new brewer in the making

[amswans]

I've always loved beer. I've never brewed beer. Until last Christmas. I got a kit. It was Everyday IPA by Brooklyn Brew Shop.

While I made a few mistakes (future mental notes) but none of them were due to sanitation (maybe I'm not sure.) I ended up with three 16 ounce bottles that were drinkable. (one of my mistakes was I didn't fill back up to the gallon line) I used honey for the bottles and after two weeks the first one was meady. It was unique because it started carbonated crisp and sweet with honey and ended with a really nice finish from the cascade hops. After three weeks I went back to the fridge and this is when I started to notice something different.

The bottle immediately started *gushing* but it wasn't watery frothy it was like solid froth. And it kept *gushing* for a whole minute. The head on that beer was insane and I wish I had kept pictures. I look back and I kick myself. However, I drank that beer and two things. ABV was insane (I didn't have a hydrometer I don't know I'd say between 7-8 easily) and the beer was magnificent. To a first time homebrew it was a success. It made me want to brew again immediately. I even went on to drink the third one with a chicken dinner that my wife made. (It had the same issue tho with an almost thick white solid froth coming out of the bottle for awhile.)

Did the wild yeast from the honey give my beer a gusher infection? And would it still have tasted that awesome if it had that infection? I didn't die.

The beer was in the carboy for 2 weeks and bottles for 2 and 3. It stayed at a good 61 degrees the whole time in the fermenter. I didn't have a meslin bag or any filter other than the sieve for the all grain boil. I didn't throw the hops how it told me to. Everything else was by the book.

So, now I'm onto my next beer. Also a kit. I want to do a few kits and make sure I can brew just a gallon without incident. When I feel like I want to I already have a brew shop that sells everything I need. I'll graduate to the 5 gallon batches.

The current beer I'm brewing is a craftabrew hefeweizen. malt extract. (so i can compare different kits and different methods.)

It's in the carboy still and the only question I have on that one is is it usual for after 12 days for the bubbling to pick back up? I only check it at night I don't like how bright it is and warm it is here in southern California. The krausen is dried to the sides. It fell after about 4 days. It smells good and it looks good, but just when I get home from work I try to tell it a good night story while I watch it. every 10 seconds a few big bubbles rise up out of the trudge. The top looks a tad slimy with a lot of groups of bubbles but no discoloration. (ive looked at the pictures of infections and every one i see where someone says that just looks like co2 bubbles fits what my beer looks like)

On tuesday here it will be time for me to bottle. Any questions or answers or tips or just comment I am very open for critique and I want to learn this. I dont really have any hobbies and this is fun to learn the science. I got the how to brew book that ive been reading and a bit of it is over my head but I love it.

 

[Cyclman]

Just keep at it. Experience is the best teacher. Infection, or other causes, once you have a pattern to your brewing you can figure things out. I like starting with and following kit ingredients. It would be exceptionally rare for a beer to make you sick (except for drinking too many!) Bubbling can be CO2 coming out of suspension, temperature change, lots of things.

Read lots, there are many great brewing books, and great advice here, especially on the forum stickies.

 

[CJ-3]

Welcome to the hobby it only gets better.

Before bottling make sure you take gravity readings 3 days apart to insure fermentation is complete. If after 3 days the readings are different wait 3 more and check again. Repeat as needed until the gravity readings match.

 

[amswans]

When I deviated from the hop schedule I just meant it said to put part in at 15 minutes and another part in another 15 minutes. I instead put one pellet in every 2-3 minutes. I make my beers on the stove. Is it better to make beer outside on a giant burner? (I have one for turkeys)

One other issue when instructions say slow rolling boil is it acceptable to keep temperature constant if visible boiling appears? Or should there be a given target temperature for each brew? 212 is boiling point but it never needs to get that hot does it? How hot is too hot of a hot break that you don't want to kill your wort?

 

[Kharnynb]

Putting hops in at certain times, should be normally by batches, usually with full recipes it will be:
60ish minutes: bittering hops, these are for the classic bitter taste beer has, usually high AA hops.
during the last 20 minutes of the boil, sometimes in 2-3 stages: flavour hops, less bittering, but more flavour.

During the boil, you should keep a decent rolling boil, so you have a decent "hot break" that gives a clearer beer later on.
With one-gallon batches, indoor stove should be fine though, never put a cover on a boiling wort by the way..