I'm going to do my first brew tomorrow!

[MajorJC]

I bought a kit at my LHBS, BrewHaHa in Jackson, MS. It is a Brewer's Best kit for American Pale Ale. I'll post some pictures of my brew tomorrow.

 

[VirginiaHops1]

One of the first brews I did(2nd actually) was a Brewers Best kit, the double IPA. One thing I wish I'd done differently is not dump in all the LME at the beginning of the boil. There's lots of information here on adding most of your extract late in the boil, which helps with color and flavor. Mine turned out much darker than it should've. Good luck and have fun

 

[RM-MN]

I'd say that was a good place for you to start. Brewer's Best kits may not be the best kits but they make good beer. One thing to be aware of is that for the best flavor you do need to control the temperature during the early part of the ferment to avoid off flavors. Low to mid 60's F. for the first 4 to 7 days would be good, then allowing the beer to warm to the 70's to finish works for me.

 

[MajorJC]

One of the first brews I did(2nd actually) was a Brewers Best kit, the double IPA. One thing I wish I'd done differently is not dump in all the LME at the beginning of the boil. There's lots of information here on adding most of your extract late in the boil, which helps with color and flavor. Mine turned out much darker than it should've. Good luck and have fun

The instructions that came with my kit for the brew tells me to add 3.3lbs at the beginning of my boil and the other 3.3 pounds towards the end. Thanks for the advice.

I'd say that was a good place for you to start. Brewer's Best kits may not be the best kits but they make good beer. One thing to be aware of is that for the best flavor you do need to control the temperature during the early part of the ferment to avoid off flavors. Low to mid 60's F. for the first 4 to 7 days would be good, then allowing the beer to warm to the 70's to finish works for me.

Hmm, didn't know about the ferment temperature. I guess It'll have to be in my bedroom, which I keep in the 65 to 68 range for the first few days. Then move to the living room which is usually 72 to 74 to finish. Thanks for the advice.

I was planning on doing my brew early this morning but I overslept. It's too hot in the garage right now so maybe I'll do it late this afternoon or in the morning. Can't use my 200,000 BTU propane burner in the house.

 

[InkedkevUK]

I did my first one two weeks ago finished and primed into bottles now. Hooked as want to do a turbo cider now

 

[Ronald C Gregory]

I bought a kit at my LHBS, BrewHaHa in Jackson, MS. It is a Brewer's Best kit for American Pale Ale. I'll post some pictures of my brew tomorrow.

I just did my first batch today as well brewers best American amber ale. Went smoothly for me hope it all works out and it tastes as.good as the process went.

 

[eric_nelson29]

Good luck and have fun! If you have a friend or someone who has done it before, use them. Experience helps!

 

[RM-MN]

Hmm, didn't know about the ferment temperature. I guess It'll have to be in my bedroom, which I keep in the 65 to 68 range for the first few days. Then move to the living room which is usually 72 to 74 to finish. Thanks for the advice.

It may not be enough just to keep the fermenter in the bedroom as the yeast give of heat as they ferment your beer. It would be more likely to be at the proper temperature if you were able to set the fermenter into a tub of water to help keep the temperature in check. Otherwise your 65 degree beer could become your 75 degree beer (depending on the yeast and the OG of the beer) which will lead to off flavors.

 

[MajorJC]

It may not be enough just to keep the fermenter in the bedroom as the yeast give of heat as they ferment your beer. It would be more likely to be at the proper temperature if you were able to set the fermenter into a tub of water to help keep the temperature in check. Otherwise your 65 degree beer could become your 75 degree beer (depending on the yeast and the OG of the beer) which will lead to off flavors.

Hmmm, I may make a trip to Sam's in the morning and pick up that little 7 cu ft chest freezer they have for $180. I already have an Inkbird temperature controller that I ordered on Amazon a couple of weeks ago because I was planning on building a Keezer sometime this fall. A 7 cu ft should be big enough to use as a Keezer shouldn't it?

That way I can use it to ferment in until I get some kegs and the fittings to have beer on tap.

 

[Rivcyclist]

I bought a kit at my LHBS, BrewHaHa in Jackson, MS. It is a Brewer's Best kit for American Pale Ale. I'll post some pictures of my brew tomorrow.

My first brew 2.5 years ago was Brewers Best White IPA kit, turned out great and enjoyed it. My advice would be to be patient, and let the beer ferment all the way down, especially if you are bottling. Maybe 2 weeks in the fermenter minimum to burn off the diacetyl and prevent too many residual sugars roaming around. Have fun and let us know how it goes.

 

[MajorJC]

My first brew 2.5 years ago was Brewers Best White IPA kit, turned out great and enjoyed it. My advice would be to be patient, and let the beer ferment all the way down, especially if you are bottling. Maybe 2 weeks in the fermenter minimum to burn off the diacetyl and prevent too many residual sugars roaming around. Have fun and let us know how it goes.

Since I overslept this morning I didn't brew my beer kit like I had wanted. Hopefully I'll get it done tomorrow. I guess I should get off the forums and go to bed so I don't sleep late again. Thanks for the input, I've learned to be patient with my wines and mead, waiting a few weeks for beer will be easy.

 

[jturman35]

Tell Mac at Brewhaha I said hello! Small world!

 

[VirginiaHops1]

Hmmm, I may make a trip to Sam's in the morning and pick up that little 7 cu ft chest freezer they have for $180. I already have an Inkbird temperature controller that I ordered on Amazon a couple of weeks ago because I was planning on building a Keezer sometime this fall. A 7 cu ft should be big enough to use as a Keezer shouldn't it?

That way I can use it to ferment in until I get some kegs and the fittings to have beer on tap.

I bought a 6.9 cu ft chest freezer to use as a fermenter, and I'll probably eventually convert it to keezer. It really depends how many kegs you want to be able to fit, but that's big enough for me. I should be able to fit 3 corny kegs in mine, and probably a 4th smaller keg on the hump.

 

[Lefou]

A 7cuft. freezer with an InkBird controller is a great plan.
It was the pairing I'd originally planned on, but the wife beat me to the punch and purchased a wine refrigerator with a built-in thermostat with LED display that was on sale at BJ's for the same price as your Sam's freezer.
Good luck with the beer. My brew kit setup still uses a lot of my first purchase from Brewers Best.

 

[MajorJC]

So I went to Sam's Club this morning and bought a chest freezer and a few beers. My wife wanted those fruity sweet drinks. Thats ok, more beer for me.

I'm getting ready to sanitize my equipment for my brew and I have a question.

I have a 5 gallon bucket full of Star San that I mixed up about a month ago. It has been in the corner of my dining room with a snap on lid. Does this stuff lose potency over time? Should I mix up a new batch or will this be ok to use?

 

[Lefou]

If I were you, I'd use both One Step sanitizer for cleaning and StarSan in a spray bottle. Star San works best mixed in the proper amounts but can age if exposed to air. Cheap but useful spray bottles can be had at Dollar General stores if there's one near you. Capped and closed, a Star San solution can keep for weeks, if not months.
The best bet is to use One Step for dissolving organics and removing stains. It's an oxidizing base cleanser. StarSan is a great acid-based contact sanitizer and is good for surfaces and bottles after first hitting your stuff with One Step.

 

[Transamguy77]

I usually mix up star San in a 4 gallon bucket and just keep it with the lid on and use it till is gone, I’ve had a maybe a year before having to mix up some more.

Edit: it looks more like you went for a beer haul and picked up a freezer!

 

[MajorJC]

I usually mix up star San in a 4 gallon bucket and just keep it with the lid on and use it till is gone, I’ve had a maybe a year before having to mix up some more.

Edit: it looks more like you went for a beer haul and picked up a freezer!

I guess you can tell that I like Lazy Magnolia beer, and a friend of mine wanted me to try the Sierra Nevada and the Abita. He brews his own beer and has a kegging system. I asked him what I should brew for my first brew and he asked me what I liked. To be honest, I usually just buy the suitcase of Miller Lite, and when I told him that he laughed and said I need to start trying a lot of different beers to see what I was missing and to decide what I wanted to brew. So far my top two favorites are #1 Yazoo Sue Porter, which I tried on draft at the Blind Pig Pub in Oxford, MS, but I haven't been able to find in bottles. My #2 is the Lazy Magnolia Gulf Porter which I have only found in their Lazy Dozen Sampler, hence the four boxes in the photo above.

 

[MajorJC]

I was just reading the directions on my Brewers Best instruction sheet for my first brew.

It states to "Cool the wort down to approximately 70° by placing the brew pot in a sink filled with ice water."

So, this morning I ordered a "Hydra Immersion Wort Chiller" but I don't know how soon it will arrive and I'm eager to get my first brew done, so I'm planning on doing the ice bath thing.

How much ice do I need? I have one of those under counter ice machines that is rated at 50# per day, but it only holds about 9 pounds in its ice bin. Should I start bagging ice and putting it into my chest freezer to save some up, or maybe just go to the store and buy a few bags of ice.

Will I have to keep adding ice to the ice bath as it melts down?

Has anybody just used their small chest freezer as the "sink" for the ice bath and then drained it with the defrost drain in the bottom of the freezer?

Am I overthinking this? How critical is it to cool the wort quickly?

I know my first brew will not be perfect, but I do want it to be drinkable.

Thanks for the help everybody.

 

[MajorJC]

I just emptied out both my under counter ice maker and the ice maker in my fridge and almost filled a 5 gallon bucket.
Do I need more?

 

[davidabcd]

I just emptied out both my under counter ice maker and the ice maker in my fridge and almost filled a 5 gallon bucket.
Do I need more?

View attachment 584358

It is important to get the wort cooled quickly. It seems that your ability to bag ice from home is easiest and a fine solution, depending on when you will brew.
It's hard to guess exactly how much you'll need so better to have some backup ice.

 

[shoengine]

I didn't see what size of batch you were doing, but when I cooled my wort from boiling to pitching I went through four 10lb bags.

As far as the importance of getting to pitching quickly, most people seem to recognize that as desirable, however others have had success with dropping the temp slowly. The last few brews I've gone to pitching in about four hours from boil to no measurable effect. I've generally been pitching above 80°F as well.

 

[NGD]

Solid choice on the hydra. That thing is a beast! I'll deviate slightly from @davidabcd in saying you could leave it to cool naturally for 24hrs, but the chance of contamination likely goes up a bit as well as a few detrimental things I'm to foggy atm to remember. There's a been a few late night boils I didn't have enough ice on hand to cool properly to pitching temps. I just stuck the boil pot covered in my cooling chamber on cork pads, set the temp and walked away. It was ready in the morning and made great beer.

I would suggest minimum 30-40lbs of ice. You may have to drain the water from the sink once or twice.

I like the idea of using a chest freezer, but you would almost have to prefill and precool, and make sure your volume was such that when you added the pot it didn't raise the cooling water to high and contaminate your wort.

The worst enemy of making beer is overthinking.

 

[small_b_brewing]

I have 2 sinks- so I generally have the first sink full of just water because the temperature differential is so high. I also have a relatively small freezer, so I make due with about 3-4 lbs of ice.

 

[AkTom]

Use the sink and ice. Don’t forget to put your spoon in the boil before you shut it off. You’ll need to sanitize it (with the boil, just like your IC when it comes) for 15 min. Stir the wort in the sink and it’ll cool off quickly. Stir the sink water with another spoon too. That’ll keep things moving in the right direction. It’ll be fun. Not as much as your Jaded will be though.
Cheers

 

[Queequeg]

Cool it in just plan water first, then once the water fills repaid empty the sink/bath and refill with fresh water. Repeat until the cooling stalls. Make sure you stir both the wort and the water bath. Then replace with ice water. You don't want to use ice water initially as this will be less efficient and you might not high pitching temperature.

 

[SanPancho]

What the above post is trying to state is that the cooling power is a function of the temperature difference between wort and coolant water. Right off the boil you’re looking at over 120 degrees in most places, maybe even 150. (200f - 80, or even as low as 50f tap water in cooler climes) Thats plenty to get good cooling from just tap water.

Once it starts to slow, maybe around 100 -120 or so, you want to swap out the hot water for fresh water and ice.

You can use ice water from the get go, but its “wasteful” for most folks who have to buy ice. As you have a machine, it comes down to the hassle of bagging up enough ice. And if the extra cooling time saved by going all ice is worth it.

 

[MajorJC]

Ok, I get what your saying about holding off on the ice until I have cooled it down with just tap water. I just checked and my tap water is 80°F. So 212°F minus 80°F is a difference of 132°F.

So, my 40 quart brew kettle will not fit in my kitchen sink. I've got two 40 gallon stock tanks that I bought years ago at Tractor Supply.

So, I'm thinking.... set a cinderblock or two in the middle of the first one to set my brew kettle on and have a garden hose running into it and just letting it overflow to provide water exchange until my wort is down to around 90-100°F, then set the brew kettle into the other stock tank with the ice water bath. I probably should find a smaller container that my brew kettle will fit in for the ice bath though, that stock tank would probably take 80 pounds of ice to fill it.

Does anybody know if a 40 quart pot will fit down into one of these igloo 60 quart cube ice chests? I have one of these in my barn somewhere, I should be able to find it.

 

[ncbrewer]

I have a data point that might help you estimate the amount of ice you'll need. I use a 3.7 gallon kettle - about 2.5 gallons of wort to cool. It fits in the sink. I start by cooling to about 135F with water in the sink (almost 80F in the summer). Then I use a 2.5 gallon zip lock bag and a 1gallon zip lock bag filled with ice. Drain the water. Dump the bags of ice in the sink and fill the space with water. Then push the kettle down into the ice/water - that brings the water level just right. That can cool the wort to 50F with a little ice still left. I stir the wort every few minutes, being careful to hot rinse and sanitize the spoon each time.

 

[SanPancho]

I’d skip cinder block and try a small brick.