Newbie Questions with First Brew and Fast Ferment!

[pshankstar]

First off I want to say thank you all for all the valuable information in this forum! I have been doing a lot of reading and learning a lot too! Now I have created an account b/c I want to take the next step with this new hobby! So here is my first post too.

With that being said, I am going to brew my first extract batch from scratch tonight. I am going to brew the following recipe I found online! http://beerrecipes.org/showrecipe.php?recipeid=1261#sthash.gWlw9iJn.dpbs

Here are some of the questions I have, but please bear with me! I have read some conflicting answers to some of these questions or some I have not found an answer at all.

1. The muslin bags. When I am brewing, do I take the bag out with the first set of hops and add the next batch of hops? Or do I use another bag to keep the hop seperated? I have a combination of loose hops and pellets.
2. Again with the muslin bags. How do people clean them to reuse them? Or what is the best method to clean them?
3. I have the fast ferment conical fermenter. How often do I empty the ball/bulb? I will be away for about two weeks starting next week. Will it be ok to empty it before I leave and let it sit that long?
4. Also, I have read that some people will fill the ball/bulb with distilled water to reduce the amount of O2 that will enter the fermenter. Does this cause a "water down" taste to your finished beer? Is there a better method to minimize the O2 contact? Or does it not matter that much?
5. Is it better to use a syphon to move the wort from the boiling pot to the fast ferment? Or just pour it in (would need a step stool to get that high)?

Thank you all in advance for your suggestions! If there is already a thread on any of these questions, please post them so I can read through them. I look forward to learning more and more from this great community!

 

[dkennedy]

I don't use a fast ferment, but will take a stab at the others:
1- I'd combine the hops (if one bag will hold them all), leave all of them in. If you pull the first additions when adding more, then in theory you remove some of the compounds in those hops. Think of it this way- if you didn't use a hop bag, then you wouldn't pull the bittering adds out...they'd be floating around in your kettle (totally fine). I bag hops in the kettle to keep from clogging my pump and plate chiller, seldom bothered before that came along.
2- I use nylon bags, empty, rinse/clean with normal brewery cleaners (PBW, unscented Oxyclean, whatever your weapon of choice is). I have hop bags that were used in kegging that are electric green, can bleach them if you like.
3- That's basically a collection ball, right? I'd think that you'd leave it until your fermentation is complete, then dispose/wash your yeast.
4- Not familiar enough with the product.
5- Either would be fine, keep in mind that oxygenation is your friend at this stage, you want to introduce O2 to the solution before pitching yeast (as the boil drives off O2 from the solution).

Good luck, and welcome!

 

[GrogTag]

If the Fast Ferment is anything like the V-Vessel, you'd open the collection ball valve and then pitch your yeast, with the idea that the yeast will slowly push the wort out of the ball. So, yeah you'd want to leave the collection ball in place for your entire fermentation. No worries about 02.

Muslin bags aren't meant to be reused, so if you want to do that you should go with the nylon ones.

If you can siphon, I'd do that because you want to leave as much of the hot/cold break behind as possible.

 

[ncbrewer]

Different brewers / different opinions.
1. I simplify by not using a hop bag at all.
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
5. Pouring is ok. Some brewers pour carefully, leaving most of the trub in the kettle. Some pour everything in. The on-line Brulosophy blog describes an exbeeriment comparing the results - pouring the trub in seemed fine.

http://brulosophy.com/2014/06/02/the-great-trub-exbeeriment-results-are-in/
http://brulosophy.com/2015/03/22/the-impact-of-kettle-trub-part-2-exbeeriment-results/