My First Brew

[wormraper]

ok got my equipment from the Northern Brewers fathers day sale today and am going to start the Bavarian Hefeweizen Extract kit on Thursday since I have to create a starter tomorrow afternoon when I wake up. gonna do a 1 liter starter by putting it in a growler with with liter of water and a cup of DME wort mixture (boiled of course). although I was wondering if I should just use the smack pack of Wyeast 3068 since under pitching gives a few more banana flavors in that brew. now, on to my big question. Like most extract kits it calls for a partial boil and to top off with water, my question is can I do a full boil and just boil down to 5-5.25 gallons for better efficiency??? if so what should my starting water be???

 

[hercher]

Yes, do a starter. Since you got your yeast via mail, you don't know how many viable yeast cells you have. You'll still get flavor you want.

Since it is an extract kit, I don't think doing a full boil will increase your efficiency.

 

[wormraper]

had to go out across town to the LHBS store to get some DME for a starter. I gotta love conflicting information though. he said that a starter for liquid yeast should be 1/4 cup DME to 1/2 cup water and that anything over 1/3 cup DME (2/3 cup water) was ridiculous overkill and a waste of DME while on here I see it's been recommended to start with 1 qt water and 1 cup DME for a 1 liter of liquid starter ....eeef

 

[Wig]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/how-make-yeast-starter-pictorial-76101/
I followed it and have made fine starters.

BTW if you have the capability to store some wort, I'd recommend making enough wort for several starters to save the hassle down the road. I make 2 gallons at a time.

 

[duboman]

You basically want a 10-1 ratio of DME to water to make a starter that is about 1.040

100grams DME to 1L
200grams DME to 2L

Pretty simple and it is better to go by weight because DME can pack down pretty tight so by weight you get a more accurate amount

 

[wormraper]

sounds easy enough.

one last quick question for the time being. I got one of those stick on tape thermometers to stick on my ale pail. but since I'm putting the ale pail in a rope tub with water in it to control temps should I only fill the tub up with water far enough so that it doesn't come in contact with the thermometer or can the stick on thermometer survive being submerged under water (so it doesn't just peel off with the water surrounding it)

or should stick the thermometer sideways on the ale pail to give it more room to have water filling up in the tub

 

[Wig]

if you stick it on a cean and dry pale, it should be fine. They seem resiliant to me. I tried to transfer my stick on thermometer from my bucket to a glass carboy. I now have no stick on thermometer.

 

[wormraper]

sweet. being that my equipment is brand new should I use the PBW it came with to clean the buckets, tubes etc first and THEN sanitize or should I be ok with only sanitizing with star san? (just trying to get my ducks in a line before I go ahead)

lastly I looked through a couple threads and stickies but couldn't find an answer, Im thinking of doing a full extract boil in my 7.5 gallon pot but I couldn't find out how much water I need pre-boil to do a full 5.25 gallon wort amount.

 

[wormraper]

okeee, boiled my starter wort, cooled it down and then pitched the swollen smack pack into it late last night. then poured it into a sanitized growler and put some foil crimped over the top of it. woke up this morning to take a peak and I don't see any bubbling or Krausen... Did I miss pitch into the starter liquid?

 

[Wig]

Did you measure the temps before pitching? I think you're ok, you just have to give it time.

I'd clean it all very well with the pbw. And rinse very well. Then starsan.

How much to boil depends on how much boil off occurs on your system. There are lots of variables that affect it. SOme people lose .5 gallons, other lose 2 gallons. If you have time you can go heat up 6 gallons and boil for an hour the see how much is left and figure it out that way. If your about to do your batch, I'd put 6 in the kettle and brew away. After 30 minutes of boil try and check the volume and see how you're doing. You'll be able to tell if you'll need to boil a little longer or have to add some water. Note: additional boiling may affect hop profile.

I'd advise getting a long stick (I use an old mash paddle) and measure gallon or half gallon increments on it so you can easily check volume. Just take your pot, add .5 gallons of water, put in your stick, and notch or otherwise mark it at the water level so you know what it is. Do this up to, well i went to 6.5 gallons.

 

[hercher]

okeee, boiled my starter wort, cooled it down and then pitched the swollen smack pack into it late last night. then poured it into a sanitized growler and put some foil crimped over the top of it. woke up this morning to take a peak and I don't see any bubbling or Krausen... Did I miss pitch into the starter liquid?

No. You are fine. The volumes of a starter are too small to produce the kind of visible activity you might want to see in a full batch of beer.

You should also remember that fermentation is best measured by changes in specific gravity, and not in any visible activity.

 

[wormraper]

lol, yeah I figured as much when I shook my bottle too hard and it exploded over my face and chest ... had to boil some more wort to replace what was lost and wait till tomorrow for more yeast to replicate. looks like it's doing good and I have a little less than a quart of starter right now. should be ready to start tomorrow when I wake up

oh and one last question. when I shake the bucket around to Aerate the wort is that BEFORE or AFTER I pitch the yeast into the mix?

 

[wormraper]

ok, about 20 minutes into my boil . using a Bavarian Hefe extract kit from NB.... I can do 3.75 gallons boiling on my stove with the lid 1/2 on to keep it boiling nicely will probably boil down to 3 gallons or so at the end I'm guessing so I'll only have to top off with 2 gallons of water that I boiled and chilled overnight in the fridge. did what a lot of people said to do with this recipe to switch the lme and dme boil times so as not to create a "dunkelweizen". hops are smelling sooooooooo good

already pbw'd the ferment bucket and airlock. now soaking airlock in the starsan until I need it in a few hours.

 

[brewit2it]

ok, about 20 minutes into my boil . using a Bavarian Hefe extract kit from NB.... I can do 3.75 gallons boiling on my stove with the lid 1/2 on to keep it boiling nicely will probably boil down to 3 gallons or so at the end I'm guessing so I'll only have to top off with 2 gallons of water that I boiled and chilled overnight in the fridge. did what a lot of people said to do with this recipe to switch the lme and dme boil times so as not to create a "dunkelweizen". hops are smelling sooooooooo good

already pbw'd y ferment temp and airlock. now soaking airlock in the starsan until I need it in a few hours.

Sounds good!! Make sure to starsan anything that is going to come in contact with your cooled wort, especially your fermentor/fermenter.

 

[wormraper]

Sounds good!! Make sure to starsan anything that is going to come in contact with your cooled wort, especially your fermentor/fermenter.

that I plan on doing. got a gallon of the stuff to dip stuff in and a spray bottle with it so I can spray the insides of the ferment container with. hell I even dip my hands in it before using my wort stir paddle

may have to boil a little longer though cuz the boil isn't the greatest in the world (probably should have done 3 gallons of boil instead of 3.7)

 

[tre9er]

I prefer to soak the fermenter in starsan. I put all my tools in a fermenter full of starsan. More time for it to get into the cracks and crevices. But I also DO keep a spray bottle of starsan around and spritz anything I can't just dunk.

 

[wormraper]

I prefer to soak the fermenter in starsan. I put all my tools in a fermenter full of starsan. More time for it to get into the cracks and crevices. But I also DO keep a spray bottle of starsan around and spritz anything I can't just dunk.

hmm, makes sense. I poured the starsan and tools into the fermenter just now and am gonna just roll it around to have it soak in.

and on a side note. just added the 6 lbs of LME for the last 15 minutes of boil and damn, that is some nasty sticky stuff.

 

[tre9er]

hmm, makes sense. I poured the starsan and tools into the fermenter just now and am gonna just roll it around to have it soak in.

and on a side note. just added the 6 lbs of LME for the last 15 minutes of boil and damn, that is some nasty sticky stuff.

Yep. Extract makes many a man decide to go all-grain in a hurry! I did one extract batch with borrowed equipment, one partial mash with some borrowed equip, then bought a voile curtain sheer and did BIAB for several batches, and now have a hose-braid in my cooler and two e-kettles...Started brewing in January :rockin: Believe I've made 13 batches since then.

 

[wormraper]

Yep. Extract makes many a man decide to go all-grain in a hurry! I did one extract batch with borrowed equipment, one partial mash with some borrowed equip, then bought a voile curtain sheer and did BIAB for several batches, and now have a hose-braid in my cooler and two e-kettles...Started brewing in January :rockin: Believe I've made 13 batches since then.

lol nice, I went with extract first cuz I got that great fathers day deal at NB for "buy one pot and an extract kit.... get the starter kit free). ..... THEN I find out about BIAB and get a 40 qt Turkey fryer with propane burner so I can do BIAB jobs.

back to the brew. had to add an extra 15 minutes to the boil time because I lost the boil for 15 minutes when I added the LME (my glass top stove is not liking me for doing 3.7 gallons of water instead of cutting it back to 2.5-3), but it's now boiling again and looks beautiful. Time to get the kitchen sink ready for a wort cooldown

 

[SmoothSmoke]

Good luck man! Sharing any pics of the process?

 

[wormraper]

Good luck man! Sharing any pics of the process?

thanks, I'll upload some pics later of the wort, and then I'll update once I get into primary.

 

[tre9er]

Time to get the kitchen sink ready for a wort cooldown

piece of advice there: change and stir the water in the sink often. Parts of it will feel cool and others will be 100*. In winter I used to put mine outside in a laundry basket with a trash bag lining it and throw snow and ice all over in the water to get it as cold as possible. Still took an hour at times to cool.

 

[wormraper]

piece of advice there: change and stir the water in the sink often. Parts of it will feel cool and others will be 100*. In winter I used to put mine outside in a laundry basket with a trash bag lining it and throw snow and ice all over in the water to get it as cold as possible. Still took an hour at times to cool.

lol, yeah I noticed that. top is hot as hell and bottom is cold.

 

[wormraper]

http://imageshack.us/f/853/dsc01124u.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/339/dsc01125yz.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/f/838/dsc01126ht.jpg/


got my wort cooled to about 105 right now. waiting a bit more to get to 100% then pouring over the cold top off water and shacking it around in the fermenter.....

 

[wormraper]

oh and last question. I'm cooling the wort down to pitching temps in the fermenter in rope tub filled with water and ice bottles. I have a stick on thermometer stuck to the side of the ale pail. is it reading the temp of the water or the temp in the bucket which I'm trying to stay at?

 

[tre9er]

If you don't have a sanitized thermometer to put in the wort, I don't trust those stick on jobs. Cool to 60, then pitch

 

[wormraper]

If you don't have a sanitized thermometer to put in the wort, I don't trust those stick on jobs. Cool to 60, then pitch

ahhh, of course minutes after I get it down to 70% and pitch , I pitched at about 70 ish degrees on that stick on but it's continuing to cool as the water and ice are taking effect, put a wet towel over it (with ends dipping in the water to act as a wick) so hopefully that should get me down farther with the fan blowing across it (I thought 70% should be good since the recipe said to pitch as high as 80% and let it cool)

 

[ncbrewer]

oh and last question. I'm cooling the wort down to pitching temps in the fermenter in rope tub filled with water and ice bottles. I have a stick on thermometer stuck to the side of the ale pail. is it reading the temp of the water or the temp in the bucket which I'm trying to stay at?

The temperature of the wort is what you need to control. The fermometer (stick-on thermometer) needs to be above the tub water level but below the wort level. From the fermometer instructions: “The Fermometer™, like all LCD thermometers, is water resistant, not water proof. While it can easily be rinsed or washed with traditional cleaning and sanitizing solutions, it should not to be continuously exposed to these or other solutions for extended time periods.”

One note about partial/full boils and late extract additions – the gravity of the wort during the boil affects hop utilization. With your procedure, you’ll get a little more bitterness than was intended. I made the same kit using a similar procedure – it was a little on the bitter side, but still very good.

 

[wormraper]

The temperature of the wort is what you need to control. The fermometer (stick-on thermometer) needs to be above the tub water level but below the wort level. From the fermometer instructions: “The Fermometer™, like all LCD thermometers, is water resistant, not water proof. While it can easily be rinsed or washed with traditional cleaning and sanitizing solutions, it should not to be continuously exposed to these or other solutions for extended time periods.”

One note about partial/full boils and late extract additions – the gravity of the wort during the boil affects hop utilization. With your procedure, you’ll get a little more bitterness than was intended. I made the same kit using a similar procedure – it was a little on the bitter side, but still very good.

huh, suckage, the guy at the brew shop said it was fine to submerge it ... also I can't get it below the wort level without going below water level. the thermometer is 8 inches long and with the depth of the tup I could only fill up the tub about 1 foot of water if I was not to touch the bottom of the stick on. not enough to even put water bottles in. well, I guess I'll have to try to keep it as cool as I can with that way and hope for the best

yeah, getting a bit more bitter isn't bad. lack of hops is always my complaint with wheat beers.

 

[tre9er]

youll be fine. 70 isn't bad and you were still cooling. now put it away at room temp and RDWHAHB!

P.S. I just doughed-in on a brew myself!