Preparing for first Brew Day

[Justibone]

Yes, it will. Refrigeration helps, too.

 

[Hartski]

Wow, that smoked porter is a tasty beer! Bought the kit for a European Bock last night. Didn't know it's suppossed to be a lager. Oops. Guess I'll be brewing it as an ale. A Chocolate Bock Ale.

 

[jaynik]

There are several stickys on the forum that answer most of the questions in here. For example, there's no need to filter out the trub when going to primary. It will settle out. You can do that if you want, but you don't need to and like someone else said, your yeast might eat it. I'd recommend checking out the stickys to make sure you have an idea of what to expect. Sounds like everything worked out that I can see on this thread,so I'm happy to read that! Keep having fun! (BTW, I'm surprised noone mentioned oxyclean for bottles. Works great!)

 

[Hartski]

Yep, so far everything has turned out great. Can't wait to crack open the first bottle of my second batch here in a week or two to see how it turned out.

 

[Hartski]

crap! no boil to boil over in the span of a pea break!

 

[JLW]

Now allI have to do is drink a bunch of Sam Adams so I have enough bottles ready by the time I need to bottle.


If I wanted to add flavors like vanilla or chocolate, would I add it at the boil, or during fermentation?

Any bottles will do. Many believe Sam Adams are the best and they are good bottles. Make sure when you finish a bottle off rinse it well and drain it off. It will make cleaning the bottles a lot easier. I use the dishwasher racks to drain and dry my bottles once sanitized. To remove lables I soak in a big tubs for a day or two in water and amonia. You can also use oxyclean or simple green.

Once you get hooked like the rest of us you will find your biggest impediment to brewing is having enough bottles so make sure you start saving up enough.

Have fun and take good notes. Keep a brewers log.

 

[mikeysab]

crap! no boil to boil over in the span of a pea break!

were they sugar snap peas, or just regular green peas? I like regular peas. Hope eating those peas was worth boilover clean up.

 

[Hartski]

haha, i meant pee break. But something went horribly awry. My OG was suppossed to be 1.064, but it turned out 1.082. This could be interesting.......

 

[Justibone]

Sounds like either a mixing issue (so your reading is off), or you didn't add enough water.

If you have O.G. of 1.070+, you need to have a little care about your yeast. Often it won't be a problem, but I believe that many a stuck fermentation is due to too high of a starting gravity and the yeast were underpitched.

 

[Hartski]

I'm hoping the reading was off because of the cocoa powder I added to the boil. Whatever the problem, I'll wait and see how it turns out. If it doesn't ferment, I'll try again.

 

[Justibone]

If it doesn't take off, try stirring it first. You can also re-pitch by making a starter (there are threads on here about starters). Never give up on a beer that easily... that beer needs you, man!

 

[Hartski]

Oh, I'm not giving up. I really want this one to turn out, because it smelled so dang good during and after the boil!

 

[Hartski]

the chocolate bock is alive! MUAHAHAHAHA!!

 

[Hartski]

Got 2 more Ale Pails from Midwest Supply and a Brew Belt last week. Now I'll be able to do 3 batches at once!

Can't wait to bottle and taste the chocolate bock. Moved the fermenter down to the basement Sunday to let it sit in the cold a while before I bottle it this weekend.