Second brew day!

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Ronald C Gregory

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Brewed my second beer today. Brewers best honey brown kit.
What I was able to do better -
Better management of boulder temps and cooling.
Better understanding of hops and timing of them into the recipe.

I made one small mistake and didnt add Irish moss to the boil. Not a game changer just may not have as clear of a beer as last time.

Recipe
Extract
3lbs DME
2lbs wildflower honey
4 oz. Chocolate barley
4 oz. honey malt
4 oz. Munich light
4 oz. Carapils

2 oz. Tettnang
1 full boil 1 at 45 minute mark (that's when I forgot the moss was worried about the hops)
Added honey at flame out
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Looks good, I forget Irish moss all the time and I've brewed about 75 batches over the past 7 years. Won't make a big difference.
 
I don't use Irish moss anymore, haven't for several years now. My Daughter is allergic to it. Never noticed any difference from when I used to use it. I do add Gelatin after fermentation to help clear the beer, and it seems to help.

Congrats on your second beer.
 
I don't use Irish moss anymore, haven't for several years now. My Daughter is allergic to it. Never noticed any difference from when I used to use it. I do add Gelatin after fermentation to help clear the beer, and it seems to help.

Congrats on your second beer.

Gelatin speeds up the clearing of the beer and if used in conjunction with cold crashing can remove some of the proteins that cause chill haze. Instead of gelatin I use time. Time in the bottle will allow most of the yeast to settle out. Time in the refrigerator before opening the bottle settles out the chill haze too.
 
I haven't tried gelatin yet, but I try to put bottles in the fridge for a full work day for me before touching them(about 12-13 hours before I get to them) does not always happen so I'm sure that will help.

Just checked on the batch and swapped out the airlock for a blow off tube as the pressure was pushing the airlock out of the bucket.
I've done four gallons of wine 2 with us-05 and used Nottingham yeast that came in my first beer kit. I've never seen this aggressive of a fermentation. Is this a product of the beer style of the yeast ?
 
I haven't tried gelatin yet, but I try to put bottles in the fridge for a full work day for me before touching them(about 12-13 hours before I get to them) does not always happen so I'm sure that will help.

Just checked on the batch and swapped out the airlock for a blow off tube as the pressure was pushing the airlock out of the bucket.
I've done four gallons of wine 2 with us-05 and used Nottingham yeast that came in my first beer kit. I've never seen this aggressive of a fermentation. Is this a product of the beer style of the yeast ?

Nottingham is indeed an aggressive yeast and produces a lot of CO2 which causes a big krausen. You don't get krausen on wine as it doesn't have the proteins of beer so you can brew 5 gallons of wine in a 5 gallon carboy but with beer you need a 6.5 gallon carboy and with some varieties of yeast and certain recipes even that isn't big enough.
 
Nottingham is indeed an aggressive yeast and produces a lot of CO2 which causes a big krausen. You don't get krausen on wine as it doesn't have the proteins of beer so you can brew 5 gallons of wine in a 5 gallon carboy but with beer you need a 6.5 gallon carboy and with some varieties of yeast and certain recipes even that isn't big enough.
Ok was just curious, I'm in a 6.5 gallon bucket right now just didnt get the same amount of kraussen in the first beer I did. It was an American amber.
 
The two pounds of honey will give the yeast a vigorous boost.
When mixed into wort solution honey is very easy for healthy yeast to metabolize and will give you nice, dry beer to boot.
Enjoy your next creation, it looks like a nice, simple recipe that should come out well.
 
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The two pounds of honey will give the yeast a vigorous boost.
When mixed into wort solution honey is very easy for healthy yeast to metabolize and will give you nice, dry beer to boot.
Enjoy your next creation, it looks like a nice, simple recipe that should come out well.
Yeah my meads ferment quite easily so I'm used to that from honey but was surprised to see it give so much kraussen
 
Moved to secondary fermentation today. I know it's not a needed step but I only have 1 bucket so I like to make sure its cleaned for bottling. Tasted ok for being flat today as well. Little harsh upfront with some ester/alcohol flavor but that should go away by time its bottled and conditioned. Fairly clear for 1 week as well so no worries on the Irish moss
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Forgot to take pics when bottling. Currently waiting for carbonation been in the bottles about 4 days now so I may grab one and see where it's at
 
Gelatin speeds up the clearing of the beer and if used in conjunction with cold crashing can remove some of the proteins that cause chill haze. Instead of gelatin I use time. Time in the bottle will allow most of the yeast to settle out. Time in the refrigerator before opening the bottle settles out the chill haze too.
How much time is that typically?
 
I've opened bottles after only a week and they seem to be pretty clear if the beer going into them was clear. 24 to 48 hours in the refrigerator will let the beer cool and the proteins settle out.
 
Cracked a couple of these open last night. solid carbonation in them and they cleared better then I thought. I forgot to track the use by date on the yeast from my kit but I believe it was older than I would have liked to use. This one doesn't get a great head but its carbonated nicely enough. I opened them 8 days after bottling so it may get a little better over the next 5 days to a week who knows. My next batch will be an Imperial Stout kit from brewers best that I am drastically modifying the recipe on as I start to learn making my own recipes. Ill post pictures tonight when I crack another few open
 
Cracked a couple of these open last night. solid carbonation in them and they cleared better then I thought. I forgot to track the use by date on the yeast from my kit but I believe it was older than I would have liked to use. This one doesn't get a great head but its carbonated nicely enough. I opened them 8 days after bottling so it may get a little better over the next 5 days to a week who knows. My next batch will be an Imperial Stout kit from brewers best that I am drastically modifying the recipe on as I start to learn making my own recipes. Ill post pictures tonight when I crack another few open
Cheers
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