philmynuts
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- Aug 4, 2014
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This was my second brew: Dead Ringer IPA extract kit from Norther Brewer. Estimated OG 1.064. Just wanted to post how it went, compare and contrast it with some of the things I did with my first brew, and get any thoughts you might have.
The first major difference was I tried keeping notes from beginning to end, which I now realize is easier said than done. I didn't log anything for my first cook. Just what time the yeast was pitched, how long till there was visible activity in the fermenter, and a couple gravity readings. I need to work on my technique for taking notes. I just printed out a paper with places to log times, temps, amounts, etc. But it's all very jumbled. Does anyone have any suggestions for simplifying this?
I steeped my grains at a lower temperature for this cook after watching a few videos and doing some reading. The kit instructions tell you to steep at 175F, which I did for the first batch. I kept the temperature between 150-155F for this one. I also used a laser temperature gun to compare with the gauge on my boil kettle. The kettle consistently read 3-5F higher than the reading I was getting with the laser. I was just curious. Any thoughts on steeping temperatures?
The recipe called for all of the LME to be added at one time. I had read on HBT somewhere that you can supersaturate your wort if you are doing a partial boil and that your hops can go to waste because of this. So I added the majority of the LME at the beginning of the boil and saved the final 3.15lbs and added it at the 30 minute mark.
Both recipes called for cooling the wart to 100F as quickly as possible. But I had read that it needs to be lower, closer to your fermentation temp. I used a wort chiller last time and was only able to cool it to 80F. I took the temperature of my hose water and, surprise, 81F. So for this batch, I used the wort chiller and also sat the kettle inside a tub full of ice and water. I was able to chill the wort to 70F in 13 minutes! I was pretty excited!
I decided to use a strainer for this batch when transferring the wort to the carboy. I was definitely not expecting as much crap to come out of the brew kettle, so I'm glad I used the strainer. I'm assuming it was remnants of the hops? It looked like a dark brownish/greenish oatmeal. And it clogged up the strainer REALLY fast. I had to pour a little bit through the strainer, stir up the sludge with a spoon to get the wort to pass through it, then dump the strainer and repeat. Is it normal to have that much gunk? And it's better for it not to make it into the carboy, correct?
An interesting thing happened this time when I was topping off with cold water. I had rinsed the carboy out with distilled water after sanitizing with Star San. I know that the Star San shouldn't hurt the beer, but I still wanted to get the majority of it out at least. But the foam seemed to grow exponentially as I was topping off. At the end the foam was coming out the funnel, out around the sides of the funnel, running down the sides of the carboy and all over the floor. Sticky sticky mess. Anyone else have this issue when leaving some suds behind with Star San?
After topping off with cold water the wort temperature was 67F, my target. Much colder than my first batch, in which I followed the recipe and pitched the yeast at 78F. Also I didn't make a starter this time, just rehydrated. The rehydrated yeast was 70F when pitched to 67F wort. I feel better about those temperatures after what happened with the first batch. But once again, I forgot to take a OG reading. I guess dealing with the sticky floor side tracked me. Because I also forgot to aerate! But, I've read enough here about aerating the wort that I'm not too concerned about it. Still wish that I would have remembered...
Fermentation temps have been much more steady this time around. The first batch got as high as 82F, and beyond the max of the fermometer. I didn't know any better. This time I covered the carboy and a pot full of ice that I sit next to it in a cold tshirt. It started to show activity signs in 24 hours. Slow and steady bubbling, as opposed to the first batch which was fast and forceful.
Just wanted to share some of my practices on my second try. Wondering how they might compare to some of yours.
Happy Brewing!
The first major difference was I tried keeping notes from beginning to end, which I now realize is easier said than done. I didn't log anything for my first cook. Just what time the yeast was pitched, how long till there was visible activity in the fermenter, and a couple gravity readings. I need to work on my technique for taking notes. I just printed out a paper with places to log times, temps, amounts, etc. But it's all very jumbled. Does anyone have any suggestions for simplifying this?
I steeped my grains at a lower temperature for this cook after watching a few videos and doing some reading. The kit instructions tell you to steep at 175F, which I did for the first batch. I kept the temperature between 150-155F for this one. I also used a laser temperature gun to compare with the gauge on my boil kettle. The kettle consistently read 3-5F higher than the reading I was getting with the laser. I was just curious. Any thoughts on steeping temperatures?
The recipe called for all of the LME to be added at one time. I had read on HBT somewhere that you can supersaturate your wort if you are doing a partial boil and that your hops can go to waste because of this. So I added the majority of the LME at the beginning of the boil and saved the final 3.15lbs and added it at the 30 minute mark.
Both recipes called for cooling the wart to 100F as quickly as possible. But I had read that it needs to be lower, closer to your fermentation temp. I used a wort chiller last time and was only able to cool it to 80F. I took the temperature of my hose water and, surprise, 81F. So for this batch, I used the wort chiller and also sat the kettle inside a tub full of ice and water. I was able to chill the wort to 70F in 13 minutes! I was pretty excited!
I decided to use a strainer for this batch when transferring the wort to the carboy. I was definitely not expecting as much crap to come out of the brew kettle, so I'm glad I used the strainer. I'm assuming it was remnants of the hops? It looked like a dark brownish/greenish oatmeal. And it clogged up the strainer REALLY fast. I had to pour a little bit through the strainer, stir up the sludge with a spoon to get the wort to pass through it, then dump the strainer and repeat. Is it normal to have that much gunk? And it's better for it not to make it into the carboy, correct?
An interesting thing happened this time when I was topping off with cold water. I had rinsed the carboy out with distilled water after sanitizing with Star San. I know that the Star San shouldn't hurt the beer, but I still wanted to get the majority of it out at least. But the foam seemed to grow exponentially as I was topping off. At the end the foam was coming out the funnel, out around the sides of the funnel, running down the sides of the carboy and all over the floor. Sticky sticky mess. Anyone else have this issue when leaving some suds behind with Star San?
After topping off with cold water the wort temperature was 67F, my target. Much colder than my first batch, in which I followed the recipe and pitched the yeast at 78F. Also I didn't make a starter this time, just rehydrated. The rehydrated yeast was 70F when pitched to 67F wort. I feel better about those temperatures after what happened with the first batch. But once again, I forgot to take a OG reading. I guess dealing with the sticky floor side tracked me. Because I also forgot to aerate! But, I've read enough here about aerating the wort that I'm not too concerned about it. Still wish that I would have remembered...
Fermentation temps have been much more steady this time around. The first batch got as high as 82F, and beyond the max of the fermometer. I didn't know any better. This time I covered the carboy and a pot full of ice that I sit next to it in a cold tshirt. It started to show activity signs in 24 hours. Slow and steady bubbling, as opposed to the first batch which was fast and forceful.
Just wanted to share some of my practices on my second try. Wondering how they might compare to some of yours.
Happy Brewing!
