since it's my first batch here I am

[RickWG]

Like I said, my wife got me a brew kit for christmas and waited til my birthday saturday to give me the cert for the makins. As this is my first batch I didn't want to get too technical and chose a west coast pale ale from DME and hops.
Oh, yea, wife wanted me to do the brew pot outside so I did and cooled the wort in an ice bath a bit before getting it in the fermenter. Carried it upstairs and pitched the yeast. Within 12 hours I had a nice little bubble going on and within 24 hours it was about 2 a second. Seems to have slowed a bit at almost 40 hours but still about 1/sec.

Don't know how you guys do it. I'm already impatient and it's still in the primary. Going later this week to get another fermenter and some more makins. Gonna try to do a double IPA that I tasted there. Yum.

I'm an organic chemist not a biologist so most of what I do with live things died in college. The one time we brewed in biochem it didn't work so well but the other class' brew came out well.

 

[Orfy]

Well done.

I guess by the time you get the new fermenter then you can rack your first brew to it for secondary and clean up number 1 fermenter for the next brew.

If you want to take it up a notch. Rack on the same day you brew and you can dump the new brew straight on top of the old yeast cake. Then you'll see some bubbles.:rockin:

 

[RickWG]

Hadn't thought of that but it's kind of smart to do it that way. BTW,
I wasn't really thinking about doing the secondary thing right away. Most of the books say you can rack straight out of the primary into the bottling bucket and bottle away. Other than clarification of the brew is there any other advantage to doing this? (I realize that clarity is a good thing btw.)

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Orfy]

It will allow the flavours to blend further and age the beer, aids clarification and it also clears your primary earlier for doing a second brew. It's also a safety buffer to make sure fermentation has finished.

 

[docbee]

It will allow the flavours to blend further and age the beer, aids clarification and it also clears your primary earlier for doing a second brew. It's also a safety buffer to make sure fermentation has finished.

As stated above plus makes it a little harder to drink if its not in the bottle.

Patience is hard but the rewards are worth it. Taste your brew when it finishes fermenting and then after three to four weeks in the bottle and the patience will get easier because the drastic improvement in the flavors. Good luck!!!!

 

[boo boo]

getting it off the primary yeast to condition also rids your brew of that yeasty taste evident in some homebrewed beer.

 

[RickWG]

And it's still bubbling out the air lock every 3-5 minutes or so. Is it cool to leave it in there for two weeks? I've read and re-read all your guy's (And books, and ...etc.) advice and there seems to be no consensus on the amount of time to leave in the primary. Since I had the stomach flu for most of last week it was kind of easy to leave it alone.
Going to get a secondary today and the stuff for a DIPA or something along those lines. (o yea, another airlock and other stuff too. Anything I should get while I'm there?)

 

[rjester]

Grab a thermometer and hydrometer if you don't already have one. The Complete Joy of Home Brewing by Charlie Papazian is a good item to have.

 

[Fiery Sword]

I'm an organic chemist not a biologist so most of what I do with live things died in college. The one time we brewed in biochem it didn't work so well but the other class' brew came out well.

If you ever decide to go all-grain and want to dabble in water profiling you will be ahead of the curve in the chemistry department. I've been breaking out old chem textbooks to try to better understand water, minerals, acidity, etc. Good stuff.

Good luck on keeping your paws off the brew!

 

[RickWG]

OK,
After about 11-12 days I'm ready to rack to a secondary (just got it) and set the brew up on a counter and noticed a bunch of floaters (Break?) in the fermenter. Not the yeast as that's all settled to the bottom. I heard someone mention a muslin bag around the bottom of their racking cane for a filter.

Will this work?
Will this filter out the yeast I need to bottle?
Do I just relax and don't worry about it?

 

[Orfy]

Option 3 works for me.

 

[RickWG]

Option 3 works for me.

Ahhh, new friends. Thanks for the vote of calm. Racking to the secondary tonight when I get home.

This place rocks.

 

[Hercules Rockefeller]

Yeah, just go ahead and rack it. it'll all settle out in the secondary anyway, and you want to rack a little yeast so that it can continue to finish off the fermentation and age the beer. I recomend the 1-2-3 guideline, which is 1 week in the primary, 2 in secondary, and 3 in the bottle. it gets easier once you have stockpile of beers to drink from, you can sample a new beer as often as you brew without drinking half you batch before they get good.

 

[RickWG]

Yeah, I look at all the beers you guys have under your belts and feel a little, nooby.

Primary: SNPA clone
Secondary: Walker's Kaduva IPA
Conditioning: Arrogant Bastard clone
Drinking: SNPA clone, ESB, Blue Paddle Pilsener clone, Chipotle Jalapeno ale, Oatmeal coffee stout

Easy for you to say I gotta buy the beer I'm drinkin now. (I need the bottles anyway.) Someday.....Someday.

 

[Yooper]

Those floaters you're noticing are probably yeast clumpies. The yeast on the bottom are flocculated out, but you've still got plenty of yeast working and in suspension.

Don't worry- it's fine. No need for muslin. The "stuff" will further settle in the secondary and it will clear up nicely.

 

[RickWG]

Thanks for the encouragement. Just got back from a brew pub at lunch and they're cooking up a huge Stout this afternoon. Love the smell of all the malt and grain.

 

[Brewpilot]

"Yeast Clumpies" hey now, let us not get TOO technical! ha ha

Brewpilot

 

[lefteye]

whats a clumpie?

 

[Yooper]

You know- like a lumpy, only bigger. And clumpier.

I had some big gnarly yeast clumps one time- They looked like miniature volcanic rocks. Except they were squishy and made out of yeast clumped together. Ergo- yeast clumpies.

 

[RickWG]

Racked it into the secondary last night and, well, it's about 4.5 gallons. Hope there isn't too much head space in there. Get a little burp coming out of the airlock this morning but not as much. Seems to be settling a bit better in the smaller carboy. Smelled like beer. The best smell was when I was saying goodbye to the yeast. yum.

OG 1.062
G lastnight 1.016

 

[Brewpilot]

74% attenuation... sounds perfect! That will be a nice alcoholic beer with planty of body left... congrats!!!

Brewpilot

Bottled: Fat Tire Clone
Primary: Oatmeal Choco Stout

 

[RickWG]

74% attenuation... sounds perfect! That will be a nice alcoholic beer with planty of body left... congrats!!!

Brewpilot

Bottled: Fat Tire Clone
Primary: Oatmeal Choco Stout

Thanks, Gave me some stuff to thnk about. ABW and ABV, attenuation and efficiency. Hadn't thought of those things but now that I have done the math I understand it. Gonna be about a 6% ABV beer. Nice. Just about where I like it.
It could probably use some more hops as I like a nice DIPA but I'll take it for a first attempt.

(Edit, I'm a scientist. Give me numbers to play with and I get all gooey. Kind of a dork really.)

 

[Brewpilot]

I am into numbers too... though my occupation does not really require it, so I go overboard when it comes to brewing!! I have spreadsheets for everything, even created my own for strike temps so that I can do three step mashes in my cooler mash tun!!

Brewpilot

Bottled: Fat Tire Clone
Primary: Oatmeal Choco Stout

 

[RickWG]

Ok, did the priming thing with almost a cup of sugar and a pint of water, boiled for ~8 minutes and racked into the sugar mixture. Swirling naturally with the motion of the siphon. (Thinking to myself this aint gonna work at all) Did 21 twenty two OZ bottles and 8 twelve ounce bottles. Capped and waiting for the requisite three (two?) weeks.

Thoughts after the entire process.
1) I don't think I would like to put the entire malt into the boil next time. Maybe a cup or two to assist in the extraction of the hops and add the rest after the heat is off. Hold at 175 or so for 30 minutes. Retard the carmelization process some.

2) Gonna use more hops for the next brew as I tasted the beer and while good it seems it needs more hops (did a pale ale kit not much hops).

3) two weeks in the secondary sure makes the beer clear even if it looks like there is suspension in there there isnt. Could go at 12 days or so.

4) Bottling, while a pain in the ass for sanitaion, works real well in the dishwasher. (Thanks yooper, I believe it was you that suggested this.) I wold consider this the easiest part of the whole procedure. (it was all pretty easy though)

5) bottling, I can't believe that the sugar added is enough to carbonate and with the clarity of the beer that there is enough yeast in there to do the job. (you guys have been right the rest of the time so...relax...etc.) stirred the beer a bit with the racking cane to ensure mixing.


After tasting the beer it seemed that the carmelization went a bit far but I expect that will change with time. As the beer is young it really tasted of beer and even had a bit of "carbonation" in it but not enough to cause a head should I pour it I believe.

Final Gravit was 1.016, OG was 1.062 and I believe it calcs out to about 6% ABV.

Really impressed with the clarity after seconday stay.

Next up is a DIPA and a Scottish Ale (for my wife, a Scott), Thinking about doing the Carmel Cream Ale soon myself as others have said it was good.

 

[Orfy]

Going well.

 

[RickWG]

O yea,
looked at the temp in my garage and it's right around 62-64 F. Will I get a good carbonation at that temp range?