First brew, need some advice.

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UAShane

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Can anyone provide assistance on how to brew this? This is my first brew, I have an electric masher. How much water do I put in at first? How much time and what temperature do I mash at? When do I add the hops and what amounts? Anything to help as I don't want to mess this one up.
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UAShane said:
How much water do I put in at first? How much time and what temperature do I mash at?
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See "MASH Steps" at the bottom of your attachment. They tell you the volume of water at the temperature for the duration...just follow those directions for the mashing.

UAShane said:
When do I add the hops and what amounts? Anything to help as I don't want to mess this one up.
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"Boil time" is referring to the boil time from start of boil to flame out. Your hop additions are well described, but as a start the first hop addition is listed as "Centennial, 10%, Boil 55, 0min" meaning that you would add that quantity of hops for 5min of boil. You have a 60min boil, so 5min into that 60min you will add that first line of hops. Do the math for the others and you'll notice that after 55min you will add your last hop addition "Cascase, 5.5%, 5, 0min." It tells you the amount in grams off to the side (3.98g).

UAShane said:
Anything to help as I don't want to mess this one up.
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Read, re-read the directions and follow them...ask more clarifying questions before starting. Fortunately, all of your questions are answered by your attachment ; )
 
TwistedGray said:
See "MASH Steps" at the bottom of your attachment. They tell you the volume of water at the temperature for the duration...just follow those directions for the mashing.



"Boil time" is referring to the boil time from start of boil to flame out. Your hop additions are well described, but as a start the first hop addition is listed as "Centennial, 10%, Boil 55, 0min" meaning that you would add that quantity of hops for 5min of boil. You have a 60min boil, so 5min into that 60min you will add that first line of hops. Do the math for the others and you'll notice that after 55min you will add your last hop addition "Cascase, 5.5%, 5, 0min." It tells you the amount in grams off to the side (3.98g).



Read, re-read the directions and follow them...ask more clarifying questions before starting. Fortunately, all of your questions are answered by your attachment ; )
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Thank you for the clarification. As for the Boil Size, would I start out with adding 15.42L of water? The Mash in confuses me as it states to add 6.47L of water. I'm only wanting to brew 10L.
 
Per the instructions, you would start at 6.57L of water. Once mashed in, remove grain, and bring water volume to "Boil Size." The instruction imply that after that 60min boil, you will have 13.37L of wort remaining. From that 13.37L of wort you will end up with 10.49L of beer that you can bottle. The rest is trub, yeast cake, and other non-bottle-ables.

Note - until you know your system you will not know for certain what your boil off rate is. Therefore, if I were you I would use 6.57L of water, add enough water to bring it to 10L, boil for the 60min with hop additions, chill the wort, add to your fermenter, and top off until you get back to 10L of water. Alternatively you can extend your boil to get the volume of water you will need; however, if you do that you then have the issue that your boil time for your hops will not be accurate.
 
TwistedGray said:
Per the instructions, you would start at 6.57L of water. Once mashed in, remove grain, and bring water volume to "Boil Size." The instruction imply that after that 60min boil, you will have 13.37L of wort remaining. From that 13.37L of wort you will end up with 10.49L of beer that you can bottle. The rest is trub, yeast cake, and other non-bottle-ables.

Note - until you know your system you will not know for certain what your boil off rate is. Therefore, if I were you I would use 6.57L of water, add enough water to bring it to 10L, boil for the 60min with hop additions, chill the wort, add to your fermenter, and top off until you get back to 10L of water. Alternatively you can extend your boil to get the volume of water you will need; however, if you do that you then have the issue that your boil time for your hops will not be accurate.
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Ok I understand it now, I was not familiar with the Sparge water term, but now I understand where the water gets added back into the wort when you wash off the grains. I think I am set for this now. Thanks
 
UAShane said:
Ok I understand it now, I was not familiar with the Sparge water term, but now I understand where the water gets added back into the wort when you wash off the grains. I think I am set for this now. Thanks
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Perhaps the first step before you brew any of this is to read a bit more into how to brew. There are many, many resources out there. It helps to understand the terminology before you go down the path of a new hobby. Just throwing that out there : )

ps - I don't know all the terminology either, far from it.
 
As a first beer that's a pretty bold way to jump into the hobby, kudos for that. I'd recommend starting with something that leaves less room for error, since fruit additions or additions to secondary/primary (in this case gelatin) can be tricky and involve a few more extra steps that aren't laid out in the instructions you posted, especially if you want to avoid infection. On the other hand, the learning process for I think almost everyone is a long series of trial and error, especially starting out, so go for it! There's already good advice in this thread that I don't think needs to be expanded on, other than to find a source online on the basics (mashing, sparging, boiling/hop additions, yeast addition, bottling/kegging) and to read up a bit more.

Let us know how your beer turns out!
 
dttk0009 said:
As a first beer that's a pretty bold way to jump into the hobby, kudos for that. I'd recommend starting with something that leaves less room for error, since fruit additions or additions to secondary/primary (in this case gelatin) can be tricky and involve a few more extra steps that aren't laid out in the instructions you posted, especially if you want to avoid infection. On the other hand, the learning process for I think almost everyone is a long series of trial and error, especially starting out, so go for it! There's already good advice in this thread that I don't think needs to be expanded on, other than to find a source online on the basics (mashing, sparging, boiling/hop additions, yeast addition, bottling/kegging) and to read up a bit more.

Let us know how your beer turns out!
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I've now read up quite a bit on this. As I understand, I will bring 6.47L of water to the temp of 73.8C. Add the grains and that will bring the temp down to 65.6C. I will mash for 60 minutes at 65.6C. The batch sparge from what I understand, I have an electric masher "Klarstein Brauheld 15L Mash Kettle" so I would let the wort drain from the grain, remove the wort from the mash kettle, set the grain back inside the kettle and add the 12.38L sparge water to the grain at 75.6 C and let it sit for about 60 minutes. Is that correct? Once that is complete, I will remove the grain, add the wort back to the mash kettle and bring to a boil. Add the hops, boil for the given time. Cool down wort to 22C. Add the 2L of yeast/water mix. Transfer to a Fermentor. Let that sit for 16 days, add the raspberries and let that sit for 7 days. Bottle the beer and let that sit in the fridge for 7 days. Is it recommended to add priming sugar for this?
 
UAShane said:
I've now read up quite a bit on this. As I understand, I will bring 6.47L of water to the temp of 73.8C. Add the grains and that will bring the temp down to 65.6C. I will mash for 60 minutes at 65.6C. The batch sparge from what I understand, I have an electric masher "Klarstein Brauheld 15L Mash Kettle" so I would let the wort drain from the grain, remove the wort from the mash kettle, set the grain back inside the kettle and add the 12.38L sparge water to the grain at 75.6 C and let it sit for about 60 minutes. Is that correct? Once that is complete, I will remove the grain, add the wort back to the mash kettle and bring to a boil. Add the hops, boil for the given time. Cool down wort to 22C. Add the 2L of yeast/water mix. Transfer to a Fermentor. Let that sit for 16 days, add the raspberries and let that sit for 7 days. Bottle the beer and let that sit in the fridge for 7 days. Is it recommended to add priming sugar for this?
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Almost. The grain will go into the internal container (grain basket). When the mash time is complete, turn off the pump. Lift the basket and let it drain. There should be an internal ring to set it over the main unit. When it's mostly drained, add the 12,38L sparge water to the top of the grain basket while it is still raised out of the kettle. Once the sparge water has drained. Proceed to boiling. Add hops at time in recipe. Chill. Transfer to fermentor. Pitch (add) yeast. Ferment and continue with the recipe.

If you want carbonation, then yes priming sugar is usually added. If the beer has been kept at the constant 20C (68F) in the recipe and you're using 0.5L bottles then each bottle will get 2.3g (0.5 tsp) cane sugar. If you have carb drops or tabs, you can follow the package direction from those. If you're using a different bottle size, or the temp is different then you can use an online calculator to assist. After you add the priming sugar, leave the bottles at room temp for 1-2 weeks. It'll take some time for the yeast to produce the carbonations. The recipe calls for kegging and likely was force carbonated from a co2 tank.

These calculators are commonly recommended.
https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/
https://www.northernbrewer.com/pages/priming-sugar-calculator
http://www.brewunited.com/priming_sugar_calculator.php
 
UAShane said:
Transfer to a Fermentor. Let that sit for 16 days, add the raspberries and let that sit for 7 days. Bottle the beer and let that sit in the fridge for 7 days. Is it recommended to add priming sugar for this?
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Two comments here...

The first fermentation should be completed within those first 16 days; however, the secondary fermentation with fruit additions MAY NOT be completed in an additional 7 days. In fact, I would just as well leave that for 21 days. I have noticed with fruit additions, longer is better when it comes to completed fermentation and bottling.

Second comment - I find it remarkably easier to bottle prime and not batch prime. For this, add a measured 0.5tsp (1/2tsp) of regular cane sugar to a 12 oz bottle, fill with bill (leave about 1inch of headspace), and cap. Adjust to bottle...
 
TwistedGray said:
Two comments here...

The first fermentation should be completed within those first 16 days; however, the secondary fermentation with fruit additions MAY NOT be completed in an additional 7 days. In fact, I would just as well leave that for 21 days. I have noticed with fruit additions, longer is better when it comes to completed fermentation and bottling.

Second comment - I find it remarkably easier to bottle prime and not batch prime. For this, add a measured 0.5tsp (1/2tsp) of regular cane sugar to a 12 oz bottle, fill with bill (leave about 1inch of headspace), and cap. Adjust to bottle...
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Is it necessary to have a yeast starter? I don't have any malt extract and would like to get this brewing tomorrow. Could I just add the yeast to the Wort along with 2 extra liters of water?
 
There are two reasons to do a yeast starter. First it to verify that the yeast are still alive. If the starter makes more yeast you know you aren't pitching dead yeast. The second reason is to ensure a quicker start to the fermentation. It's nearly impossible to keep all bacteria and wild yeasts out of the fementer and by making a starter to pitch you are adding so much yeast that they will quickly produce conditions that restrict the growth of the undesirable micro organisms.

With that in mind, your fermenter should be clean and have been sanitized just before adding the wort so there won't be many micro organism cells present. When you add the wort and aerate it by pouring from a height or stirring vigorously you create conditions for the propagation of the yeast. This will quickly build up the population and stop the propagation of any other organisms. I would pitch the yeast you have for this batch, knowing that the fermentation will not start as quickly and that you have the possibility of less than ideal flavors from other organisms. That will get you good (maybe not quite the best) beer quickly and you can then plan ahead to be ready to make a starter (or maybe not) for the next batch. There are many more factors that can create beer that is not the best so I wouldn't stress too much on the lack of a starter.
 
UAShane said:
Is it necessary to have a yeast starter? I don't have any malt extract and would like to get this brewing tomorrow. Could I just add the yeast to the Wort along with 2 extra liters of water?
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No, that isn't what a yeast starter is. In your case you should just pitch the yeast as is. You'd be underpitching (meaning that you'd be introducing a suboptimal amount of yeast cells relative to your beer's gravity), but the worst that will come of it is that your yeast will be stressed and you'll end up with a few off flavors and/or poor attenuation (amount of sugars that the yeasties eat up in your wort). I'd say try not to focus on that yet for this brew especially since brew day is coming up, instead go through the process, get to know it, experience the steps and the issues you can run into (mash too hot, forgot to heat up sparge water, didn't take yeast out of fridge, forgot to sanitize fermentation vessel, etc.) so that you're just more familiar with brewing in general. A lot of the discussion here is, while vital for an optimal brew process, the nitty gritty. As mentioned, there's a lot of extra mini steps involved that aren't laid out in your instructions. You'd need extra equipment for a yeast starter, for example.

So in short:

1) Go through your brew day, have fun, follow the recipe and advice here best as you can. Remember to have a beer. If something goes wrong, don't sweat it.
2) While your beer's fermenting, read up on brewing, think about your next batch, I'd recommend shooting for a smash beer (single malt single hop), use your experience from your previous brew day to improve on the next. People find ways to improve their brewing game years into the hobby, it really is a very long learning process.
 
z-bob said:
Yes, but you can't ignore the 2 liters. (I suppose you could...) He'll need 2 more liters of water somewhere.

BTW, the recipe seems overly precise. Aim small, miss small, I guess :)
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Right, but the 2L he is referring to is water that is meant for the starter. We don't want him pouring the yeast into the water and then the water into the fermenter unless he's rehydrating the yeast at the appropriate temp/time.

Honestly, I wouldn't even bother with that at this point. I used to rehydrate; however, I didn't see much of a difference in the end product.
 
Does that say a half a packet of 1056? Use the whole packet, activate it a half a day before pitching (pop the little nutrient pack without opening, shake, and sit it on the counter and watch it slowly swell up) and you'll be fine. Or use a package of US-05 dry yeast if you have it because it's about the same thing.
 
z-bob said:
Does that say a half a packet of 1056? Use the whole packet, activate it a half a day before pitching (pop the little nutrient pack without opening, shake, and sit it on the counter and watch it slowly swell up) and you'll be fine. Or use a package of US-05 dry yeast if you have it because it's about the same thing.
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So I brewed last night. Learned a few things but I think it turned out ok for my first attempt. First thing, I should always be watching the mash kettle when boiling. I turned away for half a second and had an over boil, but caught it just in time. Second, I need to invest in a wort cooler, the sink took longer than expected but still got the job done. Third, I will be buying a glass fermenter next time as the plastic one I have doesnt allow me to watch the yeast working.

One concern I had is how dark the wort came out. Considering it is a blonde ale, it seemed a bit too dark. Not sure where the mistake was on that part.
 
UAShane said:
So I brewed last night. Learned a few things but I think it turned out ok for my first attempt. First thing, I should always be watching the mash kettle when boiling. I turned away for half a second and had an over boil, but caught it just in time. Second, I need to invest in a wort cooler, the sink took longer than expected but still got the job done. Third, I will be buying a glass fermenter next time as the plastic one I have doesnt allow me to watch the yeast working.

One concern I had is how dark the wort came out. Considering it is a blonde ale, it seemed a bit too dark. Not sure where the mistake was on that part.
Click to expand...

Wort chillers are nice but just chilling the beer from the boil to less than 170F is the most critical for the time aspect as any later addition hops will continue to add bitterness and the volatile oils that give flavors will boil off during that time. My wort can chill to less than 170 pretty quickly with setting the kettle into a tub of water. I then change out the water so it cools faster again.

If you really *need* to see the fermentation, take a pint glass jar and fill it 3/4 of the way up with wort. Add just a little yeast and put a lid on, loosely. The rest of your beer will do fine in a bucket and it will be safer than a glass carboy and cheaper than a clear plastic fermenter.

Roasted barley is pretty potent in making beer dark. I'd say it doesn't even belong in a blonde ale but even a slightly higher amount will really darken a beer. I'd leave it out if you do this beer again.
 
RM-MN said:
Roasted barley is pretty potent in making beer dark. I'd say it doesn't even belong in a blonde ale but even a slightly higher amount will really darken a beer. I'd leave it out if you do this beer again.
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I will add this, check out the recipe section here on HBT. There are plenty of tried-and-true recipes with lots of discussions about them right here on the forums :)
 
Tasted the beer today, turned out pretty decent. Some bottles have a nice raspberry taste, others taste like a simple brown ale. It's a bit dark but has a crisp taste, little yeasty, but still refreshing.
 

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