How hard could making beer from a kit be?

[porterguy]

OK, TOTAL rookie beermaker here. Let's see...

-kept collapsing the copper tubing while making a wort chiller (before even trying to make a batch of beer). And yes, I used a tube bender, just not very effectively).

-Mt. Vesuvius boilover .3 seconds after adding bittering hops.

-Overflow not only covered half the stove but dripped through the floor into the basement and onto the dryer.

-spilled some (unboiled) water out of the airlock into the brew. (so maybe infecting my brew?

So... Can anybody top this initial foray into home-brewing?

 

[wcarter1227]

OK, TOTAL rookie beermaker here. Let's see...

-kept collapsing the copper tubing while making a wort chiller (before even trying to make a batch of beer). And yes, I used a tube bender, just not very effectively).

-Mt. Vesuvius boilover .3 seconds after adding bittering hops.

-Overflow not only covered half the stove but dripped through the floor into the basement and onto the dryer.

-spilled some (unboiled) water out of the airlock into the brew. (so maybe infecting my brew?

So... Can anybody top this initial foray into home-brewing?

1 Welcome to the obsession and to HBT.
2. DIY projects are always fun, you will find that from here on out every time you go to the hardware store you will see something that you could use for brewing, it gets pretty costly.
3. Boil overs are a pain in the a$$, wait til you get a good hot break before adding the hops, turn off the flame and then add them.
4. As for infection, i wouldnt worry about a little unboiled water, its really hard to mess up beer, yes it happens but still pretty hard. A lot of folks use extract kits and top off with cold water afterwards and have outstanding beer.

Relax, it will be all good

 

[dfc]

My second brew I was having trouble getting a rolling boil so I ended up having to throw a bunch of wood in my grill and finishing the wort on that. The bottling session for my first batch didn't go smoothly either. I spilled about 6 bottles worth of beer onto my dining room floor before I realized the spigot on my bottling bucket was open. Then when I put the cap on my first bottle I realized I hadn't actually added the priming sugar. Haha, rookie mistakes, man. You'll get better.

 

[2morrow]

The only thing I can add is I was paranoid about cooling down the wort as quick as possible. A buddy and I a brewed together (2 seperate batches) and ran out of ice for the sink. I sprinted 3 blocks to get ice and then back again to get that wort cooled down. Definitely a RDWHAHB moment.

 

[Beer_Maker]

If you can boil water you can make beer... If you can't boil water you can make wine...

Welcome to the obsession!

As you get a little experience things will get smoother. Boil overs happen. Keep a squirt bottle handy to calm it down when you make it angry. Like dfc said, try to let the protein break before you add the first hop addition. Might mean you boil for a little longer, but it could save you time in clean up.

And the next time you try and bend copper, try and roll it around something.... A Corney keg works great! But since you probably aren't into kegging yet check your local home brew store, my LHBS let me bring the copper tubing in and use one of their kegs to roll it around. If that isn't an option find something that is round and smaller in diameter than your kettle.

 

[Begin2Brew]

OK, TOTAL rookie beermaker here. Let's see...

-kept collapsing the copper tubing while making a wort chiller (before even trying to make a batch of beer). And yes, I used a tube bender, just not very effectively).

-Mt. Vesuvius boilover .3 seconds after adding bittering hops.

-Overflow not only covered half the stove but dripped through the floor into the basement and onto the dryer.

-spilled some (unboiled) water out of the airlock into the brew. (so maybe infecting my brew?

So... Can anybody top this initial foray into home-brewing?

Sounds to me like you'll have 4.5 gallons of beer in a few weeks!

 

[DrunkbobSanspants]

I wouldn't worry about unboiled water in the wort. I had something similar happen to me and didn't have an infection.

I needed to take a gravity reading. In order to do that, I had to remove the lid on the fermenter bucket. I could not remove the lid without some sort of prying tool and the fermenter bucket was sitting on the case that had all my crowbars and stuff like that. So as I lift the bucket with the bucket handle, It creates a suction that sucks a bunch of water from the airlock into the beer. The water in the airlock was straight out of the tap; it had been sitting in there for 10 days.

 

[jaycount]

FWIW though I'd either put sanitized water or cheap vodka in the airlock to make it a mute point. Although it seems to have happened to quite a few folks without any adverse effects

 

[buffalobrewer]

sounds like you need a turkey fryer to move it outside.....

 

[sweet_corn]

I typically use water straight from the tap. Probably sucked in every 5 batches or so. No issues so far.

 

[Bassman]

Beer Maker,

for some reason I like your avatar.

Regards,

Bassman

 

[superjunior]

hey Porter, most folks don't try to make a wort chiller before their first batch of beer - Salute welcome to the madness, your gonna do just fine bro

 

[Beer_Maker]

Beer Maker,

for some reason I like your avatar.

Regards,

Bassman

Why would someone who names himself after a fish like an f Clef?

 

[Bassman]

Why would someone who names himself after a fish like an f Clef?

I always thought it was the Fish Clef, not the F Clef.

 

[porterguy]

Thanks for all the input. My brewpot is only 20.5 quarts, so that didn't help any. I was thinking the turkey friar route, too. Can you generate enough heat to keep a boil going ouside in a Chicago winter? I have an unheated (detached) garage. What's a realistic price for a turkey friar? I'm okay with a craigslist or e-bay version.

 

[RM-MN]

I tried out my turkey fryer today. Outside temperature where the fryer was sitting, 30 degrees, light breeze. Water at 50 at start and almost exactly 1 hour later I had a rolling boil with the lid on. Removed the lid and turned the burner to low and maintained the boil just fine.

 

[NorthRiverS]

Pop the airlock out first and cover with a paper towel.............No suck back issues.......

NRS