My first attempt to make beer

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grbr

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Hello all!

Great staff, I am so glad I found this forum.

I am in the process of making my first batch, day 6 into primary fermentation. Whole grain malt/mash (so many new terms, I may still mix them).

I used 3.5kg pale ale, 3kg Pilsen and 0.5kg special Belgian (I am not sure about the name, but a dark and roasted above 100C). 41L water, 40gr Columbus, 20gr Amarillo, 20gr Cascade.

Mashing process 1 hour between 69-72C (planned 67C, but couldn't keep it). Additional 1 hour boil.

IMG_20200627_125740.jpg

Due to no cooling equipment I pitched the yeast next morning (so previous Sunday) at 21C, 2 x 11.5 Fermentis dry yeast.

Below is the state same date after 12 hours.

IMG_20200628_173531.jpg


And the state now
IMG_20200704_085508.jpg


I do not see any visual activity. The temperature in the basement is 23C day/night. It was 21 when I pitched the yeast, but the weather got quite warmer the last week.

I plan to leave it as is for 2 more weeks and then bottling it.

I just hope it will become a beer at the end.

Greetings from North Macedonia, stay safe!
 
Welcome to the hobby! It will definitely become beer. Before bottling, make sure it is fully fermented to avoid exploding bottles. Take a hydrometer reading to assure the beer is near the expected final gravity. Then take another reading in a few days to make sure the gravity is stable.
Thank you for the advice. This with gravity and hydrometer it is still a science fiction for me, I was hoping I can get on without it, at least for my first batch.
 
Thank you for the advice. This with gravity and hydrometer it is still a science fiction for me, I was hoping I can get on without it, at least for my first batch.

Welcome to the forum, from Nebraska (dead center of the US..dont worry, a lot of people in the States dont know where Nebraska is either...)!

You really do need a hydrometer in order to safely bottle, but also to know what your ABV is when the beer is finished (although you would have had to take a gravity reading after the boil) and to calculate what your efficiency is (how much sugars you are extracting from the grain). They're like $5 USD and incredibly easy to use.

Bottling unfinished beer can be quite dangerous, plus, if you dont know what your efficiency is, OG, FG, etc you're losing a lot of data from a brew day and will make it much harder to get better down the road. Cheers!
 
Welcome to the homebrew hobby and HBT!

Mashing process 1 hour between 69-72C
69C is in the middle of the common 64-70C mashing range, 72C is certainly on the high side, making less fermentable wort. Some diastatic enzymes start to denature above 70C.
Enzyme Activity in Mash.jpg

1 hour between 69-72C (planned 67C, but couldn't keep it)
Were you heating the mash?
When not adding heat, mash temperatures typically drop, they don't go up by themselves.

A (sugar) hydrometer (0.990-1.100 range) is a basic instrument for beer brewing.
 
I was hoping I can get on without it, at least for my first batch.

You can but it’s worth investing in for the future.

Your fermentation temp is a little warm, not ideal but not prohibitive either. Your beer will ferment 2-4c warmer than the the room temp.

Let all visible activity stop then bottle/keg/package 5-7 days later to be safe.
 
Welcome to the forum, from Nebraska (dead center of the US..dont worry, a lot of people in the States dont know where Nebraska is either...)!

You really do need a hydrometer in order to safely bottle, but also to know what your ABV is when the beer is finished (although you would have had to take a gravity reading after the boil) and to calculate what your efficiency is (how much sugars you are extracting from the grain). They're like $5 USD and incredibly easy to use.

Bottling unfinished beer can be quite dangerous, plus, if you dont know what your efficiency is, OG, FG, etc you're losing a lot of data from a brew day and will make it much harder to get better down the road. Cheers!
Thank you for the welcome!

Ah, you don't know my problems ;-) You can always as final resort say "I am from the states"!

Ok, I am getting the point with the hydrometer. I just had to learn so many new things in just couple of weeks, I deliberately decided to skip the gravity measurements for my first batch.

I have some experience with wine making, 5-6 years at least. I had my take with exploding bottles while making wine, but I must say, where I am from, not much science is used when making wine. Thought that's another story.

I got a book, How to brew, from John J. Palmer, excellent resource. He also pinpointed the need of hydrometer, but for my first batch it was simply over my possibilities, not financial but from intellectual side of things, too many new things to learn and grasp.

Anyway, I just hope this first batch will be good enough to drink and "stay alive". That I'll count as success!
 
He also pinpointed the need of hydrometer, [...] not financial but from intellectual side of things, too many new things to learn and grasp.
There's really nothing simpler than taking a sample of your beer (or wine), pouring it into a tall and narrow (hydrometer) jar and carefully lowering your hydrometer into it.
Spin it to dislodge bubbles, then, when it stops spinning and bobbing, read the gravity on the scale at the liquid line.

From the pix it looks you had krausen (foam) after 12 hours, then some krausen left after a week. Chances are your beer is done, especially at 23C. But it's still conditioning, I'd leave it for another week where it is, to be sure, then package.
 
Welcome to the homebrew hobby and HBT!


69C is in the middle of the common 64-70C mashing range, 72C is certainly on the high side, making less fermentable wort. Some diastatic enzymes start to denature above 70C.View attachment 687917

Were you heating the mash?
When not adding heat, mash temperatures typically drop, they don't go up by themselves.

A (sugar) hydrometer (0.990-1.100 range) is a basic instrument for beer brewing.
Thank you for the welcome!

Oh, I can't look at that graph, I am still not there mentally!

If you ask me how I heated the mash, well, I had to use what I had at hand, see below.
IMG_20200627_110702.jpg

I know it feels primitive, but I like to use these old tools my ancestors were using. It is hard to control the temperature, but this was my first time needing to control a specific temperature range. I am confident I'll get better for my second batch.
 
You can but it’s worth investing in for the future.

Your fermentation temp is a little warm, not ideal but not prohibitive either. Your beer will ferment 2-4c warmer than the the room temp.

Let all visible activity stop then bottle/keg/package 5-7 days later to be safe.
Yes, it is warm, the weather here jumped from early spring to late summer raising the ambiental temperature in my basement for at least 2 degrees C. But, I can't move the beer elsewhere, so I can just pray :)
 
Thank you for the welcome!

Oh, I can't look at that graph, I am still not there mentally!

If you ask me how I heated the mash, well, I had to use what I had at hand, see below.
View attachment 687927
I know it feels primitive, but I like to use these old tools my ancestors were using. It is hard to control the temperature, but this was my first time needing to control a specific temperature range. I am confident I'll get better for my second batch.
At least for this forum, that's some unique mashing equipment and procedure!

Overheating that mash is not only very possible, it's very likely, unless you keep stirring well while heating and removing her from the heat before she gets too hot (anywhere above 70F).

You'd be much better off doing this:
While heating your mash, keep stirring well, mixing in the warmer mash from the bottom. Once your mash is at her intended temp, use the vertical dashed line at 67°C as your guide, remove the pot from your heating source and wrap her in a thick blanket or sleeping bag for the duration of the mash, 60 minutes.
Heck, you want to be authentic, pack her in the hay chest! ;)

I got a book, How to brew, from John J. Palmer, excellent resource.
Bravo! That's your ultimate brewing guide. For everything between his lines, there's HBT!
 
There's really nothing simpler than taking a sample of your beer (or wine), pouring it into a tall and narrow (hydrometer) jar and carefully lowering your hydrometer into it.
Spin it to dislodge bubbles, then, when it stops spinning and bobbing, read the gravity on the scale at the liquid line.

From the pix it looks you had krausen (foam) after 12 hours, then some krausen left after a week. Chances are your beer is done, especially at 23C. But it's still conditioning, I'd leave it for another week where it is, to be sure, then package.
Ok, I am sure I can read the values from the hydrometer, but I am not yet sure what they'll mean to me. I should know what values I am after. The receipt I was using is just a mixture of ingredients that were available to order from a local shop. Does this matter at all, the receipt?

Or what should I aim at, OG to FG, are there any rules? In the book John listed all these values, but I admit I was just not paying attention to the details. So, I guess my confusion is,

1. when should I first time measure the gravity?

2. Is that the OG (original gravity)?

3 what should I aim for as the final gravity? Are there any rules?
 
At least for this forum, that's some unique mashing equipment and procedure!

Overheating that mash is not only very possible, it's very likely, unless you keep stirring well while heating and removing her from the heat before she gets too hot (anywhere above 70F).

You'd be much better off doing this:
While heating your mash, keep stirring well, mixing in the warmer mash from the bottom. Once your mash is at her intended temp, use the vertical dashed line at 67°C as your guide, remove the pot from your heating source and wrap her in a thick blanket or sleeping bag for the duration of the mash, 60 minutes.
Heck, you want to be authentic, pack her in the hay chest! ;)


Bravo! That's your ultimate brewing guide. For everything between his lines, there's HBT!
My equipment: this is a standard "ajvar" heating source, something an ordinary household have in their basement in my country, so buying another heating source felt like.... nugh :)

Wrapping the kettle in a blanket, that's great idea, I should have thought of that! Definitely something to consider if things get out of control next time.
 
OG is Original Gravity, of the batch, after the boil and chilling, and after top up if you need to. Basically what's in your fermenter right before you pitch yeast.
FG is Final Gravity, of your beer when she's done fermenting, and ready to package.

OG depends on your batch volume, the type and amount of grain and other fermentables used, and your efficiencies to get there. IOW, how much sugar you extracted from the grain, after losses. Plus anything you've added, like sugar or malt extract.

For normal beer, OG is commonly between 1.030-1.070. Anywhere above 1.060-1.070 is considered high gravity, and can go way past 1.150.
FG for regular beer typically between 1.004-1.020, depending on OG, yeast used, fermentability, and so on.
 
OG is Original Gravity, of the batch, after the boil and chilling, and after top up if you need to. Basically what's in your fermenter right before you pitch yeast.
FG is Final Gravity, of your beer when she's done fermenting, and ready to package.

OG depends on your batch volume, the type and amount of grain and other fermentables used, and your efficiencies to get there. IOW, how much sugar you extracted from the grain, after losses. Plus anything you've added, like sugar or malt extract.

For normal beer, OG is commonly between 1.030-1.070. Anywhere above 1.060-1.070 is considered high gravity, and can go way past 1.150.
FG for regular beer typically between 1.004-1.020, depending on OG, yeast used, fermentability, and so on.
Thanks. I think I am getting it, slowly! Definitely something to consider for my next batch.
 
The receipt I was using is just a mixture of ingredients that were available to order from a local shop. Does this matter at all, the receipt?
Yes, the recipe matters. Did the recipe come with any instructions and or statistics? The type and amount of grain in every recipe along with your mashing process will determine your OG.
 
Yes, the recipe matters. Did the recipe come with any instructions and or statistics? The type and amount of grain in every recipe along with your mashing process will determine your OG.
No, I just used "a common sense" to build the receipt from looking at other receipts in the book, paying attention to water to grist ratio only. So, I had no real receipt to follow.
 
What size batch are you brewing. There are several brewing calculators/ programs available that help you formulate recipes. Some are free and others require purchase. One I have not personally used (I use BeerSmith) but have heard good things about and is free is Brewer’s Friend Beer Recipe Calculator - Brewer's Friend
There is also a huge recipe database here on HBT.
As far as a hydrometer is concerned, they really are a valuable tool that every brewer should have. The hydrometer and test jar are very affordable. Some people complain about the amount of beer needed to take samples and it can be more of an issue if you’re brewing small batches. For me, each sample requires 4oz. YouTube can be helpful to learn the different procedures of brewing including the use of a hydrometer. Here are 2 examples from a quick search.


You’ve definitely come to the right place for help though. Take your time, ask questions and be patient.
 
What size batch are you brewing. There are several brewing calculators/ programs available that help you formulate recipes. Some are free and others require purchase. One I have not personally used (I use BeerSmith) but have heard good things about and is free is Brewer’s Friend Beer Recipe Calculator - Brewer's Friend
There is also a huge recipe database here on HBT.
As far as a hydrometer is concerned, they really are a valuable tool that every brewer should have. The hydrometer and test jar are very affordable. Some people complain about the amount of beer needed to take samples and it can be more of an issue if you’re brewing small batches. For me, each sample requires 4oz. YouTube can be helpful to learn the different procedures of brewing including the use of a hydrometer. Here are 2 examples from a quick search.


You’ve definitely come to the right place for help though. Take your time, ask questions and be patient.

Thank you for all the info, lot of useful staff.

The batch size: I used a simple rule I figured out from the book and that's water to grist ratio 6 x 1. Meaning, 6L of water for 1kg of barley grains. So, for 7kg grains I added 41L water (5.8kg x 1L). I hope I got it right.
 
Did you sparge (rinse) the grains? Or did you do no-sparge (soak the grains then drain off wort and boil it)? With no-sparge, using 7Kg of grain for 41L of water, you'd expect to collect about 34L of wort with an OG in the 1.045 to 1.050 range. With the high mash temperature, you should end up with a beer at about 4.2 to 4.8% ABV.
 
Did you sparge (rinse) the grains? Or did you do no-sparge (soak the grains then drain off wort and boil it)? With no-sparge, using 7Kg of grain for 41L of water, you'd expect to collect about 34L of wort with an OG in the 1.045 to 1.050 range. With the high mash temperature, you should end up with a beer at about 4.2 to 4.8% ABV.
I did a no-sparge .

I hope you are right and I'll end up with a beer :)
 
Wow, you did go all old school with your first batch..... LOL No special gadgets/tools, wood fire for boil and an all grain brew as well. Nice!!! You'll end up with beer...... may not be perfect, but even us that use all the right tools end up with not so prefect batches also
 
Wow, you did go all old school with your first batch..... LOL No special gadgets/tools, wood fire for boil and an all grain brew as well. Nice!!! You'll end up with beer...... may not be perfect, but even us that use all the right tools end up with not so prefect batches also
Thank you for the compliments!
I just hope I'll end up with "some beer that is drinkable" in order to justify the need for a second batch -:)
 
If you ask me how I heated the mash, well, I had to use what I had at hand, see below.
View attachment 687927
Is that your mash pot? ^
If so, what volume is it?
Do you also use it for boiling?
I'm asking because it doesn't look anywhere large enough to hold 15 kg of grain plus 41 liters (!11 U.S. gallons) of water.

How much wort is in your fermenter(s)?
 
Is that your mash pot? ^
If so, what volume is it?
Do you also use it for boiling?
I'm asking because it doesn't look anywhere large enough to hold 15 kg of grain plus 41 liters (!11 U.S. gallons) of water.

How much wort is in your fermenter(s)?
Yes, that's the one. Capacity is 65L and I boiled 7kg grains (not 15kg). Assuming a kg barley must be heavier than water, that's less than 7L. So, 41L water + max 7L grain is max 48L volume.

Update

Ok, I missed to answer your other question:

Yes, I use the same pot for boiling.

My method was inspired by BIAB, but I decided to skip the bag part. So, I added all the grains to a water at 70C, then after an hour drain the wort in another pot similar size and then getting it back to the original pot for the final boil.

How much wort in the fermentor: I haven't measured. I guess there are 30+ L, but I am not sure exactly.
 
Last edited:
I just hope it will become a beer at the end.

Greetings from North Macedonia, stay safe!
I had to look up where North Macedonia is. It is very interesting looking!

About maintaining temperature of the mash, insulating is a good idea. If you had or make a sturdy table at the same height as the ajvar, you could slide the cook pot off the heat or partially off the heat to adjust the mash temperature. This could also be used to keep the boil at a steady, medium or medium low level.

I haven't done it, but I have heard a way to keep the fermenter a little cooler, you can set it in a low tray of some kind with water in the tray, and put a cotton T-shirt over the fermenter so it reaches down to where the water is in the tray. The cloth will wick water up, the water will evaporate, and the fermenter will become cooler.

Also you want to keep it dark or low light as much of the time as possible. Too much light can damage beer.

Keep posting your progress and report how the beer tastes!
 
Yes, that's the one. Capacity is 65L and I boiled 7kg grains (not 15kg). Assuming a kg barley must be heavier than water, that's less than 7L. So, 41L water + max 7L grain is max 48L volume.

Update

Ok, I missed to answer your other question:

Yes, I use the same pot for boiling.

My method was inspired by BIAB, but I decided to skip the bag part. So, I added all the grains to a water at 70C, then after an hour drain the wort in another pot similar size and then getting it back to the original pot for the final boil.

How much wort in the fermentor: I haven't measured. I guess there are 30+ L, but I am not sure exactly.
Yeah, sorry, I was thinking in pounds there...

Actually dry grain is a little lighter than water, even more so when crushed/milled, due to the small spaces between the pieces of milled endosperm and husk. Now once water get mixed in, the grain pieces absorb quite some of the water, and start to swell, while the small spaces between fill up with water. The wet mash is actually denser than the sum of its components (grain + water). Even more so as the mash progresses and starches get converted to fully dissolvable sugars and dextrins. That's why the gravity goes up. For example from 1.000 (plain water) to 1.050 (wort). That's 5% heavier. ;)

But for ease of off-the-cuff estimates we can keep them the same.

The idea of mashing is to have your strike water heated to a certain temp, then when adding the milled grain, and mixing thoroughly, the temp of the mash comes out exactly where you want it to be, say at 67C, the dashed line in the center of the graph. Or any any other desired temp in that shaded zone.
There are (online) mash calculators for that.
Like this one: Brew365

You may undershoot or overshoot a tad, and heat or add boiling water, or add some cold water or ice, resp. But ideally you want to nail it as closely as possible.
Mash progresses fast, 10' in, half the starches may have converted already. That's why hitting the right temp is so important. Not saying you can't heat it up, but that will give you a different wort composition. It can be subtle or large, in the latter case, your FG may not drop as low due to a larger percentage of unfermentables in the wort.

How did you separate the wort from the grains (this is called lautering)? Strainer, sieve?

I do think sparging (rinsing) can improve mash/lauter efficiency, even with BIAB, with or without using a bag.
Consider doing a batch sparge using 1/3-1/2 of your total water. Or even 2 batch sparges, splitting the sparge volume into half for each.
 
I had to look up where North Macedonia is. It is very interesting looking!

About maintaining temperature of the mash, insulating is a good idea. If you had or make a sturdy table at the same height as the ajvar, you could slide the cook pot off the heat or partially off the heat to adjust the mash temperature. This could also be used to keep the boil at a steady, medium or medium low level.

I haven't done it, but I have heard a way to keep the fermenter a little cooler, you can set it in a low tray of some kind with water in the tray, and put a cotton T-shirt over the fermenter so it reaches down to where the water is in the tray. The cloth will wick water up, the water will evaporate, and the fermenter will become cooler.

Also you want to keep it dark or low light as much of the time as possible. Too much light can damage beer.

Keep posting your progress and report how the beer tastes!
Thank you for the advices, much appreciated!
 
Yeah, sorry, I was thinking in pounds there...

Actually dry grain is a little lighter than water, even more so when crushed/milled, due to the small spaces between the pieces of milled endosperm and husk. Now once water get mixed in, the grain pieces absorb quite some of the water, and start to swell, while the small spaces between fill up with water. The wet mash is actually denser than the sum of its components (grain + water). Even more so as the mash progresses and starches get converted to fully dissolvable sugars and dextrins. That's why the gravity goes up. For example from 1.000 (plain water) to 1.050 (wort). That's 5% heavier. ;)

But for ease of off-the-cuff estimates we can keep them the same.

The idea of mashing is to have your strike water heated to a certain temp, then when adding the milled grain, and mixing thoroughly, the temp of the mash comes out exactly where you want it to be, say at 67C, the dashed line in the center of the graph. Or any any other desired temp in that shaded zone.
There are (online) mash calculators for that.
Like this one: Brew365

You may undershoot or overshoot a tad, and heat or add boiling water, or add some cold water or ice, resp. But ideally you want to nail it as closely as possible.
Mash progresses fast, 10' in, half the starches may have converted already. That's why hitting the right temp is so important. Not saying you can't heat it up, but that will give you a different wort composition. It can be subtle or large, in the latter case, your FG may not drop as low due to a larger percentage of unfermentables in the wort.

How did you separate the wort from the grains (this is called lautering)? Strainer, sieve?

I do think sparging (rinsing) can improve mash/lauter efficiency, even with BIAB, with or without using a bag.
Consider doing a batch sparge using 1/3-1/2 of your total water. Or even 2 batch sparges, splitting the sparge volume into half for each.
Yes, I used a strainer.

Thank you for the advices, much appreciated! I'll have all this in mind for my second batch.
 
I have followed this thread closely and find this fascinating. The brewing community has taken a craft that started with similar methods to what you are doing and made it almost intimidatingly complicated for new comers. I eagerly await the report of how your beer tastes and may try to copy your method to “go old school” for a batch just to remember where this brewing craft started. Happy brewing in Macedonia.
 
I have followed this thread closely and find this fascinating. The brewing community has taken a craft that started with similar methods to what you are doing and made it almost intimidatingly complicated for new comers. I eagerly await the report of how your beer tastes and may try to copy your method to “go old school” for a batch just to remember where this brewing craft started. Happy brewing in Macedonia.
Thank you for the compliments! I'll definitely report back any progress and how the beer tastes. I am just not much optimistic it will be any good.
 
Following the advices here to get a hydrometer, I decided to listen to you guys and today I got one. I made a test reading with drinking water (from the pipe directly, I forgot to measure the temperature) and the water gravity reading was 1000, so I guess the hydrometer is OK.

I then took out a glass of "beer" from the fermentor (don't ask me how!). I was surprised it smelled nice, like a beer actually and tastes real pleasant, to my surprise. Ok, maybe a bit more bitter, my wife said, but I added 40gr Columbus hops wanting to get a beer with a strong bitterness flavor, so that's not an issue at all. So, we both concluded that it tastes like an unfinished beer that was opened couple of days before.

One thing is, the "beer" is not yet clean, like some kind of juice. So, I guess it needs more time for conditioning.
IMG_20200708_222241.jpg


And the hydrometer reading is 1014 (as far as I could understand it). I again forgot to measure the temperature before measuring the gravity. The basement temperature was 22C and the hydrometer specs said best reads are ~20C, so I hope the results are accurate.

IMG_20200708_222734.jpg


My plan is to measure another sample Saturday night (so in three days from now) just to see whether the reading changes. But, I am almost certain I'll leave it in the fermentor for conditioning until the next weekend.
 
And the hydrometer reading is 1014 (as far as I could understand it).

Small nit, but it looks more like 1.015 in the pic. You want to read the bottom of the meniscus.

The basement temperature was 22C and the hydrometer specs said best reads are ~20C, so I hope the results are accurate.

Assuming the beer was at your basement temp... the difference between 22C and 20C isn't enough to change the result (to 3 decimal places).
 
Looks like you're heading in the right direction. Well done! I hope your beer is great, but if not, I'll bet the next one is better. Keep brewing and keep us posted. 👍
 
Bravo on the old school brewing style from a fellow noob. I'll be following your thread to see how your beer turns out. My first porter is in the fermentor, and I'm getting ready to bottle today. Getting anxious. Good luck! :bigmug:
 
Bravo on the old school brewing style from a fellow noob. I'll be following your thread to see how your beer turns out. My first porter is in the fermentor, and I'm getting ready to bottle today. Getting anxious. Good luck! :bigmug:
Thank you for the support and good luck with bottling your beer!
 
This time I measured the temperature of the beer, it was 23C.

Regarding gravity, maybe it moved a bit, if at all. Three days passed since the last reading.

IMG_20200712_010107.jpg


I plan to bottle it next Saturday, I hope it will clear a bit by then.

The taste is still the same.
 
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