First brew this Friday! EXCITED

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whitesheperd

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I am so excited, Friday just can't get here soon enough :S now I have to wait until Friday because I have to basically buy almost all new equipment.. I have 2 5 gallon glass carboys occupied with my wine bulk aging.. So here is my list for this Friday, 5 gallon glass Carboy, 6.5 primary bucket, thermometer for wort, temperature strips for primary bucket and Carboy, best brewers extract beer kit(still deciding which to get) :S 5 gallon stock pot, 2 cases of plastic beer bottles & caps, auto siphon because my other one for wine finally cracked. Well that should be all.. :)


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Congrats!
As far as the kit is concerned, obviously you'll probably want to avoid anything you need to lager. Other than that, RDWHAHB.




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What is the difference with lager if I may ask? And thank you


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Lagers need to be fermented fairly cold (high 40's or so).

Not sure if a fermometer is necessary on a secondary vessel, if you even need the secondary vessel to begin with.

Do you have the means to control fermentation temps (low to mid 60's) for ales?
 
Temperature control is a huge factor with lagers. Ideally you need to get them quite cold, which is difficult to do without the right equipment, such as a freezer with temperature controller (though there are many ways to try and simulate lager conditions). Just a PITA for a beginner. Also, you should pitch a huge starter for a lager; without a stir plate, you end up pitching multiple packs of yeast, which can be pricy.

If you really want to do a lager beer, then go for it, but the end product may be lacking.


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ER no I don't /: my wine squally say around mid 70s while fermenting...


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You may prefer a bigger pot if you can. Mine is a 5 gal pot, and I'm looking to upgrade to an 8 as I do 6 gal batches.
 
Lagers use different yeasts from ales which are fermented cooler (50-54*f) and then stored at near freezing temps for several weeks.

In order to do this at home, you need to be able to control the temperature of your fermentin beer.

On a separate note, use extreme caution with the glass carboys. They are very heave and slippery when filled with 5 gallons of beer. Many on here have had severe injuries from accidents with glass.

Best of luck with the brew! Nights before brew days feel like the night before Christmas for me!


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Oh no I am not doing a lager for my first :p but yeah a Johnson control temp for a fridge. But are like American ale extracts okay around 70s?


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Yeah as I said before I have 2 5 gallons filled with wine bulk aging, I use Carboy handles to handle them..


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whitesheperd said:
Oh no I am not doing a lager for my first :p but yeah a Johnson control temp for a fridge. But are like American ale extracts okay around 70s?


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Click to expand...


Yes.


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Typically low to mid 60's unless you are using Belgian yeasts. But I have certainly fermented in the upper 60's with no problems using WLP 001, WY 1272, or US-05.
 
My temperate I think would stick around mid 70s.. Probably use white labs yeast..


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With it reaching that kind of temps, will the yeast just stop fermenting or put off some sort of off flavors?


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What's some good cheap ways to ferment around 60-70? Without spending to much money.. Can't do a Johnson control and fridge right now, although I do have a fridge at work and can put the temp control on 5 and see how warm it can get.. For now I can maybe get some ice and put my primary fermenter in a bucket with ice and switch out in the mornings and nights?


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A "swamp cooler" is a cheap and easy way to do it. If you can afford to make a fermentation chamber you'll no doubt be much happier, and it's something I intend on doing after I move at some point.

A storage container filled ~1/2 way with water and changing out frozen water bottles (2 liter bottles are great) will certainly work.

I found, for myself, that the water was about 5* cooler than the beer was. It's best to have a fermometer to see the beer's temp.

Warm temps create off flavors depending on the yeast.
 
I will defiantly do a swamp cooler, now I have a fridge at work that I may take home, can I ferment in it without using a Johnson temp controller?? If I turn the knob to the highest temp on the fridge..?


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It's unlikely you can use it without installing a temperature controller. The fridge is just too cold on it's warmest setting, though it may be possible to ferment a lager, though I'm uncertain about that.

I've been using a swamp cooler now for nearly 2 1/2 years, and after I move I'll be more serious about building a fermentation chamber for ~$200-250 using a small dorm type fridge and building a cabinet.

Maybe I'll ask for the funds to do such for my birthday as I don't want to give up my hobby funds for months to do so.
 
I just don't want to wire the temp controller/: can you buy them already assembled..?


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I just made a temp control fridge for ~$110. It is one of those glass front wine coolers I picked up on CL for $80. People buy them and never use them. They are generally taller and more spacious than minifridge types. It also has a wide temp range for storing reds, so you may not need temp control at all. I can check the manual for the range when I get home if you are interested. I have a controller on mine, but I already had the box made up (around $30 total for STC-1000. I have no electrical experience and found it very easy to make up with help from here and some youtube tutorials).
ALL that said- for your first brew, I wouldn't worry too much at all about it. Check this chart http://byo.com/resources/yeast there are plenty of strains that are happy in the low 70's. Even if it goes a bit above, you aren't going to ruin your beer. If you are concerned, brew a Saison or Belgian!

+1 on the bigger pot, though. go for 7 minimum, you will thank yourself later.
 
Well I will defiantly have to buy the stc 1000 when I get the fridge from work..


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Now I will be using a full size fridge, the fridge is on bottom and the freezer is up top. Does the temperature controller also raise the freezer temperature also? Or does that stay a freezer?


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It depends on where you place the probe that will read the temp.
The controller works like this:
Probe is placed in the chamber you are trying to control. You will set the desired temp, range (+/- of desired temp), and compressor delay (to keep your fridge compressor from kicking on/off too frequently). The controller has a 'switch' for cool and a 'switch' for heat. When the probe reads over the desired range, the cool switch will come one. If it reads under, the heat. In my case, I wired the controller to 2 regular outlets, and I plugged my fridge into the one for cool. This way, when the temp goes above the range, the controller supplies power to the outlet, and essentially turns the fridge on. The alternative is to wire the controller directly to the fridge compressor, which there are directions for on threads here.
Back to your question, if you used the plug method, your freezer would likely run warmer, since the fridge would be warmer and the cooling happens at the same time for both.
 
Ah okay, gotcha. So the freezer will be a freezer still then, because I will keep the probe in the fridge part


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I don't think it will be- there is only one plug to the whole unit, and power will only be supplied to the plug when the fridge part (with the probe) needs to cool to the set temp.
I am not 100% on this, I have not used a controller with a fridge/freezer combo. I also know that there are defrost cycles on newer fridges that may come into play.
 
I'm thinking since theirs only one plug on the fridge which will be plugged up to the controller then the freezer will be around the same temp as the fridge? Idk/: someone with a full size fridge/freezer please help


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So can someone give me a link to a video on how to wire the stc 1000?


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Oh and I already got a 5 gallon stock pot :S I'll be doing extract kits or a while until I get some experience under my belt then I'll switch to like a 7-10 gallon pot. But all of the extract kits I've seen use 2.5 gallons to make the worth with the LME & DME and special grains so. I figure a 5 gallon pot will suffice for now


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Ah I'm used to making wine, I was going to buy a fermenting bucket and a glass Carboy. In wine you have a primary and secondary bucket or glass carboys, leave all sediment behind. Notice in brewing you let it ferment it fully then bottle.. Sweet that will save me $16 on a fermenting bucket, I'll just buy the glass Carboy for $30:)


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Are you planning on bottling straight from the siphon? If so you'll certainly need a bottling wand. And if so I guess you will be bottle priming instead of batch priming?
 
I used to bottle prime, but it is so much cheaper and easier to batch prime.
 
Different between bottling prime and batch prime??


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For me the swamp cooler for this Friday's brew will be the kitchen sink the water here is pretty cool and I've already got 3*1 gallon bottles filled with water, and a couple of ice packs used to transport yeast in the freezer. Not really what I'd call controlled temperature but I'll keep the ambient temp no higher than 70f and see where that takes me.

I've not yet gotten round to searching the for the mathematics of temperature gradients of liquids with a plastic barrier between them, to see what temp I really want the water outside, maybe someday, but not today.
 
Is that like putting the beer in like a keg, big 5 gallon bucket of some sortand drinking it straight from that. And bottling prime is putting them in a bottle?


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Yes.

Either dropping expensive carb drops in each bottle or attempting to accurately measure the sugar for each bottle vs boiling a bit of water and figuring the sugar needed for the whole thing. That is then dumped into the bottling bucket before the siphon of the beer, which stirs it up fairly well. From there you just fill each bottle and cap.
 
Also I was going to get an auto siphon, but I think I need a bottling wand instead yeah?


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Oh I was going to put prime sugar in the primary Carboy right before I bottle so all bottles get equal sugar to get carbed


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