Most of my gear arrived Friday!!!

[shrews824]

Well, the majority of my beer gear arrived Friday. I have a few more odds and ends pieces coming this week. My hope is to have my first brew day either Friday afternoon or Saturday.

I can't wait!!! I'm extremely excited and nervous at the same time. Truthfully, I'm scared to death!!!

Wish me luck!!! I may document my first brewing experience and post it here. I'd love to hear some feedback throughout the process.

Thanks so much.

 

[RM-MN]

Have you ever cooked a beef steak on the grill and had it come out tender, juicy, and flavorful? That's much more difficult than brewing beer. You'll do fine.

 

[shrews824]

Have you ever cooked a beef steak on the grill and had it come out tender, juicy, and flavorful? That's much more difficult than brewing beer. You'll do fine.

Rarely do my steaks turn out the way I want them!!! Haha. Seriously, thanks for the vote of confidence. I think I'll be ok, but I'm just a little anxious. I'm sure once I get a few under my belt I'll begin to get more confident. Hopefully not complacent, just more confident.

 

[FleEsq]

Keep control of fermentation temp. That and sanitation, IMHO is the key to good beer. The brewing is just plain fun and hard to screw up

 

[Rob2010SS]

Good luck man! This forum is a great resource should you have any questions.

 

[shrews824]

Keep control of fermentation temp. That and sanitation, IMHO is the key to good beer. The brewing is just plain fun and hard to screw up

Appreciate the advice. I've been monitoring the room I'm going to be fermenting in. It's been sitting at around 70F-72F. Hopefully that'll be ok.

 

[shrews824]

Good luck man! This forum is a great resource should you have any questions.

Yes sir, I've found a lot of great tips so far. A lot of skill and experience here for sure. I just hope folks can be patient with me and be prepared for some relatively obvious and elementary questions. Thanks.

 

[Jag75]

Appreciate the advice. I've been monitoring the room I'm going to be fermenting in. It's been sitting at around 70F-72F. Hopefully that'll be ok.

Just keep in mind the room may be 70 , but as soon as fermentation kicks off the beer could be up to 10 degrees hotter. Fermentation temp is key.

 

[dawn_kiebawls]

As @Jag75 mentioned, fermentation is a thermodynamic process (it generates its own heat). There are ways to keep temps down in the mid 60's. If you have a bucket/tub you can fill with water and then put the carboy in said bucket/tub of water you can add frozen water bottles to it to help keep temps down. Some people will wrap the carboy in a wet towel and point a fan at it to help lower temps as well. I think they're referred to as 'swamp coolers', but I'm not positive. This would be a topic to practice the Forums 'Search' feature! Not that any of us mind answering your questions, but it really is a great feature and you can usually find the answer to your questions as well as a lot of good information.

In no particular order: 1)Sanitation 2)Temp control (during the brew process and fermentation) 3)detailed notes from the brew day 4) I may be in the minority on this one, but do not drink beer until after the boil is done

One of my favorite quotes from an Episode of BrewTV I watched is: 'Pride goes before a fall, and beer goes before a f***ed up mash' which I can vouch for. My best brew to date is called the 'Bob Ross Brown' because it was a happy little accident. I was pretty lit as I was even just heating my strike water, mashed at unknown temp, managed to screw up every single one of my hop additions and wrote all my notes with a slur. It's impossible for me to replicate that beer, but it was damn good (thankfully).

Cheers!

 

[shrews824]

Just keep in mind the room may be 70 , but as soon as fermentation kicks off the beer could be up to 10 degrees hotter. Fermentation temp is key.
[/QUOTE

As @Jag75 mentioned, fermentation is a thermodynamic process (it generates its own heat). There are ways to keep temps down in the mid 60's. If you have a bucket/tub you can fill with water and then put the carboy in said bucket/tub of water you can add frozen water bottles to it to help keep temps down. Some people will wrap the carboy in a wet towel and point a fan at it to help lower temps as well. I think they're referred to as 'swamp coolers', but I'm not positive. This would be a topic to practice the Forums 'Search' feature! Not that any of us mind answering your questions, but it really is a great feature and you can usually find the answer to your questions as well as a lot of good information.

In no particular order: 1)Sanitation 2)Temp control (during the brew process and fermentation) 3)detailed notes from the brew day 4) I may be in the minority on this one, but do not drink beer until after the boil is done

One of my favorite quotes from an Episode of BrewTV I watched is: 'Pride goes before a fall, and beer goes before a f***ed up mash' which I can vouch for. My best brew to date is called the 'Bob Ross Brown' because it was a happy little accident. I was pretty lit as I was even just heating my strike water, mashed at unknown temp, managed to screw up every single one of my hop additions and wrote all my notes with a slur. It's impossible for me to replicate that beer, but it was damn good (thankfully).

Cheers!

Thanks for the tips guys. Yeah, I'm going to try my best. I'm not sure it will be feasible to keep a cool water bath on it the entire time. Especially since I will be at work during the day, etc. I may just try to turn the air down as low as possible and see what happens.

Man, now I'm going to have to find a work around. Find an old fridge or something.

 

[HomebodyBrews]

Thanks for the tips guys. Yeah, I'm going to try my best. I'm not sure it will be feasible to keep a cool water bath on it the entire time. Especially since I will be at work during the day, etc. I may just try to turn the air down as low as possible and see what happens.

Man, now I'm going to have to find a work around. Find an old fridge or something.
[/QUO

Thanks for the tips guys. Yeah, I'm going to try my best. I'm not sure it will be feasible to keep a cool water bath on it the entire time. Especially since I will be at work during the day, etc. I may just try to turn the air down as low as possible and see what happens.

Man, now I'm going to have to find a work around. Find an old fridge or something.

Welcome to this most rewarding hobby!
My fermentation temps are around 75 in the summer..as my uncalibrated sticker on my carboys say so I think you're fine. My beer turns out excellent, only 1 bad one in 10 years and that's because it wasn't what I wanted (I create my own all grain recipes). So don't stress..Relax and have a homebrew!!

 

[Transamguy77]

You’ll be fine, you’ll make beer and you’ll enjoy it when your done. Don’t stress and have fun! Fun and enjoyment is why your doing it. Sanitation is key, get a spray bottle and fill it with sanitizer and spray everything your wort touches after it’s cooled. Good luck!

 

[Sunfire96]

Nice setup! I'm also new to brewing, and I've done 4 completed brews so far. The first few were rough, but drinkable and alcoholic, so I counted it as a win. Make detailed notes. Print off a "brew day sheet" if you don't know what exactly you should record yet. Don't rush bottling/kegging, wait for consistent gravity readings to indicate the yeast are fully finished. Have fun! I do 1 gallon batches, but my house is usually 76-80F during the day, and the sticker on my carboy hovers around 71. Yeast fermentation control is out of my current budget, except for a swamp cooler (wet tshirt).

 

[shrews824]

Welcome to this most rewarding hobby!
My fermentation temps are around 75 in the summer..as my uncalibrated sticker on my carboys say so I think you're fine. My beer turns out excellent, only 1 bad one in 10 years and that's because it wasn't what I wanted (I create my own all grain recipes). So don't stress..Relax and have a homebrew!!

Thanks a bunch. I hope you are correct. I know I have really been stressing about it over the last couple of days. I'm probably just over thinking everything, but still.......

You’ll be fine, you’ll make beer and you’ll enjoy it when your done. Don’t stress and have fun! Fun and enjoyment is why your doing it. Sanitation is key, get a spray bottle and fill it with sanitizer and spray everything your wort touches after it’s cooled. Good luck!

Appreciate it. I'm a little anxious about the sanitation part as well. Going to get a good, high quality spray bottle today as a matter of fact!!!

Nice setup! I'm also new to brewing, and I've done 4 completed brews so far. The first few were rough, but drinkable and alcoholic, so I counted it as a win. Make detailed notes. Print off a "brew day sheet" if you don't know what exactly you should record yet. Don't rush bottling/kegging, wait for consistent gravity readings to indicate the yeast are fully finished. Have fun! I do 1 gallon batches, but my house is usually 76-80F during the day, and the sticker on my carboy hovers around 71. Yeast fermentation control is out of my current budget, except for a swamp cooler (wet tshirt).

Thank you so much. Yeah, I already have a notebook that I've scribbled some notes in. I'm going to document everything. I'm going to be patient as well (or at least try to be). I want things to go as well as possible. I've got a line on an old fridge that works perfectly. Going to try to get that to my house within the next couple of weeks or so and get that rigged up.

 

[roosruus]

I was at the same point as you a few months ago, anxious and excited to brew my first batch while trying to gather as much information on the process as possible. I fermented the first two batches using the wet T-shirt method. First one turned out fine (a tad fruity) while the second one pretty much tasted like apple cider. For the third one I built a simple temperature regulated solution which may be easy for you to do as well a cooler in addition to the copper chiller you already have. All you need on top of that is a temperature controller (Inkbird ITC-308, for example), an aquarium pump (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LHC8UX8) and a bucket big enough to hold your fermenter. Drop the copper chiller in the cooler filled with ice water and connect it to the pump that's sitting in the bucket filled with enough water to keep the pump submerged. Connect the pump to the temperature controller with the temp sensor sitting in the water bucket and there you have it. Just keep adding ice to the cooler every day and it'll keep the temperature exactly where you want it. And you can reuse the temperature controller with the fridge if you eventually decide to get one.

 

[shrews824]

@roosruus Awesome. Thanks for the tip. I may have to give that a try!!! Friday can't get here quick enough!!

 

[Sunfire96]

Thanks a bunch. I hope you are correct. I know I have really been stressing about it over the last couple of days. I'm probably just over thinking everything, but still.......



Appreciate it. I'm a little anxious about the sanitation part as well. Going to get a good, high quality spray bottle today as a matter of fact!!!



Thank you so much. Yeah, I already have a notebook that I've scribbled some notes in. I'm going to document everything. I'm going to be patient as well (or at least try to be). I want things to go as well as possible. I've got a line on an old fridge that works perfectly. Going to try to get that to my house within the next couple of weeks or so and get that rigged up.

Do you have How to Brew by John Palmer? It's not the kind of book you read cover to cover, but as a reference book, I find myself using it all the time. It's well timed with how much info it delivers; the first few chapters get your toes wet, and the back of the book is very dense and sciencey. I have studied it so much while preparing for brews, and I feel like it helped me keep Murphy and his Law at bay. But seriously, have fun, don't stress, you're going to have homebrew

 

[Sunfire96]

Also, most of How to Brew is free online

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Also, most of How to Brew is free online

The online copy of How to Brew is the 1st edition, published in 1999. Current (4th) edition was published in 2017.

 

[NGD]

The online copy of How to Brew is the 1st edition, published in 1999. Current (4th) edition was published in 2017.

The revisions from the third to the 4th is worth the purchase price.

 

[Nate R]

Thanks for the tips guys. Yeah, I'm going to try my best. I'm not sure it will be feasible to keep a cool water bath on it the entire time. Especially since I will be at work during the day, etc. I may just try to turn the air down as low as possible and see what happens.

Man, now I'm going to have to find a work around. Find an old fridge or something.

You got a bathtub? About 4" to 6" of water in the tub. Add water to old milk jugs/ 2L bottles. Freeze them. Rotate them every 8 hours or. Not perfect but it will help.
No bathtub- any kind of container should work. I like the tub- spreads out the temp swings imo.
No worries- you will make beer!!! I think i can speak for a lot of posters here... batch #1 was a favorite!!

 

[shrews824]

Do you have How to Brew by John Palmer? It's not the kind of book you read cover to cover, but as a reference book, I find myself using it all the time. It's well timed with how much info it delivers; the first few chapters get your toes wet, and the back of the book is very dense and sciencey. I have studied it so much while preparing for brews, and I feel like it helped me keep Murphy and his Law at bay. But seriously, have fun, don't stress, you're going to have homebrew

I don't have the book, but I have read portions of it online. Like you said, I've been using it for reference.

The revisions from the third to the 4th is worth the purchase price.

I haven't read the revised version, but I may see about purchasing it for sure. Thanks.

You got a bathtub? About 4" to 6" of water in the tub. Add water to old milj jugs/ 2L bottles. Rotate them every 8 hours or. Not perfect but it will help.
No bathtub- any kind of container should work. I like the tub- spreads out the temp swings imo.
No worries- you will make beer!!! I think i can speak for a lot of posters here... batch #1 was a favorite!!

Yeah, I could do something like that. I've really been monitoring the room and it's staying consistently at 68F. I may even crank the A/C a little bit more just to be on the safe side at least for the first 2-3 days. From what I'm reading the first 2-3 days are when the yeast really increases in temp., correct?

 

[Jamafrica brewer]

Nice starter set you have there. You'll be hooked in no time at all. After that first batch you'll be like, damn my beer tastes so good.
Don't stress the process too much. I would say the most important thing is really just to have everything clean and sanitized. Especially your bottles.
I have been brewing in Jamaica since Jan and I don't have a cooling system yet and my beer does just fine.
It usually ferments at about 85F, which is really high, (first couple of days is probably even higher than that) I try keep it in the darkest coolest part of the house, which is difficult in Jamaica. (So far I've done an Amber Ale, Peanut Butter Porter, Chocolate Milk Stout, American Cream Ale and again an Amber Ale. Got the Peanut Butter Porter, Gluten Free Ale, Peanut Butter Brown on order. Gonna brew those soon.
I've done mostly ales and they seem to do just fine with a higher temp. I am going to get a cooling system in the near future as I want to start trying other styles. Got a Belgian Saison and Kolsch on order. So keen to see how that does in the temp controlled environment.
My first batch was an amber ale, just the basic homebrew kit with recipe from Northern Brewer. Followed it as best I could. Didn't have a wort chiller, hydrometer or anything. Didn't know what temp I pitched the yeast at, just let it cool down...and the beer turned out great. Was just lucky I guess.
Since then I've bought a bunch of extra stuff. Such a great thing to get into. Really addictive.
Have fun

 

[shrews824]

Nice starter set you have there. You'll be hooked in no time at all. After that first batch you'll be like, damn my beer tastes so good.
Don't stress the process too much. I would say the most important thing is really just to have everything clean and sanitized. Especially your bottles.
I have been brewing in Jamaica since Jan and I don't have a cooling system yet and my beer does just fine.
It usually ferments at about 85F, which is really high, (first couple of days is probably even higher than that) I try keep it in the darkest coolest part of the house, which is difficult in Jamaica. (So far I've done an Amber Ale, Peanut Butter Porter, Chocolate Milk Stout, American Cream Ale and again an Amber Ale. Got the Peanut Butter Porter, Gluten Free Ale, Peanut Butter Brown on order. Gonna brew those soon.
I've done mostly ales and they seem to do just fine with a higher temp. I am going to get a cooling system in the near future as I want to start trying other styles. Got a Belgian Saison and Kolsch on order. So keen to see how that does in the temp controlled environment.
My first batch was an amber ale, just the basic homebrew kit with recipe from Northern Brewer. Followed it as best I could. Didn't have a wort chiller, hydrometer or anything. Didn't know what temp I pitched the yeast at, just let it cool down...and the beer turned out great. Was just lucky I guess.
Since then I've bought a bunch of extra stuff. Such a great thing to get into. Really addictive.
Have fun

Appreciate it @Jamafrica brewer Yeah, I'm already addicted and haven't even started yet. I'm going to be brewing my first batch this afternoon when I get home. I think I'm ready!!!! We'll see I guess. I'm going to be cleaning and sanitizing like crazy. I'm probably a little extra paranoid about it to be honest. My first batch will ferment for 4 weeks and then an additional 2 weeks in the bottle. Not sure I can wait that long!!!

As far as the fermentation temps, I've been reading a ton about yeast over the last couple of days and even my dry yeast package says it has an "upper range" of 75F. My room as of yesterday was sitting at around 65-66F. I think I may be in good shape there. Hope so anyway.

Thanks for the words of encouragement. Cheers.

 

[RM-MN]

Appreciate it @Jamafrica brewer Yeah, I'm already addicted and haven't even started yet. I'm going to be brewing my first batch this afternoon when I get home. I think I'm ready!!!! We'll see I guess. I'm going to be cleaning and sanitizing like crazy. I'm probably a little extra paranoid about it to be honest. My first batch will ferment for 4 weeks and then an additional 2 weeks in the bottle. Not sure I can wait that long!!!

As far as the fermentation temps, I've been reading a ton about yeast over the last couple of days and even my dry yeast package says it has an "upper range" of 75F. My room as of yesterday was sitting at around 65-66F. I think I may be in good shape there. Hope so anyway.

Thanks for the words of encouragement. Cheers.

I'd suggest a 3 and 3 instead of a 4 and 2 schedule. I think you will get better tasting beer that way.

Don't confuse ambient temperature with beer temperature. Fermentation will heat up the beer and as it begins to get warmer the fermentation will go faster and create more heat. Solve that by putting your fermenter into a tub of cool water. That will help damp out the temperature fluctuations.

 

[shrews824]

I'd suggest a 3 and 3 instead of a 4 and 2 schedule. I think you will get better tasting beer that way.

Don't confuse ambient temperature with beer temperature. Fermentation will heat up the beer and as it begins to get warmer the fermentation will go faster and create more heat. Solve that by putting your fermenter into a tub of cool water. That will help damp out the temperature fluctuations.

Yes sir, I should have clarified that with an ambient temp of 65-66 I should be good with my beer temp since the yeast fermentation range goes up to 75. Obviously, I'd like for it to be a touch lower, but we'll see.

So, you'd suggest 3 and 3?

 

[jrgtr42]

I don't have the book, but I have read portions of it online. Like you said, I've been using it for reference.
I haven't read the revised version, but I may see about purchasing it for sure. Thanks.

The other book I would recommend is Charlie Papazian's Complete Joy of Homebrewing.
Some stuff may be duplicated from Palmer, but Charlie is more a feel guy, going not by specific style but what he likes and what he has on hand, where Palmer is more by the numbers.
Both are extremely valuable.

 

[bkboiler]

Exciting times! NB deluxe brew kit was what got me started as well...it's a long rabbit hole (like golf), where the more you practice the better you get. And also like golf, the better equipment *will* help. But fabulous beer can be made with simple equipment (just as Tiger Woods could beat any of us playing with WalMart clubs)...

There's a lot of threads on here regarding brewing with the seasons.
I'd recommend Saisons or Kveik yeasts in summer, and getting an inkbird temp controller and heating mat for all other seasons. There's much more flexibility in the other seasons with just a heating mat (as long as you dont have a surprise heatwave in the middle of fermenting with an English strain...ask me how I know).
Short of that...a fridge with a mat inside and an inkbird is insurance for temperature swings in both directions.
Again welcome! It's lots of fun (especially brewing and enjoying with others).

 

[RM-MN]

So, you'd suggest 3 and 3?

When you bottle beer you add sugar to create the CO2 for carbonation. This starts a new fermentation, albeit a small one, so any trub that made it into your bottles will need time to settle out. While the rule of thumb is 3 weeks conditioning, I find that some beers do not need that much time while others may be at their peak at 3 to 6 months or more.

 

[shrews824]

The other book I would recommend is Charlie Papazian's Complete Joy of Homebrewing.
Some stuff may be duplicated from Palmer, but Charlie is more a feel guy, going not by specific style buy what he likes and what he has on hand, where Palmer is more by the numbers.
Both are extremely valuable.

Great. Thanks for the book suggestion. I'll check it out.

Exciting times! NB deluxe brew kit was what got me started as well...it's a long rabbit hole (like golf), where the more you practice the better you get. And also like golf, the better equipment *will* help. But fabulous beer can be made with simple equipment (just as Tiger Woods could beat any of us playing with WalMart clubs)...

There's a lot of threads on here regarding brewing with the seasons.
I'd recommend Saisons or Kveik yeasts in summer, and getting an inkbird temp controller and heating mat for all other seasons. There's much more flexibility in the other seasons with just a heating mat (as long as you dont have a surprise heatwave in the middle of fermenting with an English strain...ask me how I know).
Short of that...a fridge with a mat inside and an inkbird is insurance for temperature swings in both directions.
Again welcome! It's lots of fun (especially brewing and enjoying with others).

Thanks. I can already tell this is going to be a deep, deep hole!!!! I brewed my first batch this Friday. I've already learned a couple of things NOT to do next time.

I've been reading and researching a ton about yeasts over the last few days. I don't guess I ever realized how the temperature control of yeast could be so critical.

When you bottle beer you add sugar to create the CO2 for carbonation. This starts a new fermentation, albeit a small one, so any trub that made it into your bottles will need time to settle out. While the rule of thumb is 3 weeks conditioning, I find that some beers do not need that much time while others may be at their peak at 3 to 6 months or more.

Ok. Cool. Sure, I think for my first batch I may stick with the 4 and 2 method. The more I do it and the more I get comfortable with the process I may experiment a bit. Thanks.