Newb from L.A. pulling the trigger on a kit today

[mrreindeer]

Hello!

My name is David and I've trolled a bit on the forum ahead of buying my kit which I plan on doing today.

I took a class last week at Culver City Home Brewing, waited a bit to see if I really wanted to make the step and here I go.

The class was great, lasted 3 hours and we were able to sample 4 of their homemade brews. Good stuff.

I've been inspired to pull the trigger, well, because I just love beer. I've been seriously sliding on the slope and investigating a lot of different beers for the last 3 or so years. Right now, the hoppier, the better for me. My favorite? Russian River Brew Co.'s "Pliny the Elder". 2nd runner up: Ballast Point's "Sculpin IPA". But I do enjoy all types of beers. Favorite lager right now: Kona Brewing's : "Longboard Lager".

I've spent the week doing some due diligence and I'm probably going to buy one of the three kits here on my way home from work today: http://www.brewsupply.com/Merchandise/index.html#equipkits

I'm leaning towards the Deluxe kit because it includes 2 glass carboys (visible fermentation, longer lasting and I can run 2 recipes at the same time if I'm feeling ambitious).

But if you want to tell me I'm stupid for doing so and want to guide me elsewhere, please do!

I'm from Los Angeles and I'm excited to be here (thanks for having me!) and I look forward to learning a lot from you all.

 

[mrreindeer]

I ended up going the middle route....a bucket & a carboy.

I also got the 30 quart kettle.

I'll be brewing a German style Wheat Beer tomorrow; wish me luck!

 

[djfriesen]

Sounds like a great plan! Welcome aboard.

 

[mrreindeer]

Thank you!

Sounds like a great plan! Welcome aboard.

 

[Seven]

Welcome. I'm a SoCal native who is now terrorizing North Florida.

 

[mrreindeer]

Thanks!

Okay, so it went really well on Saturday and it was actually less work than I had thought it would be. I didn't mind so much the sterilization of the equipment as much as I thought I would.

The only thing I forgot (and I know it's a big deal) was taking the temperature of the beer before pitching the yeast. Now, I know what you're thinking....fatal error....but I had taken the beer off the heat, covered it and put it in a large bucket with circulating cold water from the hose for about 30 minutes and then I added into the Primary 2 1/2 gallons of very cold spring water so I'm quite certain it had cooled off sufficiently. And the stuff is bubbling away, fermenting happily so I'm hoping for the best.

Now the hard part....waiting.

I kind of want to brew another type of beer NOW...but I figure I should wait to see how the first comes out so I can figure what went right or wrong.

 

[mrreindeer]

Okay, so I racked to secondary (glass carboy) on Saturday after 7 days of primary fermentation in the bucket. I've read I don't need to do this but for practice since this is my first ever batch, I gave racking to secondary a go. I checked the hydrometer reading only once but it read 1.010 and while I didn't do a first read on the wort prior to closing up the primary fermenter last week, the recipe mentioned a starting SG of 1.040.

While doing the reading, of course we sampled the beer and it actually tasted like a Hefeweizen, imagine our surprise! Pleasantly pleased and looking forward to bottling.

So, while this secondary fermentation stage isn't necessary, I'm now thinking I'll bottle at day 14, what do you think?

I'd like to crack open a bottle at an event we're going to just prior to the week 5 mark...

And I'm also considering splitting 1/2 the batch since I'm an impatient SOB...putting 2.5 gallons into bottle as-is. And then possibly adding some fruit or flavor to the other 2.5 gallons since I know I just need to get the experience under my belt. What better time than the present to screw up at least part of the batch. And if it comes out better than expected, hey, it was worth the risk!

 

[jcdouglas]

I recommend waiting three weeks. Saying that, the first batch I made I couldn't wait and bottled after two weeks and it ended up tasting just fine. The hardest part to learn for me was to be patient.

Have fun experimenting and let us know how it turns out!

 

[kh54s10]

If you need beer for your event I would schedule backward from that date. Allow as close to 3 weeks in bottle conditioning as possible to get your bottling day. Longer would be better.
One of my 4 finished batches was ready in 1 1/2 weeks the other 3 took longer - 2 1/2 to 3 weeks and are getting better still.

 

[mrreindeer]

Thanks guys...yes, patience is not my strongest suit but I'm working on it.

The hygrometer was a bit confusing....I'm still trying to figure out why it is we need to take a primary reading if we're only doing it to read the alcohol content...

So the beer currently is at 1.010 or about 4% alchol if I'm remembering correctly.

I'm going to research on here but I'm just wondering why I needed to know the starting gravity of 1.040....

 

[ACbrewer]

there are a few reasons for knowig your OG. One is to have an idea of how much ABV there is. You need a FG for that along with the OG.

Another is that for reproducablity. If you make an IPA with a OG of 1.040 and then make another with a SF of 1.050, those will be two different beers. When you find one you like, then you can reproduce - if you know your target OG.

Another reason for taking the OG and the FG is that most yeast has an attenuation with wort of about 75% so an OG of 1.040 should finish about 1.010. If you measure your beer and the OG is 1.020 then it isn't finished (assuming 1.040 start) if you measure it over several days and it stays at 1.020, you might be 'stuck'. OG and FG help in problem determination.

There are probably other reasons for taking your OG, but none come to me off the top of my head

 

[mrreindeer]

Thank you AC...I'm still a little unclear...so my Hydrometer actually has a triple scale on it. So on Saturday, when the gravity read 1.010, I just rotated the hydrometer around to read where the acohol content was right there and it was about 4%.

So is it safe to say that with my particular hydrometer, for the purposes of ABV, the calculation from OG (Original Gravity) to FG (Final Gravity) isn't necessary?

I really appreciate your help and if you don't want to be bothered by going over this with me since I'm sure you get asked a million times, it's totally fine with me. But I really do appreciate your input!

By the way, in your second paragraph above...what is SF?

 

[ACbrewer]

Mrreindeer.

first the easy - SF should be SG which really shoud be OG. SG can either meand start gravity or specific gravity (all gravity measures are 'specific' gravity - that being a fancy way of saying density)

the hyrdometer if it is triple scale should have a gravity, brix and abv%. Brix is a wine meausre of sugars - it is about 1 brix = .004 SG, but not exactly, and not linarly. 1 brix about .004, 10 brix closer to .041.

If you look at the last on ABV% that is the % of Alcohol by Volume. It shoudl be 0 ate SG 1.000. I think iirc that a 1.040 is about 5%, so if you know you started at a 1.040, and end at a 1.010 - take the ABV next to 1.010 - about 1.5? thus 5-1.5 would give you a 3.5% abv. Anyhow, the ABV scale still requires having a start and finish to get it to work right. Each time it shows a 'potential' to know how much is made, you need to subtract one from the other.

 

[terrapinj]

welcome! my first kit was from culver as well

most of their kits are based off of 6lb LME which would put you at ~1.045 but not sure about the heff kit

don't worry about the other scales - you can use a simple calculator to calculate actual ABV
http://www.rooftopbrew.net/abv.php

1.045 - 1.010 = 4.7%

i suggest grabbing another bucket/lid/airlock so you can have simultaneous batches going
(i prefer the lid with the ~1" cut out w/ bung instead of the one with the grommet that the airlock fits directly into) I rarely use my carboy at all

also temp control for your fermenter will be really beneficial to getting clean tasting beers. a rubbermade or other tote filled with water and swapping out frozen water bottles should help, esp since the temps were starting to cool down here

where in LA do you live?

welcome to the hobby - it's quite addicting

 

[mrreindeer]

Thank you guys!

And AC...I think I finally get it...and it makes sense now; I'm a dope. Because the initial (non-alcoholic) wort has OG (Original Gravity)/SG (Starting Gravity) of 1.040 and it has no alcohol, yet it has gravity...so you take that weight and subtract the difference between the two gravities to get your ABV...by George...

Terrapin...yep, I'm probably going to swing by this week to get another fermenter and I like the bung too. Why don't you use the carboy? Hard to clean? I really wanted to be able to watch the Primary round on my first batch but resisted and threw it instead in the bucket. But it's just not as much fun I imagine! So I was considering buying another carboy instead of the bucket...

Right now the secondary is in a dark closet at the bottom of my house...I haven't really taken a temp. reading but I have noticed it's fluctuated a bit with the outside temps going from the '60s and now back to the '80s this week. If it gets too warm, I'll definitely whip out the bucket & ice, thanks!

I work in Century City and live in Rancho Palos Verdes; do you live or work in Santa Monica?

I'm feeling my wife is quickly going to learn to hate this new hobby of mine!

Thanks again guys; I really appreciate the help!

 

[terrapinj]

my carboy is 5g so it's only really useful for aging - i did most of my dry hopping in the primary but now that i'm kegging I dryhop in the keg. i'm also not as big of a fan of transporting a full carboy around

if you want to watch the action consider grabbing 6.5gal carboy or better bottle (plastic, but don't think they carry them at Culver) you want to leave room for the krausen etc plus my batches are generally 5.5gal after transfer from the boil kettle to bucket - this allows 1/2gal for trub, yeast cake etc so that when all is said and done I end up with 5gal of finished beer

also, keep in mind that the temp of your fermenting wort can be 5+ deg higher than the ambient air. stable and proper fermentation temps will make a huge impact on your finished beer

there is another great brew shop in long beach called Stein Fillers you may want to check out sometime, they have some stuff/gadgets that Culver doesn't carry and i've heard nothing but great things about their staff

i live and brew in SM - i do All grain in a bag and would be more than happy to have you over some weekend when I brew if you had any questions, wanted to watch, drink some HB etc

 

[mrreindeer]

Terrapin, you're ON on that invite...give me a few batches to get under my belt (and share with you as well) and you, sir, are ON.

Thank you for the tip on Stein Fillers...I hadn't heard of them.

I did stop by this place in Torrance on my way home; a real nice shop and I might hit up their club meeting (Strand Brewers Club) on the 3rd Saturday of this month if I can: http://www.southbaybrewingsupply.com/

Well, shoot, that's this Saturday, hmm...not sure if I can get the pass to bottle AND hit the store in Torrance. We'll see!

 

[terrapinj]

Terrapin, you're ON on that invite...give me a few batches to get under my belt (and share with you as well) and you, sir, are ON.

Thank you for the tip on Stein Fillers...I hadn't heard of them.

I did stop by this place in Torrance on my way home; a real nice shop and I might hit up their club meeting (Strand Brewers Club) on the 3rd Saturday of this month if I can: http://www.southbaybrewingsupply.com/

Well, shoot, that's this Saturday, hmm...not sure if I can get the pass to bottle AND hit the store in Torrance. We'll see!

I haven't been to the Torrance shop yet but think it's awesome they list all their grains on their website

 

[Kegcowboy]

Good Luck!

 

[mrreindeer]

Well, 3 batches down....tasted the first 2...German Hefe & IPA and they turned out great despite a few errors....Porter will be kegged (first time) and ready for the holidays!