Lessons learned! (good ones)

[max-the-knife]

I bottled my first brew last Friday and boiled my second on Saturday! I did a couple of things different that I found to be helpful.

1) I marked my primary fermentor (6.5 gal plastic bucket) with gallon marks. On my first batch I came up about a half a gallon short of a 5-gallon target. The marks helped me put about 5.5 gallons in the primary so I should get 5 in my secondary.

2) I hydrated my yeast about 30-45 minutes before pitching. Prior to adding it to the wort I tempered it by adding small amounts of wort to the hydrated yeast to get the temperature equalized. The wort went into the primary at 4 pm yeasterday and when I got up this morning, it had developed the krausen and the airlock was bubbling like mad! My first brew I did a dry pitch and it took 36 hours before I had airlock activity.

This is a great hobby! Love the smell of fermenting beer!

 

[Brewno]

The marks helped me put about 5.5 gallons in the primary so I should get 5 in my secondary.

I have a question about this and it's something I've been thinking about.
After careful siphoning of my last batch and ending up leaving about a half gal behind when all was said and done, I wondered about upping my batch by 1/2 gal.
However I also wondered how to do this. Can I add 1/2 gal to my kettle or would that alter the recipe?
Can I add 1/2 gal to my primary or would that effect my hydrometer reading/OG?

Tommy

 

[homebrewer_99]

I marked gallon and 1/2 gallon lines on my plastic primaries years ago. What did you use? I usd my wife's nail polish. It stays on for years.

I always top off to 5.25 to 5.5 gals Without compensating with extra malt and hops it reduces the alcohol content by about 1/2%.

 

[joebagodonuts]

Nail polish is a great idea. I always use sharpie and I have to re-do it every couple of months.