I moved to Katy, TX last year.. and it seems there's a TON of small brews around town (No Label is right down the street). So, I got into craft beer, and after moving into a shop right next to a beer supply store, I decided to try my hand.
I read up a good bit, and bought the Brewer's Best kit to get started. Couple of 6 gallon buckets, bottling bucket, cleaning tools, capper, hydrometer, etc.. I love stouts, so I decided to brew a milk stout, and add a bit of brown sugar to ramp things up a bit.
I purchased a 30 quart stainless turkey frying kit from Academy for $39.99.. It works great for a 5 gallon batch.
Sanitized everything with Star San, and got to work.. Steeped my grain at 160 degrees. I was told any higher would leach tannins into the wort. I used distilled water with no conditioning. I realize now this was a mistake, but fermentation went just fine.. fingers crossed.
LME, Lactose, Maltodextrin and Magnum hops boiled for 45 minutes. Then Cluster hops and extra brown sugar 15 minutes before the boil ended.
The OG per the instructions was to be between 1.057 and 1.061. With the added sugar, it jumped up to 1.069 at 5 gallons.
I cooled my wort off in my double sink, using ice and letting things overflow into the other basin.. It took 35 minutes to go from boiling to 75 degrees F.
I started my yeast in warm water per the instructions, and poured it in. I capped off the bucket, and set it in the coldest/darkest room in my house, which stays at 68-70 degrees or so.
I let it sit for 11 days, as no sign of bubbling from the airlock was to be seen. Since I had modified the recipe, I started checking the gravity each day until day 14. The final gravity for 4 days straight sat at 1.019.
I transferred it to my bottling bucket, and let it sit for 24 hours before bottling.. I boiled a cup of water, and tossed my priming sugar in.. Let it cool in the freezer to 90 degrees or so before dumping in/stirring.
I used a spring loaded valve thingy that fills the bottle from the bottom.. handy little device for 3 bucks.
My buddy Josh showing off his fine capping technique! lol!
And, the finished product..
46 bottles.. I left a bit in the primary, and bottling bucket, simply to reduce bottled sediment. I even marked the last 6 bottles towards the bottom because those may have more sediment.
The bottles are now sitting at 68-70 degrees, in a dark room, inside of Rubbermaid containers with lids on them.. in case of any explosions.
This was my first attempt at brewing, and I messed a few things up.. I did use distilled water on accident, but was told that if fermentation occurred, that it would be fine. The taste may be a little off, but we live and learn. I will say this.. The beer was very clean when I transferred it over to the bottling bucket. It smelled awesome! I tasted just a bit of it with the priming sugar in, and although flat, it did have a pretty good flavor. Just a hint of sourness.. or maybe not sour.. but "green", maybe? I also know now that fermentation produces heat, and I need to stabilize things better. I figure at high 60's room temp, I couldn't have screwed up too badly. We'll see in a few weeks I guess.
I was borderline OCD about sanitation.. I was told this was the most important thing to pay attention to.. and I did. I had spray bottles, and dunking buckets full of sanitizer. Any time anything touched my hands or the wort/beer, it would get dunked in sanitizer solution. Hopefully my OCD paid off.
Thoughts/tips? I also started a Strawberry/Mango Weizenbier this afternoon.
Travis
I read up a good bit, and bought the Brewer's Best kit to get started. Couple of 6 gallon buckets, bottling bucket, cleaning tools, capper, hydrometer, etc.. I love stouts, so I decided to brew a milk stout, and add a bit of brown sugar to ramp things up a bit.
I purchased a 30 quart stainless turkey frying kit from Academy for $39.99.. It works great for a 5 gallon batch.
Sanitized everything with Star San, and got to work.. Steeped my grain at 160 degrees. I was told any higher would leach tannins into the wort. I used distilled water with no conditioning. I realize now this was a mistake, but fermentation went just fine.. fingers crossed.
LME, Lactose, Maltodextrin and Magnum hops boiled for 45 minutes. Then Cluster hops and extra brown sugar 15 minutes before the boil ended.
The OG per the instructions was to be between 1.057 and 1.061. With the added sugar, it jumped up to 1.069 at 5 gallons.
I cooled my wort off in my double sink, using ice and letting things overflow into the other basin.. It took 35 minutes to go from boiling to 75 degrees F.
I started my yeast in warm water per the instructions, and poured it in. I capped off the bucket, and set it in the coldest/darkest room in my house, which stays at 68-70 degrees or so.
I let it sit for 11 days, as no sign of bubbling from the airlock was to be seen. Since I had modified the recipe, I started checking the gravity each day until day 14. The final gravity for 4 days straight sat at 1.019.
I transferred it to my bottling bucket, and let it sit for 24 hours before bottling.. I boiled a cup of water, and tossed my priming sugar in.. Let it cool in the freezer to 90 degrees or so before dumping in/stirring.
I used a spring loaded valve thingy that fills the bottle from the bottom.. handy little device for 3 bucks.
My buddy Josh showing off his fine capping technique! lol!
And, the finished product..
46 bottles.. I left a bit in the primary, and bottling bucket, simply to reduce bottled sediment. I even marked the last 6 bottles towards the bottom because those may have more sediment.
The bottles are now sitting at 68-70 degrees, in a dark room, inside of Rubbermaid containers with lids on them.. in case of any explosions.
This was my first attempt at brewing, and I messed a few things up.. I did use distilled water on accident, but was told that if fermentation occurred, that it would be fine. The taste may be a little off, but we live and learn. I will say this.. The beer was very clean when I transferred it over to the bottling bucket. It smelled awesome! I tasted just a bit of it with the priming sugar in, and although flat, it did have a pretty good flavor. Just a hint of sourness.. or maybe not sour.. but "green", maybe? I also know now that fermentation produces heat, and I need to stabilize things better. I figure at high 60's room temp, I couldn't have screwed up too badly. We'll see in a few weeks I guess.
I was borderline OCD about sanitation.. I was told this was the most important thing to pay attention to.. and I did. I had spray bottles, and dunking buckets full of sanitizer. Any time anything touched my hands or the wort/beer, it would get dunked in sanitizer solution. Hopefully my OCD paid off.
Thoughts/tips? I also started a Strawberry/Mango Weizenbier this afternoon.
Travis
