Random notes from first brew day

[william_shakes_beer]

Brewed my first batch this AM and I thought I'd post a few random thoughts to help the next first timer.

Be forwarned, there's nothing earth shattering here. I still have a lot to learn. If you've brewed your first batch already you're further along than me. Just things i have learned and wish someone had mentioned to me.

1. Your best friend is a spoon with a handle longer than the depth of your brew pot. Gotta get me one for next time

2. Sanitized binder clips are your next best friend. Used them to hold the seive over the fermenter while I poured the cooled wart into the fermenter, and to close the paint strainer full of steeping grains

3. tea bags have a string and tag at the end for reason. Unfortunately paint strainers do not. Gotta fix that for next time. Binder clip and channel locks worked for now, bit I'm sure someone will tell me i've ruined my beer with that thing ( hey, its pre boil give me a break)

4. No matter how much ice you have frozen its not enough. the last 20 degrees took longer than the 150. Gotta get a wart chiller and a drilll pump for next time.

5. No matter how many thermometers you habe you domt have enough. I have 2. One in the pot, one for everything else. Need more.

6. Foam is not easy to read through Gotta get a hydrometer test jar.

7. its really hard to shake an open top container full of rehydrated yeast. Gotta get a flask and stopper.

8. It takes a long time to cool 2 cups of boiling water in the frige. Gotta rehydrate the yeast the night before.

9. Get your blowoff tube hardware ready BEFORE the first brew way. Got mine available now. Croisen(sp?) does not help the function of the airlock. I put an airlock on at noon on Saturday, came down Sunday to find an airlock full of foamy beer. Filled my backup sanitized airlock with starsan, came down an hour later and it was full again. Tried boiled cooled water thinking the starsan was foaming, no go. Blowoff is now ready, think I'll use it for the first 2 days on all future brews. Both times the fermenter had built up a little pressure, no doubt the result of the airlock entry strainer filled with croisen. Not a lot of pressure, kinda like the fart of an old cat.

 

[C17-EHSE]

Thanks! I'm getting ready to brew my first batch! I did invest in a Wort chiller and a long spoon, but i appreciate the heads up!

 

[uncommonsense]

6. Foam is not easy to read through Gotta get a hydrometer test jar.

I just use the plastic tube it came in

 

[Hoppin_Mad]

Great way to chill that wort down in under 20 minutes - buy 3 gallons of distilled water and pop them all in the freezer about 30 minutes before you start your boil. By the time you are ready to transfer the wort to the fermentor, the three gallons will just be starting to get a little icey. Putting these three almost iced gallons in the fermentor brings the temp down way faster than a bath tub full of ice. Obviously a wort chiller is probably even more efficient, but it requires money, cleaning, and space.

 

[C17-EHSE]

I also bought a thief and the guy at the LHBS told me to use my hydrometer in it. I'd also read somewhere to use the plastic tube it came in as well.

 

[IffyG]

1. Your best friend is a spoon with a handle longer than the depth of your brew pot. Gotta get me one for next time

Depending on what you are doing, a huge whisk is as good or better than a big spoon.

 

[IffyG]

Great way to chill that wort down in under 20 minutes - buy 3 gallons of distilled water and pop them all in the freezer about 30 minutes before you start your boil. By the time you are ready to transfer the wort to the fermentor, the three gallons will just be starting to get a little icey. Putting these three almost iced gallons in the fermentor brings the temp down way faster than a bath tub full of ice. Obviously a wort chiller is probably even more efficient, but it requires money, cleaning, and space.

I use a similar technique. Since I don't have much room in my freezer, I usually get a bag of ice on brew day and use an ice bath in the sink plus I dump a gallon of almost frozen water into the brewpot once I start cooling. I also keep another gallon in the freezer, two in the fridge and one at room temp. This allows me to use the various temperatures of water to get my wort where I want it to pitch the yeast.

 

[Captain Damage]

4. No matter how much ice you have frozen its not enough. the last 20 degrees took longer than the 150. Gotta get a wart chiller and a drilll pump for next time.

If you're doing partial boils: before you start your boil, put a gallon of water in the freezer. At flame out, put your kettle in the sink and pour that now freezing gallon of water in to your wort. Clover the kettle. Pack around the kettle with ice - either plan ahead and make 15-20 lbs (yep, my small sink takes that much) at home or get it premade from the grocery store. Sprinkle salt generously on the ice. Fill the sink with cold water. Spin the kettle around for about 30 seconds every couple of minutes until you hit pitching temp. Doing this, I usually get to pitching temp in less than 15 minutes.

 

[thisgoestoeleven]

For my brew last weekend, I got a rubbermaid tote and 4 bags of ice. I put the cover on my pot and filled the tote around it with ice and cold water. Worked a hell of a lot better than trying to chill the big pot in my little sink.

 

[Vuarra]

4. No matter how much ice you have frozen its not enough. the last 20 degrees took longer than the 150. Gotta get a w[o]rt chiller and a drilll pump for next time.

I like using snowbanks for this.

 

[C17-EHSE]

I like using snowbanks for this.

Was up in Trenton/Belleville a few years back summer of 2007. They told me they didn't get much snow. Went back March and April, it snowed 18 inches my first week. Looks like y'all are still getting lots of snow!

 

[william_shakes_beer]

no snow here, it all melted last week

 

[Homebrewtastic]

A friend of mine brewed his first batch about two weeks ago. The first thing I asked him was "Did your kit come with an immersion chiller?" to which he replied "Nah, I'm just gonna do the ice bath thing and buy one for my next batch..." .... "Yeah but dude you really need one... trust me. I've brewed like 50 batches of beer. Only 49 of them made without an IC"... "Nah I'll be fine."

A few hours later "Dude. I gotta get me one of those immersion chillers."