Thumbs up for the first attempt (I think...)

[TekelBira]

I finally got a chance to make my first brew get going yesterday. I should have said "our" because it was made by my wife and a friend who has an interest in taking up in the hobby as well. I invited him over to share the experience. It was a nice fun full day, watching pot boil while sharing few bottles of Belgian Ales...

I used Brewer's Best IPA extract kit (includes two crushed grains and one bittering hop, one finishing hop). I used kitchen stow to boil full five gallons in a 7 gallons SS pot. I have tried first to check if my stove burner is hot enough to bring it full boil which it did. In order to chil, I used an immersion chiller which I homemade and a secondary coil to chil the water from tap in a cooler filled with ice. It was cooled from boiling down to 90F in less than 10 min but it took another 15 minutes to get down to 70F (no ice left in the cooler). Temp on the carboy went up to 74F during shaking on a tennis ball (?) according to the strip thermometer on carboy. Siphoned the wort into a 6.5g carboy instead of the bucket. I am glad did because it is so much fun to watch all the activity in the carboy. It started to be pretty active in few hours and in about 7-8 hours, there was over 140-150 bubles per minute and a hefty amount of foam on top. This morning, it was calmer and foam was somehow less but still there is a very healthy activity in the now appears to be "muddy" beer. Not sure at what stage it becomes "beer". Carboy is placed in a dark basement room where the temperature is steady at 67F. Carboy is still at 72F after 18 hours there.

Lessons learned:
- Make more ice or buy few bags before you start (just because I want to chil the wort as quickly as posssible).
- Collect filtered water before hand because my under sink filtration system has a capacity of 2 gallons (ended up racing to store to get some spring water)
- Don't forget to stir the worth at the end to accumulate the residue from hops in the center so siphoning would be more efficient at the end.
-Don't wait for making the next batch till I run out of what I made this time because stor ebought beer do not last long during the brew day when you have others to share your beer.

Hope you didn't mind me writing so much but saying nothing useful. Just pleased with the experince and wanted to share...

 

[david_42]

Sounds like you have the routine down, first try. What many people call the secondary fermentor is really a settling tank. As long as the yeast are actively producing CO2, the brew will be muddy. Let it finish fermenting, rack it and let it settle.

 

[freyguy]

Nice job! Sounds like you really did your homework. :rockin:

Be sure to report back on how it tastes. I've been wondering about that kit myself.

 

[Desert_Sky]

nice looking kitchen

be sure to start on your next one as soon as possible. you're going to want to get a cache of homebrews built up quickly.

 

[Celtic Ceilidh]

be sure to start on your next one as soon as possible.

Good advice. I wish that we had had the second batch ready before our first one was gone.

 

[TekelBira]

Just wanted to add an update...
Buble activity was dropped to one in every 70 seconds so I decided to rack it to 5 gallon carboy after 80 hours fermentation at 70-68F. I sampled the gravity at 1.020. O.G. was 1.055. This morning there is a fine sediment at the bottom already. I have to sit tight and wait to see what happens now. It is hard not having seen before what to expect.

 

[boo boo]

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together.

 

[SteveM]

The more patience you have, the happier you will be with the end product, generally speaking. As Chimone think about getting the second batch going right after the first is done so that the pipeline is full (so to speak). It is hard to hold off on drinking the first batch, and truthfully, not really absolutely necessary anyway. It will get better with age, but on the other hand, getting that first taste will energize you to make more.

Edit - my compliments on the careful prep and planning! Keep us posted on how it comes out!

 

[TekelBira]

Well.... I've been a good boy and patient for almost two weeks by now since I racked my first batch to a settling secondary 5g carboy. There was not much going on except tiny bubles rising to the surface. Now that stopped too so I took one more SG which turned out has not changed since I've racked it (1.020). It tastes, smells and looks "good". I feel like I won't gain any benefits anymore but introduce yeasty taste if I don't bottle it "now".
I realize I have the "first timer worry bug syndrome" but don't think there is cure for it yet... Wish me luck with my bottling tonight.

 

[TekelBira]

Another two weeks gone by and I opened my "test" bottle today in preperation of my second brew attempt. 22oz bottle was half full (leftover that I couldn't waste) and gave a nice helathy fizz sound when the cap broke loose. Didn't get much head when I poured but probably poured it too cautiously. When my wife and I took the first sip together, we just looked at each other with the "yummy" faces, heads with approval nuds. It has no unwanted tastes or odors but very pleasant hoppy taste with slight refreshing fruitty taste which we cannot identify. At the bottom of the bottle there was still some yeast deposits. It turned out I could offer to friends and family with no hesitation. Simply put, it is pretty darn good compared to many commercially available ales out there. Thanks for all the help and advice you guys and gals provided for me to have a successful start.
Now, if you please excuse me, I have a couple of cases of 22oz TBIPAE* to deal with.

*The Best Indian Pale Ale Ever