What's the most precarious stage of homebrewing? To me, it's going from the hot side to the cold side. That all important period between the end of the boil and the start of fermentation.
I call it The Transition.
On the front end you have the hot side. A nice, long boil. You can kick back and relax a little. Maybe get some cleaning done. Toss in some hops every now and then.
On the back end you have fermentation the most hands-off stage of brewing. You did your job and it's now up to the yeast to work their magic.
In between you have The Transition.
Why is this phase so important? A handful of reasons:
Have your gear ready
It's amazing all the "little things" you need right after the boil. Just a sampling, ymmv:
I try to have all this gear ready before I start cooling. Otherwise, Murphy's Law states that something will go wrong, I'll get distracted, and will accidentally overchill the wort. Or forget to sanitize something.
It gives you peace of mind when you're chilling your wort and everything for the next step is in place, sanitized, and ready to rock.
Prepare for liftoff
This step, or steps I should say, have made the biggest difference in the quality of my beer. You need to set the ideal conditions for fermentation. Do so and your yeast will reward you. Don't, and they'll make you one bummed out brewer.
Here are the key steps to get ready for fermentation:
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Billy Broas heads up The Homebrew Academy, where you can find tips, videos, and online courses for brewing world-class beer at home. He's co-author of the book Craft Beer for the Homebrewer, a certified BJCP beer judge, and his beer philosophy is that "we should all be beer geeks, not beer snobs."
I call it The Transition.
On the front end you have the hot side. A nice, long boil. You can kick back and relax a little. Maybe get some cleaning done. Toss in some hops every now and then.
On the back end you have fermentation the most hands-off stage of brewing. You did your job and it's now up to the yeast to work their magic.
In between you have The Transition.
Why is this phase so important? A handful of reasons:
- You cool the beer, so it suddenly becomes susceptible to infection. You can no longer rattle off my favorite homebrewing phrase: "f*ck it, it's preboil." You actually gotta' be careful now.
- Yes, fermentation is mostly in the hands of the yeast. But like a good boss, you need to set your workers up for success. Fail to set the right conditions and your beer will pay the price.
- There's a lot happening. Depending on how well you prepared, it can be downright chaotic. I can't tell you how many times I've cooled to my pitching temperature only to realize I forgot to sanitize my fermenter. Or I forgot take my yeast out of the fridge. Or I still need to find that regulator that's been missing for weeks.
- Since it's the end of the brew day you're exhausted, and maybe even a little sloshed. It's VERY easy to forget something at this point. My best example of this was after one of those disastrous brew days when everything goes wrong. I was completely spent. And it showed, because I forgot to dump the 3 gallons of Star San out of the carboy before racking the wort into it. Oops.
Have your gear ready
It's amazing all the "little things" you need right after the boil. Just a sampling, ymmv:
- Fermenter
- Stopper and airlock
- Funnel
- Flameout hops
- Tubing
- Aeration equipment
- Spoon for whirlpooling
- HopRocket
- Thermometer
- Hydrometer & jar
- Beer thief
- Yeast
- Fermentation chamber, ready to go
I try to have all this gear ready before I start cooling. Otherwise, Murphy's Law states that something will go wrong, I'll get distracted, and will accidentally overchill the wort. Or forget to sanitize something.
It gives you peace of mind when you're chilling your wort and everything for the next step is in place, sanitized, and ready to rock.
Prepare for liftoff
This step, or steps I should say, have made the biggest difference in the quality of my beer. You need to set the ideal conditions for fermentation. Do so and your yeast will reward you. Don't, and they'll make you one bummed out brewer.
Here are the key steps to get ready for fermentation:
- Pitch enough yeast. This is a biggie. Use a yeast calculator like Mr. Malty to figure out how much you need. There are a lot of tips that could fit under this step that we don't have time for. In short: Only use clean, healthy yeast. Make a yeast starter. And step up your starter if you need to. If you're working with a monster starter, chill it for a few days and then decant the wort that's on top. You don't want to add nasty, oxygenated wort to your precious new batch.
- Aerate. Using pure oxygen is ideal, but if you don't have the setup then shake the hell out of the fermenter for at least 60 seconds.
- Pitching temperature. Pick a temperature and do your best to hit it. While chilling the wort, I know getting those last 5 degrees can brutal, but it can make a big difference.
- Fermentation temperature. You don't always ferment at the pitching temperature. A common practice is to let the beer free rise to a higher temp. It's a good idea to go into fermentation with a plan of what temps you want to hit.
***
Billy Broas heads up The Homebrew Academy, where you can find tips, videos, and online courses for brewing world-class beer at home. He's co-author of the book Craft Beer for the Homebrewer, a certified BJCP beer judge, and his beer philosophy is that "we should all be beer geeks, not beer snobs."
