First time brewing! Few questions please

[Luckylou]

Hello, after lurking on the forums and finally growing a pair to plunge into this beautiful art we call brewing, I have finally purchased my beginner brew kit! I was hoping you guys could go over my basic setup and answer a few questions so I have everything ready for my brew day. I plan on brewing outdoors, since its Cali and the weather isn't bad. I eventually want knowledge on both extract brewing and all grain, but till I learn the ropes I want to stick to extract. Also for now, 5 gal batches later on leading to 10g and so on :>

My Brew setup

- Sp10 outdoor single burner

- 15 gal SS kettle w/valve and thermometer (researched a lot before settling on this size, I plan on doing this quite often so figured I'd just get it out of the way)

- California Pale-Ale LME Beginner Brew kit from my LHBS, came with 2x 6.5 gal buckets (1 fermenter 1 bottling bucket) and the basics (hops, yeast, hydrometer, thermometer, ect.)

- 3/8'' x 25' copper wort chiller

along with a few minor things like some star san and SS mixing paddle and bottle caps.

A few questions would be -

1) Is my setup lacking in some way? If so, how can I improve it?

2) How do I go about brewing a 5g batch in a 15g kettle? Are there certain things I need to look out for/perform differently due to size? If so, like what?


Thanks for any feedback! :rockin:

 

[C-Rider]

I've never used a pot that big, but I don't think it will be a problem.
Leave it in the fermenter for 3 weeks and then begin to check for stable FG.
Don't forget to take your SG but since it's an extract kit it will be what ever the kit says. You may get a low reading because the top off water is not mixed well but that's no problem
Get a "Racking Cane" to transfer to the bottlling bucket. Don't even think about a secondary since you are doing a pale ale.
Be sure you sanatize everything really good after the boil.
Keep records of everything you do and times.
Good LUck.

 

[Luckylou]

I've never used a pot that big, but I don't think it will be a problem.
Leave it in the fermenter for 3 weeks and then begin to check for stable FG.
Don't forget to take your SG but since it's an extract kit it will be what ever the kit says. You may get a low reading because the top off water is not mixed well but that's no problem
Get a "Racking Cane" to transfer to the bottlling bucket. Don't even think about a secondary since you are doing a pale ale.
Be sure you sanatize everything really good after the boil.
Keep records of everything you do and times.
Good LUck.

Thanks for the feedback C-Rider! I will definitely keep an eye on my time and S/FG. As far as the racking cane goes, I did consider buying one but I plan on using the valve that's incorporated in the kettle and a durable tube to transfer into primary. Basically set kettle on higher ground and let gravity do its thang! Would this be ok? I do plan on buying a cane in the future though.

 

[Vespa]

After your boil and cooling, you will use the valve in the kettle to drain the wort into the primary fermentation bucket. The racking cane (or autosiphon) would be used after primary fermentation to transfer the uncarbonated beer into your bottling bucket. When I do this, I have a cooled solution of priming sugar in the bottling bucket. The siphoning allows the solutions to mix without adding too much oxygen into the solutions and provides the sugars the beer needs to bottle carbonate. I'd also recommend a beer thief for taking hydrometer samples. Have fun!

 

[Luckylou]

After your boil and cooling, you will use the valve in the kettle to drain the wort into the primary fermentation bucket. The racking cane (or autosiphon) would be used after primary fermentation to transfer the uncarbonated beer into your bottling bucket. When I do this, I have a cooled solution of priming sugar in the bottling bucket. The siphoning allows the solutions to mix without adding too much oxygen into the solutions and provides the sugars the beer needs to bottle carbonate. I'd also recommend a beer thief for taking hydrometer samples. Have fun!

Sweet thanks for the feedback Vespa! Once the rest of my equipment gets here (darn shipping!) Ill hop on getting my self a racking cane. Quick question, whens it best to use an auto siphon, a racking cane, and a blow off tube? Should I invest in all three or do they all do the same thing and its preference? Thanks again!

 

[WeBrew2]

Sweet thanks for the feedback Vespa! Once the rest of my equipment gets here (darn shipping!) Ill hop on getting my self a racking cane. Quick question, whens it best to use an auto siphon, a racking cane, and a blow off tube? Should I invest in all three or do they all do the same thing and its preference? Thanks again!

I've only done a handful of brews but I think i can field this one. I believe an auto siphon is basically a type of racking cane, ( maybe i'm confusing the name with the bottling wand). The auto siphon gets the beer flowing from one container to the other pretty easily, I got one in my starter kit, and honestly I love it. Its super easy to move liquid from on container to the next, i think they are in the $10 range, and it gets used multiple tomes for every brew.

I don't know if you have a bottling wand, but you'll need that too if you plan to bottle, its a simple device that when you press the tip against the bottom of a bottle, beer comes out, and when you pick it up, the beer stops flowing. Easy peesy.

As for the blow off tube, well its just a thick tube. You could easily get it at the hardware store, and probably for practically nothing. Its purpose is basically toallow the kreusen (spelling?) to escape if its building up to the point of bursting out of your airlock. You just cram one end of this ~2-3 foot length of tube in the carboy or bucket and then place the other end in a bowl/small container of water (below the level of liquid in the carboy/bucket). In my case we use an old vase of my wifes and fill it part way with some starsan and water (in the prescribed ratio) and put in on the floor next to the carboy, i'm ure there are much better desceiptions and pictures of how to set up a blow off tube out there. Not all brews will need a blow off (out of about 7 brews i would say we've use it 3 times, but often you don't know until you see the kreusen about to climb into your airlock). Considering the low price either buying it at whoever you get your supplies from, or just getting the right sized tubing at your hardware store) i would argue its well worth the nearly non existent cost.

 

[BamaProud]

Ditch the Hydrometer and get a Refractometer. I haven't even brewed with mine yet, just played around with it and I'm already sold.

I also recommend Autosiphon and a spring tip bottle filler.

 

[Schol-R-LEA]

Ditch the Hydrometer and get a Refractometer. I haven't even brewed with mine yet, just played around with it and I'm already sold.

Unfortunately, it isn't that simple a question. While the refractometer is great for the staged readings during brewing, and for getting the original gravity, it cannot be used to get the gravity of the fermented beer because the presence of alcohol will throw it off. The refractometer is designed to take readings of the density of sugars in a water solution; but since alcohol is much less dense than water, but has virtually the same refractive index, a reading in a solution with alcohol in it will invariably come out too high.

It's a terrible shame, too, as the refractometer is so much better than the hydrometer in so many ways - it is quicker, easier to read, more accurate, is temperature independent, and uses a tiny fraction of the sample size the hydrometer requires. But it just doesn't work with alcohol.

Some people claim that they can calculate the correct gravity from a fermented sample, but AFAIK, those calculations aren't consistently accurate - and you need to know the OG to make the calculations. If anyone else can comment on this, please do so.

Previous thread on refractometers
Video on using the refractometer and the hydrometer

 

[BamaProud]

Hmmmm, well then I can still use my refractometer to check OG and to make sure fermentation has ceased. For FG I suppose I will give it a try using the calculators but verify a few brew with the hydrometer. Thanks for the information.

 

[unionrdr]

The autosiphon is def easier to use than a racking cane. you just pump it to get the flow going. The racking cane needs sucktion of some kind to work. And a bottling wand is def needed to fill bottles without oxygenating the beer. I prefer the old fashioned hydrometer to get gravity readings. No math involved with it insomuch as getting a reading is concerned.

 

[Pelican521]

+1 on the auto syphon and bottling wand. U don't want to start a syphon with a mouthful of bacteria ;(

You may also want to pick up a floating thermometer since it sounded like your thermometer is built into your kettle. I found if you doing a smaller boil to start with an extract kit (2-3 gal) the wort isn't high enough to reach the thermometer. Fill it with just water that your kit calls for and check.

Another awesome thing to get for about 7 bucks is a wallpaper tray to soak your auto syphon and any long pieces in sanitizer.

And while you're at it, get the 4 dollar auto syphon clip that clips on your bucket and holds the auto syphon for hands free operation-best $4 spent.

That's all I can think of for now...

 

[unionrdr]

Good ideas for the odds & ends. forgot about those...more coffee is in order...
Like the floating thermometer,I love that thing! I made a noose out of 3-4 twist ties (ok,ok,I admit saving them!),& hang the floater from one of the pots handles in side the paint strainer bag rolled over the lip of the BK/MT. It's great for this,as it allows me to get the lid on the kettle closed right to hold temp during the mash. I got a guage type thermometer to clip onto the sparge water kettle to monitor those temps.
Wish I'd thought of the autosiphon clip too. The wallpaper tray is a great idea for long stuff that needs sanitizing right before use.
Another couple things I've learned are handy is a cheapy store rubber mallet to tap the bucket lids down tight. Got tired of wailin away bare-handed. Not to mention,throbbing finger tips from trying to pry them off. Midwest has a bucket lid prying tool for a couple bucks that you pry the lids loose with. I got one now,& will be trying it in maybe a week. It's the little things that make brew/bottling day easier & faster.
Like the bottle washer that hooks up to the faucet with an adapter. Faster easier cleaning bottles. The black Fermtech one also has a protrusion for cleaning tubing on the end of it as well.

 

[Luckylou]

Wow such great feedback, thanks to the lot of ya! And cheers! I will definitely look into the auto siphon and clip aswell as the wallpaper tray, they sound like great assets to any brew equipment set.

Also thanks for better describing the differences of these tools as I was somewhat confused, but all good now! I guess I asked because I heard its a bad idea to use an auto siphon with hot wort and that when working with hot wort a racking cane (copper or SS) was best. But I plan on buying the right size tubing for my valve(with hose clamps) and setting it up higher than my primary to just rack into. By the time I want to rack it to either a secondary or carboy, the temperature shouldn't be a problem for the auto siphon anyways.

Still I don't see anything wrong with investing in a racking cane/blow off tube, could be useful in a tight spot, so ill look into that too. O and as for the bottling wand, my brew kit came with one so were good on that

Does anyone know if you can buy one of those bottle rinsers and the instrument you use to check the PH levels of your star san/water solution can be bought at any typical hardware store? Or am I better off buying them online?

Again thanks for all the great tips and comments guys, each day a piece of my set up gets here and each day I get closer to my brew day! Can't wait!

 

[BamaProud]

I am no expert brewer, but I don't know why you would be transferring hot wort. I think most of us cool the wort in the brew pot before transferring to the fermenter. I don't even own a steel racking cane.

If you don't have a local HB store, online a great option. Midwest Supplies or Northern Brewer are popular.

*Good idea on the wallpaper tray.

 

[TroyMorgan]

I am no expert brewer, but I don't know why you would be transferring hot wort. I think most of us cool the wort in the brew pot before transferring to the fermenter. I don't even own a steel racking cane.

You really shouldn't rack hot wort. If using an auto siphon, you will melt it. If using a metal cane or just pouring you run into other issues. Plastic ferm bucket may leach harmful chemicals into your brew and if racking into glass carboy it's much tougher to cool your wort quickly, which is your goal. Cool your wort in your kettle and you will be much better off.

 

[gwapogorilla]

2) How do I go about brewing a 5g batch in a 15g kettle? Are there certain things I need to look out for/perform differently due to size? If so, like what?


Thanks for any feedback! :rockin:

Like you, I just jumped into the hobby. And, like you, I jumped into full volume boils with a large pot. But, I'm in Iowa and tried my first batch on a stove top due to crappy weather...it doesn't work so well. Since you are in Cali you already have a nice advantage.

You propane burner will be a big help. Your exact evaporation rate is yet to be determined. If I were you, I would fill your vessel with 6 gallons of water and heat it to a hard rolling boil. Once you hit that boil, start a timer for 60 minutes. This will simulate a 60 minute boil for when you actually brew. As soon as 60 minutes hits, turn off your burner, dunk your chiller into your boil and cool your water down to 70*F. Then measure how much water you have left. That will give you the amount of water you boil off in 1 hour...it will help you plan volumes down the road.
I wish I would have done that...I did not. I learned a lot the hard way when I did my first batch, just 2 months ago.
1st, evaporation does take place...figure yours out as everyone's is different.
2nd, figure for cold break loss. I have about 10 cups of cold break per batch(.625 gallons)
3rd, figure for fermentation trub loss. Again, I lose about 10 cups.
4th, figure for grain absorption loss...this depends on the amount of grain you use.
5th, SANITIZE THE HECK OUTTA STUFF!!

Once you know how much water you need, the rest is actually pretty simple.

 

[Schol-R-LEA]

You really shouldn't rack hot wort. If using an auto siphon, you will melt it. If using a metal cane or just pouring you run into other issues. Plastic ferm bucket may leach harmful chemicals into your brew and if racking into glass carboy it's much tougher to cool your wort quickly, which is your goal. Cool your wort in your kettle and you will be much better off.

Agreed. The only reason to rack hot wort out of the kettle is if you are using a counterflow chiller or a plate chiller.

 

[Luckylou]

Sorry for the late replies, was busy at work. Good points on the hot wort racking, chilling it then racking shouldn't be a problem.

Also thanks gwapogorilla on those tips! I will definitely be checking out how much water evaporates and such.