Going to do my first brew Wednesday.

masterfool101 · Jan 9, 2013

philly224 said:
Going to do brew round number 3 this weekend and I am going to try a full boil this time. I am trying do decide how many gallons of water to start with, last time I boiled 5 gallons and lost about a gallon during the boil. For a full boil should I go 6 or 6.5 gallons? I don't want to end up with too much.

I start with 6 gallons. I like to have room for top water, so I can use ice to cool the wort.

philly224 · Jan 12, 2013

I am going to brew this over the weekend.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/noble-trappist-ale.html

The instructions say to boil 1.5 - 2 gallons of water at the least but you should add more if you can. Do you think I'd be okay with a full boil? I am kind of confused about hop utilization, are these kits usually designed for full boils? Wouldn't that mean if you didn't do a full boil like probably a majority of the people getting extract kits like this it would not have the proper hop utilization?

masterfool101 · Jan 12, 2013

philly224 said:
I am going to brew this over the weekend.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/noble-trappist-ale.html

The instructions say to boil 1.5 - 2 gallons of water at the least but you should add more if you can. Do you think I'd be okay with a full boil? I am kind of confused about hop utilization, are these kits usually designed for full boils? Wouldn't that mean if you didn't do a full boil like probably a majority of the people getting extract kits like this it would not have the proper hop utilization?

You'll be best off with a full boil. But you'll be ok with 2-3 gallons. I wouldn't do less, unless you have to.

philly224 · Jan 12, 2013

masterfool101 said:
You'll be best off with a full boil. But you'll be ok with 2-3 gallons. I wouldn't do less, unless you have to.

I am just going to do a full boil then, I just wanted to make sure I didn't have to adjust the recipe at all. Thanks!

philly224 · Jan 14, 2013

I think I might have frigged up this batch.

I brewed this: http://www.midwestsupplies.com/noble-trappist-ale.html over the weekend and pitched with dry yeast when I got it cooled to about 70ish degrees. I had it fermenting in a room that stays right at about 68 degrees but the airlock is going all out and I think my temp my be a bit high. Think I should move the fermenter to my basement (usually about 55-60 degrees) or just ride it out at 68? Its been fermenting for about 24 hrs now.

masterfool101 · Jan 15, 2013

philly224 said:
I think I might have frigged up this batch.

I brewed this: http://www.midwestsupplies.com/noble-trappist-ale.html over the weekend and pitched with dry yeast when I got it cooled to about 70ish degrees. I had it fermenting in a room that stays right at about 68 degrees but the airlock is going all out and I think my temp my be a bit high. Think I should move the fermenter to my basement (usually about 55-60 degrees) or just ride it out at 68? Its been fermenting for about 24 hrs now.

Depends on your yeast. What is the recommended temp range? Note that with most Belgian ales, you actually WANT some of he esters that come with warmer fermentation. But it won't hurt to cool it down some. Just don't cool it too quickly, or the yeast can drop out on you.