Rygar
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- Joined
- Feb 1, 2013
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Hello everybody,
My name is Ryan (a.k.a Rygar) and I am new to these forums. I just started home brewing and I am already loving it! As a beloved 49ers fan, I was so nervous about the Super Bowl, I had to keep myself busy over the weekend, so this past Saturday, so I declared it Brew Day.
I used Northern Brewer's Irish Red extract kit. Making the wort went smoothly, I was able to chill the wort extremely fast using homemade ice (lots of big chunks in tupperware)in an ice bath in my garage sink. I was able to get it down to below 80 degrees in about 20 minutes, with hardly any stirring, just some "bobbing" and swirling of the kettle.
I then added the chilled wort and 2 gallons of water to the sanitized glass carboy fermenter. Brought it up to 5 gallons. The Irish Red kit I used came with dry yeast, and the recipe says to just pitch the yeast dry, but John Palmer (How to Brew) recommends re-hydrating the yeast first. I did that by adding the dry yeast to pre-boiled warm water in a sanitized measuring cup, and covered for 15 minutes. I pitched the yeast and sealed the carboy with the airlock.
I moved the fermenter to my garage. To keep the fermenter at optimum temps, I filled a large tub with water and bought an aquarium heater and small submersible pump to circulate the water. The heater is set to approx. 69 degrees. The garage gets down to the 40’s-50’s.
Saturday night it remained between 60-70 and Sunday morning the yeast was having a party! It is starting to ferment and the airlock is bubbling so gas is escaping. Too bad the Niners didn't fair so well.
This morning there was a nice thick layer of krausen and the bubbles in the airlock were going nuts! I am really excited and feel like a mad scientist... it's alive! ALIIIIVE!!! I did not do a gravity test prior, but I plan on getting a kit and testing it in a week to a week and a half before I move it to the second fermenter. Not 100% on what I am doing, just learning as I go.
Anyway, I just wanted to say hi to everybody, and introduce myself. I'm sure I will have questions as I continue to brew and try more advanced brewing techniques in the future, and I will continue to browse the forums. Any comments or questions are welcome. I will probably add updates to this thread over the next several weeks to document the brew.
Cheers,
-Rygar
My name is Ryan (a.k.a Rygar) and I am new to these forums. I just started home brewing and I am already loving it! As a beloved 49ers fan, I was so nervous about the Super Bowl, I had to keep myself busy over the weekend, so this past Saturday, so I declared it Brew Day.
I used Northern Brewer's Irish Red extract kit. Making the wort went smoothly, I was able to chill the wort extremely fast using homemade ice (lots of big chunks in tupperware)in an ice bath in my garage sink. I was able to get it down to below 80 degrees in about 20 minutes, with hardly any stirring, just some "bobbing" and swirling of the kettle.
I then added the chilled wort and 2 gallons of water to the sanitized glass carboy fermenter. Brought it up to 5 gallons. The Irish Red kit I used came with dry yeast, and the recipe says to just pitch the yeast dry, but John Palmer (How to Brew) recommends re-hydrating the yeast first. I did that by adding the dry yeast to pre-boiled warm water in a sanitized measuring cup, and covered for 15 minutes. I pitched the yeast and sealed the carboy with the airlock.
I moved the fermenter to my garage. To keep the fermenter at optimum temps, I filled a large tub with water and bought an aquarium heater and small submersible pump to circulate the water. The heater is set to approx. 69 degrees. The garage gets down to the 40’s-50’s.
Saturday night it remained between 60-70 and Sunday morning the yeast was having a party! It is starting to ferment and the airlock is bubbling so gas is escaping. Too bad the Niners didn't fair so well.
This morning there was a nice thick layer of krausen and the bubbles in the airlock were going nuts! I am really excited and feel like a mad scientist... it's alive! ALIIIIVE!!! I did not do a gravity test prior, but I plan on getting a kit and testing it in a week to a week and a half before I move it to the second fermenter. Not 100% on what I am doing, just learning as I go.
Anyway, I just wanted to say hi to everybody, and introduce myself. I'm sure I will have questions as I continue to brew and try more advanced brewing techniques in the future, and I will continue to browse the forums. Any comments or questions are welcome. I will probably add updates to this thread over the next several weeks to document the brew.
Cheers,
-Rygar
![Mug :mug: :mug:](https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/smilies/sdrinking-100-154.gif)
![Screen shot 2013-02-04 at 4.00.07 PM.png Screen shot 2013-02-04 at 4.00.07 PM.png](https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/data/attach/82/82827-Screen-shot-2013-02-04-at-4.00.07-PM.png)