Just brewed my first batch ever!

[Jasper18]

Pretty exciting day. I brewed the Front Porch Pale Ale that came with the beginner kit from Midwest Supply. Here is my experience:

I sanitized everything with Star-san so I hope that everything stay nice and clean. I first heated up 3 gallons to 155 degrees and kept it between there and 158 while I steeped the grains for 20 minutes. Brought to a nice boil and then added 6lbs of Gold LME (warmed up to flow better) and stirred the entire time. Glad to say none burned on. Brought it back to a boil and tossed in the cascade for the full 60 minute boil. I noticed that I lost very little water in the boil process. Then came the part im still stuck on. Cooling the wort. At first i dumped it back and forth between the kettle and the sanitized fermenter, and then stuck it in the fermenter and into the sink in a cold water bath. Sadly I didn't have enough ice (My wives fault if you must know lol. she turned off the ice maker) and now i threw it in the bathtub full of ground cold water. Still waiting for it to cool down. I'm at............90 right now and it really doesnt seem to want to drop the last few degrees. It will get there. I have the lid on loosely with the airlock in the bung and filled with sterilized water. The real question I have: I followed the steps to hydrate yeast since it's supposed to make a BIG difference vs. pitching dry, and I followed the steps that include adding 10ml/G of 95-105 degree water. The water was at 95 when i pitched the yeast. It's in a sterilized glass container and it's covered with celophane but how long will it last? It's been almost 2 hours since I hydrated it because i thought the liquid would cool down faster but like I said i'm still at 90-ish. What to do???????


Thanks

 

[McKnuckle]

What to do???????

Wait.

It's probably the most important word in brewing!

The yeast will be fine. But do keep the hydration bowl tightly covered.

Meanwhile, cool the wort actively; don't just let it sit. Keep it in the bathtub with the water level in the tub up as high as possible. Take the cover off the fermenter and stir it. Alternate by circulating the water in the tub. You want the water around the fermenter to always be cold, and as it steals heat from the fermenter, it warms up where they meet. Don't hesitate to refresh the tub water as it loses its chill.

Finally, do NOT get impatient and pitch yeast at 80 degrees or even 75. Wait til it's 70 at the very highest, preferably 65-68. This is one of the biggest newbie mistakes in brewing - "I'm scared it's going to get infected just sitting there! I have to pitch the yeast NOW!!" Just... don't.

 

[Furore]

You're fine dude! RDWHAHB. Or in your case a store bought brew until this batch finishes up!

Also i would cool in your metal brew pot (better heat conduction than plastic fermentor). Surround with cold water, stir both the cold water and the wort (with seperate utensils). Drain and refill with more cold water. Repeat. It'll be done in no time. Or just let it sit a few hours. The yeast will be fine unless you kill them with extreme heat. They are incredibly resilient.

 

[Jasper18]

Thanks for the fast response McKnuckle lol. I was getting a bit antsy. I've been stirring it as well and replenishing the water in the tub. It leaks out slightly. Ambient in here is 69 right now so I don't know how close to 70 i can get. hoping the water helps.

 

[McKnuckle]

Furore is right - next time, keep the wort in the kettle while you chill. The metal is more efficient at transferring heat to the outside, and bringing cool to the inside. You will be fine!

You may not know about it yet, but brewers often harvest yeast after a batch is done. We put it into jars with water or beer and stick it in the fridge. We then brew with it even months later and... voila... it comes to life and gets crackin'. So chill. You can let it sit in that bowl, and you can put the bowl in the fridge if you like. Congrats on the first brew!

 

[Jasper18]

Alrighty thanks guys. Next time I'll leave it in the kettle. I just tested the "cold" water coming out of the bathtub faucet and it's 75 degrees. Hmmm.

 

[Jasper18]

Were at 82 degrees and dropping...... very slowly lol. Next time (other than having more ice for the ice bath) I'm gonna boil some water the day before, and freeze it into blocks of ice to throw in to the hot liquid to help cool down. Lesson learned.

 

[kh54s10]

Do you have a convenience store nearby? Go buy some ice. Also look at making a swamp cooler. It is a tub big enough for the fermenter to sit in. Fill it 6-10 inches of cold water. Then rotate frozen bottles of water to maintain the wort temperature in the mid sixties. If you have one of the stick on thermometer strips on your fermenter, do not submerge it.

 

[Atlmustang]

I always have 2 bags of ice for brew day. I have a large farmhouse sink so i have plenty of room in my sink for my kettle. I put pot in the sink and surround with ice then fill with water. When the ice melts I drain and repeat. Ill stir a little to move cold warer from the outside of the pot to the middle and the warm water in the middle close to the icy pot. Cools it in no time.

I want a wort chiller but I have a nice moen faucet that doesnt fit a hose attachment so I suffer the ice bath method. But a couple of bags of ice and it cools just fine. Just keep that in mind for future brews.

 

[Jasper18]

Yeah I should have gotten some ice. Ohh well. Temp now in the mid 70's and I pitched it. Instructions said pitch anything below 80. Still in the water bath but now all sealed up. Before we go to bed I'll put it on a little stand i fashioned up in the bedroom behind the door. Will keep the dog away from it at least. I do have a fermometer on it and I have the water just under it. Many lessons learned today and I'm only half way through. Anxious to see how it turns out. Makes you wonder though: who the hell invented beer and how did they brew it with primitive technology? lol

 

[McKnuckle]

I have saved a pile of 16 oz water bottles. I filled them with water and I keep them in our garage freezer. I use them in brewing to cool water baths, or in one case, I tossed a few directly into a mash when it overheated! I just re-freeze them after use and have never actually emptied them in months.

I guess you were impatient about the pitching temp... oh well. Kit instructions suck. Anything under 80F is not good information. Please make sure to get the wort down below 70F as soon as you can. It will get hotter than ambient temp once it starts fermenting.

 

[Jasper18]

Yeah i threw some bottles in the freezer now. I have to go to work soon so i thought i would get it pitched and keep trying to lower the temp.

 

[Jasper18]

Oh by the by whats the average time between pitching and fermentation kicking into high gear? Are we talking hours? Or a day?

 

[McKnuckle]

Hours or a day It depends. There's a sticky post on that subject on the beginners forum actually. It can be anywhere from 5 to 72 hours, with maybe 15 being average.

 

[Jasper18]

Ohh ok thats good to know. thanks. So i transferred the fermenter to it's permanent resting place. It's in our bedroom under the ac outlet. Fermometer was reading 74 and I then added a wet towel around it. I pulled the thermometer out of my humidor for the time being to monitor ambient temps and it's reading a chilly 65 degrees. It's sitting right beside my bucket. We'll let it stabilize for a while and see where she sits. I have high hopes that it turns out well

 

[Jasper18]

Good news! Fermentation has begun. Airlock is bubbling away nicely. Fermometer is around 71 degrees. I'm hoping to go lower but is this acceptable? It's a pale ale.

 

[MaryB]

If you have to deal with hotter temps look at brewing Saison style ales. I am planning on some this summer so I can have 3 batches going at a time(my fermenting fridge only holds 2...). In between my neighbor and myself 4-6 beers a day get drank around here. And yes my neighbor pitches in and helps!

 

[Jasper18]

Hey all. Morning report: airlock still bubbling away nicely. I need to add some star-san water mix to keep her from drying out, and fermometer reads 68. Is 68 about where you want it? Ambient is colder but of course with fermentation making some heat I feel the upper 60's is the best i'll get. I can water bath it, but feel that would lead to temerature drops and i don't want the temps to bounce around a lot, plus i don't want to move or disturb the fermentor. What ya'll think?
Thanks again to everyone who's helped me thus far.

 

[eadavis80]

68 should be okay for most ale yeasts. What strain did you use? Safale US-05? If so, 68 is okay. Try to keep it below 70 ideally. You learn more on your first batch than any other, I think. So, as long as you 1) had fun 2) learned things 3) created a drinkable product than it was a success!

 

[PADave]

I always have 2 bags of ice for brew day. I have a large farmhouse sink so i have plenty of room in my sink for my kettle. I put pot in the sink and surround with ice then fill with water. When the ice melts I drain and repeat. Ill stir a little to move cold warer from the outside of the pot to the middle and the warm water in the middle close to the icy pot. Cools it in no time.

I want a wort chiller but I have a nice moen faucet that doesnt fit a hose attachment so I suffer the ice bath method. But a couple of bags of ice and it cools just fine. Just keep that in mind for future brews.

Easy solution. I built my own wort chiller out of a roll of 3/8 copper tube and some clear hose. Then I got a small fountain pump for about $25. Put your ice into a cooler, and fill with water. Put the pump in the cooler and now you circulate ice water through the chiller. I save the first really hot water coming out for cleanup, but then just recirculate the water back into the cooler. Plus the pump is much lower pressure than tap water, so no worries about any leaks. I can chill 5 gallon from a boil to pitching temp in about 15 min.

 

[Jasper18]

As far as yeast is concerned i have no idea what strain. All it said was brewers yeast. It came with my beginners kit. For the next batch I'll use frozen blocks of sterilized water, and if that doesn't work then I'll get a wort chiller.

 

[Furore]

A lot of times when im doing a quick extract batch and doing a partial boil i just refrigerate half of my water on brew day. I cool my wort down to around 100 degrees, and then chuck it in the fermentor with the fridged water and voila its like a perfect 68 every time. YMMV but it does speed things along when you don't have a wort chiller.

 

[Jasper18]

Yeah I will trying some things on the next batch i brew. It will cooled down much quicker lol. About when should i pop off the lid to take a gravity reading? I really wanna get this right lol.

 

[McKnuckle]

You take a gravity reading when the krausen has fallen, and the top portion is fairly clear, on day 7-14. There is no point whatsoever to check gravity before that time - the only reason is because new brewers are itching to do "something" to the beer.

 

[Jasper18]

Ok 1 to 2 weeks is no problem. Thats what i figured. So once the top of the liquid is cleared off its time to check with a hydrometer? How should i get visual confirmation since the bucket is not see-through? Pull out the airlock and peek through? Or take the lid off?

 

[PADave]

Ok 1 to 2 weeks is no problem. Thats what i figured. So once the top of the liquid is cleared off its time to check with a hydrometer? How should i get visual confirmation since the bucket is not see-through? Pull out the airlock and peek through? Or take the lid off?

Or just give it 3 weeks and call it done. Can't wait that long? Get yourself another fermenter and get another batch going.

 

[MaryB]

I have 2 batches going most of the time lol sometimes 3 if one can handle higher fermentation temps.

 

[Jasper18]

We just don't have the space or the extra supplies to do two at a time. Wanna see how this one turns out first anyway.