First Day of New Year - First Home Brew

[rustym]

What a way to start a year. I brewed my first batch ever of an American Pale Ale, a kit from our LHBS here in Charlotte. Man, this is fun! I really enjoyed the process and seeing it all come together.

Everything went really well. The only problem I encountered was one that had not really anticipated was straining the wort from kettle to fermentor. I did a full boil with some Cascade pellets for the full boil time with the addition of some Amarillo hops at the last 15 minutes. I had no idea that this would clog the filters so bad. I ended up with a carboy mostly full of unstrained wort. I'll get this process figured out for the second batch. Anyy suggestions?

What I really loved was the smells of everything as the process evolved. Even now, with the fermentation process underway, I smelled the tip of the airlock and if this tastes as good as it smells, I can't wait.

My recipe had the OG at 1.054 and when I measured before pitching the yeast, it was excatly 1.054. The wort is a little darker that I had expected. Beersmith estimated about 12 SRM but this looks darker. Any ideas?

So far so good. I'll see if I can siphon it out without getting a bunch of gunk in it and any suggestions on that would be appreciated.

I can't wait to do round 2!

 

[Clann]

Congrats and welcome to the obsession

 

[boo boo]

I also did an APA on NYD which I hope will be as good as my last attempt at an SNPA clone. More hops baby.
Hit my numbers spot on. 6 gallons, 1.052 og. Also got 47 IBU and 6.4 SRM as per my software.

Congrats on your first ever start to what I hope will be a totally enjoyable obsession.

 

[RM-MN]

What a way to start a year. I brewed my first batch ever of an American Pale Ale, a kit from our LHBS here in Charlotte. Man, this is fun! I really enjoyed the process and seeing it all come together.

Everything went really well. The only problem I encountered was one that had not really anticipated was straining the wort from kettle to fermentor. I did a full boil with some Cascade pellets for the full boil time with the addition of some Amarillo hops at the last 15 minutes. I had no idea that this would clog the filters so bad. I ended up with a carboy mostly full of unstrained wort. I'll get this process figured out for the second batch. Anyy suggestions?

What I really loved was the smells of everything as the process evolved. Even now, with the fermentation process underway, I smelled the tip of the airlock and if this tastes as good as it smells, I can't wait.

My recipe had the OG at 1.054 and when I measured before pitching the yeast, it was excatly 1.054. The wort is a little darker that I had expected. Beersmith estimated about 12 SRM but this looks darker. Any ideas?

So far so good. I'll see if I can siphon it out without getting a bunch of gunk in it and any suggestions on that would be appreciated.

I can't wait to do round 2!

Congrats on your first batch. Your problem with filtering the hops out isn't much of a problem at all. Some don't bother trying to filter and dump the whole mess in the fermenter. Given time, it will all settle to the bottom and you can just leave it there when you rack it off to the bottling bucket and clean it out afterwards.

 

[BadgerHound]

I don't filter my wort before fermenting. I can usually avoid getting all of the trub in the fermenter, but really not a big deal. If you let it ferment in the primary for a few weeks it will all settle out. Good luck with the next beer!

 

[rustym]

Thanks for all the great replies and encouragement. You guys know what you're talking about so I'm just gonna let it sit and be patient. I just checked on everything and it's bubbling away and has a nice head of the krausen on top.

Also, the color looks like it mellowed out abit and looks to be more inline with the 12-13 SRM from beersmith. I'm happy with it.

I have some pics but don't think I can post being noob and all. I'll see if I can. This is going to be addicting!

 

[RM-MN]

Your kit probably came with extract, either liquid or dry. In the process of making the extract, the color becomes a little darker. There is nothing they or you can do about this so just enjoy your slightly darker beer. It'll be great!

 

[rustym]

My first brew day pics! I'm sure it's nothing you guys haven't seen before but I was pretty excited about it. Beer is still fermenting just fine after 3 days. I'm going to let it sit in this Primary for 3-4 weeks and then take another reading. I'm looking for about 1.014 for an ABV of appox +\-5%.

I'm already planning my second batch of another APA, just to get the procedures down.

Here was the recipe:

Amount Item Type % or IBU
6.00 lb Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 75.00 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 12.50 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 6.25 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 6.25 %
1.25 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (60 min) Hops 24.3 IBU
0.50 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (15 min) Hops 7.4 IBU
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 25.0 min) Misc



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.054 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.054 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.??? SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.26 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: ???%
Bitterness: 31.7 IBU Calories: 241 cal/pint
Est Color: 13.0 SRM Color: Color

 

[arch1tect]

you left the sticker on? That's just plain silly.

Everything looks good otherwise. If it's a kit did you tell them you were doing a full boil so they could adjust the amount of hops you needed?

 

[Hebby5]

I've used a large cooking strainer with fine mesh. It catches most of the hops before heading into the fermenter. It straddles my plastic bucket-style carboy nicely but not sure what folks do when they have a glass carboy. I think there are funnels with screens in them but don't have one myself. As always, it needs to be sanitized.

Good luck!

~Chris

 

[rustym]

Doh! I knew I should have turned it around at least! Believe me, though, it's off now!

I ended up using a little less hops based on the full boil, which still doesn't quite make sense to me. I know, gotta study some more!

 

[Beer_Guy]

One thing to concider is you are looking through 12~inchs of beer. In a 3 to 4 inch wide glass it will be much lighter.

If it is still a little dark try adding half the extract at flameout. Boiling can darken extracts.

Oh and welcome.

 

[jbug440]

My first 2 batches I strained then I stopped, its a PITA. I didn't have any difference in clarity between strained and unstrained batches of the same beer. Besides hops are very social creatures they love to join the fermentation party with yeast and wort. Why deny them the chance to mingle with others like themselves. They always bring loads of flavor and aroma to the party with them. I think they deserve a better life than just being rinsed down the sink after the boil. And besides once the party is over and all the alcohol is made, they drop to the bottom of the fermentor and go "sleepy" with the rest of the yeast. Then when their passed out you rack the beer right of their heads. After that their useless then you can rinse those bums down the drain. But not the yeast, a quick shower and a little rousing and those guys are ready to party again!!

 

[rustym]

Cheers to the above post! That deserves it's own sticky!

 

[Mikethepoolguy]

Every batch will teach you something. What to do, what not to do. You are right down the road maybe we will share a homebrew some day.

 

[rustym]

Sounds great to me! I'm in Pineville all the time. Glad to talk to someone close by.

 

[rustym]

Update on my first brew:

I needed my 6.5 gallon Carboy this coming weekend so I decided to rack my first batch to a secondary. I hit my target FG at 1.104 dead on so my Pale Ale ends up at approx. 5.2%. I was happy about that. I finally tasted a sample and it was really good. Not real hoppy as I would expect a pale ale to be but definetly I could taste the hops.

I wasn't planning on a secondary but I'm going for a porter this weekend so I needed it. Plus it gave me a chance to go through the process and get the feel of it. It was really easy, especially using StarSan.

So far, so good!