Very First Batch Questions

[Haputanlas]

Hey Guys,

First time brewing and posting :rockin:

I have a couple of questions before I begin my first batch:

1. I've been doing my research on taking Gravity measurements throughout the brewing process. However, I am a little hazy on the 'HOW' to do this. I was under the impression that if I lift the lid to my fermenter that I will be reintroducing O2 into the process (this being somewhat undesirable). If I shouldn't be opening the lid very often, is it a bad idea to check the Gravity levels every few days or so?

2. The recipe recommendations from my Home Brew Supply suggested that I take the liquid yeast vial out of the fridge for at least 24 hours before I begin the process (In room temperature). My average house temperature is between 70 and 72 degrees F. It's been about 24 hours and there are no visible changes in the yeast (besides separation). Is there something wrong? Or should I go and get another yeast vial?


Thanks in advance, and here's to many future discussions!




Justin

 

[TipsyDragon]

1. CO2 is heavier than O2. if fermentation is going on there will be a protective layer of CO2 covering your brew protecting it. as soon as you reseal the lid the CO2 will start pushing the O2 out the airlock (provided you got a tight seal on the lid). typically people only take a gravity reading before they add yeast and when they think fermentation is over. then a couple days after that to confirm fermentation is over. in your case i would suggest getting a turkey baster and sanitize it inside and out before using it to take a sample. this will result in a minimal amount of disturbance of the CO2 layer.

2. the yeast are fine. just shake and add.

 

[COLObrewer]

What he ^ said, also fermentation may take as long as 3 weeks depending on the brew. and there is usually no need for secondary (anticipating one of your next questions).

You will see no yeast activity in the vial, the reason to take it out is to get it to appx. the same temp as the cooled wort when you pitch it. Most people make a starter with liquid yeast especially if this is a high gravity beer. There is significantly less yeast in liquid vials than in dry yeast packets, however I have been successfull pitching liquid straight to the fermentor, it usually takes a little longer for it to get started, it has to build a few million friends first.

 

[TipsyDragon]

well since we are heading questions off at the pass. don't be alarmed if the airlock doesn't bubble. its normal for airlocks not to bubble when brewing in a bucket. the lid doesn't seal all the way and the CO2 escapes that way instead of the airlock. an airlock is just a pressure release valve not a fermentation indicator. if the airlock gets clogged or pops off just pick it up, clean it out, sanitize it, and put it back on.

 

[Haputanlas]

Thanks for the quick responses. I've been doing nothing but read about this for the last month or so and excited to get started. I appreciate the heads up.

As far as the recipe is concerned, it does have secondary in the process. I have been reading other people's posts about skipping this and just extending the primary until about 3 weeks or so (As you mentioned). However, I think I will just go through the secondary process just for the excersize. If you are highly against it, I am of course all ears.


Thanks again.


Justin

 

[Newbeerguy]

Thanks for the quick responses. I've been doing nothing but read about this for the last month or so and excited to get started. I appreciate the heads up.

As far as the recipe is concerned, it does have secondary in the process. I have been reading other people's posts about skipping this and just extending the primary until about 3 weeks or so (As you mentioned). However, I think I will just go through the secondary process just for the excersize. If you are highly against it, I am of course all ears.


Thanks again.


Justin

I am definatly not against using a secondary. I use it for almost all my batches. Although, since this is your very first brew, you might not want to test the waters yet. It is another step (or chance) for problems to occur. You will still make great beer without using it. I use it just to clarify or dryhop. If you feel comfortable using it, use it!

Oh, as for the yeast, I have found it helpful to slowly and slightly crack the seal (I sanitize the whole outside of the yeast tube) every hour or so. Pressure will build up in the tube and if after shaking the yeast around will spray if your not careful.

Keep us posted!

 

[Haputanlas]

Thanks for the wealth of info guys. I just wanted to give a quick update and would like to ask a few questions:

- While I was trying to boil the wort, I had a hard time getting a strong boil without the lid on the pot. I purchased a 24 qt boil pot since my brewer supply was out of the 20 qt pots (They told me it should have been OK). However, I took a video of this and posted it on Youtube. I was curious if you guys thought that this would affect the beer in any way. Vid:

- Also, my fermentation temp was at 75 Degrees F the first day on accident. It was approximately 70 degrees F when it started. After our heater kicked in, the room went upwards of 75 degrees F and I think it stayed there for the first 24 hours. Here is a vid of the Airlock after 24 hours:

- After about 80 hours of fermentation, the airlock was bouncing about once every 2 or three seconds. I don't know if this process is ending too soon due to the fact that it was at a high temp for too long?

- Also, like an idiot, while the wort was boiling (right as I was pouring in the liquid extract), I was using a spoon to mix and was lifting and pouring wort. I was doing this and causing bubbles to pop up. Right at that moment, I remembered that oxidation can occur at this time and I hope that I didn't mess it up.

At the moment, it's still fermenting and the airlock is bouncing every three seconds or so (84 hours after fermentation). I'm hoping all is well.

Just for more info about the brew:
- Live Oak Hef Clone
- OG was supposed to be 1.053. My OG was between 1.055 and 1.06


Just for fun, here are a few pics from the process:

Steeping

Right after the Liquid Malt Extract was added:

Hops added to Wort:

Cooling the Wort:

Poured into the Fermenter after aeration:

 

[snevey]

Just a tip for you... Loose that floating thermometer. It's only a matter of a couple brews before you break it and have glass and steel shot in your brew kettle. This just happened to me, and after a search of the message board, this is VERY common. I HAD the exact same one you show in the picture and YouTube video. Most homebrew stores have a long metal probe one with a dial on the end and a clip to clip it to your brew kettle. I use this mostly in my boiling and cooling stage. It's not really necessary in your brew kettle, unless you are steeping grains at an exact temp, as if your water is boiling, you'll know.

 

[TipsyDragon]

the degree of boiling isn't all that important just so long as its boiling. your fermentation temperatures where high. fermentation generates its own heat and makes the wart temp higher than room temp. this didn't hurt anything but it may of caused unwanted esters to get into your brew which will change its taste. this may or may not be a bad thing. it sounds like your fermentation is winding down but let it sit for a minimum of 2 weeks before you do anything. since your brew was boiling while you "oxidized" it you didn't hurt your brew. the boiling is driving off oxygen which is why you have to aerate it when your done cooling.

 

[Sedge]

That boil isn't terribly vigorous, but it isn't terrible either.

It is natural for the churning of fermentation to cause a free rise in the temperature of a few degrees. If it really stayed consistent up at 75 for 24 hours then it won't be as big of a deal as you suspect. It will give more esters and ferment out much faster at that temperature. The more important thing is that the temperature didn't flucuate wildly up and down. That would cause the yeast to act erratically and maybe go dormant.

What yeast did you use? They all have different ester profiles.

Don't panic about bubbles in the boil. At the end of the boil all that oxygen is gone anyway. I don't really see any reason to concern yourself with hot side aeration at this stage in the game. If you're really worried about oxidation, the plastic bucket will be the culprit, especially if that is your intended secondary vessel. I've only done a secondary in a bucket once. Once was enough, it was stale and ****ty. Too much oxygen permeation through the walls and in the headspace. However, if you add some more fermentable sugar at the racking to secondary, or rack it while its still fermenting slightly then you would outgas the air in the headspace with CO2 nicely. Still though, if you don't actually need to undergo a secondary fermentation (like adding fruits or other fermentables) I say skip it, and let it sit in primary for longer.

 

[Haputanlas]

I am on the road right now and I'll give you the exact specs when I get back tomorrow. However, I do know that it is a hefeweizen yeast from White Labs.

 

[Haputanlas]

OK, so here are some pics of the transfer from primary to secondary.

I hope I haven't offended too many people by using a secondary for a hefeweizen

 

[Haputanlas]

Sorry about the color and the 90 degree angle.

The hef color actually looks much better than this.

The smell was phenominal and actually tasted very good (For a non-carbonated beer).

The FG ended up being about 1.01 (OG 1.055). This might be a very high ABV for a hef, but everything seems to be OK.

 

[Haputanlas]

This has been in primary for about 10 days. How many days would be suggested for the secondary? 10-20?

 

[jamesnsw]

10 days should be plenty, especially if you still want some yeast in there.

 

[TipsyDragon]

should say in the primary till the gravity stops falling.

 

[Haputanlas]

The gravity has been the same for the last 2 days. That was the same thing that I was thinking.

 

[Haputanlas]

Just bottled the beer and I must say it already tastes great! (without carbonation of course).

I ended up bottling 46. I plan on testing one of the beers after one week just for the tasting experience. I know that it won't be ready until about week 3 or more, but I want to be able to sample at the different stages.

Very Excited


Also, I will be starting my Lagunitas IPA clone this evening. I will post more images at that point.


Does anyone know how to embed Youtube videos within the posts? I have seen others do this before.

Justin

 

[COLObrewer]

Congratulations, now you're hooked.:rockin:
Brew on my friend.

 

[BierSnob]

Just a dumb question. Have you tried to see how much water you can boil on your stove? I noticed in the video that there was a lot of space in the kettle, boil the largest amount of wort that you can. That will improve the quality of the beer and reduce kettle carmelizationton. Brewed my first pale ale last night 2.5 gal boil (3.5 gal kettle) and watched the color go from a lovely gold to a medium tan in 25 min. Should still taste good though. All this is to say make the biggest batch that you can.

 

[TipsyDragon]

Just a dumb question. Have you tried to see how much water you can boil on your stove? I noticed in the video that there was a lot of space in the kettle, boil the largest amount of wort that you can. That will improve the quality of the beer and reduce kettle carmelizationton. Brewed my first pale ale last night 2.5 gal boil (3.5 gal kettle) and watched the color go from a lovely gold to a medium tan in 25 min. Should still taste good though. All this is to say make the biggest batch that you can.

you cant caramelize the sugars in a wort. caramelization can only happen at high heat with low moisture. the darkening is cause by mailard reactions similar to what happens in baking bread. this darkening can be countered to a certain extent by late extract addition.

 

[Haputanlas]

Just a dumb question. Have you tried to see how much water you can boil on your stove? I noticed in the video that there was a lot of space in the kettle, boil the largest amount of wort that you can. That will improve the quality of the beer and reduce kettle carmelizationton. Brewed my first pale ale last night 2.5 gal boil (3.5 gal kettle) and watched the color go from a lovely gold to a medium tan in 25 min. Should still taste good though. All this is to say make the biggest batch that you can.

Thanks for the tip. The problem is, that I think I am at my max for the space that is available. I just brewed another batch last night and at 2.5 gallons, I can barely get a boil at all (as the video suggests).

I am thinking about getting a propane burner specifically for brewing. When I can get a much better boil than this, I might try to up my boil (If everyone else suggests this too).

 

[KevinW]

Thanks for the tip. The problem is, that I think I am at my max for the space that is available. I just brewed another batch last night and at 2.5 gallons, I can barely get a boil at all (as the video suggests).

I am thinking about getting a propane burner specifically for brewing. When I can get a much better boil than this, I might try to up my boil (If everyone else suggests this too).

Can't go wrong with the propane burner. Just used mine for the 1st time(Bayou Classic SQ-14) it worked great! No smelly house!!!
I got mine for $50 but that is a fair amount to spend and if your beer tastes good just using the stovetop, keep using it in my opinion!
If your stove is electric, maybe your burner is going out?

If you like the beer you brew then you are doing a good job, if everyone likes the beer you brew then you are doing even better!!

Keep on brewing!!

 

[Haputanlas]

Sampled my Hef after a week of bottling (just for education). I can tell it still needs quite some more time, but I plan on testing one every week until I think it's ready. The smell is fantastic, but the flavor is of course undercarbonated. I can kind of tell that I would have preferred more body from the beer, but I am definitely optimistic that this will be some good beer when it's done.


I've got my second batch in the primary (for a week) and I will be moving on to Mini-Mash for the third batch. I will probably be using Stone's recipe for their Ruination clone (From Brew Your Own Beer Mag).

 

[KevinW]

Sampled my Hef after a week of bottling (just for education). I can tell it still needs quite some more time, but I plan on testing one every week until I think it's ready. The smell is fantastic, but the flavor is of course undercarbonated. I can kind of tell that I would have preferred more body from the beer, but I am definitely optimistic that this will be some good beer when it's done.


I've got my second batch in the primary (for a week) and I will be moving on to Mini-Mash for the third batch. I will probably be using Stone's recipe for their Ruination clone (From Brew Your Own Beer Mag).

Congrats on your first successful brew of which you will probably have many!
Give it time in the bottle, 3 weeks easy and you will be impressed!
Keep reading and asking questions and by all means, keep brewing!

 

[Haputanlas]

It's week two and the beer tastes so much better than I expected it to by now. I actually can't even tell that it needs more time.

There is a stronger hint of Bananas than there probably should be, however I kind of like the flavor in a hef. I believe this is because we had a day or two of fermenting at about 75-78 degrees.

Either way, the beer ended up much better than I could have hoped for. Thank you everyone for you support and help.

I couldn't be more jazzed about continuing this hobby now. I've now got a bunch of beer that I've made and really like.

I am going to make the jump to AG instead of mini-mash for this next brew using Death Brewer's technique.