Well, that was interesting...

[AAIndigo]

Good to know! Thanks for the help.

This brewing beer stuff is becoming addicting. I'm at work wondering what the ol' boy is doing now...

I visit mine every day. Like a kid in a candy store.

 

[RCBIV]

RCBIV - I hope you used bottled water - the well water in the Iron Works has well... iron in it.

Most electric stoves can't boil 5 gallons of water/wort. yoiu are lucky to get 3 on a burner. I've done 5 gal by using 2 pots - although generally I don't bother.

Sounds like your beer is doing well. The samples will taste different all the way out to well when you finish the last bottle I woudln't worry much about the watery flavor.

The FV will go up as much as 5deg from the heat of the fermentation. So if the house/apt is at 60, you might get 65 at the fermentor, assuming that the fermetor at about the same 'heat level' as the registar. I know in my house my furnace control is on 2nf floor and the 1st is about 10 deg colder.

Oops.

The water tastes great, so I went by the "if it tastes fine, it's fine" adage. Maybe I should have looked into it a little more? (But hey! Maybe iron will be my secret ingredient! ).

The temperature on the fermometer seems to be about 3-5 degrees cooler than what the thermostat says it is. I'm hoping to keep it in the mid- to low-60s to compensate for the temperature changes.

 

[prrriiide]

I've been pitching right on the foam after aeration.... Is that wrong?!?!

It should still work, but a re-hydrated slurry will work better. A starter even better still.

 

[RCBIV]

Closing in on 72 hours in the FV and things look good. It's still bubbling away about once per second. The temperature is ~64*, which is where I'm hoping to keep it.

My only question: I noticed some condensation toward the neck of the carboy. Is this normal?

 

[prrriiide]

Closing in on 72 hours in the FV and things look good. It's still bubbling away about once per second. The temperature is ~64*, which is where I'm hoping to keep it.

My only question: I noticed some condensation toward the neck of the carboy. Is this normal?

If the temp inside the carboy is higher than the ambient temp outside the carboy (and it is) it's unavoidable.

 

[markmc40]

UPDATE: About 43 hours into fermentation, there is a party going on inside my 6.5g carboy. The yeast are dominating my FV. The blow-off tube is bubbling constantly in the StarSan solution as well (although I know that doesn't mean everything).

The only thing is my fermometer dropped to the 60-62* range. I did drop the temperature yesterday in my house because I expected the fermometer temp to be in the 67* range, but it was actually in the 64-65* range. This should make sense why it dropped. I bounced it back up about two degrees, so hopefully the FV will stick in the 63-65* range. I figure that's a good spot for it, right?

You might be a homebrewer if...

You lower the temperature in your house so the yeast are happy.

 

[Aschecte]

You might be a homebrewer if...

You lower the temperature in your house so the yeast are happy.

Now that is a very funny truth !!!! my wife and i have thermostat wars over this exact reason.

 

[RCBIV]

You might be a homebrewer if...

You lower the temperature in your house so the yeast are happy.

Luckily, I'm in a new apartment and the girlfriend hasn't moved in (but soon). So for now I can get away with murder if I want to! Murder being changing the temperature, of course...

... and murdering some beers in my belly.

 

[DWavs]

The blow-off tube is bubbling constantly in the StarSan solution as well (although I know that doesn't mean everything).

Actually, you have it backwards. If you see bubbling, then you are definitely fermenting. But...if you have no activity, that doesn't necessarily mean it is not still fermenting.

 

[RCBIV]

Actually, you have it backwards. If you see bubbling, then you are definitely fermenting. But...if you have no activity, that doesn't necessarily mean it is not still fermenting.

Yes! Thanks for that.

Which makes me wonder: Would it be a good rule of thumb to check the gravity once the bubbling stopped, and then two days later to see if it's stable? I'm still trying to figure out WHEN to test gravity for first time DURING the fermentation.

 

[Stauffbier]

You might be a homebrewer if...

You lower the temperature in your house so the yeast are happy.

Haha Very true! I have an old magnet sign from my business that I put over the vent register in my fermenting room so the heat of the furnace wont go in that room. It works like a champ!

 

[prrriiide]

Yes! Thanks for that.

Which makes me wonder: Would it be a good rule of thumb to check the gravity once the bubbling stopped, and then two days later to see if it's stable? I'm still trying to figure out WHEN to test gravity for first time DURING the fermentation.

I wait a week or so after activity has stopped and check grav. Then I check it again a couple of days later. If they're the same, I check it again the next day. If they're different I wait a couple of more days. When it doesn't change, I know I'm done.

 

[ACbrewer]

Oops.

The water tastes great, so I went by the "if it tastes fine, it's fine" adage. Maybe I should have looked into it a little more? (But hey! Maybe iron will be my secret ingredient! ).

The temperature on the fermometer seems to be about 3-5 degrees cooler than what the thermostat says it is. I'm hoping to keep it in the mid- to low-60s to compensate for the temperature changes.

Well the dead give away for iron in the water is that there will be rust stains in your sinks and such. If there is no rust, then you are probably ok.

I usually let it go 2 weeks and check gravity then, not when the bubbling has stopped.

 

[RCBIV]

Checked the boy yesterday. Approaching 96 hours of fermentation, bubbling had slowed to about one bubble every six seconds. The beer has also lightened up and is sitting right around 64*. Everything seems to be going well at the moment.

The yeast must have gotten a little frisky, though, because the krausen was higher when I checked it yesterday than the entire process before. The krausen had dropped when I saw it, but you could see where it hit its peak on the carboy.

 

[RCBIV]

Another update:

Almost 6 full days of fermentation. I decided to take a gravity reading today, since it's calmed down a bunch.

Reading clocked in .001 shy of the estimated FG. I tasted it, and I finally had that moment so many of you have had: "I made beer!"

It tasted good. Can't wait to put a dry hop on it and see what it tastes like then.

While I have an audience (hopefully), does anyone have a good partial mash IPA recipe?

 

[PoppinCaps]

This is one I've been doing for a while, very tasty. Typical Amarillo/Simcoe combo if you can find them. It meshes well with the spicy rye.

RyePA
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.81 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.72 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.058 SG
Estimated Color: 9.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 39.5 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 72.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
110.00 mg Campden Tab (440mg per tab) add to all H Water Agent 1 -
0.50 tsp Gypsum (CaSO4) Add to all water (Mash 75 Water Agent 2 -

Amt Name Type # %/IBU
2 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 3 21.5 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Rye Malt (4.7 SRM) Grain 4 16.1 %
8.6 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 5 5.8 %
4.0 oz Special B Malt (118.0 SRM) Grain 6 2.7 %

Amt Name Type # %/IBU
0.44 oz Warrior [16.70 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 7 28.5 IBUs

Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5 lbs Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 8 53.8 %
0.22 oz Warrior [16.70 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 9 6.4 IBUs
0.50 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 10 -
0.50 oz Cascade [5.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 11 3.2 IBUs
0.50 oz Cascade [5.00 %] - Boil 2.0 min Hop 12 0.7 IBUs
0.25 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 2.0 min Hop 13 0.6 IBUs

Amt Name Type # %/IBU
1.0 pkg PACMAN (Wyeast Labs #1764-PC) [500.00 ml Yeast 14 -

Amt Name Type # %/IBU
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Day Hop 15 0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Simcoe [12.20 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 16 0.0 IBUs

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 9 lbs 4.6 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 5.58 qt of water at 167.8 F 156.0 F 45 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (2.53gal, 3.40gal) of 168.0 F water

 

[RCBIV]

Today I moved my beer into a secondary so I could dry hop.

The gravity was stable over a three-day span, so I went with it. The auto-siphon caused some problems at first; it certainly wasn't as smooth as it could have been. But I think I'll be OK.

One question: Does temperature matter when dry-hopping in the secondary? Or doing anything in the secondary? I imagine it should be right around the same temp when it was fermenting in the primary?

On a related note, my primary is clean. It needs beer in it. I like this moment.