Welcome Beginning Brewers!

[kh54s10]

Wait.... You don't do stupid stuff anymore? What's your secret?
I've been brewing for about 17 years..
I bottled 3 batches last weekend... But for some reason I only carbed 2 of them.

I try to pay attention so my stupid stuff results in minimal problems. I have started a transfer to the bottling bucket, and realized that I had no priming sugar ready. Thankfully I thought of this right at the beginning. The biggest problems lately was somehow stopping my timer. Then trying to estimate how much time had elapsed. The beer was good.

 

[Metalchef1]

I try to pay attention so my stupid stuff results in minimal problems. I have started a transfer to the bottling bucket, and realized that I had no priming sugar ready. Thankfully I thought of this right at the beginning. The biggest problems lately was somehow stopping my timer. Then trying to estimate how much time had elapsed. The beer was good.

I think I need to drink less while playing in the lab... My years of brewing has made me more cocky than I should be...

 

[JohnSand]

I make sure to ruin at least one batch a year to remain humble.
That's the reason, really.

 

[MAW74]

I'm a noob here, and I look forward to learning great tips from the "Masters." LOL. I just got into brewing, and so I'm still learning the basic techniques.

 

[Dland]

Probably will never be a master brewer, but as OK homebrewer:^^^My advice is to brew a simple ale for your first batches. Try out making some basic beer before you try to make some flavored concoction.

Kits might be a good way to start, if I recall I did a couple of plastic pale extract kits before I started all grain. Never will get the depth of flavor out of extract, but a good way to learn basic process one step at a time.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

Probably will never be a master brewer, but as OK homebrewer:^^^My advice is to brew a simple ale for your first batches. Try out making some basic beer before you try to make some flavored concoction.

Kits might be a good way to start, if I recall I did a couple of plastic pale extract kits before I started all grain. Never will get the depth of flavor out of extract, but a good way to learn basic process one step at a time.

I think people are biased against extract because all grain is sexier. I definitely like to do all grain because this is a hobby for me and mashing seems kind of magical and fun, but there are plenty of gold medal extract beers the defy the idea that extract can’t cut the mustard.

 

[Dland]

I think people are biased against extract because all grain is sexier. I definitely like to do all grain because this is a hobby for me and mashing seems kind of magical and fun, but there are plenty of gold medal extract beers the defy the idea that extract can’t cut the mustard.

I switched to all grain because I could not attain flavor or attenuation I wanted with extracts, no sexiness involved with decision. If someone can make the brew they want with extracts, power to them, it is a lot easier.

 

[balrog]

I'm only 5 years in, 113 batches, and learning to make exciting new fantastic catastrophic blunders all the time.

I second the notion of making simple brews first, amber ales to hide any irregularities in process. Only then can you get that confident stride going wherein you learn to bottle a whole batch without priming sugar, or set up a ferm chamber and forget to plug in the cooling side, or keg something so early that you make a giant krausen ceiling ******* painting.

 

[Metalchef1]

I'm only 5 years in, 113 batches, and learning to make exciting new fantastic catastrophic blunders all the time.

I second the notion of making simple brews first, amber ales to hide any irregularities in process. Only then can you get that confident stride going wherein you learn to bottle a whole batch without priming sugar, or set up a ferm chamber and forget to plug in the cooling side, or keg something so early that you make a giant krausen ceiling ******* painting.

I've never had a batch explode before until 2 weeks ago.
Put a stout in my ferm chamber... Nothing out of the ordinary except the only carboy I had was 6 gallon... The airlock was just touching the inside of the lid.
2 days go by and everything is fine and I used extra fermcap just to be safe...
Well day 3 the krausen plugged the airlock, which couldn't blow off because of the lid of the freezer..
I didn't hear bubbling and went to open the freezer lid.... 3 of my 5 gallons came erupting out like nothing I have ever seen before.
Fun times.

 

[JohnSand]

I'm a noob here, and I look forward to learning great tips from the "Masters." LOL. I just got into brewing, and so I'm still learning the basic techniques.

Welcome aboard! Study and practice will yield great beer. Keep us posted.

 

[imnotcassie]

New here.
Popped open the first bottles from my first brew. Turned out better than expexted.

Cassandra

 

[ncbrewer]

New here.
Popped open the first bottles from my first brew. Turned out better than expexted.

CassandraView attachment 602515

That's a great looking beer. Congrats.

 

[kh54s10]

New here.
Popped open the first bottles from my first brew. Turned out better than expexted.

CassandraView attachment 602515

Sampled a few before posting???

 

[imnotcassie]

Sampled a few before posting???

Of course. [emoji6]

 

[JohnSand]

Nice looking beer!

 

[imnotcassie]

Thanks for the boost of confidence.
One thing I have noticed ... lack of consistency between bottles. For the most part they have been close in carbonation, clarity, and flavor but today I popped open my first cloudy bottle. I'm hoping this improves was I get more practice in.

 

[JohnSand]

Study and practice will produce great beer, and the voyage is interesting.

 

[ncbrewer]

Study and practice will produce great beer, and the voyage is interesting.

and never-ending.

 

[Clarky259]

Hey guys just a quick question I’m brewing a dry lager at the moment it’s just about finished furmenting and it has green floaties in it any clue to why and will it be okay if I put the a sift?

 

[kh54s10]

Hey guys just a quick question I’m brewing a dry lager at the moment it’s just about finished furmenting and it has green floaties in it any clue to why and will it be okay if I put the a sift?

Hops? Without further information we will have no clue whether it will be okay. And what is a sift?

 

[NGD]

Hops? Without further information we will have no clue whether it will be okay. And what is a sift?

I believe he means a sifter. If thats the case I would pass on the sifter and try either cold crashing or giving the beer more time in the fermenter. Many of those particles will fall out of suspension if given time and cool temps.

Also look up adding gelatin or “gelatin fining”. That stuff works quite well in most cases.

 

[Metalchef1]

Agreed that it probably hop debris (hopefully).
And I've used tons of fining agents over the years and usually use more than one for each batch.... I'm finding my favorite to be sparkolloid.
I have having some issues with my normal fining of a batch of skeeter pee and the sparkolloid really did the job in short order.

I definitely also agree about NOT straining it.... Bad time to be adding tons of oxygen.

 

[mas140]

Hey everyone, I'm new to this homebrew business but love it and love craft beer. Right now I've got a one gallon batch of an IPA I've made with a Mr. Beer kit, and I've got a five gallon batch of a double IPA. The kit is mostly a Midwest Supplies kit (two five gallon buckets, one w/ spigot), but I say mostly because I've gone out and purchased a five gallon carboy for second stage fermentation. I bought a brewers best ingredient kit for the five gallon double IPA batch. I've answered a lot of my own questions via google searches, but I'll still ask a couple on here: My one gallon batch was seemingly showing lots of fermentation the first day or so (lots of "foam" building up at the top of the "beer"), but it has since lost almost any sign of that foam. It that normal? It calls for fourteen days to ferment, the add a packet of hop pellets for dry hopping, then let it ferment for another x amount of days. I say x amount of days because I'm too glued to my couch to go see the instructions, but I know there's several more days at least of fermenting after adding the hop pellets. Another question is what is really gained by taking my beer out of my primary fermenter (five gallon bucket) and putting into into a secondary fermenter (carboy) and letting it continue to ferment in that carboy versus just having left it in the bucket? I was able to filter out some sediment, but there was no dry hopping element or anything so I wasn't sure what good it even does. I'm not doubting it does do some good, I just don't know what good that is. Lastly, this double IPA batch doesn't require nearly as long to ferment (if you chose not to do the secondary fermentation option that the directions mentioned, but didn't require) as the small batch IPA that I am brewing. Why is that?

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Congrats, and welcome.

 

[JohnSand]

Welcome Mas140. You don't have to transfer to secondary, it's okay to dry hop in primary.
Three weeks is not too long to ferment. I use it as a general guideline. Keep studying and practicing, it will all become clear, including the beer. Have fun, keep us posted.

 

[kh54s10]

I too would skip the secondary and dry hop in the primary. Your fermentation could finish as quickly as 3 day or take 7-10 days. I would dry hop at day 10 and let that go for 5-7 days. Be as careful as possible not to introduce any oxygen to your IPA. IPAs and other hoppy beers oxidize easily.

The differences that you are seeing in the instructions is just because there are no "right" timelines. A little difference doesn't really affect the beer. As you progress and learn you will develop your own procedure that may or may not conform to any instructions.

 

[ncbrewer]

Lastly, this double IPA batch doesn't require nearly as long to ferment (if you chose not to do the secondary fermentation option that the directions mentioned, but didn't require) as the small batch IPA that I am brewing. Why is that?

There might be a misunderstanding. I imagine the intent was to give the option of skipping secondary, but leave it in the primary for that additional time. As stated above, the fermentation time isn't set in stone anyway. The last few days are for letting the yeast eat the very last of the fermentables (probably one or two gravity points) and clean up off flavors. And if you bottle, it's to make sure it's finished. Continued fermentation of residual sugar (in addition to the priming sugar) could cause bottle bombs. Lots of bottlers check gravity 2 - 3 days before bottling and again on bottling day to make sure gravity is stable.

 

[mas140]

Thanks for all the feedback so far guys.

 

[505beakbrewing]

Just brewed my first beer this past weekend, Hazy IPA, and it's fermenting right now. I was unreasonably excited when I noticed the CO2 bubbles in the Econo-Lock! I had a more experienced homebrew friend come over afterwards and we went through my recipe and he was surprised the only time I added hops was at flame-out and now plan to do a dry hop at 7-day at time of secondary fermentation. Anyone have thoughts on difference of adding hops during the boil v. flame-out/dry-hop?

 

[Yooper]

Just brewed my first beer this past weekend, Hazy IPA, and it's fermenting right now. I was unreasonably excited when I noticed the CO2 bubbles in the Econo-Lock! I had a more experienced homebrew friend come over afterwards and we went through my recipe and he was surprised the only time I added hops was at flame-out and now plan to do a dry hop at 7-day at time of secondary fermentation. Anyone have thoughts on difference of adding hops during the boil v. flame-out/dry-hop?

That is unusual- but many recipes do have flame out hops and you do get some bitterness from them (but not alot). If you let us know the actual recipe (like did you have pre-hopped extract, or how many ounces of hops you added at flameout), we can give you more advice.