This is the part where you say welcome to the board dummy...

[nrjones89]

I started out using pails (hahaha....... pail ales) because that's what I could afford. I started looking into getting a carboy and my brewing friends told me not to unless I get PET. It's really unnecessary unless you're planning on doing a sour or something that will age in the fermentor for a long time to avoid oxidation.

My biggest mistake was forgetting priming solution when I bottled my first beer. I dumped it all back in the bucket like an idiot, too! It was already compromised because I fermented at like 75F, though, so I didnt' care.

 

[beernutz]

Dumb stuff sometimes happens. At least no one was hurt and you learned a valuable lesson.

The only glass I still use in brewing is a nice expensive 5L Erlenmeyer flask. I had been brewing 25 years when I made the idiotic decision to place that almost full 5L flask containing a starter on a large stir plate on top of our clothes dryer just because I didn't want it in the kitchen. It was fine until my wife ran the dryer.

 

[beernutz]

Since you did this indoors I hope you are single or have a VERY UNDERSTANDING WIFE.

IMO there's no other kind worth keeping.

 

[shoppearth]

I’m about 3 days more experienced than you...all I can say, is that is how great beer names are founded. Best of luck his weekend!

 

[DublinOhioBrewer]

So I figured I would hop in with an update (pardon the pun)...

I bottled 10 gallons of beer last night. 5 gallons of an American pale ale and 5 gallons of cream ale. They are both relatively cloudy still even though I left them in the primary fermenter a little longer and used a whirlfloc tablet in the boil. I may try Irish moss next time. I thought about using dual fine and then a secondary racking but decided against that for an extract beer. The beer tastes better now than it did when I took my final gravity reading a week and a half ago so I'd say that's probably a good sign. Both beers are decent, not spectacular, but very drinkable and I'm sure they'll taste even better after conditioning in the bottles for a few weeks and getting carbonated.

I have another cream ale kit from Eric beers on morebeer.com and I also have a Belgian Saison Brewer's Best kit , both partial mash extract kits, that I will probably get to next weekend since both of my fermonsters are empty at this point...

I will check back in a few weeks when my bottle conditioning is completed to give my final analysis of my first two homebrews. I'd like to thank everybody for their kind words and keeping me motivated and engaged in this rewarding Hobby. After I knock these other two extract partial Mash kits out, I plan to give brew-in-a-bag a shot. I will probably just do a small 3 gallon batch the first time just to learn and familiarize myself with the process... so if anybody has any 3 gallon Brew in a bag recipes for some lighter ales or maybe a porter or Stout then feel free to message them to me so we don't bog down this thread. I'm open to links to other recipes or whatever. I'm also going to fly through the recipe boards but I don't recall seeing a dedicated biab section.

I'll be in touch! Thanks again to all of you you're a great group of people

 

[SEndorf]

They are both relatively cloudy still even though I left them in the primary fermenter a little longer and used a whirlfloc tablet in the boil. I may try Irish moss next time.

I've found whirlfloc to be way more effective than irish moss. YMMV...

I thought about using dual fine and then a secondary racking but decided against that for an extract beer.

Good decision. All of that extra process is additional exposure to infection, and typically has limited benefit. Cloudiness is the norm for freshly bottled / kegged beer. It will condition and clear over time.

 

[DublinOhioBrewer]

I wasn't sure if beer continues to clear even after bottling... some of the bottles even though they're only 48 Hours old have sediment on the bottom which I'm not really a fan of but I know that's part of home brewing and bottling. I don't know if that stuff will settle out or thin out and become part of the beer or if I'll have to leave some in the bottle when I transfer it to a drinking glass. One of my favorite beers of all time is La Fin Du Monde, which is a unibroue beer (i know... i know... the BMC thing...), and it's always bottled on lees... I've always just turned and rolles the bottle over a few times and then just poured everything into a glass and never really had a problem so I'm wondering if that's something I can do with my home brewed beers...

 

[SEndorf]

Interesting question.
My limited understanding is "bottling on lees" is fairly unique to Unibroue beer and more of a wine thing.
It's used primarily for aging, although the benefits of this escape me.
For homebrew, you could try rolling the yeast off the bottom of the bottle back into suspension and see how it tastes.
My guess is that it will impart a rather harsh undesirable flavor.

 

[DublinOhioBrewer]

I would probably agree with your assessment...

 

[bleme]

Unless you are brewing a hef, I'd leave the trub in the bottle and lose a little beer. The longer you leave the bottle in the fridge before pouring, the more solid that layer will become and the more beer you will get.

 

[DublinOhioBrewer]

Thanks for the tip brother!

 

[DublinOhioBrewer]

Holy crap! I'm a Madman. I just bought a 10 gallon Kettle with a thermometer and a ball valve. I'm moving up to All Grain boys. I've come a long way from my busted carboy LOL

 

[MHBT]

I would say stay away from glass carboys,thats all i used to use and still do cause well i have them but you should really consider plastic carboys or steel..IMO buckets rock

 

[DublinOhioBrewer]

Acknowledged. That's why I bought two 7 gallon fermonsters

 

[MHBT]

Acknowledged. That's why I bought two 7 gallon fermonsters

Nice i got me one of those, really nice

 

[DublinOhioBrewer]

Love them. When I was debating between that and the better bottle I read some not so inspiring reviews about them but I don't know what all the bruhaha's about because I think the fermonster is great

 

[MHBT]

Love them. When I was debating between that and the better bottle I read some not so inspiring reviews about them but I don't know what all the bruhaha's about because I think the fermonster is great

Yeah really nice fermenter, easy to clean just a soak in pbw ,no scrubbing, wide mouth, lid seals, whats not to like about this fermenter? One thing i can say is be careful when rinsing, i warped mine cause i had the water to hot..cheers

 

[DublinOhioBrewer]

Yeah I kind of worried about that so I try to keep my temperature warm but not scalding hot

 

[JohnWilliamson062]

Amateurs...
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055V2ZPM/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[MHBT]

Amateurs...
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055V2ZPM/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Thats funny 500 bucks for a used glass jug

 

[MaxStout]

Thats funny 500 bucks for a used glass jug

Yeah, but it's Pyrex, so you can heat it on the stove.

 

[MHBT]

Yeah, but it's Pyrex, so you can heat it on the stove.

i dont know about you Max, but i would never boil wort in a 500 dollar glass carboy even if its designed to handle direct fire, plus it would be hard to get my immersion chiller in that thing

 

[SEndorf]

Seriously?
Here's an alternative for the same price.

 

[DublinOhioBrewer]

Lol SEndorf... I knew that was coming from somebody eventually. Congratulations on not letting me down haha

 

[SEndorf]

I got yer back Dublin....

 

[DublinOhioBrewer]

UPS just delivered my 10 gallon Kettle, my biab kit from wilser and my Darkstar 2.0 burner.

And the piece de resistance, my Pliny the Elder clone grains and hops.

It's about to be on like Hoppy Kong!

 

[SEndorf]

Brew on my friend!

 

[DublinOhioBrewer]

 

[bleme]

Yeah, but it's Pyrex, so you can heat it on the stove.

There is a warning printed right on it: Do not place over direct heat. And also: Do not scratch or bump. LOL!

 

[MaxStout]

I should've put a smiley on my post. I was joking, because heating carboys on the stove was what started this whole thread.

 

[Vandulus]

Just stumbled across this thread and welcome from just a few miles away! I did something similar on my third batch trying to quickly cool a partial boil. I poured the boiling wort into a glass carboy, added room temp water and stuck it in a plastic tub filled with ice water. When it had cooled down, I went to lift it from the tub and the entire bottom dropped out. My friend laughed his head off after 4 hours of hard work. The only plus is the wort spilled into the tub, so cleanup was easy.

Nowadays I use SS Brewbuckets and an immersion chiller and shake my head at the experience.

 

[SEndorf]

Here's the bottom of my glass carboy from December 2015.
Never again.....

 

[myndflyte]

^That looks like it could be a lethal weapon.

 

[cmac62]

Thanks for sharing. Your next brew day has to be better. When I first bought all of my equipment on CL I got three glass carboys. I broke two within the next couple of months and the third sits in my shed never to be touched. I don't secondary and I have a lot of buckets. Welcome to the obsession.

 

[DublinOhioBrewer]

Just stumbled across this thread and welcome from just a few miles away! I did something similar on my third batch trying to quickly cool a partial boil. I poured the boiling wort into a glass carboy, added room temp water and stuck it in a plastic tub filled with ice water. When it had cooled down, I went to lift it from the tub and the entire bottom dropped out. My friend laughed his head off after 4 hours of hard work. The only plus is the wort spilled into the tub, so cleanup was easy.

Nowadays I use SS Brewbuckets and an immersion chiller and shake my head at the experience.

Yeah... i have two Fermonsters now. Love them. I have a glass carboy still... ill keep it for a secondary. Ill need one some as im about to brew a pliny the elder clone.

 

[brews2gf]

It’s incredible that you didn’t get cut; story is kind of stomach-turning IMO after having seen some of the pictures about glass carboy incidents.

I’m amazed honestly that you didn’t know that glass doesn’t survive quick temperature changes (like a direct flame) unless it’s specifically designed for it (like an Erlenmeyer flask, etc). I’m assuming now you also know you can’t take a hot glass directly from the dishwasher and pour yourself a nice cold glass of ice water in it.

I too am shaking my head. You’re a lucky dude. Welcome to the hobby!