Take a look at my first brew in primary

[Kevin K]

Extract brew with 1lb specialty grains, hops, and dry yeast (rehydrated and pitched at 76º. I managed to cool wort in about 5 minutes. Had a wicked hot break also.
Poured wort through strainer into funnel and into carboy, worked really well for keeping all the hops out.

Does all this gunge look normal to you all? What am I seeing? Hot break & cold break boogers?

Pictures taken about 1.75 hrs after pitching. I've left it alone since then. No bubbles yet, but I don't expect them until tomorrow (no starter).

Should I be worried? Probably not, but it's my maiden brew.

Any input is appreciated.

Kevin

 

[mayday1019]

looks good enough to drink!

 

[Kevin K]

Ah, that's another thing. I did take a shot glass sized sample when I took my OG (1.066 corrected for temp). It tasted super sweet and very very hoppy. I think it's going to be great. (Honey Cream Ale).

Woohoo!


Anyone else want to comment on the boogers? Is that normal?

 

[MrSaLTy]

That looks fairly normal to me... The scottish 80/- I did recently looked exactly the same as that. Its the yeast working. I had the same striations (sp) as the yeast got to work. I don't think you have anything to worry about.

 

[Kevin K]

Fantastic.

Ugly as hell isn't it? (in a beautiful beerish sort of way!)

Kevin

 

[uglygoat]

when that yeast on the bottom makes it's way to the top.....

it' might blow....

 

[Kevin K]

Is that what it does? Works it's way from the bottom up?

 

[Radarbrew]

Man, that's a good lookin batch. It might sneak up on ya later. A blow-off tube would be a good idea, or you'll be up @2 am to check on it.

 

[Kevin K]

Is it uncommon to have a brew look like this? I'm totally green as to what this should look like. I feel like I just had my third kid, hope it doesn't grow up spoiled.

 

[Walker]

all is normal.

wait until that yeast stops multiplying and starts eating! you will see one hell of a crazy, swirling, chaotic scene, and the fermenter will start to warm up.

You gotta love glass fermenters... it's a hell of a show in there.

-walker

 

[Kevin K]

Awesome!!! I'll try to post pics tomorrow morning. Good night all!

 

[Kevin K]

Well, approx. 14 hours into fermentation, she's really taking off!

It's a constant 62º in the basement, and the fermometer shows 74º.

I'm a happy guy!

 

[homebrewer_99]

I've read all your posts.

If your intent is to NOT make beer then you are a failure.

If you wanted to make beeer then you are an overnight success! I wouldn't want it any other way!

 

[chillHayze]

Man I've gotta get a glass primary, that looks friggin sweet. Or, as the Canadians would say "That's wicked sweet, eh?".
Kevin do you have a 5.0 fox mustang by chance?

 

[Rokie]

That looks cool. I'm going to get a glass carboy for the next batch.

 

[Kevin K]

Kevin do you have a 5.0 fox mustang by chance?

No, a 5.0 Ranger. Full disclosure: doesn't run yet.

Thanks guys, this site has been a huge help, I've enjoyed every step of the process thus far.

Kevin

 

[Kevin K]

I've read all your posts.

If your intent is to NOT make beer then you are a failure.

If your want to make beeer then you are an overnight success! I wouldn't want it any other way!

Thanks Bill! Hopefully I'm on the right track.

Here's an update as of hour 20 of fermentation:

3" krausen!

 

[downreactor]

Sounds like the proud new parent of a baby beer!

 

[Kevin K]

No kidding. This is fun stuff.

I need a bigger carboy. I rigged up a half assed blow off tube last night with a rubber bung and my siphon tube (into a small bucket). This morning I went to check on it, and the floor was all wet near the carboy. I guess it had been burping hard enough to splash water all over the floor, even though I had the lid partially on the bucket!

I'm amazed how much CO2 this thing can produce! It's belching a steady stream of 1" bubbles...and shows no sign of slowing down. Pretty neat stuff.

Kevin

 

[Sasquatch]

Boy, that's a great looking batch. What kind of yeast did you put in there? I didn't see it mentioned? It IS amazing how much CO2 those little buggers fart out. And each C02 is related to an alcohol molecule in your beer.... it's beautiful . When that big head of foam breaks down, and things settle out a bit, you can move that beast into secondary and get the next one rolling!

 

[Darth Konvel]

Looks like a success to me. Better start planning that next batch

 

[Desert_Sky]

Looks almost identical to mine right now, but mine has already come out through the airlock. Good stuff eh? SWMBO is already naggin about making sure I leave it alone until its ready. I told her I would try, but no promises.

 

[Kevin K]

Boy, that's a great looking batch. What kind of yeast did you put in there? I didn't see it mentioned?

I used the dry Lallemand Nottingham yeast that came with the kit. I'm quite happy with the results. I think next batch I'll use a starter, just to compare.

http://www.lallemand.com/Brewing/eng/PDFs/Nottingham July 2004.pdf

 

[Sasquatch]

HAHAH!!! I KNEW that was Nottingham. I have seen some funky crazy stringers... star-shaped fountains of krausen etc, with that stuff. Great yeast. It has kind of a dry finish in flavour (if anything). I've done a pale ale, a brown, a bitter, and recently a pilsner with that stuff, and they all came out awesome. It's not quite as fast as some other dry yeasts (notably Cooper's) but it is dead reliable, and seems to add no bad flavours to the beer at all.

 

[gauthierk]

I wish I would have taken a picture of my primary. It sorta looked the same way as your but not as many straiations <sp>. It took about 48 hours for my yeast to start actively fermenting then all hell broke loose... Sweet pictures

 

[Kevin K]

I figured it'd be fun to keep a pictorial log of some sort...I've been checking on it every few hours, and it's been fun to watch the changes.

 

[Kevin K]

Small update, the krausen has started to fall, but the airlock (blowoff tube) activity is still fairly steady. Still have a steady stream of 1" bubbles going.
It's hard to see anything though, because the krausen made such a mess on the top of the carboy.
Much less swirling and movement now, it's relatively calm, and the bubbles rising are pretty much the only movement visible.

 

[Kevin K]

Can anyone give me an idea of what kind of alcohol % I should expect? I used 3.2 KG of LME (7lbs) and 1lb of steeped "honey malt" grains. My OG was 1.066 (corrected for temp).

Anyone want to guess what kind of FG I'll hit?

 

[Walker]

There will be no fermentables worth counting from the 1 lb of honey malt if you just steeped it, so you can just count the LME contributions.

Is this a 5 gallon batch?

7 lbs of LME in 5 gallons should only give a starting gravity of about 1.053-ish. Even if you got 100% effeciency out of the honey malt, it would still be below 1.060.

I don't know how you got up to 1.066.

Anyway.. if you were up at 1.066 to start, there is a good chance your beer will end up with roughly 6.5% alcohol by volume, give or take a half percent.

-----------------

However...

If I assume good fermentation, 7 lbs of LME, 40% effeciency from the honey malt, and ignore your recorded OG reading and use approximations, the recipator calculates that you would get an OG of 1.055 and a FG of 1.012, this would yield 5.5% abv.

-walker

 

[Kevin K]

Sorry, should have mentioned batch size. It was indeed 5 gallons. My hydrometer measured 1.064 at 76&#186;, corrected that should be 1.066. I spun the hydrometer in my thief to make sure I had no bubbles, and to make sure it wasn't sticking to the side of the thief. The reading was taken after I topped up with water (partial boil).

I don't know what else to tell you, other than this was my first hydrometer reading with wort, and I had tested it in 60&#186; water, it read a perfect 1.000

Kevin