First Timer!! Cross your fingers!

[Lineman22]

Hey guys, I've been reading here for a while and I finally got my stuff in this weekend. Giving my first try at northern brewers sierra Nevada clone extract kit. I know I messed up in a lot of different ways so ill just be amazed if I get anything worth drinking this round. Lol.

Started off steeping half pound spec grains in little over gallon and adding to 4 gallons in pot. Brewed 60 mins and hop additions according to schedule but schedule was based on 2.5 gallons so I'm not sure how bad I screwed that up. Lol. dropped thermometer in fermentor just prior to pitching yeast! Pitched us 05 at about 78 degrees and several hours later temp is still 76*. Hopefully it wont hurt to have wort take so long to reach ambient temp of 65*. No gravity readings for u guys. Hopefully next batch I will have hydrometer.

Any fatal mistakes?

 

[GeorgiaTiger]

Domt sweat it. RDWHAHB!

You made BEER!

 

[Channel66]

Sounds like beer to me. You dun good grasshopper. Relax! Have a..micro brew. Remember patience is your friend from here on out. Let it be for 3-4 weeks try to keep your temp stable but otherwise forget you even brewed it. And after bottling day same thing, don't go tearing into it too early.

 

[Lineman22]

Ten Four, thanks guys! I'll be hopin for the best if nothing else at least I had a lot of fun right! I though about racking into seconday at two weeks but I may just leave this one alone

 

[GeorgiaTiger]

Secondaries are not necessary...just leave it in the primary and bottle from there. No such thing as secondary...its ALL primary!

 

[RM-MN]

Set your fermenter in a tub of cold water and add ice if necessary. You want the wort to be cooler so your yeast doesn't go crazy and throw off some fusel alcohol and funky tasting esters. Try to get the fermenter down to the low 60's.

 

[Lineman22]

Awesome. Sounds good. Now just to decide on what my next batch will be!

 

[GeorgiaTiger]

Ill agree about the esters..banana beer is terrible!

 

[masskrug]

You pitched a tad bit hot, but it is fine. What are you fermenting in? How will you control the temperature during fermentation? Let that sucker sit for 3 weeks at 65' and I'm sure it will be fine to bottle.

 

[CatHead]

Just finished my second and drinking my first few of my first batch. During my first batch I was using profanities every two minutes and it still turned out OK. Only had a couple of minor problems today so it went a lot better. My biggest piece of advice is watch fermentation temps., because mine got a little hot before I caught it and I think it caused a little off flavor but it's still pretty good.

 

[CatHead]

Ill agree about the esters..banana beer is terrible!

What if it is a nut brown ale then you could call it banana nut ale.

 

[GeorgiaTiger]

hmmmm....If I could figure out how to do a banana split beer, Id be set.

 

[Lineman22]

Just checked it again and it's still dropping. 73* and room temp was 67. I closed the vent in this room a little earlier so I hope it will drop a little more. I've read on here that the yeast will make it's own heat though. How much difference can I expect it to be. I'm fermenting in a 6.5 gal bucket in fiberglass bath tub if u wanted to know that also. Lol. Is this going to be too warm?

 

[GeorgiaTiger]

You can expet a 5-10 degree swing, I think. All three of kine was 5 degrees hotter in the bucket than the ambient temp. Swamp cooler for me on my net one.

 

[Lineman22]

My basement is currently staying about 58 degrees. Would this be a better location or is it just too cool for ale yeast?

 

[RM-MN]

As the yeast eat the sugars they throw off heat as a byproduct. How much heat they throw off is dependent on how fast they eat. I found that with ambient temperature at 62, the fermenter would be at 65 but I suspect that if your room was 65 the beer would be near 70. With temperatures in the low 70's the yeast will eat sugars faster and your fermenter could be in the low 80's and that for sure is too warm.

You only need to keep the fermenter cool until the yeast eat most of the sugars, usually 3 to 4 days. After that it can be beneficial to warm the beer up to the low 70's to encourage the yeast to complete the last of the sugars and break down the byproducts of the fermentation process.

 

[RM-MN]

My basement is currently staying about 58 degrees. Would this be a better location or is it just too cool for ale yeast?

That might be a little too cool but as your beer (it was wort until you pitched the yeast) is a little warm it might work out for a couple of days, until the yeast settles down. Then you need it warmer.

 

[Lineman22]

Well I moved it to the basement and sat it in the box my brew pot came in. I've got a small space heater goin knocking the temp up to 61 and a thermometer in the box is saying about 64 and about the same on the fermometer on the side of the bucket. I think the temps will stay more constant also so I think it was a good move.

I just may end up with a decent beer if I could ever just keep my damn newbie hands off of it! Haha. It will be a miracle though after all the moving temp changes and YES I EVEN PEEKED! :smack:
Beautiful krausen though.

No more messin with it though. It's finally out of my system Now I just hope I don't have to try and drink five gallons worth of infection. Because I will!

 

[GeorgiaTiger]

Set it and forget it. Lol