My first brew day today!

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Well, I got my first batch of homebrew beer in the fermenter today! I hope it turns into the nice honey porter I envisioned. In about a month I should be drinking it. I will put the video of my brew day on my youtube channel next week.

Terry

Awesome!!!
 
Welcome to the obsession! A month may be a little fast, especially if you are planning to bottle. You should let fermentation go at least two weeks to give the yeast time to finish and clean up after themselves. Three weeks would be better. You want to make sure you have a stable final gravity (FG) for at least 3 days prior to bottling. Then it usually takes about 3 weeks for good bottle carbonation. Sometimes 2 weeks is enough, but that's the exception. You don't want to rush the yeast, they work on their own schedule, not yours. One of the most important things to learn in homebrewing is patience. I know you want to taste your first brew as soon as possible, but you should really give the process time, so that your beer can be as good as possible.

Brew on :mug:
 
Thanks for the advice! Here a bit more detail on what I did:

This is a 2.5 gallon batch in a 3.5 gal bucket fermenter.
Style is to be a Honey Porter. Needless to say I sanitized everything with Starsan.
Water= Bottled spring water
LME= 3.3lb Briess Traditional Dark
Hops= 1 oz Germen Hersbrucker pellets
Yeast= 1 pkg. Safale s04
Additional Fermentables= 18oz Local Wildflower Honey
Adjunct= 4oz Trader Joes Real Vanilla Bourbon extract.
35 minute boil.
Added LME and Honey together at start of the boil.
Added 1//3 hops in bag at beginning of boil.
After 15 mins, removed first hops bag and added second 1/3 hops.
After 15 mins, removed second hops bag and added final 1/3 hops
After 5 mins removed hops and removed kettle from heat.
Cooled kettle down in water for a few minutes then poured into fermenter bucket.
Poured in 1 gallon of cold water. Poured in vanilla. Mixed well.
Took Hydrometer reading (temp about 68-70)/ OG= 1060.
Pitched yeast.
Sealed fermenter and tested airlock. Good seal. Airlock contains Starsan water.
Placed fermenter in hallway bathtub.
Fermentation began in 1 hour. Very active airlock bubbling within 3 hours.
Active bubbling continues today.

So, how do y'all think I did for my first time? All constructive comment, critiques and advice gratefully accepted!

Terry
 
I haven't heard of removing hop bags before the end of boil. I don't think it will cause any harm, but you may not get as much hop bitterness or flavor as you might have if you had left them in for the full boil. Also, I think honey is best added very near the end of the boil in order to preserve as much of the honey flavor as possible. Other than that, you process looks good, and in a few weeks you will have beer.

Brew on :mug:
 
Yeah, I made a mistake on the hops. The instructions I had were unclear on that point so I made a command decision. I talked to my brew shop guy today and he said the same thing as you. The good news is that I don't really like a lot of bitterness in my beer so this might turn out just right for me. And, if I had thought it through I would have waited till the end of the boil to add the honey. I was just excited about finally getting to do my first brew! This one is what's called a learning experience.

Terry
 
That seems like a giant amount of vanilla extract for 2.5 gallons (sounds like you already added it?). Hope you get a great first beer! My first was a porter with waaaay too much coffee added, but it was great anyway!
 
I'm getting a bit concerned about my fermentation. Airlock activity began 1 hour after pitching the yeast on friday. After 3 hours it was almost continuous all the way through saturday. Sunday it slowed to 1 burp about every 8 seconds. Today it has slowed to 1 burp about every 20 seconds. Is this normal? If it stops before a week has gone by, what should I do?

Terry
 
Airlock is not meant to be a sign of fermentation. A hydrometer is for that. An airlock's purpose is to let co2 escape and keep infections out. It just so happens that for the first few days the fermentation causes a ton of co2 to escape.
Wait 2-3 weeks then bottle. Even if you use a hydrometer to check for fg and you have hit it 2 measurements two days apart doesn't mean that fermentation is complete. The yeast still clean up a lot of off flavors after alcohol conversion.
Just be patient and try to leave it alone.
 
Congrats on the first brew. Now comes the hard part waiting for the finish but as everyone will tell you patience is your best friend in brewing. Use the time waiting to check up and plan on your next few batches, because there will be more brews to do. Speaking from personal experience. :)
 
Think of your fermentation like an initial peak with a long, slow drop-off. It's perfectly normal to have a vigorous fermentation in the first 2 days and then the appearance of nothing. In fact, this is a sign of good, healthy yeast. They cleaned out the beer fast and efficiently. Although it's not showing in the airlock, some yeast is still in suspension and working on the wort, reducing chemicals that cause off flavors.

I think your 1 month timeline is solid. 2 weeks to ferment, 2 weeks to bottle condition and settle out some of the new beer flavors, then refrigerate and drink. I wouldn't wait any longer than that.
 
at a 1.060 OG you're probably fine going with 2 weeks/3 weeks. i will say that although the beer might be carbed up at 2 weeks, if you let it sit for one more week it will be finished and tasting like it should. though i will say that i always take samples when i can. so when i test a beer's gravity before dry-hopping, i just keep what i've tested, refrigerate it, and try it. then before bottling, same procedure. 1 week bottled, take one, refrigerate, then test it. 2 weeks, same thing. then at 3 weeks i'll drink as much as i want. i do this because i like to learn everything i can about making beer and the process it goes through, so i like to see how the flavors develop. when you do this with every beer, then you will know when your beer is ready for mass consumption based on how it tastes.

for anything much bigger i would probably go 3 weeks ferment/3 weeks bottle. if it's really big you could even go longer. you will hear a lot of people say that for your really big ones you need to move it to a secondary because the yeast that has died out will cause off-flavors. this is really pretty much a myth on the homebrew scale. at our scale the only reason to rack to a secondary would be because you want to free up your primary. unless you're making a sour or something like that, that will take months and months to ferment. though anecdotal, i've heard of some people accidentally leaving a beer in primary, on top of the yeast cake, for 6 months. no off-flavors at all.

+1 on planning your next brews. hell if you plan it right, you could just wash this yeast cake, and brew your next beer on the same day you're bottling. this will help you get that magical "pipeline" going, which will help you to be more patient (and worry less) on your future brews. at that point, any time you want to go mess with your fermenting beer, you just go grab a bottle of beer instead!
 
Actually I just picked up a Mr Beer kit cheap that was unused but missing the HME can. No sweat as I'll use my own ingredients. I just wanted to have another small fermentor for experimenting with different styles and adjuncts like chile peppers and fruit, etc.

Terry
 
Greetings! I am a newbie brewer and was wondering if there is any reason why you wouldn't want to use your bottling bucket as a secondary fermenter, then just bottle the beer from there when it's ready? Lots of good info on this forum and I would much appreciate any advice. I have my very first 5 gallon batch of English Brown Ale (extract kit) in the primary now. Airlock activity was vigorous the second and third day, then slowed to a bubble every couple of minutes. Today is day 7 and it is still "burping" every few minutes. Original SG was 1.040. I checked it on the evening of day 4 and it was 1.010. Today it is exactly the same. Am I to assume it's all done fermenting? should I rack it to a secondary (bottling bucket)? ...or should I just bottle it?
 
Greetings! I am a newbie brewer and was wondering if there is any reason why you wouldn't want to use your bottling bucket as a secondary fermenter, then just bottle the beer from there when it's ready? Lots of good info on this forum and I would much appreciate any advice. I have my very first 5 gallon batch of English Brown Ale (extract kit) in the primary now. Airlock activity was vigorous the second and third day, then slowed to a bubble every couple of minutes. Today is day 7 and it is still "burping" every few minutes. Original SG was 1.040. I checked it on the evening of day 4 and it was 1.010. Today it is exactly the same. Am I to assume it's all done fermenting? should I rack it to a secondary (bottling bucket)? ...or should I just bottle it?

There is no need to rack to a secondary fermenter for this beer (or for that matter, most beers.) Kit instructions are notoriously bad. You should read http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html. That is the 1st edition, so even some of the info in there is a little dated. Follow this HomeBrewTalk, and you will learn a lot.

If you do decide that you want to use a secondary fermenter, a bottling bucket is not a good choice because there is too much headspace. After you remove from the primary fermenter, where the atmosphere above the beer is mostly CO2, you want to minimize the exposure to oxygen in order to prevent oxidation of the beer. The headspace in a bottling bucket will make too much oxygen available to the beer.

Beer is done fermenting when your SG has reached somewhere close to the expected FG, and is stable for readings taken at least 2 days apart. Even when the fermentation is complete, the beer is not actually done. Many people wait at least three weeks after yeast pitch before bottling in order for the yeast to clean up fermentation byproducts that can lead to off flavors.

Brewing requires patience. The sooner you resign yourself to that, the less frustrated you will be with the time beer takes to truly finish.

Brew on :mug:
 
@Brew-n-Bakery

This is not a good idea

During fermentation yeast and other trub will settle at the bottom of the fermentation vessel (FV). The bottling bucket has a spigot to allow draining from its base. If fermentation has occurred in the bottling bucket all that crud will be put into the bottles. Not desirable.

In addition bottling beer requires a priming sugar to be added and distributed evenly throughout the beer so that each bottle will carbonate correctly. By fermenting in the bottling bucket the priming solution would need to be added to the beer and agitated to mix. This will also mix all the yeast and trub into the beer. The other option would be to add priming sugar solution to each bottle individually. A lot more work and much more difficult to ensure each bottle gets the right dose. Priming tablets can be used but these are much more expensive per batch over bulk priming.

In summary not a a good idea.
 
Based on the FG it has probably finished but leave it a couple more days to clean up.

I would not secondary in a bucket. There is too much headspace. You risk oxidizing the beer.
 
Thanx for the advice! I sampled the brew when I checked the gravity... It was exactly the flavor I was hoping for (VERY similar to Newcastle Brown Ale- my favorite)! I think tomorrow I shall go ahead and add the priming sugar and bottle it up. This is my first home brew batch and I can't wait!!!! We'll see how it turns out. Thanx again.
 
Hey, I removed the fermenter lid on day 4 and today to check the SG. Would that have allowed enough of a breath of oxygen in there to oxidize the brew?
 

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