Introducing myself - started 1st brew 2/2/13

[Rygar]

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

 

[Shooter]

No need to move it to a secondary fermenter, unless you are planning to dry hop, I do that in the primary as well, or add fruit. If you were going to bulk age it, maybe move it off the yeast. In this case, I'd just let it finish fermenting, test the gravity in a week or so and let it clean up and settle for another week or two and bottle it.

Welcome onboard!

 

[Rygar]

Thanks for the welcome and advice, Shooter. I have read that a lot of folks don't bother with moving to the secondary on some of these kits/recipes. The instructions say it will "mellow out" and "clarify" in the secondary, but obviously I don't know if that's true since this is my first brew. I think the main reason I want to move it over is so I can get get another batch going!

 

[Shooter]

Thanks for the welcome and advice, Shooter. I have read that a lot of folks don't bother with moving to the secondary on some of these kits/recipes. The instructions say it will "mellow out" and "clarify" in the secondary, but obviously I don't know if that's true since this is my first brew. I think the main reason I want to move it over is so I can get get another batch going!

Nothing wrong with making room for another batch, but make sure it's done fermenting before you transfer. Also, if your "secondary" vessel is big enough, you can also just start another batch in it.

 

[drderelict]

welcome to your new obsession! glad to see you did some research prior to your first batch. i know several brewers (myself included) who relied solely on kits and kit instructions for a long time. palmer, hieronymus, papazian, steele, mosher, daniels etc. will give you the tools you need to make great beer. all you need is enthusiasm, creativity and a little MacGuyverism.
some initial suggestions based on your post/pic: invest in a blow-off assembly (it's cheap, and it will prevent some BIG messes), look into Better Bottles (i was reluctant to move away from glass, but the BB's are awesome), and try to get to a full-volume boil as soon as possible. Otherwise, keep calm and brew on.

 

[Rygar]

look into Better Bottles (i was reluctant to move away from glass, but the BB's are awesome), and try to get to a full-volume boil as soon as possible. Otherwise, keep calm and brew on.

Thanks drderelict for the tips, can you provide some insight as to why the Better Bottles are "better" than glass? Is it mainly because they are lighter and won't break? I noticed they are cheaper too. Thanks!

 

[tflew]

Its really a personal preference thing. I use both personally. I like that the better bottles are cheaper and easier to move around but I do not like how they are prone to suck back any liquid in your airlock when you move it. Since you already have glass I would recomend buying a better bottle next and just seeing what you like better.

On a side note I did the all grain version of that kit a little while back and it turned out really good. You will enjoy it

Welcome to HBT

 

[drderelict]

i agree with all of tflew's points. another reason i like better bottles is the wider mouth, which is useful for dry-hopping. trying to get 4 oz of leaf hops or saturated bags of hydrated pellets out of a glass carboy is not fun. the suck-back issue is a bit of a problem, but you can find dry-trap airlocks or use sanitizer water or vodka in the airlock. i use sanitizer water and just remove the airlock when i have to move the carboys around. but as stated, it is merely a matter of personal preference.

also, you can get your better bottles ported, which basically removes the need for a bottling bucket. i haven't tried that yet, but it seems like a good idea.