Second attempt!

[CaliBrewnia]

Been a while but I was travelling to visit sick relatives and flying around the world to save money on LASIK so brewing went by the wayside.

Firmly back in Cali and now back to being a brewmaster. First brew was... not a hefeweisen. It was supposed to be, but then just wasn't. It was good, though. Here's the second beer and my first partial mash:

"Rye So Serious?"
The Citra-Rye American Ale

6# DME, Briess Pilsen
1# Briess caramel 10L
1# Weyerman Pale Rye Malt
5oz Citra hops
1056 Wyeast American Ale Yeast

Boiled 3 gal, added and held grains in a muslin bag for 20 mins @ 170. Used a clip on thermometer. Removed grains, added DME and 1oz of hops at 20, then 15, 10, 5 and after knockout. Used a big bucket outside to chill the pot instead of my sink.

Cooling took 20 mins, not an hour. Added water back up to 5 gallons and then siphoned to bottling bucket, then into the carboy to help add oxygen. Once in carboy added the yeast.

Active fermentation started quick, one inch cap this morning.

Few questions, though- how sensitive to light is it? I have a plastic carboy so it can be exposed to a lot of indoor lights. Should I hide it in the dark?

I want to try racking to secondary for some other ales later and might it be worth it to invest in that second carboy now? I have a bottling bucket with spigot, a big pot, bought a single burner stove because my electric stove couldn't handle it, a carboy, tubing, auto siphon, cappers... at this point I'm already at like 300 in equipment as I don't buy cheap stuff and I have too much money and not enough hobbies or self-control. Life's tough.

Not quite ready to make the leap in cost to an all-grain setup but would I really benefit from a secondary fermenter or does it just keep my beer away from me for an extra week or two?

 

[Jesse93]

Few questions, though- how sensitive to light is it? I have a plastic carboy so it can be exposed to a lot of indoor lights. Should I hide it in the dark?

Very. Always keep your beer dark. Atleast cover it with a blanket. Sun rays can make the hops in the beer smell skunky!

Not quite ready to make the leap in cost to an all-grain setup but would I really benefit from a secondary fermenter or does it just keep my beer away from me for an extra week or two?

You should try BIAB, it is very cost efficient in terms of equipment Racking to a secondary fermenter has it's cons and pros. It really helps my beers to clear out more easily. And most beers benefit for a couple of weeks more aging anyways. The cons is the risk for oxidation and contamination, although I haven't experienced this ever.

Keep on brewing cheers!

 

[GrogNerd]

new fermenter, new batch goes in that one. no need to transfer last batch to new fermenter just to use the old one for new batch

whether to use a secondary is personal preference. to me, it's just an added chance of oxidation and infection with no additional benefit. unless you're aging or oaking or adding additional sugars (that is, a secondary fermentation - see where it gets its name?) then I leave it in one vessel, rack to bottling bucket when it's ready

not sure if indoor lights will skunk a beer. sunlight will, not sure about incandescents, fluorescents or LEDs.

and your recipe there is not really a "partial" mash, it's extract with specialty/steeping grains. need some base malt to actually mash. mashing vs steeping is kinda/sorta the same thing, at least what we do: keep water and grains at whatever temperature for whatever time. difference is what the grains do, mashing converts starches to sugars, steeping extracts color and flavor, mostly.

"partial" mash is kind of a misnomer too, you either mash or you don't, there's no "partial" about it. call it a "mini" mash

 

[CaliBrewnia]

Thanks for the correction of steeping/ specialty grains vs mashing. Still learning.

I'll cover the carboy with a blanket for safety even if it's LEDs and CFLs.

My last brew was pure extract. No grains. This was put together at the local homebrew shop. I told the guy, "Something in the vein of a Seirra Nevada, but I don't mind beers that go in a weird direction or are a little different." We talked for half an hour and ended up with this. Talked hops, notes in beers, ect. He was super helpful. Definitely going back.