Started my first brew today... and I may need some advice.

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generalzod

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Hi Everyone...

I have been lurking here for a while, and checking out information online about brewing your own beer, as my friend and I have been talking about it for a while. We have tried the bottle kits where you just throw the tablet in, wait 2 weeks then consume, but were looking for something better, and decided to try out a beer kit.

I went out this morning after researching the last few days and went to my local home brew store and bought a complete beer kit, with included a 6 gallon bucket with lid, 5 gallon carboy, airlock, spoon, some tubes, a hydrometer and some cleaning stuff, plus I bought a can of Coopers Real Ale beer kit, 1kg of dextrose, and some corn sugar for later bottling. I read some online instructions at www.howtobrew.com and here, and though I had things figured out to make this simple kit, but it turned out we made several mistakes along the way, and I hope someone here can give me some advice.

The included instructions and the instructions on www.howtobrew.com gave conflicting directions on how much water to boil (2 litres vs 2 gallons!) so I chose to use 2 gallons, and dumped that into a clean stock pot and started to boil it. I ended up using tap water and had already put the can's contents and the dextrose in before it dawned on me that I probably should have used spring water.

Anyways, it boiled and boiled but I never got this "hot break" or foaming stage various instructions spoke of. I boiled it for over 30 minutes after I put the malt extract (which is pre-hopped) in, and while it did foam slightly, it never came close to looking like some of the pictures I saw. Is that bad?

Anyways I had sent me friend to buy spring water to fill up the sanitized bucket with, but he came back with distilled water instead, which i had combined with the boiled 2 gallons of tap water/malt extract before realizing that we had screwed up again by using distilled water.

So now I have 5 gallons of a combination of tap water and distilled water mixed with malt extract that I am unsure I cooked right.

Also, most instructions told me to rapidly chill the bucket to room temperature before adding the yeast, which I did, but how long is rapidly chilling? some instructions said about 30 minutes, but I took me over an hour in a combination of an icewater filled sink and a cold water filled bathtub to get it to the temperature I needed. The instructions included with the kit said that the wort was vulnerable at that temperature so adding the yeast in a timely manner is important. how do I get it to cool down faster?

When I took the hydrometer reading, it read 1.036.. I couldnt find anything on the kit that said waht it should be, which the LHBS said would be there.. Sadly it was after 6pm when this happened, so I could not call the LHBS to find out what they though, not that they were a whole of help anyways, unless I had a question about making wine (which I didnt).

One thing I did do hopefully right is preparing the dry yeast, by the instuctions on the wiki here, I added water, and it did rise, though it smelled more like beer to me than rising bread. Maybe that was just in my head though.

I was really stressed while making this brew, as I was trying to be really careful to make sure I was using sanitized equipment and trying not to screw up my beer, so it made the process a bit more difficult than it probably should have been. Is the combination of tap water(it was boiled)/distilled water and my extract not foaming going to be an issue? Is there anything I can do to help it? I can only imagine that the mistakes I made with this batch will only teach me how to do things right the next time.

Since my 6 gallon bucket is obviously for fermenting, what is the 5 gallon carboy for? Secondary Fermenting/conditioning?

Sorry for so many noob questions. Hope you guys can be of some help. Sorry for the long post... Too many questions to ask.
 
Welcome, but do a search. every anyswer is easily available in alot of the threads here.

The extract not foaming is a product of those coopers cans. I used to use them and they never got a spectacular hot break. That will only come when you start adding hops to your brews yourself.

Oh, and an hour is not bad to get it down to pitching temp. It used to take me 3 hours, sometimes longer.
 
Welcome to Home Brew Talk !!!!!

Most of the people here want to help you make the best beer that you can
but please try to search your questions before posting them

and if you need help right away go to the chat and there should be someone there that can offer you some advice

here are a few links that may help you

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=54362

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=686200#post686200

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=67311

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=14860

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=7909

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=558191&postcount=101


these are very helpful

and may save you a bunch of time

Congrats on your first brew !!!
 
Welcome and congrats on your first brew!

One thing you'll find as you brew more (assuming you'll catch the brewing bug, if you haven't already) is that you can make a lot of mistakes and still end up with some pretty darn good beer. I think it's perfectly normal to be stressed the first time, especially with regard to sanitization. As you brew more, you'll get more confident and pick up a rhythm. When you feel like you can do it with your eyes closed, you've arrived. :)

As far as your OG, you can download a trial of Beersmith and plug in the recipe to see what it says it should be. It's fun to play around with ....

For cooling, faster is better, but I'd say an hour isn't too bad, especially for your first time. If you have extra room in your stockpot, you can mix in your topoff water (at near-freezing temperatures) to lower the temp even quicker.
Believe me, we've all been there -- relax and enjoy the ride! :mug:
 
Aren't the Cooper's kits no-boil? You're not supposed to boil the extract. You're supposed to just add 2L of boiling water, top-off water and then the yeast. My first brew was a Cooper's kit and I was trying to reconcile the included instructions and instructions on howtobrew.com. I ended up following the kit's instruction. The way you did is fine. My only advise is to keep your ferment temp to 68F. I fermented at around ~73F cuz the instructions said that was fine, but my beer ended up with fusel alcohol taste.
 
First off, Congrats, you just made your own BEER!:ban:
Hi Everyone...
Since my 6 gallon bucket is obviously for fermenting, what is the 5 gallon carboy for? Secondary Fermenting/conditioning?

Sorry for so many noob questions. Hope you guys can be of some help. Sorry for the long post... Too many questions to ask.

I don't suppose the bucket you got had a spigot on it, did it? If it does, then you'll probably want to rack (siphon) the beer into the carboy in a couple weeks and clean out the bucket for use when bottling. You can actually use the carboy as a primary fermenter and watch the process. If you want to go this route you will want to be at the ready with a blow-off tube, which you can learn about in the wiki. Many of us here are leaving our beer in primary for a number of weeks and simply skipping a secondary, but that's completely up to you.

Welcome aboard!
 

Well, I am not sure how sending me a link for Apfelwein relates to the other links you sent me, but seriously, thanks for sending it anyways (along with the others, which I have looked at), I just spent the last while reading that thread and think I need to buy another carboy and some apple juice now. That sure sounds easier to make than what I did today, though I will still have to make tons more beer. Is it okay if I tell my wife its your fault I am spending more money on homebrewing now? :D
 
Aren't the Cooper's kits no-boil? You're not supposed to boil the extract. You're supposed to just add 2L of boiling water, top-off water and then the yeast. My first brew was a Cooper's kit and I was trying to reconcile the included instructions and instructions on howtobrew.com. I ended up following the kit's instruction. The way you did is fine. My only advise is to keep your ferment temp to 68F. I fermented at around ~73F cuz the instructions said that was fine, but my beer ended up with fusel alcohol taste.

Stupid vague instructions... I have the instruction list here... and it says

1. MIX
a) Dissolve contents of can and other fermentable sugars with 2 litres of boiling water (4 litres of hot tap water may be used).

the way I read that after reading www.howtobrew.com had me thinking I had to boil it with the water. I am almost sure that I read somewhere else that all kits should be boiled anyways. Hope that doesn't have some adverse effect on the taste of the beer in the end.
 
First off, Congrats, you just made your own BEER!:ban:


I don't suppose the bucket you got had a spigot on it, did it? If it does, then you'll probably want to rack (siphon) the beer into the carboy in a couple weeks and clean out the bucket for use when bottling. You can actually use the carboy as a primary fermenter and watch the process. If you want to go this route you will want to be at the ready with a blow-off tube, which you can learn about in the wiki. Many of us here are leaving our beer in primary for a number of weeks and simply skipping a secondary, but that's completely up to you.

Welcome aboard!

No unfortunately my bucket does not have a spigot... from reading here and other places, I guess the advantage of doing a secondary is that the beer has time to clear up and it helps the taste. I guess I will just transfer it to the secondary in a week or so then let it sit there for a few weeks and see what happens, then bottle it directly from the carboy.. I guess that way, I could already have a second batch of beer busy formenting in the cleaned out bucket while my first batch is busy in the carboy.
 
Stupid vague instructions... I have the instruction list here... and it says

1. MIX
a) Dissolve contents of can and other fermentable sugars with 2 litres of boiling water (4 litres of hot tap water may be used).

the way I read that after reading www.howtobrew.com had me thinking I had to boil it with the water. I am almost sure that I read somewhere else that all kits should be boiled anyways. Hope that doesn't have some adverse effect on the taste of the beer in the end.

Like I said, your beer will be fine, especially if you keep your ferment temps in the mid-high 60's.

My kit was part of a whole kit and it came with a dvd. Here's the full instruction and i think you can find the dvd on youtube.
http://www.coopers.com.au/media/files/1451.pdf
 
If you do any more of the kits, to make the beer taste even better swap out the 1 kg corn sugar with 1 kg of DME instead. All malt tastes a lot better than half sugar. It won't hurt that you boil the no boil kit. and.... +1 on everything else everyone said.
 
One thing to consider is to not bottle out of the carboy, but to buy a bottling bucket. They are around $15, and definitely worth it!

If you try to bottle from your carboy with a siphon, that's kind of tough. Plus, you'll add some sugar to prime it and you don't want to mix that in the carboy. For one thing, you'll mix it unevenly (and risk aerating your beer) as well as stir up all the sediment that is in the carboy. (The whole point of the carboy is to help clear and condition the beer- the used up yeast falls to the bottom so that your beer is clearer). A bottling bucket is a worthwhile investment.
 
Well, I am not sure how sending me a link for Apfelwein relates to the other links you sent me, but seriously, thanks for sending it anyways (along with the others, which I have looked at), I just spent the last while reading that thread and think I need to buy another carboy and some apple juice now. That sure sounds easier to make than what I did today, though I will still have to make tons more beer. Is it okay if I tell my wife its your fault I am spending more money on homebrewing now? :D



Apfelwein is great

and yes you can blame me for buying more stuff :mug:

as long as you are happy and enjoy it brew away !!!
 
If you do any more of the kits, to make the beer taste even better swap out the 1 kg corn sugar with 1 kg of DME instead. All malt tastes a lot better than half sugar. It won't hurt that you boil the no boil kit. and.... +1 on everything else everyone said.

So I can just swap 1kg of corn sugar (dextrose) for 1kg of dry malt extract? One of the other Cooper's Kits asked for dry malt extract, which was the kit I was going to buy, until I found out that the home brew store I bought my gear from was really a wine brew store with a token selection of beer stuff... they had no dry malt extract, and the lady didnt even seem to know what it was. So I got the kit that required sugar instead. If I can find DME at another shop, I will use it for my next batch making the same beer type to see the difference in taste.
 
One thing to consider is to not bottle out of the carboy, but to buy a bottling bucket. They are around $15, and definitely worth it!

If you try to bottle from your carboy with a siphon, that's kind of tough. Plus, you'll add some sugar to prime it and you don't want to mix that in the carboy. For one thing, you'll mix it unevenly (and risk aerating your beer) as well as stir up all the sediment that is in the carboy. (The whole point of the carboy is to help clear and condition the beer- the used up yeast falls to the bottom so that your beer is clearer). A bottling bucket is a worthwhile investment.

I fully intended to bottle directly from the carboy until I read your message there. I probably woudn't have even thought of any of that until I had the sediment floating in my beer! lol. I will buy another bucket with a spigot on it for bottling before its done conditioning in the carboy. Thanks for the advice.
 
Well I looked at it a few moments ago where it is stored in my room temperature closet, and it has TONS of small bubbles in the airlock. I lifted the lid slightly to peak inside (maybe a bad idea) and its indeed formenting, so I guess this is a good sign. Now that i know it is formenting, I will not open the bucket again for 7 days and then take a gravity reading.

If Righlander is correct in 1.036 being a low SG, I dont know how strong this beer will be in the end, but it appears it may actually be beer. Atleast half my goal for the first brew will be done... now only if it doesn't taste like ass, or get infected, I will be quite happy. :) Right now I am just really excited that I dont have undrinkable dead sludge in a bucket! Thanks again to everyone for the advice that I will end up using in Batch #2!
 
I probably wouldn't worry too much. So you got too much water, so you get more beer out of it. If you clean everything out, just close the lid, let the yeast do it's thing and you might be very surprise. Most people don't get their perfect brew on the first try anyways. it takes practice. Cheers.
 
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