My first Brew - American Brown Ale

[bluethunder33]

Hi everyone - I have been perusing the site for some time and got up the courage to do my own first batch. It was a ton of fun and there is so much information in these forums that it sometimes seems daunting with all the variations and experience.

I brewed with extract and probably will for a while until I understand the process a bit better. Been saving my Sam Adams bottles for a while so I have enough to bottle two full 5 gallon batches (need to decide what the next brew will be - IPA maybe or something really dark).

I included some photos below (I am searching the forums later today on info on the last photo as I had an overflow through my fermentation lock - I suspect this is fine and have seen some easy solutions for my next batch).

1. I am planning on just letting the brew go in the carboy until it starts to clear up - from what I gather this is probably best and easiest for the first time (and maybe everytime). Does anyone see a problem with just letting go 2 -4 weeks in the carboy as-is?

2. One improvement for sure is to make sure the carboy is covered - it is in the basement which stays stead at 66 degrees but it isn't completely dark during the day so a cover should help keep light out which oxidizes correct?

3. Regarding the overflow, this happened around day 3 after completing the boil and adding the yeast. Day 1 and 2 it was bubbling nicely and had a decent fruity smell. Then the yeast party really got going I suspect - just need a blow off tube and have seen some good posts about this - and it smells wonderfully beery and less fruity already. Less of a question I guess but should I just let it subside or is there something that I should be doing with the overflow at this point or just wait it out and then clean the fermentation lock after it goes down a bit?

Thanks for all the feedback, input, and a great interactive forum. I am looking forward to this new journey and many more brew projects to come.


Starting to steep bag of ingredients


Extract and hopp bag (Thermapen is great - won it in the December giveaway, thanks HomeBrewTalk!)


Day 2 fermenting away


Temperature looks good at 68 degrees


Yeast party overflow - still OK here?

 

[kgraber]

Might want to put on a blowoff tube.

 

[FromZwolle]

only oxygen can oxidize, light would skunk your beer. you can clean the airlock when the foam subsides, no problem there.

good luck, and brew on!

 

[beerkrump]

only oxygen can oxidize

No. Oxidation is the chemical reaction in which and electron is lost. this can happen through many path ways. Interaction with oxygen happens to be a common one with metals, hence, the name.

 

[nymtber]

get a blow off tube/bucket set up!

Looks to me like there is more than 5 gal in there, but that is based off my 6 gal carboy, so take that with a grain of salt

Looks like its gonna be good!

 

[bluethunder33]

Looks to me like there is more than 5 gal in there, but that is based off my 6 gal carboy, so take that with a grain of salt

You know what, I just realized that I didn't really measure the final liquid amount in the carboy - the recipe called for boiling 2 gal. of water with the ingredients, etc. and then I added that to the carboy with water until it was say 6" (will have to measure it when I go home tonight) from the top. It very well could be more or less than 5 gal. as I need to check the size of the carboy too... ha, showing how much of a newbie I really am, wow.