Hey guys,
I've been absorbing the information from this place for a while now, but never had a reason until yesterday to open an account and post. I just started my very first batch last night. Currently, it's sitting in the primary fermenter doing its thing.
I purchased the kit from a local homebrew store, as well as all the ingredients. I didn't get the "beer-in-a-can" type kit from them, but rather a kit they assemble out of raw ingredients according to a recipe that comes with printed instructions. It was a basic amber ale and nothing too fancy. Thankfully, I fry turkeys, so I used the propane-fed base from the fryer to brew my batch. To me that seems infinitely easier than using a stovetop of any sort (in the event of a large mess). For my very first time, I feel it went fairly smooth.
First Observations:
- Had an almost boil over, but I caught it just as it was about to go south
- I have a thermometer that clips to the side of the brew-kettle, but I fear I may have let the steeping vary a little too much between 150-160, but we'll see. (on the edge of too hot)
- After I had finished boiling the wort, the instructions from the brew store had me put the dry yeast in the wort, secure the top of the fermenter, then shake the living daylights out of it. After all of this, I noticed on the yeast package that it suggested rehydrating first. I panicked. So I called the homebrew place this morning and they said it's fine, but if I were using liquid yeast, that is a whole other animal.
- Not sure if I cooled the wort too far below 80 or not, but it definitely wasn't higher. I basically lowered the brew kettle about halfway into an ice bath large enough for me to vigorously circulate the ice water around the kettle increasing convection heat-loss. I was below 80 in about 8-9 minutes.
- I finished at 10:45pm last night, and the temp only came up to 65F by 10:00am this morning. The ambient temperature where it is kept is between 67F - 70F, so I guess it'll be OK. Hell if I know, we'll see how it turns out. As of right now, I don't have any activity in the airlock, but I wouldn't expect it if it took that long to get the wort to the ideal temperature. Secondary fermenter is a glass carboy.
Overall, I think the experience was awesome. Regardless of how this batch turns out, I'm already planning my next. But as you can see, regardless of how much I read, I still made some dumb mistakes, but like everything I suppose it gets easier as you go. Thanks to all of you who provide such good information here!
EDIT: As of 10 minutes ago, I have airlock activity, so we have some progress
I've been absorbing the information from this place for a while now, but never had a reason until yesterday to open an account and post. I just started my very first batch last night. Currently, it's sitting in the primary fermenter doing its thing.
I purchased the kit from a local homebrew store, as well as all the ingredients. I didn't get the "beer-in-a-can" type kit from them, but rather a kit they assemble out of raw ingredients according to a recipe that comes with printed instructions. It was a basic amber ale and nothing too fancy. Thankfully, I fry turkeys, so I used the propane-fed base from the fryer to brew my batch. To me that seems infinitely easier than using a stovetop of any sort (in the event of a large mess). For my very first time, I feel it went fairly smooth.
First Observations:
- Had an almost boil over, but I caught it just as it was about to go south
- I have a thermometer that clips to the side of the brew-kettle, but I fear I may have let the steeping vary a little too much between 150-160, but we'll see. (on the edge of too hot)
- After I had finished boiling the wort, the instructions from the brew store had me put the dry yeast in the wort, secure the top of the fermenter, then shake the living daylights out of it. After all of this, I noticed on the yeast package that it suggested rehydrating first. I panicked. So I called the homebrew place this morning and they said it's fine, but if I were using liquid yeast, that is a whole other animal.
- Not sure if I cooled the wort too far below 80 or not, but it definitely wasn't higher. I basically lowered the brew kettle about halfway into an ice bath large enough for me to vigorously circulate the ice water around the kettle increasing convection heat-loss. I was below 80 in about 8-9 minutes.
- I finished at 10:45pm last night, and the temp only came up to 65F by 10:00am this morning. The ambient temperature where it is kept is between 67F - 70F, so I guess it'll be OK. Hell if I know, we'll see how it turns out. As of right now, I don't have any activity in the airlock, but I wouldn't expect it if it took that long to get the wort to the ideal temperature. Secondary fermenter is a glass carboy.
Overall, I think the experience was awesome. Regardless of how this batch turns out, I'm already planning my next. But as you can see, regardless of how much I read, I still made some dumb mistakes, but like everything I suppose it gets easier as you go. Thanks to all of you who provide such good information here!
EDIT: As of 10 minutes ago, I have airlock activity, so we have some progress
