If you look at how long I've been lurking (and posting) here, you will probably wonder why this is my first brew. I've actually helped a friend with a couple of all grain brews, but I wanted to do it my way so I started accumulating equipment several years ago. Why it took so long - just busy and a little bit of a procrastinator. Bottom line - I had a blast and am already thinking I may do another batch next weekend.
I'm brewing an Imperial Red Ale. Hopefully I didn't bite off more than I can chew. LHBS said it was no harder than a lower gravity beer, but it was more expensive if I screw it up. It was an extract beer (9 lbs) plus 4 lbs of specialty grains.
I know even with a couple of screw ups that it will still be beer, but I do have two concerns.
First, I used pellet hops. Was I supposed to bag them? Cause I just threw them into the boil. One ounce at the beginning of the boil, one ounce after 45 mins, and one ounce at flame out. Most of this ended up in the fermentor after transfer.
Next, when topping off to get to five gallons, the markings on my Better Bottle were very faint. I'm thinking I may have added around 1/2 gallon too much water, because OG was supposed to be 1080, but was actually 1072. I have the 6 gallon BB carboy, and the beer line is 6 1/2 inches below the top of the bottle. I'm assuming the only effect will be a beer with lower alcohol level.
Now as to fermentation, I'm pretty pleased. I noticed the first airlock activity just 7 hours after pitching. There was a bubble about every 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. That was at 11:30 last night. I woke up this morning to significantly more bubbles and about one inch of creamy krausen. By 1:30 this afternoon I had two inches of krausen and the bubbles were coming about 22 per minute. By 8:45 PM there was three inches and 34 bubbles per minute.
So next question. Since I've never observed fermentation (previous brews were at my friends house about an hour away) Can I assume this krausen will continue to grow and fill the entire head space of the carboy? Should I hook up a blow off tube before I go to bed tonight?
Final question. Since I transferred all that hop residue to the fermentor, would that prevent me from harvesting the yeast to re-use it? Yeast was WLP001 which I will probably brew with a lot since west coast hoppy ales are my favorite style. Hops used were Columbus, Centennial and Cascade, again hops that lend themselves well to the styles I enjoy.
Thanks in advance for your help!
I'm brewing an Imperial Red Ale. Hopefully I didn't bite off more than I can chew. LHBS said it was no harder than a lower gravity beer, but it was more expensive if I screw it up. It was an extract beer (9 lbs) plus 4 lbs of specialty grains.
I know even with a couple of screw ups that it will still be beer, but I do have two concerns.
First, I used pellet hops. Was I supposed to bag them? Cause I just threw them into the boil. One ounce at the beginning of the boil, one ounce after 45 mins, and one ounce at flame out. Most of this ended up in the fermentor after transfer.
Next, when topping off to get to five gallons, the markings on my Better Bottle were very faint. I'm thinking I may have added around 1/2 gallon too much water, because OG was supposed to be 1080, but was actually 1072. I have the 6 gallon BB carboy, and the beer line is 6 1/2 inches below the top of the bottle. I'm assuming the only effect will be a beer with lower alcohol level.
Now as to fermentation, I'm pretty pleased. I noticed the first airlock activity just 7 hours after pitching. There was a bubble about every 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. That was at 11:30 last night. I woke up this morning to significantly more bubbles and about one inch of creamy krausen. By 1:30 this afternoon I had two inches of krausen and the bubbles were coming about 22 per minute. By 8:45 PM there was three inches and 34 bubbles per minute.
So next question. Since I've never observed fermentation (previous brews were at my friends house about an hour away) Can I assume this krausen will continue to grow and fill the entire head space of the carboy? Should I hook up a blow off tube before I go to bed tonight?
Final question. Since I transferred all that hop residue to the fermentor, would that prevent me from harvesting the yeast to re-use it? Yeast was WLP001 which I will probably brew with a lot since west coast hoppy ales are my favorite style. Hops used were Columbus, Centennial and Cascade, again hops that lend themselves well to the styles I enjoy.
Thanks in advance for your help!