Lots of Newbie Questions Before I Start

[CCMuggs13]

Hey so I am about to start my first brew within the next few days (I'll be making an American Wheat using the True Brew ingredient kit) and have a bunch of super newbie questions. I apologize if these have been answered on here before as many probably have but please bear with me...

1) First and most importantly, how do I sanitize my equipment? I actually mean this... I know I need a sanitizer, everyone recommends Star San which is no rinse, but do I fill a big container with it and dunk/soak everything? I only really have a regular size sink I could do that in. What about the fermenter (6.5 gal bucket), I can't really dip that in a sink? And if I end up using a sanitizer that needs a rinse can I use tap water or do I need to use boiled and cooled water to rinse? Basically, very explicit descriptions of how people sanitize would be appreciated.

2) After the boil, should I pour the wort into the fermenter or do I need to siphon it to avoid oxygenating it too much? Also do I need to strain it? I assume not for extract brewing but figured I'd check...

3) Can I use tap water to top it off or is it really necessary to boil and cool my water first? With what I have I'll probably boil about half of my total brew.

4) When I pitch the yeast do I just let it sit on top or stir it in?

5) How do I go about taking the hydrometer readings? My fermenter doesn't have a spigot so should I just scoop up some liquid from the top? And I know that you check that fermentation is done when the SG levels out so does this mean its ok to open the fermenter several times to check this (towards the tail end of fermenting obviously)?

6) We have been keeping our house at 72-75F these days, would this be too high an ambient temp for fermentation? Do I need to get a container for water and some frozen water bottles or would I be ok? What about the temperature for conditioning? I have a fermometer on my fermenter, will this be accurate enough or should I buy another thermometer and if so what kind? I read that I shouldn't get the fermometer wet if I use it?

Bonus Question) I asked in another thread if anyone knows anything about Nu Foam sanitizing tablets since they seem like they would be convenient and I have access to them but didn't get too much response from anyone who has seen or used them for anything personally. We use them at the bar I work at as the third step in washing (wash with soap and brush, rinse in water, dip in Nu Foam, no other rinse and let air dry). So would these work in a pinch to sanitize things?

Sorry for so much, I just want this first one to be good so I can get the hang of this and show my family how great home brewing can be. Thanks in advance to everyone I hope will respond!

 

[flars]

I can give you some basic information. Not everything though. Read John Palmers first book. It is online. His new book and The Joy of Homebrewing are must reads.
1. Star San is probably the best sanitizer. Wet contact for a minute or two sanitizes. Spray bottle comes in handy for some equipment. Can also immerse using your bucket to hold the solution. Make up a couple of gallons in jugs. It is no rinse. Use a funnel to pour back into jugs when done sanitizing. It can be reused if pH stays below 3.0. Buy pH test strips. Sanitize everything that will contact the wort at some time, including your hands.
Does your tap water contain chlorine or flouride? If it does don't use it. Buy spring water or RO water.
Is the LME pre-hopped? If it is don't boil it!
2 - 3. Add the cold top off water to the bucket first. Even the chilled wort may cause damage. At this point you want qxygen in the cooled wort, but not in hot wort. I use a funnel with built in strainer to remove some of the trub.
4. The yeast that comes in True Brew kits is not any good. For this one get a 11 gram pack of Fermentis SA-05. Google the Fermentis web site for inatructions.
5. You can scoop a wort sample. Sanitize everything. Wine/beer thief works better. If you follow the kit instructions your OG will be as stated. Don't take SG readings for two weeks to begin determining when fermentation is complete; when FG is reached.
6. Keep your wort in the low 60°s. Working yeast produces heat. The first few days are critical. Look up swamp cooler. The stripp is accurate. Keep it dry and out of the fans draft.
Didn't take the time to look up NuFoam. StarSan is proven effective and easy to use.
It would be a really good idea to do some reading to cover all the steps of the recipe before you brew. Go to Northern Brewers site and look up their instructions for the same type of beer. Compare the two recipes and directions. You will find their instructions under the 'additional'' tab.

 

[ShaineT]

+1 on flars answers pretty much sums it up. I can only reinforce the statements a little.

1. Using Starsan is very easy and you don't rinse afterwards. I make up a gallon or two at a time (6ml per gallon) using RO water and reuse it till the pH raises above 3 or until it looks cloudy. Pour the whole gallon in your fermenter, shake/swirl, wait a few minutes, swirl again and funnel back into the gallon container. Basically any contact surface that is post boil needs sanitized this way, no need to dunk, no need to rinse. Make up a spray bottle of starsan for quick spraying on small parts, connections etc.

2-3. Never do anything to oxygenate hot wort post boil like agitating with an immersion chiller will only serve to add unwanted O2 to the hot wort. Once the wort is chilled then its OK to oxygenate with agitation or direct O2.

6. You can get a rope tote with water and just the air current from a direct fan can drop temperatures in the tote's water by as much as 10* depending on how dry the ambient air is. Faster the cool evaporation takes place the colder it will get.

Best of luck with your brew!

 

[dgr]

1. A bucket. Mix star san to directions. For brewing, you will need to sanitize your fermenter, your air lock, your bung or lid, your funnel, your strainer, your tubing and racking cane if you are using them.

Siphon some sanitizer from the bucket to the fermenter and swirl it around. Grab a spray bottle, fill with star san and spray the lid and wherever you didn't get the inside of the fermenter wet. Drop your air lock pieces and bung in your bucket of sanitizer. Spray the outside of the racking cane and hose with star san where it didn't get contacted. Use a soaked towel to rub it on there if you like. The important part is the star san gets something wet and stays on there for a few minutes.

2. Pour OR siphon but aerate it as much as you can. This is assuming you cooled it first. It won't destroy your beer to have everything in the fermenter that was in the brew kettle but it would be better to leave the hot break, cold break and hops behind. Read up on whirlpooling and use your racking cane or pour through a paint strainer bag or strainer.

3. Initial top off of fermenter? Yes you can. There is no need to boil and cool your water. You want lots of oxygen at the beginning of fermentation.

4. Dry yeast, pitch it in or rehydrate in a cup of tepid water if you like. You could shake up the wort if you like once the yeast is in there. It isn't going to hurt it.

5. Remember that spray bottle of star san. You kept it, right? If you don't have a thief, you can just float your sanitized hydrometer in your beer. Yes, it's fine to take the top off. Spray it all around with sanitzer and spray your hands, too. No need to be checking SG everyday.

6. You will be ok with an ale. Millions of gallons of home brew have been brewed at that temperature. Then again, it will be better if you can get your yeast at the temperature where it is happy.

Bonus. Who knows. Sounds legitimate but star san isn't much money and taking something is bad karma.

RDWHAHB

 

[woozy]

1. What they say. Mix up a gallon or two. Swirl in the fermentor. Store in jugs. I then pour about a gallon or so in a pot are a bowl and dunk everything I use into it. Actually a long shallow container like a baking pan or a planter box is good for long things like spoons. Also you can take a large plate and sanitize it as a clean surface for placing things like lids and strainers when you aren't using.

2. Everyone agrees that once the wort is cool and/or shortly after pitching yeast you *want* to aerate and shake it up to give some oxygen for the yeasties to thrive in. This is the *only* time time during the fermentation process that you want to and can do this so make the most of it. Shake the snot out of the wort.

People disagree about oxidation and aeration while the wort is hot. There something called Hot Side Aeration (HSA) whose chemistry I don't understand but oxidating while hot somehow puts the oxygen in suspension and it will be released hours and days later and will oxidize your beer then. *I* personally think this is bull**** and you'll find this is one of those issues hotly debated. I believe HSA exists but at the small scale that exists for homebrewing I think it's as much a concern as the corialis effect on your toilet or the gravitational pull of the planets on your personality during your birth. Just *look* at how commercial breweries transfer their hot wort in the cooling process and tell me your stirring with a spoon is ever going out-aerate *that*.

But to each their own.

Do you need to strain it? Um... no, you don't have to but you might want to. Extract has hop debris and cold break remains. They don't really hurt anything. Some say they add nutrients. I strain (when I remember) because trub tends to reach the spigot level of my fermenter. If I had a different fermenter I wouldn't. However others find the debris... well, gross. Or they think it makes for a less clear beer. The choice is yours.

3) Topping off: Should be cold. Can even be ice (but sanitize the tray and keep covered if so). Helps cool the wort if it's cold. Don't put anything very hot in the fermentor. (that's why the say to add the water to the fermenter first). Tap waters fine. Unless you have microbes in your ground water or lots of chlorine (not chorides) you don't need to boil but anything you transfer or keep the water in need to be sanitary.

4) Don't stir it. Either sprinkle or rehydrate as described above. You really should rehydrate. That's the "correct" way. Although just how "correct" and vital it is is, yet again, a matter of debate.

That is if you are using dry yeast. Liquid yeast and yeast with starters is another story for later.

5) Use a wine thief or a turkey baster. Sanitize it. put the tube-like base in. Cover the hole [edit: for a turkey baster or a simple wine thief; some thieves will have have valves and some thieves and pipettes will have floating stoppers] in the top with your thumb to create a vacuum pressure. Trasnfer to your hydrometer jar.

Theres no need to take a reading until you have reason to believe enough time has passed that final gravity is likely to have been reached. (Depends on the beer. 10 days for a small beer. 2-4 weeks for a big beer. When in doubt-- longer is better.) If you take one reading and then a second three days later those will nearly always be all the readings you want.

You can open and close your fermenter as many times as you like. It's just each time you do, you have a small chance of infecting your beer. So you want you want to only do it when nescessary and as carefully as possible.

6) That's an acceptable temp. But it'll be better if you can get it down to the 60s. As you know, beer forments 5-10 degrees higher than ambient room temperature. You've obviously read about carrier cooling with iced water bottles. Do that. You won't be sorry.

 

[woozy]

Never heard of nu foam but a quick google search....

Hmmm... I wouldn't unless I heard from some-one who had used them. They are specifically designed for glassware which implies it's designed with health issues in mind; germs, bacteria the HIV virus (!!), etc. I might be wrong but I think wild yeasts and air-born microbes (which is the homebrewer's concern) are not considered a health risk and I'm not sure this sanitizes enough. Then again, maybe if a solution kills anything it kills everything.

Needs more research. But I'm too lazy to do it now. StarSan was developed specifically with brewing in mind so I just feel more .... comfortable with it.

 

[BlindFaith]

I am just adding a few things to try and help.

1. The recycling of Star-San is a great idea, but I am lazy and just pour it out when I am finished. I have only went through 3 bottles in 10 months of brewing (22 batches), so it isn't a waste for me @ $6-8 a bottle. I second the spray bottle idea, as well as just using your fermenter/bottling bucket to dunk everything in.

2. Cool your wort as fast as you can (ice bath in a rope bucket always worked for me in <30 mins) and either pour or siphon, whichever you are most comfortable with. When I first started, I used a funnel with a little strainer snap-on attachment and just poured through that to strain most of the hop debris out. You want oxygen in your wort and like others have said, shake the pi$$ out of it.

3. Tap water is fine unless you live in one of these cities: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/41354370/.../us-cities-worst-drinking-water/#.UfYhmtJJPAg

4. Just sprinkle your dry yeast in and rock the baby with your fermenter. This is easy with carboys, but I am not familiar with buckets. The more air the better for your yeasties.

5. Like others said, just drop the hydrometer in the bucket after spraying it down to sanitize. As far as the wine thief goes, you don't have to cover the top to take a good sample. If you just move it up and down (moving the check valve in and out at the bottom) you can bump the level up until you have a full tube.... pour into your test flask and repeat if necessary.

6. 72-75F is "ok", but it is much better to have it on the lower end of your yeast's range to compensate for temp. increase during initial fermentation. Swamp coolers are helpful. Just search the site for any info, there are hundreds of threads on them.

Bonus - Just go with Star-San or One-Step if no Star-San is available.

 

[ShaineT]

5. Like others said, just drop the hydrometer in the bucket after spraying it down to sanitize.

This works great but I miss out on the opportunity for tasting

 

[Yooper]

1. The recycling of Star-San is a great idea, but I am lazy and just pour it out when I am finished. I have only went through 3 bottles in 10 months of brewing (22 batches), so it isn't a waste for me @ $6-8 a bottle. I second the spray bottle idea, as well as just using your fermenter/bottling

But- I'm on my second bottle of star-san. In 8 years!

I mix it up in a gallon jug, and use that until it's gone. (I spill it over the course of several batches). I also fill a spray bottle, and spritz things on that are long, like siphons, on all sides on my counter. I also spritz the counter first where I'll be putting equipment. I spritz the bucket lids also.

I really recommend mixing up a small amount at a time, and storing it in a jug or something. It's quick, easy, and very cheap.

 

[woozy]

I really recommend mixing up a small amount at a time, and storing it in a jug or something. It's quick, easy, and very cheap.

A nitpick. It's not that cheap (initial quantity wise) but it lasts forever so the overall effect if you are careful is that you spend very little money, which is amounts to the same thing as being very cheap. If you aren't careful and waste it or only use it once then it is (at !!$32!! a bottle) significantly more expensive than bleach or just about any other sanitizer I can think of. So for gosh sake store it and reuse it; you'll save a *lot* of money.

Two bottles ($64) for eight years cleaning. Can't beat that!

I have only went through 3 bottles in 10 months of brewing (22 batches), so it isn't a waste for me @ $6-8 a bottle.

Those are the four ounce bottles. You should buy the 32 oz bottles for $30-36. Which I assume is the size Yooper is talking about. (.... Hmm, maybe not. 8 oz. in eight years is five gallons a year which is... well, I guess doable... at 26 batches a year that spilling and losing three cups a batch. Eight years of cleaning for $12! *really* can't beat that.

 

[Yooper]

Two bottles ($64) for eight years cleaning. Can't beat that!

It's a sanitizer, not a cleaner. I use generic oxyclean products (unscented) for cleaning most things, but I occasionally use PBW and/or Acid No. 5 for the big CIP jobs.

The bottles of star-san were around $7 each.

Anyway, to not go off on a tangent, I'll give my thoughts on some other questions as well!

#2- once the wort is cool, pour. Pour from a high place and splash a lot (inside the fermenter, not outside ). That aerates the wort well.

#3- Tap water may be ok. If you have chlorine or chloramines (which don't boil off), you may find it easier to use bottled water that doesn't contain chloramine/chlorine. Chlorine in the brewing water will ruin the beer.

#4- rehydrate the yeast according to package directions, and then use. You don't have to, but get better results (higher yeast cell count) if you rehydrate.

#5- Sanitized turkey baster or wine thief

#6- Way too warm. Fermenting beer can get at least 10 degrees warmer than ambient in an active fermentation. (I've seen +10 myself). A water bath with frozen water bottles works great- but keep the water level under the plastic temperature strip because the water will ruin the thermometer. I float a thermometer in my water bath, and if the water level is as high as the beer level, the temperature is about the same in both.

I think I duplicated some answers, but these are the things I follow so I wanted to answer them as well.

 

[woozy]

It's a sanitizer, not a cleaner.

Oops. My bad. I knew that. (And meant it. Kicks self.)

The bottles of star-san were around $7 each.

Why don't you buy the 32. oz bottles for $32? Don't think you'll live long enough to use it?

[edit: Irk. Don't know why I said $32. They're only 21 to 24 bucks. Eight times the size but only 3 to four times the price. A bargain. Unless you are yooper and likely to die before you can use 32 oz.]

I think I duplicated some answers,

Yes, but nobody does it as succinctly and clearly as you do.

 

[Yooper]

Why don't you buy the 32. oz bottles for $32? Don't think you'll live long enough to use it?

Maybe I will the next time I need to buy some. This bottle is more than half full, so when I need to buy some in a couple of years I will consider getting a larger bottle, I guess. The small ones are nice- they fit right in my corner cupboard with the single bottle of Iodophor I bought in about 2006.

 

[woozy]

At the rate you go through it, a small one lasts six years and a large one will last last 48 years, I guess saving money[*] isn't worth the loss of shelf space.


[*] You'll start seeing a return on your investment after 28 years and after 48 years the savings will be $24 or a whopping savings of 50 cents a year.

[edit: Ehrk. Got the price wrong. The 32 once bottles are only $24 so the math is wrong. You'll start saving after only 20 years and in the end you will save $32 or $0.66 2/3 per year. ]

 

[chuckstout]

I don't know if I saw this posted, but for star sans it would be better to use distilled water. With tap water over time it well become hazy and slimey

 

[CCMuggs13]

Wow thank you everyone for all of the replies, I can't believe how great these forums (all of you really) are! I'm more excited than ever to get my first brew going, wish me luck. Cheers!

 

[BlindFaith]

But- I'm on my second bottle of star-san. In 8 years!

I mix it up in a gallon jug, and use that until it's gone. (I spill it over the course of several batches). I also fill a spray bottle, and spritz things on that are long, like siphons, on all sides on my counter. I also spritz the counter first where I'll be putting equipment. I spritz the bucket lids also.

I really recommend mixing up a small amount at a time, and storing it in a jug or something. It's quick, easy, and very cheap.

I guess we should call you Mrs. Thrifty lol

I am just lazy and don't mind spending $24 a year for sanitizer. I also don't brew to save money or even attempt to really. It is a hobby for me and I spend too much on it like most do. Good luck to the OP and don't take my advice if you're wanting to get into this hobby to save some green.

 

[flars]

A couple of jugs of starsan is nice to have around. I also use it for other sanitizing jobs. In a week I'll be using it to sanitize grape leaves before they go into the jars for garlic dill pickles.
What was the OPs' post?