BrewingPrepper
Well-Known Member
Hey everyone I thought I would post a detailed story about my first brew. :rockin:
I drink alot of IPA because its got a high alcohol content for the beer available at the local stores. So I decided to brew an IPA for my first brew. I debated on buying my kit online but instead I went to a local brew store. Idk if that was the wisest choice but such is life. I picked up there starter kit and after an extremely long tutorial I headed home. The next morning me and my girl got started.
My kit ingredients list for 7.3% 100 IBU IPA
2 3.3 lb cans Briess golden light LME
1 3.3 lb Cans Muntons light LME
1.25 lb of specialty grains
1 oz of warrior
1 oz Columbus
1 oz of Cascade
1 oz of Galaxy
2 packs of Safale yeast
We steeped our grains for 40 mins trying to maintain temps between 145 and 160 in distilled water. I noticed temps got kind of high for few mins but we were able to bring them down within a few mins. I hope alot of tannins were not released as a result. We then stirred in 9.9 lbs of extract and added 3 gal of distilled water. We then brought to a boil and made sure to not allow a boilover. After the hot break we started the 60 min timer and added our warrior hops. 40 mins later we added the columbus . After we turned off the heat we added our cascade and galaxy hopsand let steep for 20 mins. We then put in ice bath and got temps down to 65 degrees pretty quickly. We had put 2 gal in freezer to add to wort once boil was over. This brought temps down quickly. OG was 1.072 maybe a little higher but foam made it hard to get exact reading. We siphoned wort to fermenter using spray wort aerator and added 2 packets of yeast sprinkled evenly. I think next time I prolly wont use the aerator but use strainer and dump back and forth a few times. Began to see fermentation in approximately 6 hours. As fermentation continued temps went to a max of 70 degrees even though ambient was a few degrees lower. The sweet smell is incredible. After approximately 4 days bubbles stopped in the airlock and temps have hovered between 68-66 degrees. We are going on our 10th day fermenting and will try to wait a full 3 weeks until bottling. However as time goes on I want to bottle more at 2 weeks...Im getting excited:fro:. Until then we have been emptying bottles to be able to fill with our sweet nectar. As bottling day approaches i will update you guys on how the process is going. So far I have resisted the urge to look in the fermenter to check on the process. I dont wanna contaminate the brew.
Please feel free to comment on anything I may have done differently. I look forward to hearing from you guys!
I drink alot of IPA because its got a high alcohol content for the beer available at the local stores. So I decided to brew an IPA for my first brew. I debated on buying my kit online but instead I went to a local brew store. Idk if that was the wisest choice but such is life. I picked up there starter kit and after an extremely long tutorial I headed home. The next morning me and my girl got started.
My kit ingredients list for 7.3% 100 IBU IPA
2 3.3 lb cans Briess golden light LME
1 3.3 lb Cans Muntons light LME
1.25 lb of specialty grains
1 oz of warrior
1 oz Columbus
1 oz of Cascade
1 oz of Galaxy
2 packs of Safale yeast
We steeped our grains for 40 mins trying to maintain temps between 145 and 160 in distilled water. I noticed temps got kind of high for few mins but we were able to bring them down within a few mins. I hope alot of tannins were not released as a result. We then stirred in 9.9 lbs of extract and added 3 gal of distilled water. We then brought to a boil and made sure to not allow a boilover. After the hot break we started the 60 min timer and added our warrior hops. 40 mins later we added the columbus . After we turned off the heat we added our cascade and galaxy hopsand let steep for 20 mins. We then put in ice bath and got temps down to 65 degrees pretty quickly. We had put 2 gal in freezer to add to wort once boil was over. This brought temps down quickly. OG was 1.072 maybe a little higher but foam made it hard to get exact reading. We siphoned wort to fermenter using spray wort aerator and added 2 packets of yeast sprinkled evenly. I think next time I prolly wont use the aerator but use strainer and dump back and forth a few times. Began to see fermentation in approximately 6 hours. As fermentation continued temps went to a max of 70 degrees even though ambient was a few degrees lower. The sweet smell is incredible. After approximately 4 days bubbles stopped in the airlock and temps have hovered between 68-66 degrees. We are going on our 10th day fermenting and will try to wait a full 3 weeks until bottling. However as time goes on I want to bottle more at 2 weeks...Im getting excited:fro:. Until then we have been emptying bottles to be able to fill with our sweet nectar. As bottling day approaches i will update you guys on how the process is going. So far I have resisted the urge to look in the fermenter to check on the process. I dont wanna contaminate the brew.
Please feel free to comment on anything I may have done differently. I look forward to hearing from you guys!
