My first attempt to make beer

[grbr]

Just checking something that came up in a recent thread about why a new brewer's beer didn't work......did you crush the grains?

Yes, I used an electrical gadget (blender) to crush them. Took me some time.

 

[catalanotte]

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.

 

[grbr]

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.

 

[grbr]

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.

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.

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.

 

[VikeMan]

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).

 

[grbr]

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

Got that, thanks!

 

[Stormcrow]

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.

 

[Dtsyukfan]

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!

 

[grbr]

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!

Thank you for the support and good luck with bottling your beer!

 

[grbr]

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.

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

The taste is still the same.

 

[grbr]

OK, I bottled the beer after three weeks of primary fermentation. I may have made a mistake with the priming sugar. I was expecting at least 30 litters of beer, so I splitted the sugar dosage for 15 liters. But, I was wrong and in the second bucket I got only 8.5L. So, it got double sugar dosage. By the time I realized the problem I have bottled already 7.5L. So, in hope to lessen the sugar level, I mixed the remaining 7.5L from the first bucket with the 8.5L of the second.

Anyway, I have now 23.5L of "wanna be beer". I also moved the bottles from the basement to the first floor where the temperature is a bit warmer, I placed them on a piece of styrofoam and covered them with a blanket. So, again waiting time!

 

[NGD]

Just a suggestion. Since you have double the desired priming sugar in some bottles I would start sampling those over-primed bottles by the end of the first week and open them over the sink. Those bottles sound like they would be prime for over carbonation and possibly bottle bombs. It appears you may have some bottles with twist off caps. If any of the over primed batch went in there you may be able to bleed off a bit of CO2 after the first week.

Side note: Once first fermentation is done...its beer! So congratulations on your first batch.

 

[grbr]

Just a suggestion. Since you have double the desired priming sugar in some bottles I would start sampling those over-primed bottles by the end of the first week and open them over the sink. Those bottles sound like they would be prime for over carbonation and possibly bottle bombs. It appears you may have some bottles with twist off caps. If any of the over primed batch went in there you may be able to bleed off a bit of CO2 after the first week.

Side note: Once first fermentation is done...its beer! So congratulations on your first batch.

Do you suggest I should open and then close again those bottles after the first week?

 

[NGD]

Simple answer: yes if you marked which ones were over primed. It might even be better to do this on day 2 or 3. The idea is to release pressure early on then recap while bottle fermentation is still going so you end up with carbonated beer, but not a gusher or worse. Do a for search on bottle bombs.

In the future you can purchase a few PET bottles and get an idea of the pressure by squeezing. When they become very firm then its likely your close to desired carbonation. If it feels like a rock, your overcarbonated. Carbonation calculators are highly suggested if you dont use one already.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

[grbr]

Simple answer: yes if you marked which ones were over primed. It might even be better to do this on day 2 or 3. The idea is to release pressure early on then recap while bottle fermentation is still going so you end up with carbonated beer, but not a gusher or worse. Do a for search on bottle bombs.

In the future you can purchase a few PET bottles and get an idea of the pressure by squeezing. When they become very firm then its likely your close to desired carbonation. If it feels like a rock, your overcarbonated. Carbonation calculators are highly suggested if you dont use one already.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Yes, I know which ones. Thank you.

 

[grbr]

I couldn't stand still and cracked one bottle after only couple of days. It is definitely a beer!
Although not my dream beer and more haze that I wanted it to be, I drinked this first bottle to the last drop!

 

[MikeCo]

With time it will clear in the bottles. You can cold crash and/or use gelatin to accelerate the clearing before bottling if you want.

 

[grbr]

Ten days after bottling, I love this beer! I am already planning my next batch. I believe I identified some mistakes I've made with my first batch, as:

- I haven't get rid of the barley dust after grinding it, it ended up in the wort and then the beer. And I am sure there was lots of it and I suspect it is the the main cause for the haziness

- keeping the beer in the fermentor for too long on high temperature (23C for three weeks). I am 99% sure the small bit of off flavor wouldn't got into the beer had I bottled only couple of days earlier. It isn't something bad, you may notiice it on the first couple of sips and you wonder: was it really there...? but still.

But, this adventure turned really well, I wasn't expecting to get a real beer at the end.

What is most interesting is I haven't noticed any allergic reaction even after drinking 4 in a row. Since couple of years after 2-3 bottles of any commercial beer next morning I'd got this runny nose and often sneezing. At least so far I haven't noticed any of these with this beer, so that alone is a win for me.

 

[jvbrewer]

Just - Wow...

Brewing your first batch "all-grain", using the "equipment" you used, etc., etc., just amazing.

It's kind of too bad that John Palmer's (excellent!) book has become the beginner's norm. Back when I started (early 1990's) is was Charlie Papazian's book. His motto, repeated throughout the book, was "Don't Worry - Have a Homebrew".

Looks like you're going to make a very good beer. We all tend to be surprised with just how good that first batch is. As someone earlier mentioned, we all have "bad" brews, but there are very, very few that go down the drain. Bad is a matter of degree (and usually means we tried something weird).

Good luck - keep at it. Work on the science a little - OG, FG, alpha acids, mash temperatures all play into the end result and (to a lot of us) the learning is what makes the hobby so interesting.

 

[doug293cz]

Ten days after bottling, I love this beer! I am already planning my next batch. I believe I identified some mistakes I've made with my first batch, as:

- I haven't get rid of the barley dust after grinding it, it ended up in the wort and then the beer. And I am sure there was lots of it and I suspect it is the the main cause for the haziness

- keeping the beer in the fermentor for too long on high temperature (23C for three weeks). I am 99% sure the small bit of off flavor wouldn't got into the beer had I bottled only couple of days earlier. It isn't something bad, you may notiice it on the first couple of sips and you wonder: was it really there...? but still.

But, this adventure turned really well, I wasn't expecting to get a real beer at the end.

What is most interesting is I haven't noticed any allergic reaction even after drinking 4 in a row. Since couple of years after 2-3 bottles of any commercial beer next morning I'd got this runny nose and often sneezing. At least so far I haven't noticed any of these with this beer, so that alone is a win for me.

View attachment 691359

Congrats on your brewing success.

It's unlikely that the haze is due to suspended barley flour. More likely starch haze, or chill haze (which IIRC comes from proteins.) If you put the bottles in the fridge for a couple of weeks, a lot of that will settle out.

Brew on

 

[Brulian]

I couldn't stand still and cracked one bottle after only couple of days. It is definitely a beer!
Although not my dream beer and more haze that I wanted it to be, I drinked this first bottle to the last drop!

View attachment 690398

Congrats Man!
Hopefully i will be able to say the same about my 1st brew!