I'm a homebrewer now...

[GreyRaven]

Well, with an extract + grain kit anyway.

But still, I just finished my first boil, chilled it down to 78 or so, pitched the yeast and closed it up. Remembered that I need the OG... Opened it up again, take the OG, found it matched the target for the recipe, and closed everything up again.

SWMBO has "listened" to me talk about this kit for days. I told her when I bought the 8 gallon pot to do the boil, and the wort chiller. But when I start setting up for the boil I discover that there is a difference between listening to me talk about it, suggesting books to read on the subject, and outright approval of the endeavor to make beer. "Why do we need beer?" she asked, more than once. I had to begin my boil process with a sincere apology, only to have her lean over the pot and comment on how good it smelled. I'm hoping this Belgian Ale kit delivers and she likes it. The dog takes up too much room on the couch with me, and I want to get back in my own bed.

 

[C-Rider]

Good to have SWMBO on your side.

Remember when you do an extract kit you CAN'T miss the OG stated w/the kit unless you mess up the volume.

 

[Qhrumphf]

My wife tolerates my brewing. That's about the most positive way of wording it. She doesn't drink beer, doesn't like beer, and we live in a very small apartment, and in all honestly I will readily concede that all the stuff I've acquired of the years (between gear, ingredients, bottles both full and empty, and current fermenters) eats up a sizable portion of our very precious space.

So I know where you're coming from.

 

[Michigan_Wolfman]

My wife isn't a beer drinker, but she accepts the fact that homebrewing is one of my hobbies. Always good to have SWMBO on your side.

 

[D-Train]

Congrats! My wife drinks my homebrew and has requested some styles, but I was kicked outside after my first brew. You're lucky to have her on board. I love the smell of boiling wort and hops. Boom!

 

[ol-hazza]

SWMBO in my house is about to own half of it, I dread what's going to happen to what remaining territory I claim as my own.

 

[ol-hazza]

oh and "ONE OF US, ONE OF US, ONE OF US!!"

 

[Biscuits]

Congrats, welcome, and good luck with winning over the SWMBO! My wife is a beer fan, but also likes the money to be spent on "necessities"....every so often I whine and whimper enough to get her to let me spend way too much money on brewing stuff....it keeps us both happy in the long run.

 

[joshesmusica]

Well, with an extract + grain kit anyway.

But still, I just finished my first boil, chilled it down to 78 or so, pitched the yeast and closed it up. Remembered that I need the OG... Opened it up again, take the OG, found it matched the target for the recipe, and closed everything up again.

SWMBO has "listened" to me talk about this kit for days. I told her when I bought the 8 gallon pot to do the boil, and the wort chiller. But when I start setting up for the boil I discover that there is a difference between listening to me talk about it, suggesting books to read on the subject, and outright approval of the endeavor to make beer. "Why do we need beer?" she asked, more than once. I had to begin my boil process with a sincere apology, only to have her lean over the pot and comment on how good it smelled. I'm hoping this Belgian Ale kit delivers and she likes it. The dog takes up too much room on the couch with me, and I want to get back in my own bed.

good job on getting started, take your wife to the liquor store (or grocery store if you're living in one of those nice states), and tell her to pick out a 6 pack of all different styles. figure out what she likes, and make sure you're brewing enough of what she likes in between what you're brewing for yourself.

but i am concerned about one part of your post. next time you're gonna wanna pitch much, much cooler (even if you have ferment temp control, still wanna be pitching below 72), like around 66-68.

 

[GreyRaven]

but i am concerned about one part of your post. next time you're gonna wanna pitch much, much cooler (even if you have ferment temp control, still wanna be pitching below 72), like around 66-68.

I learned the hard way on my first batch of mead not to pitch to hot. Had to buy a second pack of yeast to get it going. I hope I'm safe, because the well-written instructions in the kit said to pitch when temperature dropped below 80. I think it was down to 78 or 77 when I pitched. I will get it down farther next time.

Thanks everyone for the words of encouragement everyone. I did get to sleep in the bed last night to my relief and the dog's disappointment. I think I'm on parole, and have to make sure I get the wort chiller and brew pot washed and stored away when I get home from work tonight. My biggest fear is having an over-active fermentation while I'm at work and getting a call that the bucket exploded.

 

[joshesmusica]

That's too hot. Throw those instructions away, and never buy a kit from that company again. They're clearly idiots and don't deserve anybody's business. Next time ask here before you do something. Hell even get your recipes from here next time and buy only what's on the ingredients, even if the guy at the lhbs tries to sell you something else.

 

[Qhrumphf]

That's too hot. Throw those instructions away, and never buy a kit from that company again. They're clearly idiots and don't deserve anybody's business. Next time ask here before you do something. Hell even get your recipes from here next time and buy only what's on the ingredients, even if the guy at the lhbs tries to sell you something else.

I haven't bought a kit in a long time, but I recall most kits saying something similar (pitch when the wort is <80).

It's not good advice, but as far as I'm aware, doesn't matter who made the kit, most kit instructions are bad advice. Doesn't make the kit itself wrong, just means you shouldn't follow their instructions outside of the actual extract/grain and hop additions.

 

[joshesmusica]

I haven't bought a kit in a long time, but I recall most kits saying something similar (pitch when the wort is <80).

It's not good advice, but as far as I'm aware, doesn't matter who made the kit, most kit instructions are bad advice. Doesn't make the kit itself wrong, just means you shouldn't follow their instructions outside of the actual extract/grain and hop additions.

oh i wasn't saying that the kit itself was wrong. but some idiotic company just trying to make money off of the innocent new homebrewers by passing out very poor brewing procedures doesn't deserve a penny.

 

[Qhrumphf]

oh i wasn't saying that the kit itself was wrong. but some idiotic company just trying to make money off of the innocent new homebrewers by passing out very poor brewing procedures doesn't deserve a penny.

You missed the point. They all say that. Northern Brewer's kits say 78°F or lower. Should we never buy anything from Northern Brewer (well, given that you're on the other side of the pond I doubt you would anyway, but you get my point...)?

They say that because it's the lowest possible working common denominator, and the kit instructions are designed for someone who's never brewed before.

They're bad instructions, for sure. But that's ALL kits. So if you want to never buy from a company with instructions like that, you best avoid every homebrew shop out there.

That's what I'm on about. Just ignore the kit instructions and follow the proper procedure.

 

[joshesmusica]

You missed the point. They all say that. Northern Brewer's kits say 78°F or lower. Should we never buy anything from Northern Brewer (well, given that you're on the other side of the pond I doubt you would anyway, but you get my point...)?

They say that because it's the lowest possible working common denominator, and the kit instructions are designed for someone who's never brewed before.

They're bad instructions, for sure. But that's ALL kits. So if you want to never buy from a company with instructions like that, you best avoid every homebrew shop out there.

That's what I'm on about. Just ignore the kit instructions and follow the proper procedure.

That's just bad logic. Admittedly a very American (I'm an American so don't get offended) mindset. "Everything's broken, so we will just get on with life and ignore the problems."

But I guess that's why I started doing proven recipes from on here from the beginning and buying ONLY the ingredients that I need.

People pulling scam-like bs should be called out. As consumers, we call them out by not purchasing their products. It is the consumer who has the power, not necessarily the business owner. If we don't buy their ****, they can't propagate more ****. If my lhbs does something shady then I will call them out (and sometimes they do: one time a guy tried to tell me that golden light and Munich extracts are basically equal, so I called him out right there and said he needed to do some more research maybe before he is allowed to give advice to the customers. Then proceeded to find someone else to help me.).

So no I didn't miss the point. I just think it's stupid to just let them continue with their scammy ways. But that's also why I denounce most kits and give people the advice to learn from all the great folks on here. Yes there are people on here who give bad advice, or at least not the best advice, and there are tons of opinions, but if someone came on here suggesting to just get it to 78 and pitch, there would be plenty of people calling the guy out. Right?

 

[joshesmusica]

But that is all off topic, so to the OP:
If you have temp control, there are a lot of people who say it's ok to get it down to at least 72f and then pitch the yeast.
Or there are just as many (maybe more?) who get it down to ferment temps, then pitch. But, this is especially important if you don't have a ferment chamber or at least really good control over your ferment temps.

 

[aprichman]

It's a Belgian Ale kit so temp control is probably not that big of an issue. Mostly depends on the strain of yeast but a lot of Belgian strains will do fine in high 70s / low 80s.

 

[GreyRaven]

Sigh. Seems I touched a nerve. Thank you all for taking me under your wing and providing guidance. There are two factors in favor of the kit makers:

1. They have a brick & mortar store and have to deal with unhappy customers face to face.
2. My wort is bubbling quite happily in just under 24 hours.

The instructions were written well enough by my standards (and I'm a professional technical writer) that I was willing to risk following them to the letter. So far, everything seems to be working just fine. They do say that the ferment should take place between 65 and 70 for best results. I'm trying to keep it in the mid to low 60s as much as I can. unfortunately, my BrewPi rig is already tasked to keeping the mead warm so I'm left with keeping it in a cool room downstairs that stays around 65.

Perhaps I should have been clear that they said to pitch when the temps dropped below 80. I think that signifies the upper range for the specific yeast. Would that be a safe assumption?

 

[kh54s10]

Sigh. Seems I touched a nerve. Thank you all for taking me under your wing and providing guidance. There are two factors in favor of the kit makers:

1. They have a brick & mortar store and have to deal with unhappy customers face to face.
2. My wort is bubbling quite happily in just under 24 hours.

The instructions were written well enough by my standards (and I'm a professional technical writer) that I was willing to risk following them to the letter. So far, everything seems to be working just fine. They do say that the ferment should take place between 65 and 70 for best results. I'm trying to keep it in the mid to low 60s as much as I can. unfortunately, my BrewPi rig is already tasked to keeping the mead warm so I'm left with keeping it in a cool room downstairs that stays around 65.

Perhaps I should have been clear that they said to pitch when the temps dropped below 80. I think that signifies the upper range for the specific yeast. Would that be a safe assumption?

65 degrees ambient should be good.

The argument is about directions. Almost all of them say to pitch when below 80 degrees. It is a pretty common idea that this is too warm. Even if you are cooling after pitching, it will take a long time to cool the wort from 80 degrees to mid sixties. With the exothermic action of yeast the added temperature might not be reduced until after fermentation stops. By then any damage that might be done has already occurred.

The best practice is to cool to your fermentation temperature then control that temperature. Mid sixties is best for most ale yeasts.

What Qhrumphf was saying and joshesmusica didn't seem to understand is that unless you don't buy kits at all it would be difficult to boycott because almost all kits say to pitch when the wort is below 80 degrees. So you would essentially have to boycott most ALL kits.

People have been complaining about poor instructions, at least since I started brewing in 2011, certainly much longer. Yet, the instructions stay the same.

 

[GreyRaven]

Good advice. I'll pay more attention to the guidance here next time.

So... A new question. My wort was bubbling quite vigorously for the first 36 hours (after a 24 hour start time) and now seems to have stopped. The room temperature may have dropped to closer to 60 degrees. Is it possible that the primary fermentation could have finished in 36 hours? I have seen plenty of advice here to measure SG over two or three days to see if it is stable and near target, but I am reluctant to open the bucket without a good reason and risk infection.

 

[GreyRaven]

So I re-read the instructions in the kit and they said that the fermentation can be complete in 1 to 3 days if it goes well, or up to two weeks in cooler temps. SO I opened the bucket and tested with the hydrometer.

Yup. I'm at the target SG of 1.012. I'll check again over the next few days to make sure it's stable and then bottle. Woot! I'm excited to try this brew. Next time I think I'll just have one batch in fermentation at a time so it can go in the BrewPi chamber.

 

[andy6026]

Ditch SWMBO... beer is better.

 

[aprichman]

36 hour fermentation? Get ready for some rocket fuel.

 

[GreyRaven]

Ditch SWMBO... beer is better.

Nah. Many reasons to keep her. Plus, she told me today she would rather have me make beer to have around for her to drink than wine. Besides, beer would never put up with me the way she has.

 

[GreyRaven]

So the FG stayed constant for a couple days in a row. I went ahead and bottled. Now I'm just nervous wondering if I did something wrong and if any bottles will explode. SWMBO is also a tad concerned about bottle bombs, but had this odd little smile when she said "but you'll clean those up, right?"

Gulp.

 

[Michigan_Wolfman]

So the FG stayed constant for a couple days in a row. I went ahead and bottled. Now I'm just nervous wondering if I did something wrong and if any bottles will explode. SWMBO is also a tad concerned about bottle bombs, but had this odd little smile when she said "but you'll clean those up, right?"

Gulp.

My advice to you.....just nod and smile. Like this....

 

[btbnl]

So the FG stayed constant for a couple days in a row. I went ahead and bottled. Now I'm just nervous wondering if I did something wrong and if any bottles will explode. SWMBO is also a tad concerned about bottle bombs, but had this odd little smile when she said "but you'll clean those up, right?"

Gulp.

Put the bottles in boxes and stack the boxes in hefty bags and there's barely any clean up even if something blows.

With a stable and reasonable FG there shouldn't be any reason for bombs though.

 

[joshesmusica]

So the FG stayed constant for a couple days in a row. I went ahead and bottled. Now I'm just nervous wondering if I did something wrong and if any bottles will explode. SWMBO is also a tad concerned about bottle bombs, but had this odd little smile when she said "but you'll clean those up, right?"

Gulp.

dang, so how long was this actually in the fermenter? did you taste those gravity readings? did you do any kind of cold crashing or to clear it up?

 

[Kharnynb]

36 hours is way short, even perfect controlled commercials don't work that fast...

Just because the acive phase is over, doesn't mean it is done yet.

Usually it is good to leave the beer on the cake for at least 2 weeks before even taking the first gravity measurement.

 

[joshesmusica]

Usually it is good to leave the beer on the cake for at least 2 weeks before even taking the first gravity measurement.

What is your definition of usually?
And if that's the case then why do some of the more experienced, and top brewers on this forum advocate differently?
Science doesn't even back this up, as the usual ferment time including the around 2-day cleaning up phase is around 9-10 days.
Mine are usually in the fermenter for two weeks total, maybe a little longer if I forget to dry hop in time.
It's not a set time frame or anything, just a "usually" takes that long. Anything longer is just conditioning.
And as far as taking gravity readings, as long is you do it in a sanitary way, and expose it to oxygen the least possible, it's not going to kill your beer to test more times. I wait until the active part of fermentation is done, test it. Ramp up the temps a bit, let it sit for a few more days, likely dry hop in this time frame if the recipe calls for it. Then make sure it's hit FG, wait a couple days, check again to be absolutely for sure. Cold crash, gelatin, package. Active part of fermentation can be done in 3-5 days depending on yeast. Getting down to FG and cleaning up another 3-5 days. Then cold crash and gelatin another 3 days.
Granted that is if you're pitching healthy yeast at the proper pitch rates and have ferment temp control, and a solid recipe. If I couldn't cold crash I would prolly wait another week, just cause I don't like a ton of yeast in my bottles. If you control those things properly, there should be no reason that it needs to condition so long in the primary for your average sized beer. It will condition in the bottle, or because gas is so expensive here, I use priming sugar in my keg as well. Either way it's still getting another couple weeks to condition after packing.