It took a while

[user 163849]

My situation is a little unusual in that I have been studying, building and buying equipment for about a year before I was actually able to brew a batch of beer. There were health issues and a move. I have posted some of my diy projects here in the past.

Yesterday I finally got around to my first batch. It is a porter extract kit from Williams brewing. Maybe the actual start was 3days ago since that is when I made my first starter on the diy stirplate which I built a year or so ago. The starter went fine despite the boil over and the realization that cold crashing a yeast starter takes more than 24 hours.

Brew day went well but I did forget to do a few of things. First of all I forgot to add the whirlfloc. Then I rushed to drain the brew kettle after whirlpooling but without a rest to let the sediment settle. And I know I am not the first to forget to take a hydrometer reading of the og. I may have slightly over filled the fermentation bucket by a half gallon or so.

I think that covers the mistakes that I know about. The fermenter bucket is in a refrigerator under the control of a stc1000 set at 18.5C about 65F. This morning the blow off tube is gently blowing bubbles in the starsan at the bottom of the collection jar.

I have high hopes of this being a drinkable beer.

 

[saskd]

All of those mistakes sound very minor. You will have drinkable, and probably even good, beer. Congratulations on your first batch!

 

[rodwha]

Nice!

I took off from brewing (moved) and when I started back up I made mistakes in all 4 of my brew days. Rust combined with new equipment and new details (learned about water and made my first all-grain) made for plenty of mistakes.

A good idea is to make a check-off list. And get what you can ready beforehand.

 

[j1n]

Well, props for starting off with controlled fermentation temps. The mistakes you made are very minor and i wouldn't worry about it at all.

I use fermcaps for foam control when making starters. getting a boil over in the kitchen is not fun and the wife doesn't like that. A boil over when i'm brewing outside is no big deal though so i dont use the fermcaps in my boil.

 

[user 163849]

Thanks for the reassurance guys. The beer is still "perking" away like the Maxwell House coffee pot.

 

[j1n]

Thanks for the reassurance guys. The beer is still "perking" away like the Maxwell House coffee pot.

That's an exciting thing when your first starting off. I know after my first brew i couldn't wait for that air lock to start singing.

Also since you are starting already with controlled fermentation temps, i'm fairly confident your beer is gonna turn out pretty good.

 

[user 163849]

Well it looks like the porter will end up being in the primary for a week or two longer than expected. Had minor surgery (removal of chemo port) yesterday which limits the use of my right arm for a few days. The beer will probably end up being in primary for 3 1/2 to 4 weeks before bottling. From what I have read I don't think this should be a problem.

Should I lower the temp a couple of days before bottling?

 

[rodwha]

Guessing all went well…

No problem with a longer primary.

No need I'm aware of with lowering/raising the temp, though I know there are some who like to cold crash their beer prior to bottling to help with clearing. I don't have much problem with clear beer, though I usually leave mine a week in the fridge these days at a minimum. But I don't care too much about crystal clear either.

Take a few extra days to heal up and don't worry about it.

 

[RM-MN]

Just a few things to make you feel better. I have never used Whirlfloc. I don't whirlpool, I just dump everything into the fermenter. I don't get hung up about a minor difference in quantity of wort. I have left a beer in the primary fermenter for 9 weeks. Dang, that was good beer. I should learn to be more patient about leaving my beer in the fermenter instead of trying to get it into the bottles at 3 weeks.

 

[user 163849]

Yes all went well with the surgery. Best of all I've been cancer free for almost a year now.

I suspect the beer will come out just fine as well.

 

[Keith_O]

Congrats!
Sounds like you'll have a great beer to boot!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[user 163849]

My beer has been in the fermenter for three weeks today. So I decided to take gravity reading. Looks like about 1.010. Williams brewing, the maker of the kit says og should be 1.039. I failed to take an og reading but if that is correct then my reading of 1.010 is right on the money acording to the advertised ABV of 3.8. Regardless, the flavor is fantastic! Even at 65 degrees f and without carbonation.

I am hoping to be able to bottle it on Friday. Even if it does not improve with age I am hooked now. I am really encouraged by today's sample.

 

[user 163849]

Today was my first bottling day. I actually enjoyed it, don't know what all the fuss is about. Everything went smoothly and the beer still tastes mighty good to me. I ended up with 51 1/2 bottles, of course I never capped the half bottle which I drank on the spot. It took me 3 hours amd 20 minutes from the time I walked in the garage and started setting up untill I finished washing everything and came in for lunch. There was about three or four ounces of waste mostly due to a dripping bottling wand. I am satisfied with that.

 

[j1n]

Now you gotta wait. That's one of the hard parts of brewing, patience.

Congrats on your first beer!

 

[user 163849]

I brewed my second batch this morning. This one is also a Williams Brewing ectract kit, but this time it is the stout rather than the porter.

Things went quite a bit more smoothly this time around. The only thing I left out this time was reading the og, maybe I will remember that too next time. LOL. I'm sure it is not far off from the 1.050 stated in the instructions for the kit.

Anyway, somewhere between hour 3 and four in the fermentation fridge the stout has already developed a heartbeat (one bubble ever second and a half).

 

[CADETS3]

Yes all went well with the surgery. Best of all I've been cancer free for almost a year now.

I suspect the beer will come out just fine as well.

Congrats on your first batch and on being cancer free! I too just brewed my first batch and i am having some concerning questions.

 

[user 163849]

Today marks two weeks and two days in the fridge after about four weeks in primary at 65f and three weeks in the bottle at ~70f for my first batch.

I tried a bottle after a week in the fridge and another a couple of days later. It was a bit disappointing, the beer actually tasted better before bottling. But the one I had today was nothing short of amazing!

So like the subject line says; "It took a while" but it was cetainly worth it!

 

[RM-MN]

Today marks two weeks and two days in the fridge after about four weeks in primary at 65f and three weeks in the bottle at ~70f for my first batch.

I tried a bottle after a week in the fridge and another a couple of days later. It was a bit disappointing, the beer actually tasted better before bottling. But the one I had today was nothing short of amazing!

So like the subject line says; "It took a while" but it was cetainly worth it!

Don't drink them too soon, they continue to get better. I'd expect your porter to peak out somewhere between 4 and 6 months.

 

[user 163849]

Thanks for the advice. I do plan to leave a case of it sitting for a while.

 

[user 163849]

My porter has been in the bottles for just two days short of seven weeks. Every day I think it is so good that it could not get any better but so far it is better every day. There is only a little less than a case and a half left but today marks three weeks in the bottle for my stout so maybe that will reduce the rate at which the porter is disappearing.

I'm excited to put a couple of six packs of the stout in the fridge this morning. If the porter was not beginner's luck, this one could be even better. Can't wait to find out.

 

[rodwha]

Maybe you ought to buy something for now and leave them both longer!

I recently bottled an 8% American style old ale and though I never got a response on a minimum conditioning time I've figured 6 months ought to be good. But I admit I'm considering trying one at 3-4 months.

And this beer is meant to be a trial on aging as I want to make a 10-12% ABV barleywine one day.

 

[user 163849]

I'm sure you are right, yet I somehow doubt that you will find anyone who waited months to try their first batch of beer.LOL

This is an all extract porter kit from Williams Brewing, and less than 4% abv. From what I understand that is not the best combination for long term storage. I could be wrong.

 

[rodwha]

I certainly understand!

I'm not really certain what makes some require longer conditioning and what makes some keep longer. Alcohol level certainly plays a part, but I'm not certain that low ABV beer won't keep well. And I know that more complex beers generally require longer conditioning times.

And then at what time will it reach it's peak where there's no point in keeping it longer? Or more to the point, the time at which it begins to degrade.

 

[RM-MN]

I'm sure you are right, yet I somehow doubt that you will find anyone who waited months to try their first batch of beer.LOL

This is an all extract porter kit from Williams Brewing, and less than 4% abv. From what I understand that is not the best combination for long term storage. I could be wrong.

I'm not advocating long term storage. A couple years should be enough.

With all seriousness, I kept sampling a stout I made and it kept getting better until I drank the last one at 2 years in the bottle. Your porter should peak a bit sooner than that.

 

[user 163849]

My 3rd batch. Williams Brewing brown ale kit came out purty dad blame good.

 

[rodwha]

Very nice!

 

[user 163849]

Well, I packaged up a six pack for each of my brother in laws. They contain two bottles each from the only three batches that I have completed (porter, stout, brown ale). The carriers are all different because I built them from available scrap in my shop.

 

[brick_haus]

I gotta say, Your brother in laws are pretty lucky to have you in their family.
Merry Christmas!

 

[CADETS3]

Devastator double bock is what I'm having, yum.

 

[user 163849]

Well I brewed a stout kit identical to the one in my second batch for my fourth batch on Dec 20. I got better attenuation this time (the first batch seemed to over carbonate with time). That one had read 1.020 three days apart so I bottled, this one came in at a more reasonable 1.010. it has been bottle conditioning since Jan 11, and I plan to taste it Feb 4. That fourth batch went smoothly with no real mistakes that I noticed. Taste of the hydrometer sample was very promising.

So for my fifth baych I decided on an English Bitter kit. I brewed that one this Monday (Jan 26). The most notable "event" this time was pitching my stir bar along with the yeast starter. As I expect to brew a brown ale before this is out of the fermenter I ordered a new stir bar the same day, it is already here.

Five batches in I am enjoying this more than ever.

 

[rodwha]

Nice!

 

[user 163849]

I put that new stir bar to work for the last 48 hours making a starter for the brown ale that I intend to brew Monday morning. I put the starter in the fridge this morning.

When I ordered the new stir bar I was careful to order exactly the same as the one which is temporarily at the bottom of 5.5 gallons of fermenting English Bitter. I was trying to increase the odds that the new stir bar would work without having to tinker with the stir plate. I was surprised to see that not only did the new stir bar work fine with no adjustments to the stir plate but it spins almost silently in 1.25l of starter. I have never been able to get the other one to run anywhere near this quietly. Looks like pitching that first stir bar was not such a bad thing after all.

 

[user 163849]

I took the first hydrometer sample of my English Bitter today. The reading is 1.005 (OG was 1.044) and the flavor is really good at this point. I will probably be bottling on Monday or Tuesday.