My First Brew

[brewit2it]

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.

Off Topic:

Your sig makes me guess you are originally from Denmark. Is that correct? I ask because I'm going to Scandinavia in August. Will be in Gotenberg to start but will drive around a bit and am thinking either Oslo or Stockholm or?? Im open. I'm thinking Denmark will have better beer (never heard of Swedish beer) but folks on lonely planet, etc seem to like Oslo but love Stockholm.

Okay, end of thread-jack.

 

[tre9er]

Off Topic:

Your sig makes me guess you are originally from Denmark. Is that correct? I ask because I'm going to Scandinavia in August. Will be in Gotenberg to start but will drive around a bit and am thinking either Oslo or Stockholm or?? Im open. I'm thinking Denmark will have better beer (never heard of Swedish beer) but folks on lonely planet, etc seem to like Oslo but love Stockholm.

Okay, end of thread-jack.

I am danish, but more like 4th generation removed. There is a town named "Faaborg" there, which is also my last name. I plan to rule as it's king one day

My wife and I long to visit there and have had serious discussions about moving there once the kids have grown. It sounds phenomenal. In terms of beer, Carlsberg is the primary brewery and beer. They have a cool web site about their heritage and history. They isolated their own yeast in 'ot 9 or so, and have donated to the arts and their country. It's a lager and that's mostly all they make.

As a country I know it's rich with heritage and they aim to keep it that way. I admire them sticking to their background and such, actually. I bet it's a trip of a lifetime.

/

 

[wormraper]

oooof, gotta love the directions. they give me the OG (1.049)... but don't tell me what I should expect for FG... just that I should bottle it once it stabilizes... anyone know what estimate I should be looking for when it does???

It's a very simple recipe

6 lb's Light LME
1 lb's Light DME
1 oz of Tettnang hops

Wyeast 3068

 

[tre9er]

oooof, gotta love the directions. they give me the OG (1.049)... but don't tell me what I should expect for FG... just that I should bottle it once it stabilizes... anyone know what estimate I should be looking for when it does???

It's a very simple recipe

6 lb's Light LME
1 lb's Light DME
1 oz of Tettnang hops

Wyeast 3068

look for a stabilized FG after 3 days of readings. Don't worry about the specific number other than as a gauge of how well the yeast attenuated. By rule, leave it 3 weeks, then cold crash in fridge 24-48 hours, then rack to bottling bucket.

 

[wormraper]

look for a stabilized FG after 3 days of readings. Don't worry about the specific number other than as a gauge of how well the yeast attenuated. By rule, leave it 3 weeks, then cold crash in fridge 24-48 hours, then rack to bottling bucket.

gotcha, just wanted to make sure I didn't have a stuck fermentation or something...

yup, plan on taking my first reading after 12 and 14 days in the fermenter to make sure it's stable.... then rack and bottle (I don't have the ability to stick 6 gallon bucket into my fridge so cold crashing is out of the question for the time being)

 

[tre9er]

gotcha, just wanted to make sure I didn't have a stuck fermentation or something...

yup, plan on taking my first reading after 12 and 14 days in the fermenter to make sure it's stable.... then rack and bottle (I don't have the ability to stick 6 gallon bucket into my fridge so cold crashing is out of the question for the time being)

even if stable, if you can wait it will make the finished product better. As far as not having a fridge, if you have a really cool room (temperature wise) move it there. Any cool down that's below the yeast's normal temp range will encourage them to fall down and give you a more clear beer.

I have a pale ale/ipa hybrid that was cloudy cause I didn't cold crash. It's taken an extra week in the keg and discarding the first pint of cloudy junk to get it more clear but I still can't even see through it whatsoever

 

[wormraper]

even if stable, if you can wait it will make the finished product better. As far as not having a fridge, if you have a really cool room (temperature wise) move it there. Any cool down that's below the yeast's normal temp range will encourage them to fall down and give you a more clear beer.

I have a pale ale/ipa hybrid that was cloudy cause I didn't cold crash. It's taken an extra week in the keg and discarding the first pint of cloudy junk to get it more clear but I still can't even see through it whatsoever

gotcha, I'll see about giving it a full 3 weeks in primary. as for coolness. I'm in Arizona with a mastercool system. meaning that the coolest ambient temp in the house will be 75 on a good day. I'm having to use the swamp cooler technique (rope tub of water with frozen water bottles) to keep the temps at a stable 68 right now (today was 109 degrees outside)

 

[tre9er]

try cold crashing by using extra ice/frozen water bottles, etc. in the swamp cooler. Bring beer temp as low as is feasible for 24 hours. Go buy a few big bags of ice even. If you can get it down to the 50's for a day, it will help drop stuff out.

Otherwise, it's no biggie. RDWHAHB

 

[wormraper]

try cold crashing by using extra ice/frozen water bottles, etc. in the swamp cooler. Bring beer temp as low as is feasible for 24 hours. Go buy a few big bags of ice even. If you can get it down to the 50's for a day, it will help drop stuff out.

Otherwise, it's no biggie. RDWHAHB

good idea, I drink soda like a crazy man so I always have extra bottles to recycle. I can just stuff the rope tub with about 10 of them at the end to get that water fricking freezing. good idea

 

[wormraper]

It was driving me crazy. I had to crack the lid of the Ale Pail and check. the airlock was doing mild bubbling for a couple days so I was curious. an inch or so of Krausen on top and a RICH and beautiful Bannana and clove smell along with the tell tale signs of fermented beer. if it tastes half as good as it smells I'll be one happy man.

 

[wormraper]

ok, don't judge it IS my first brew. I couldn't take it any longer, used a beer thief to run a gravity readying after 5 days in primary. Yup, definitely dropping. And of course had to drink the sample. as a poster said above me a few posts back the extra large boil on an extract kit caused better Hop Attentuation and it was a bit more bitter than your average Hefe. BUT it does taste like a nice Hefe. if it tastes this good in a few weeks when I bottle I'll be a happy man

 

[fategod]

very good

 

[Spicemon1972]

Congrats on your first brew, wormraper! I have to say that it sure sounds like you did your homework before brewing your first batch. I'm impressed with your attention to detail and your obviously researched process. You understand from the start that healthy yeast and controlled fermentation temperature are two of the biggest factors to making great home-brew. Many of us on here had to spend time making less than great beer before we learned that, myself right on top of that list. I foresee many great beers coming out of your home brewery in the future and look forward to hearing more of your adventures in brewing!
:Skål:

 

[wormraper]

thanks, I def have researched my a$$ off these last months before I went in.

ok, on a side note. today is day 11 in the fermenter. Since it's a Hefe I know they ferment quickly so I ran a Hydro test. It came out to 1.012 (or 1.011 can't get a PERFECT reading due to the hydrometer tilting slightly but close enough)..... I was worried I wouldn't go below 1.020 due to it being an extract kit, but it did. I'll test again in two more days to make sure but I have a strong suspicion it'll be ready to bottle by Thursday or friday. Tasted it and it made some SERIOUS improvements from my first hydro test that was like 4 days into fermenting (taste wise)... a lot clearer, the krausen has fallen and it tastes pretty damn good even flat. It's no Hofbrau of Weist... but I'd put the taste up against a lot of Hefe's I've had from places like San Tan and Widmer any day of the week. soooooooooooooooo stoked

 

[SmoothSmoke]

Congrats man! I just started my batch 2 nights ago. Thanks to you again for giving me the info on that great NB deal.

 

[wormraper]

Congrats man! I just started my batch 2 nights ago. Thanks to you again for giving me the info on that great NB deal.

No problem, glad you could get in on it too. which recipe are you brewing ????

 

[iambeer]

Yeah, this thread also inspired me to brew this style of beer when I get back to it.

 

[SmoothSmoke]

No problem, glad you could get in on it too. which recipe are you brewing ????

Sierra Madre, it's the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale knock off. The hops smelled great in the boil.

 

[wormraper]

took my second hydrometer reading... AND stable !!! , time to bottle tomorrow.

on a sad note. The bottom of that hydrometer "test tube" fell out and my hydrometer fell out on the tile and shattered. On my first batch at that . anyone know of a decent place to get one? my LHBS wants $15-$20 for their hydrometers

 

[wormraper]

bottled today. wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Made sure to pbw the buckets and sanitize the crap out of eveything. Now comes the traumatizingly long bottle conditioning time