Duane_Austin
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- May 2, 2009
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Hey now!
I'm into day 9 of ferm. on my first 5 gal.
It's just an all extract: 4lbs Edme English IPA + 3 lbs light DME. Thought I would post how it went and to make it more interesting, add a poll of mistakes I took note of.
I had a little Mr. Beer under my belt, so this wasn't a huge jump, other than volume, and trying out my new equipment. Excited to make a batch that I won't have swigged in 5 days.
So here are the major things I noted that I wasn't happy about:
1) Boiled water for yeast starter. In attempt to cool it down faster, put in the fridge (about 15-20 minutes), but didn't think to cover. Ugh. Won't do that again. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
2) Cool: Ice melted fast (used the sink full of ice method), and even running and exchange cold tap water in sink, 30 minutes came, and temp was still around 90+, but I thought 30 minutes was the limit, so called it quits.
I'm curious what is considered more important: cooling in 30 minutes or getting it to 70'ish degrees? If one has to be sacrificed for the other, which to chose?
3) Aeration: Probably should have done more to aerate. I did do a big splash when pouring the wort into the ferm bucket of cold water, but kind of a fast and lame stir with a whisk that probably didn't do jack. Hopefully the big splash did enough for the air.
My sample from two days ago still smelled really green (as in apples that is), and my reading was 1.020 (from OG of 1.052). Does that sound right after one week?
I need to run out to by another hydrometer today so I can take a reading again. Broke it after that reading when rinsing it off -- it slipped back into it's plastic tube, and fractured. Arg! Getting a hydrometer with one of those metal ball ends this time. This one was glass with clay or something inside.
I'll keep you all posted on how this turns out!
I'm into day 9 of ferm. on my first 5 gal.
It's just an all extract: 4lbs Edme English IPA + 3 lbs light DME. Thought I would post how it went and to make it more interesting, add a poll of mistakes I took note of.
I had a little Mr. Beer under my belt, so this wasn't a huge jump, other than volume, and trying out my new equipment. Excited to make a batch that I won't have swigged in 5 days.
So here are the major things I noted that I wasn't happy about:
1) Boiled water for yeast starter. In attempt to cool it down faster, put in the fridge (about 15-20 minutes), but didn't think to cover. Ugh. Won't do that again. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
2) Cool: Ice melted fast (used the sink full of ice method), and even running and exchange cold tap water in sink, 30 minutes came, and temp was still around 90+, but I thought 30 minutes was the limit, so called it quits.
I'm curious what is considered more important: cooling in 30 minutes or getting it to 70'ish degrees? If one has to be sacrificed for the other, which to chose?
3) Aeration: Probably should have done more to aerate. I did do a big splash when pouring the wort into the ferm bucket of cold water, but kind of a fast and lame stir with a whisk that probably didn't do jack. Hopefully the big splash did enough for the air.
My sample from two days ago still smelled really green (as in apples that is), and my reading was 1.020 (from OG of 1.052). Does that sound right after one week?
I need to run out to by another hydrometer today so I can take a reading again. Broke it after that reading when rinsing it off -- it slipped back into it's plastic tube, and fractured. Arg! Getting a hydrometer with one of those metal ball ends this time. This one was glass with clay or something inside.
I'll keep you all posted on how this turns out!
