer begins to clear around 14 days. I dry hop this one for 7 days.

You will like this one. A really good session IPA.

 

[blueline_king]

So after I transferred to the secondary my volume dropped below 5 gallons. I'm assuming this is from it being moved off the top of the yeast and hop gunk on the bottom?

It's been in the secondary for a little over 24 hours and the little bit of yeast that transferred with it has settled to the bottom. I'm going to let it sit for 2 more weeks, dry hop for 1 then bottle and condition for 2.

 

[flars]

I would dry hop now since you have made use of the secondary and plan to bottle in one week. Longer times in the secondary for an IPA risks muting the hop flavor and aromas.

 

[kh54s10]

There is no need to wait. Dry hop it now for 3-7 days then bottle it. As soon as it has carbonated about 2.5 to 3 weeks at 70 degrees, start drinking them. IPAs are best drunk young. The hop aroma and flavor fade quickly compared to other styles.

If you wait you will be losing some of the IPA goodness.

I would go 10 - 14 days in primary, dry hop for 3-7 days then bottle it for an IPA. The longest I have gone is 2.5 weeks primary and 5 days dry hop.

 

[blueline_king]

Why do the directions say to do 2 weeks primary, 2-4 secondary and dry hop 2 weeks before bottling? If I dry hop now for 7 days then bottle, it's not gonna hurt anything?

 

[flars]

Unfortunately the recipes presented offer options some brewers still use but are not always necessary. Best is to ask or try experimentation. Asking about different options saves time though.

 

[blueline_king]

Alright so going off your guys recommendation, I added 1oz of chinook pellets to the secondary. I will let it sit for one week then bottle. What you think about sanitizing a coffee filter and rubber banding it to the end of the siphon hose to catch any stuff that gets sucked up while transferring to the bottling bucket?

 

[flars]

Alright so going off your guys recommendation, I added 1oz of chinook pellets to the secondary. I will let it sit for one week then bottle. What you think about sanitizing a coffee filter and rubber banding it to the end of the siphon hose to catch any stuff that gets sucked up while transferring to the bottling bucket?

A coffee filter would not allow much of a flow if hardly any. Two pictures attached of what I do. Not much makes it through the siphon if the trub layer is not disturbed and the siphon is kept out of the trub layer.

 

[blueline_king]

What kind of bag Is that?

 

[flars]

The bag was made from a fine mesh bag I found locally in the beer and wine making supplies. Sewn to about 1 × 6 inches. I think the material is nylon. The rest of the bag I used for BIAB in a small mash tun.

 

[RM-MN]

The bag was made from a fine mesh bag I found locally in the beer and wine making supplies. Sewn to about 1 × 6 inches. I think the material is nylon. The rest of the bag I used for BIAB in a small mash tun.

It could be nylon or polyester. Either work about equally good. Nylon will absorb water but polyester doesn't but the quantity is minimal.

 

[blueline_king]

Most of the hop particulates fell to the bottom of the carboy but there's still a good layer on top. It's super dark inside but transferred a beautiful pale gold. It's on my kitchen table and the thermometer is reading 74°. Was thinking about putting it back in the garage where it can stay cooler? It's about 65 out there.View attachment IMG_0721.jpg

 

[flars]

Temperature doesn't make too much difference now except for super hot or cold. Your kitchen temperature is okay. Garage temperature is good also if you don't have room in the kitchen. Move the fermentor back to the kitchen, if you bottle in the kitchen, the day before bottling for sediment to settle back down from being moved.

I tilt my carboy a couple of days before bottling. This increases the depth of the beer at the edge. Can carefully move the racking cane down as the level decreases to get more beer out.

Just enough beer left to protect the yeast for harvesting.

 

[blueline_king]

Bottled everything today after dry hopping for a week. Big difference between last week and today. They beer got much darker. From a pale gold to a dark gold. The smell is very strong. I know the smell but I can't think of what to call it. It's on the tip of my tongue. The flavor is pretty bitter and kind of reminds me of hop stoopid from lagunitas. Between what I spilled and what I didn't get out of the carboy I ended up with 6-6 packs and 5-22oz bottles. Some of the caps looked like they were on a little crooked on one side, hopefully it doesn't affect carbing.

 

[stodds]

Some of the caps looked like they were on a little crooked on one side, hopefully it doesn't affect carbing.

Post a pic of what you are calling a crooked cap. Out of everything you've mentioned to this point, I see no real issue. However, if your bottles aren't sealed, you may be creating a problem. Do they leak if inverted?

One other thing to mention, read up on transferring to secondary. Most of us simply don't do it any more. Search these forums, and you see the many reasons why.

Sounds like a successful brew -- Cheers!

 

[blueline_king]

View attachment IMG_0757.jpg

 

[flars]

Might be just reflection through the glass but the bottle looks like a twist off instead of one that had a pry off cap.

 

[blueline_king]

Might be just reflection through the glass but the bottle looks like a twist off instead of one that had a pry off cap.

Yea that's gotta be the reflection. These are all lagunitas bottles. They don't do twist off.

 

[soccerdad]

The directions blow

 

[blueline_king]

The directions blow

No more difficult to understand than a box of macaroni and cheese.

 

[blueline_king]

Transferred everything to the bottling bucket and realized I forgot to add the priming sugar first. I mixed it up and added to the bucket using the auto siphon to stir it in. Hopefully I got it stirred enough to evenly distribute for a good carb. Will check the first bottle in about a week and a half. Fingers crossed.

 

[stodds]

Wait. . . I thought it was already bottled. What did I miss?

 

[blueline_king]

Wait. . . I thought it was already bottled. What did I miss?

Idk probably the week dry hop

 

[blueline_king]

Popped the first bottle today after a week and a half or so. Had a nice sound when opened and bubbles came shooting to the top. Poured into a glass and the color was very nice but there was almost no flavor. It was like very bitter water with a flat beer hint to it. Anyone know wtf happened to my beer???

 

[blueline_king]

View attachment IMG_0810.jpgView attachment IMG_0811.jpg

 

[flars]

Try another in a week and then two to three days of refrigeration. You still have a very young beer. Needs a little more time at around 70° to 74°F to condition.

 

[blueline_king]

Okay I'll give that a try. The suspense is killing me. I just want to try the fruits of my labor. Lol

 

[flars]

Okay I'll give that a try. The suspense is killing me. I just want to try the fruits of my labor. Lol

I know how that feels. The single hop Chinook lasts though. I still have almost a full case in the frig bottled on 9/2.

 

[blueline_king]

Put another bottle in the fridge a few days ago and popped it open last night. This one had mild cabonation, zero head but the flavor was much better than the last bottle. I'm gonna give it another week or two to see if it gets more of a malty flavor. Once that happens, it'll be ready to drink.

 

[blueline_king]

Oh yea. Time was all she needed boys. Asked my wife to grab me a beer and she grabbed a HB instead of a lagunitas in the door. I was gonna let them set another day before testing but oh well. The carb was amazing hissss nice head in the neck and a beautiful 2" head in the mug. Head disappeared within a few min leaving a white ring around the edges. Flavor could use more maltiness. I don't know what this beer should taste like when done perfectly but as far as I'm concerned this was a major success.

 

[flars]

Congratulations. Something to consider. May have needed the extra day if the bubbles in the head were large and frothy. The head disappearing quickly when the bubbles are small and dense could mean there was some soap or rinse aid from the dish washer in the glass.

You have your own beer now. What's next?