Tips for my first batch

[Tallmanbrewer]

Sounds like you just need to build an immersion wort chiller. It'll cool your wort/boiled water down under 80 in about 15 mins...much less time and effort than boiling water, sanitizing bags, putting water in bags, placing in freezer, waiting for them to freeze...you get my point. If you were only going to brew one time, fine, do it that way. You won't want to go through all that every time you brew though. With a wort chiller you just place it in the boiling water (this sanitizes it) when the boil is finished, turn on the cold water! Pretty easy...plus you only have to build it once. With the ice bags you will be filling them every time you brew. Just my suggestion though...just do a search for immersion wort chiller in the search function up top...it'll tell you how to make one with parts easily obtained from your local hardware store!

 

[Tallmanbrewer]

Or just sit the pot in an ice bath in the sink! Won't cool it off as fast but much easier than the ice bags...have fun whichever method you choose!

 

[MC-Hokie]

Chris, did you get over to Weekend Brewer yet? How'd it go? I hope you found everything you needed and are a bit more comfortable. Be sure to let us know how the first brew goes. As they say here, RDWHA....wait it's your first batch, just have a beer!

 

[s2cmpugh]

Hey Mike! Yeah I went by and picked up my kit and ingredients. I didn't start brewing today, but plan to this week sometime. The guy at the brew store was very nice and helpful. I also decided to go for the larger bottles to take up less space around the house and purchased a pot while I was there.

He told me to use spring water from the store for a better taste too and to use the secondary. How long did you keep yours in the primary and did you take hydrometer readings to determine when it was done or just watch the bubbles?

 

[MC-Hokie]

Great. Good luck! My Hefe was in primary for 4 days and secondary for 9. Watched the airlock and took readings.

Bottled up my 2nd brew last night. It's an Oktoberfest style ale. Tasted a little bland, but I hope it matures nicely in the bottle.

Third brew is in primary. I think I'll leave this one alone ther for 3 weeks to see how that does wihtout usinge secondary. I think I'll just use secondary when I need two batches fermenting at once.

I am out of ingredients and need to brew. I guess I am off to WB this week.

 

[JLem]

...

Third brew is in primary. I think I'll leave this one alone ther for 3 weeks to see how that does wihtout usinge secondary. I think I'll just use secondary when I need two batches fermenting at once.

...

I leave all my "normal" brews in the primary and have had no issues as far as I can tell. I only use a secondary if I am adding additional ingredients like fruit of spices or when I dry hop (and sometimes not even then). The fewer times you transfer your brew, the fewer chances there are to contaminate it (and the less work you have to do).

 

[s2cmpugh]

Well everyone I think I'm ready. I did have to use pliers to tighten up my valve on the "ale pale" so it wouldn't leak anymore.

question...Where do I put the sanitized water inside the air lock? I'm a bit confused on it?

Also, I'm using StarSan as my sanitizer. Does everything have to be dry BEFORE any beer touches it or can I just shake out as much as I can in my equipment and then the beer can touch it without any ill effects?

Thanks!
Cris P.

 

[Justibone]

question...Where do I put the sanitized water inside the air lock? I'm a bit confused on it?

I usually put vodka in my airlock. That way if there is suckback all it does is up the ABV!

There are two types of airlocks out there, mainly. There is the S-shaped one, and the one that looks like a bullet shape inside a bigger bullet shape. Either should have a lid and little lines in it marking the fill level. Examine it closely in good light, you should see where you need to fill.

Also, I'm using StarSan as my sanitizer. Does everything have to be dry BEFORE any beer touches it or can I just shake out as much as I can in my equipment and then the beer can touch it without any ill effects?

Nah, doesn't have to be dry.

 

[wyzazz]

Well everyone I think I'm ready. I did have to use pliers to tighten up my valve on the "ale pale" so it wouldn't leak anymore.

question...Where do I put the sanitized water inside the air lock? I'm a bit confused on it?

Also, I'm using StarSan as my sanitizer. Does everything have to be dry BEFORE any beer touches it or can I just shake out as much as I can in my equipment and then the beer can touch it without any ill effects?

Thanks!
Cris P.

Careful tightening up that valve, I broke mine last weekend!

As mentioned above, there are 2 types. Look for the lines...

StarSan takes 30 seconds of "wet" contact time (that means bubbles or liquid) to kill everything, and you don't want to let it dry. If you let it dry you increase the risk of contamination. Don't Fear The Foam!!!

 

[s2cmpugh]

What I did was tighten it about 1/4 turn until it fully stopped leaking. Doing it that way, I hopefully avoided breaking it. And there is NO way you can hand tighten those things and expect it to seal up good, especially with 5 gallons of water pressure pushing on it.

My airlock doesn't look S-shaped, but is three peices. I'm sure my mind is making it more complicated than it needs to be.

To be clear...StarSan will NOT kill my beer, yeast, or produce off flavors if some is still inside the bottles, tubing, or buckets/fermenters?

 

[wyzazz]

So you've got the 3-piece airlock, water goes in the outside cup.

StarSan kills almost everything when mixed in the right concentrations. But the residue left on your equipment, bottles, fermenters will be diluted so much with beer/wort that it won't kill anything.

 

[s2cmpugh]

So you've got the 3-piece airlock, water goes in the outside cup.

StarSan kills almost everything when mixed in the right concentrations. But the residue left on your equipment, bottles, fermenters will be diluted so much with beer/wort that it won't kill anything.

Perfect! That's what I wanted to know. I think I'm all set for this. Just need to keep telling myself that anything that touches the beer needs to be sanitized.

 

[modernlifeisANDY]

You'll be fine. StarSan is the best stuff. As long as you've been using it in the proper concentration then you won't have any issues with off flavors or any other harmful side effects to acid-based sanitizers

I second the motion for vodka in the airlock, any kind will do. I usually use whatever's lying around (unless it's the Grey Goose or the Ketel One!) Any suckback you get (which you probably will, depending on how you transport your beer) will just up your ABV a bit and won't taste any different.

Above all, enjoy yourself. RDWHAHB.

 

[wyzazz]

Perfect! That's what I wanted to know. I think I'm all set for this. Just need to keep telling myself that anything that touches the beer needs to be sanitized.

Correction, anything that touches the beer POST-BOIL needs to be sanitized. If it's going through the boil then that is enough to kill off all the nasties.

 

[JLem]

What I did was tighten it about 1/4 turn until it fully stopped leaking. Doing it that way, I hopefully avoided breaking it. And there is NO way you can hand tighten those things and expect it to seal up good, especially with 5 gallons of water pressure pushing on it.

My airlock doesn't look S-shaped, but is three peices. I'm sure my mind is making it more complicated than it needs to be.

To be clear...StarSan will NOT kill my beer, yeast, or produce off flavors if some is still inside the bottles, tubing, or buckets/fermenters?

Leaving a little residue of StarSan will not affect your beer (other than keep it sanitary)

Also, sounds like you are using a bottling bucket for your fermenter. Do you have a second bottling bucket that you can transfer into at bottling time? My "ale pail" kit came with 2 buckets - one with a spigot and one without. I use the one without as my fermenter and the one with as my bottling bucket. You do not want to bottle directly out of your fermenter as all the trub will be in the bottom.

 

[s2cmpugh]

My kit came with the primary fermenter that is also a bottling bucket as well as a glass carboy. I was going to transfer to the secondary, and then siphon off from there back into my primary/bottling bucket. I was going to leave it in the secondary for a couple weeks.

I may run back down to the brew store and get another bucket without a hole for a valve.

 

[Justibone]

Starsan is, IIRC, actually beneficial for beer.

 

[s2cmpugh]

Starsan is, IIRC, actually beneficial for beer.

So it doesn't kill off the yeast?

 

[SoonerDoc]

So it doesn't kill off the yeast?

Supposedly not. They actually like it.

 

[wyzazz]

If you poured a vial of yeast in to straight starsan solution it would kill all the yeast, but at the dilute quantities that are left in the foam (after the wort/beer is poured in) it turns in to "yeast food".

 

[JLem]

If you poured a vial of yeast in to straight starsan solution it would kill all the yeast, but at the dilute quantities that are left in the foam (after the wort/beer is poured in) it turns in to "yeast food".

Think about it in terms of concentration. starsan is an antimicrobial, so will kill yeast, but only works at a high enough concentration (like any antimicrobial). When you sanitize your equipment, the starsan is being used at its "kill" concentration, but when you add the yeast to the fermenter, the 5 gallons of wort has diluted the residual starsan to below its "kill" concentration, rendering it ineffective as an antimicrobial and the yeast are safe.

 

[wyzazz]

Think about it in terms of concentration. starsan is an antimicrobial, so will kill yeast, but only works at a high enough concentration (like any antimicrobial). When you sanitize your equipment, the starsan is being used at its "kill" concentration, but when you add the yeast to the fermenter, the 5 gallons of wort has diluted the residual starsan to below its "kill" concentration, rendering it ineffective as an antimicrobial and the yeast are safe.

What he said...

 

[s2cmpugh]

Thanks for the help everyone! Took me five hours last night, but my first batch is fermenting as we speak.

Couple things though; I filled up the airlock above the little middle line, is that ok?

I did see some big bubbling going on this morning and when I pushed down on the lid more bubbles came out, good sign??

As of this morning, the stick on thermometer is saying 72F. If it strays a little above that, will anything be effected? I'm keeping it in a water bath with a floating frozen bottle of water, and some wet towels on top.

I also tried to take an OG reading...I think I got 1.040, but since the wort was around 70 when I took it, is it really 1.0416?

Thanks for all the help!!

 

[Justibone]

Thanks for the help everyone! Took me five hours last night, but my first batch is fermenting as we speak.

Couple things though; I filled up the airlock above the little middle line, is that ok?

It's not terrible.

I did see some big bubbling going on this morning and when I pushed down on the lid more bubbles came out, good sign??

Even if the bucket has no fermentation going on, you will get air bubbles when you press the lid... if the lid has a good seal. I will sometimes press the lid to get a whiff of what's going on in there without opening the top, but it's not proof that fermentation is going on.

Spontaneous bubbles are one sign fermentation is going on, but not the most reliable sign.

As of this morning, the stick on thermometer is saying 72F. If it strays a little above that, will anything be effected? I'm keeping it in a water bath with a floating frozen bottle of water, and some wet towels on top.

If you have another frozen water bottle, go ahead and add it. A couple degrees cooler would be slightly better if you are going for that "crisp" taste. If --like me -- you like very mild amounts of esters, then you're perfect.

I also tried to take an OG reading...I think I got 1.040, but since the wort was around 70 when I took it, is it really 1.0416?

Thanks for all the help!!

Maybe. Plus or minus 1 or 2 thousandths is essentially a rounding error, though, so don't sweat it.

Congrats on your brew!! :fro:

 

[s2cmpugh]

Thanks! How can I tell fermentation is going on then? Or should I just relax and not worry about it.

I'll add another frozen water bottle tonight when I get home from work.

It'll be much easier for me to brew in the winter time as I keep the house in the low to mid 60's.

 

[Justibone]

Thanks! How can I tell fermentation is going on then? Or should I just relax and not worry about it.

The bubbles are a good indicator it began. Also, smells. After a week or two, separate hydrometer readings on separate days will tell you that fermentation is complete. Until then, RDWHAHB.

 

[wyzazz]

For a hefeweizen (depending on the yeast) you usually get more Bananna at or above 70F, if you like more clove phenols then lower the temps in to the mid to upper 60's. You're still making that Hefeweizen right?

Shine a bright flashlight on the outside of the bucket, and look for a ring of foam (krauesen). Or spritz everything with a spray bottle of StarSan and pop the lid off, you will probably be able to see the fermentation. I don't look anymore, I just let them sit for 3-4 weeks, take gravity readings over a 3 day period & if they are the same I'll bottle/keg.

The only real way to know if fermentation is underway is to take a gravity reading.

 

[s2cmpugh]

I'll see if I smell anything later on today.

Yep, fermenting the Hefe! I'll try the flashlight technique later on today.

For gravity readings...how long should I wait to until I take a reading? And should I just sanitize the hydro and then drop it in the batch and see what level it's at? OR should I use my sanitized "turkey baster" and fill up a graduated cyclinder and then drop the hydro in that?

Again, thanks for all the help and answering my questions!

Cris P.

 

[wyzazz]

Low 70's is where I like my Hefeweizens, but I like bananas.

Like I said, I wait for 3 weeks usually before I take one. If you're itching to take one I'd wait until the first week is over. Use the turkey baster, fill up the cylinder, take your reading, then drink the fruits of your labor! This way you have an idea of what fermenting beer tastes like.

 

[DarkUncle]

Sorry to jump in here, haven't started my first brew but will soon. Just so I have this right, when taking gravity readings you need to pop the top off the fermenter I assume. Take the "sanitized" turkey baster and pull some beer in from somewhere near the middle? Should this be emptied into a glass for the gravity test followed by a tasting if one wishes?