My first batch: Things I've learned

[completegeek]

Technically I guess it's my second batch (my first was a Mr. Beer kit), but it's my first 5 gallon batch. It was tons of fun and I learned things you can only learn by actually doing.

I had everything pretty well organized to begin with but there are definitely a few things I'll remember to do next time.

1. Buy twice the ice for the cool down.

I bought 20 lbs of ice and it melted in a heartbeat sending me on a scramble to pick up more bags.

2. It takes quite a while on my stove to boil several gallons of water

At least 30 minutes, maybe more, to get 3 gallons boiling. It definitely wasn't a very vigorous boil either. Get the water going first and waaaaay ahead of time.

3. Don't toss the sanitizer until the last minute

Actually I think a spray bottle with sanitizer would have saved me a lot of head ache. I needed to check that the wort was cool enough to pitch the yeast and had to make a small batch of sanitized water because I had poured the rest down the sink.

Even with a few missteps the airlock is bubbling away happily and I have my fermenter in a tub of water in my extra closet with a few icepacks to keep the temperature down. I've kept it at about 64-68 from the beginning.

Here's to beer!

My airlock bubbling away
http://s252.photobucket.com/albums/hh5/complete_geek/?action=view&current=105_0092.flv

 

[Kirbster]

First off, congrats on your first brew! Forty pounds of ice is a bit of money each time you brew. I would look into investing in a wort chiller. I had problems boiling on my stove but I made a brew kettle skirt made from reflective insulation. This allowed me to get 4.5 gallons of water to a vigorous boil on my electric stove. The spray bottle with sanitizer is definitely one of my most useful piece of brewing equipment. I use Star-San and keep it in my spray bottle and spray anything that comes near my wort. Also if I know I will be using a lot of sanitizer over a week or so I will mix up a large batch and keep it on hand. Good job keeping the fermentation temp in check. A lot of new brewers (including myself) overlooked fermentation temperatures on their first few goes. If the temperature rises too much a wet towel draped over the bucket with a fan blowing on it will help bring the temperature down a bit. Hope it turns out well for you!

 

[jdp]

Well, after it is all said and done, you learned a bit, and still managed to make beer. Everyone says not to drink any until it is at least 3 weeks bottle conditioning. They are right...somewhat. I say AFTER fermentation is done and the beer is in bottles, stick ONE in the fridge on day 5 of bottle conditioning, then drink it. Then stick one in on day 10. Then 15, and 20. Pay attention to how each one tastes and you will quickly figure out why waiting is the best.

I still sample every 5 days. it not only reminds me to wait, but it shows what I have to look forward to.

 

[completegeek]

First off, congrats on your first brew! Forty pounds of ice is a bit of money each time you brew. I would look into investing in a wort chiller. I had problems boiling on my stove but I made a brew kettle skirt made from reflective insulation. This allowed me to get 4.5 gallons of water to a vigorous boil on my electric stove. The spray bottle with sanitizer is definitely one of my most useful piece of brewing equipment. I use Star-San and keep it in my spray bottle and spray anything that comes near my wort. Also if I know I will be using a lot of sanitizer over a week or so I will mix up a large batch and keep it on hand. Good job keeping the fermentation temp in check. A lot of new brewers (including myself) overlooked fermentation temperatures on their first few goes. If the temperature rises too much a wet towel draped over the bucket with a fan blowing on it will help bring the temperature down a bit. Hope it turns out well for you!

A wort chiller would be nice. I have a bulk ice dispenser up the street from me. It's 1.25 per 20 lbs so its not gonna break a the bank anytime soon. I will definitely be doing the spray bottle and a kettle skirt sounds like a good diy project. It was this forum that clued me in on the importance of temp control.

Well, after it is all said and done, you learned a bit, and still managed to make beer. Everyone says not to drink any until it is at least 3 weeks bottle conditioning. They are right...somewhat. I say AFTER fermentation is done and the beer is in bottles, stick ONE in the fridge on day 5 of bottle conditioning, then drink it. Then stick one in on day 10. Then 15, and 20. Pay attention to how each one tastes and you will quickly figure out why waiting is the best.

I still sample every 5 days. it not only reminds me to wait, but it shows what I have to look forward to.

Oh I doubt I'll be able to contain myself for 3 whole weeks when I finally bottle. With my MR. Beer batch I tested every week or so.

My mind has been racing with all the possibilities now. Being from the south I'm really interested in the Hard Iced Tea recipe I saw recently. I'm already obsessed.

 

[KevinW]

My mind has been racing with all the possibilities now. Being from the south I'm really interested in the Hard Iced Tea recipe I saw recently. I'm already obsessed.

Welcome to the obsession! You came to the right place

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

One other thing I can recommend to you for the cooling issue is that since you're not doing full boils, you can toss your top up water in the fridge (or freeze if you have the space) and cool that down overnight/while your wort is boiling. This will help cool down your wort without having to use ice. If you can get your three gallons cooled to 90-100 and mix it with 2 gallons at 40 you'll hit 60-70 with no problem. That can save time and money.

If you were using a glass carboy I would say don't do this (temp shock breaks the glass) but with plastic you're golden.

 

[SumnerH]

Also, you can use cold tap water at first to get the wort down to middle temps, and then add fresh cold water + ice. Before I got a chiller, I'd do this--fill sink with cold tap water, put wort in it, wait until water's lukewarm and wort isn't cooling quickly, drain and refill with cold tap water + ice. 14 lbs of ice was plenty--that'd get the wort down to 80F or so, then I'd top up with a couple gallons of refrigerated water at around 35F, and be pitching at 62F or so.

Cooling speed is based on the temperature differential between the wort and the chill water; wort that's around 120 will cool _much_ faster in ice water than 60F tap water, but 212F wort will cool pretty darned quickly in 60F tap water.

 

[completegeek]

One other thing I can recommend to you for the cooling issue is that since you're not doing full boils, you can toss your top up water in the fridge (or freeze if you have the space) and cool that down overnight/while your wort is boiling. This will help cool down your wort without having to use ice. If you can get your three gallons cooled to 90-100 and mix it with 2 gallons at 40 you'll hit 60-70 with no problem. That can save time and money.

If you were using a glass carboy I would say don't do this (temp shock breaks the glass) but with plastic you're golden.

I'll definitely try that next time. It think my biggest problem during the whole process is the timing. I knew the steps just no idea how long they should take. Live and learn.

 

[SumnerH]

I'll definitely try that next time. It think my biggest problem during the whole process is the timing. I knew the steps just no idea how long they should take. Live and learn.

Yeah, that was the biggest thing for me in getting brew days running smoothly: learn what takes a while. The most important thing is to get slow stuff started as soon as possible.

Basically, at the start of the day I want the water in the pot and heating up to mash/steeping temperature ASAP. After that's going, I can start getting the rest of the ingredients together and measured out.

Likewise, things like starting the mash/steep, heating the water to a boil, or getting the chilling start are things that need to happen "right now" to avoid slowing down everything.

In the early days, I wrote down every little step I needed in the order I had to perform them to have an efficient brewday; I'd add times whenever I took key actions, and I'd have notes at the end of the day like:

Add: 2 tsp gypsum to 5 gallons water
Bring 3.5 gallons to: 170F
rehydrate irish moss
11:23AM strike temp reached
Mash @153F:
2 lbs maris otter
8 oz biscuit
12:00 bring sparge water to 175
12:23: Remove grain to sparge
Bring main pot to boil
12:38 drain sparge grain, pour sparge in boil
Add:
12:58 7 lbs pilsen DME
Bring to boil and wait for hot break
1:19pm add 4 oz fuggles
Boil 45 minutes
Prep star-san
Clean and sanitize fermenter
2:04pm Add: 1 oz fuggles
Boil 5 minutes
2:09pm Add: rehydrated irish moss
Draw up ice water bath in sink
in 10 minutes add:
2:19pm add: 1 oz fuggles
chill
2:45pm pitch
London wyeast 1028 x2

After a while you learn the order cold and can relax a bit--I don't have to copy the recipe over into my notes to feel comfortable, and my notes are more like:

5:45 mash in
7:26 Hot break, boil timer start

 

[completegeek]

Like everything else, do it a few dozen times and you got it down.