Getting Started

[DBhomebrew]

Hello,

This thread will be where I chronicle my first few batches as I set up my kitchen brewery.

I've made a handful of 5G batches of extract with steeped grains in my brother-in-law's garage and helped him with his first few all-grains in a cooler mash tun. For my setup, I am planning to brew 2-3G batches on my kitchen stove. BIAB, single dunk sparge, full-volume boil.

The first two batches will be very similar recipes with extract and steeped grains. The ingredients were intended for a 5g batch, I'm splitting it into two 2.5G batches. The original 5G recipe had a jug each of pilsner and Munich LME. The first 2.5G batch will use the pils, the second the Munich. Steeping grains, yeast, and hops type will be the same in each batch. Original recipe based on the Belgian Pale Ale in the "Make Your Best" series by Josh Weikert.

The third and fourth batches will be very similar to each other as well, the Pale and Dark Milds also of the "Make Your Best" series.

The main goals for these first four batches are to become familiar with my equipment and process, collect brewhouse data, and dial in brewing software.

 

[DBhomebrew]

New gear arrived Friday, so after the toddler went to bed I did some unboxing.

Among my new gear are a 6G bucket and 3G PET fermenter. Pouring a pint of water into the bucket at a time, I marked it at intervals. As you can see, the printed scale is way off at the bottom. I don't believe the linear scale allows for the taper in the bucket. Looks like it'll line up with a full 5G.

From there, I transferred to the fermenter and marked it by quart. Lastly, I transferred the water back to the bucket for it to off-gas overnight. All of this is to know how much water I need to start with to get a given volume in the fermenter.

For the steeping grains I bought a knock-off Corona mill. I haven't done much to it yet, but the first grind went pretty well. This was a very small grist of just specialty grain for only 2.5G. Some flour, but also some whole grain.

Before the next batch I'll do some of the improvements as discussed here. I expect a better, more uniform crush by the time I'm mashing for BIAB.

Water measured, grist milled, equipment unboxed. Ready for brewing the next day.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Brewing is consigned to after hours, so here I am after toddler's bedtime again.

I've got 3.5G poured into the 5G kettle. All ingredients are laid out in order of use. LME is in a warm bath in the sink.

9pm - Flame on.
9:20pm - 160°F. Added the grains, 30m steep.
9:50pm - 156°F. Grains removed, LME stirred in.
9:54pm - 151°F. Flame on.
10:20 pm - Boil

10:40pm - 40m Hops
11:05pm - 15m Irish Moss
11:15pm - 5m Hops
11:20pm - Flame out, 0m Hops, Move to sink for cool tap water bath.

11:30pm - Water bath at 122°F, refresh water.
11:40pm - Water bath at 103°F. Move to fermentation chamber. Temp probe held against side of pot with closed cell foam. Chamber set for 64°F.

11:50pm - Probe reading 132°F.
12:00am - 122°F
1:00am - 99°F, bedtime.
6:00am - 64°F
9:00am - Transferred ~2.75G to fermenter, pitched dry yeast.

11:00a - 1 bubble per 6 sec
12:00p - 1 bubble per 4 sec
5:00p - 1 bubble per 3 sec, yeast fully hydrated, krausen covering full surface.
11:00p - 1 bubble/sec, bedtime.

30 or so hrs after pitch, high krausen. Smells of clean fruity yeast.

By 48hrs, krausen has fallen and solids are no longer churning. Smells of fruity yeast burp.

At 48hrs, and every subsequent 24, raise 1°F until 67°F.

At 60hrs, 1 or 2 bubbles per 10s, krausen down to lacing. Smells like overripe fruit, less yeasty burp.

 

[DBhomebrew]

72hrs, 66°F, 3-4 bubbles/min. Small effervescent bubbles around edge of surface. Starting to clear. Smells like fruity beer.

Appears to have gained a pint of volume since pitch. Dissolved gases?

 

[IslandLizard]

Looks good!
I don't know where the extra pint is coming from, I've never looked that closely.

2 things to think about:

1. Whatever your kit instructions tell you, don't rack to a secondary! Leave it where it is. There's no need for using one, it may/will cause problems (oxidation, possible infection).
2. Next time, leave a bit more headspace.

I wouldn't fill her up much past the 2.5 gallon mark, leaving a good 0.5 gallon headspace, which is appropriate for that size fermenter and batch. This is in case you get a really vigorous fermentation with lots of krausen. It will start coming out the airlock and may even push it out if it gets plugged up. If the stopper is in tight the release may be explosive. Instead of the airlock, you could rig up a blow off tube with the bottom end into a jar with some sanitizer. Any excessive krausen will blow out safely that way.

 

[Transamguy77]

Looks good! With your notes you’ll be able to replicate any brew you make!

 

[DBhomebrew]

Yep, no secondary. My last couple of batches sat in primary for five weeks before getting around to bottling, no ill effects.

It's been ten days since pitch. I'll take a gravity tonight then another Friday or Saturday before bottling. Then it's on to cooking the second extract batch the next evening.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Got my mill mounted and adjusted.

I'm really happy with the Corona knock-off. About $40 all told, just a little tinkering. Nice regular grind with plenty of flour. I might try another 1/4 turn of tightening on the next batch.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Cooking up Batch 06, the second batch on my own equipment.

Both Batch 05 and 06 are Belgian Pale Ales, originally meant for a single larger batch. Batch 05 got the jug of pilsner LME, Batch 06 got the Munich (50/50% 2-row). Both 2.5G batches got the following.

3.15lb LME
2oz Biscuit
1oz CaraMunich II
4oz Turbinado Sugar
60m 3/4oz Czech Saaz
25m 1/2oz Czech Saaz
05m 1/8oz Czech Saaz

Batch 05 got a packet of T-58 pitched dry right on top of the wort. Batch 06 will be pitched with a portion of the slurry harvested during last night's bottling.

Batch 05 tasted good at bottling. Honey sweet from the 100% pilsner. Last time I did a Belgian Pale with 100% pils LME it had much more specialty grain, especially the CaraMunich. I had intended for this 5 gal recipe to have the Munich LME along with the pils, 50/50. Really, 50/25/25 pils/Munich/2-row. But, when splitting the batch I didn't feel like measuring out LME to split the jugs. Besides, it would be fun to have two very different beers with pretty much the same recipe. So, one batch is a light sweet honey, the other should have plenty of darker malt flavors. Wort in the kettle sure smells and looks like it.

The first batch is light on the hops, too. I had expected my water bath cooling to function closer to No Chill and adjusted my hop additions to match. 60m additions went in at 40m, etc. The wort ended up dropping below critical temps pretty quick and I think I can get away with normal hop schedules. I readjusted for the second batch. This one should be maltier and hoppier, mmm.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Batch 06 with the Munich is smelling really good just past high krausen. While on the first batch I waited for the krausen to fall before inching the temp up, this time I started to raise temp the same 1°F/d starting just before peak krausen.

With Batch 06 in the fermenter, it's time to get serious about Batch 07 and the switch to BIAB. Wilserbag ordered this morning, shipping notification received within two hours. Ingredients list sent to the lhbs for pickup next week, acknowledged. Eye bolt installed in the cabinet above the stove. Just got to wait for the Belgians to vacate the fermenter.

Batch 07 - Pale Mild
2.5G 1.041
3.5# MO
1/2# Munich
1/4# CaraMunich II
1/4# Chocolate Rye
23 IBUs EKG @ 20m
WY1318

 

[DBhomebrew]

Rolling along, got Batch 06 bottled last night.

I'm enjoying my ported fermenter with spout. Besides easy mid-fermentation sample extraction, it allows a smooth transfer of beer to the bottling bucket without the turbulence and oxygen ingress of a syphon. By using a long enough hose carefully coiled at the bottom of the bucket, the beer is gently whirlpooled onto the priming solution already placed in the bucket.

Well, with another 2.5G in bottles, that's that for extract. These last two batches have given me the opportunity to work out much of my process and equipment. I've collected a bunch of data and have my software dialed in with various volumes and such. Next up, my first all-grain batch.

 

[Sammy86]

Wow,

exceptional notes! You're gonna be brewing on cruise control in no time!

 

[DBhomebrew]

Well, the first mash is in the books.

I've still got to spend some quality time with last night's data, but it's looking like mash efficiency was in the high eighties.

@VikeMan, got a question for you:

In Brewcipher, is the post-boil volume at flameout (my assumption) or post cooling?

How/where does Brewcipher account for volume shrinkage due to cooling after flameout? I see where one inputs a figure for evaporation during cooling, but I also see your note that shrinkage should not be accounted for there.

I had 3gal of hot wort at flameout, but cool volume into fermenter plus kettle dead space was only 2.75gal. I cover the kettle at flameout and keep it covered until I'm ready to transfer to the fermenter the next morning. Any evap is negligible.

Thank you in advance.

 

[VikeMan]

In Brewcipher, is the post-boil volume at flameout (my assumption) or post cooling?

All volumes in BrewCipher are at nominal "room temperature."

ETA: Many cells (including that one) have comments in them (note the little red triangles). Just hover with your mouse and they'll pop up. (And there's also the user guide for a deeper dive if desired.)

 

[DBhomebrew]

All volumes in BrewCipher are at nominal "room temperature."

Thank you very much.

 

[DBhomebrew]

All volumes in BrewCipher are at nominal "room temperature."

This was very helpful and helped tie many loose ends in my observations. At the risk of beating a dead horse, this includes the predicted pre-boil vol? One would be checking it against wort at mash out temps, no?

(And there's also the user guide for a deeper dive if desired.)

Found it. Thank you!

 

[VikeMan]

At the risk of beating a dead horse, this includes the predicted pre-boil vol? One would be checking it against wort at mash out temps, no?

Yes. But if memory serves, the difference would be ~2.5 ounces per gallon. If you have kettle markings (and eyes) with that kind of accuracy, I could add brewhouse parameters for the user to select at what temperatures the volumes are displayed in the next update.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Yes. But if memory serves, the difference would be ~2.5 ounces per gallon. If you have kettle markings (and eyes) with that kind of accuracy, I could add brewhouse parameters for the user to select at what temperatures the volumes are displayed in the next update.

Thank you. Just ~2.5oz/g? Not near enough to account for my missing quart.

Ok, I think I'm happy with where I am in squaring software to observed reality on this first BIAB batch. There are still some incongruities, but I'm calling this batch the coarse adjustment and will fine tune on the next.

All in all, quite pleased.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Okay, now. I've just completed my second BIAB brew day. The point of this exercise was to collect hands on experience and basic brewhouse data to dial in my chosen brewing software. Goal accomplished.

First off was just getting a feel for the different processes as I shifted from extract to all-grain BIAB. Both for brew day itself, but also for all the little prep and post-brew steps. While for the first run I milled my grains after the kid was asleep, the second round I felt comfortable setting up next to his work station. Pretty soon, the Chief Inspector came over to check my grind.

Incorporating brewing tasks into my day is really so much better than late at night. Breaking tasks down helps get them done. Weighing out grain takes five minutes. Milling takes fifteen. Collecting water and measuring salts take ten. Individually, they can be done wherever I get a short moment.

Brew day, still an isolated time set apart from daily life.

I had done a dunk sparge on the first batch, but with a better than expected efficiency I found full-volume mashes to be totally doable on my stovetop system.

Here's my seven year old turkey stock pot fitted with a new wilser bag. Total water volume with mash salts were brought up to strike temp. Once there, the flame was killed and the bag dropped in. The drawstring quickly makes it secure around the lip.

Next, the grains went in. A heaping cup at a time, whisking all along.

A final good stir, a temp check (-0.3°), and into a pre-warmed, turned-off oven it went.

Sixty minutes later, a good stir, temp check (2° drop).

Next, a hitch around the bag with a @wilserbrewer-supplied loop and hoist mounted in the cabinet above the sink.

I let the bag hang and positioned it so I could mostly cover the pot as it came up to boil. Once there, I pulled the cover and let the bag continue dripping while I set timers for boil additions.

With my no-twist, no-squeeze, super-lazy lauter, I overshot pre-boil volume. Grain absorption was a mere .058 g/lb. Luckily, I also overshot efficiency. No sparge, full-volume mash, I hit 84%, bringing the SG to within a point of the intended mark.

A dose of EKG at 60m minutes, a bit of Irish Moss at 15, additions were complete. A minute before flameout I lidded the kettle and at the bell moved the operation to the sink.

Five refreshes of summer tap water every ten minutes gets temps down to warm bath temp and the fermentation freezer takes care of the rest overnight.

Most satisfying of all, I was able to get an as-brewed BrewCipher file to very closely reflect observed data points. Also, this batch's variances from estimations were much, much narrower than the last batch.

Process, equipment, ingredients, software, really getting comfortable with it all.

Sam Smith's Pale Ale, my own Batch #06, and gravity samples were enjoyed through the evening.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Next morning, I pulled the pint jar of harvested yeast slurry from the last batch out of the fridge. When it went into the fridge a couple days ago it was a full pint of homogenous slurry like a milkshake. This morning the yeast had settled into ~180ml of peanut buttery sludge with clear beer floating on top.

I tared my scale with a clean, sanitized jar. Poured all the beer into the new jar, then continued pouring the yeast sludge until the 80ml I needed remained in the original jar. Leftovers went back into the fridge for use later on, the reserved 80ml sat on the counter to come up to room temperature.

In the meantime, I pulled the cooled kettle out of the fermentation fridge and got the ol' siphon set up. Remembered at the last moment to close the fermenter spout.

One of the things I'm enjoying about the small batch size is the easy handling of full vessels. Shaking a full three gallon fermenter for a few minutes isn't much of a big deal. So, shake, shake, shake, shake. A bit of fresh wort into the yeast sludge, swirl swirl to loosen it up, then into the fermenter and capped with an airlock.

Four hours after pitch there was some lazy airlock action. Ten hours, a thin krausen across the whole surface. Twenty-two hours, it's fully active.