My First Brew!

[DR_Brew]

Hey Everyone,

I am new to the site as well as new to brewing. A friend of mine got me into it and when I got a kit, well the rest is history now. I have always loved chemistry and look at brewing the same way. So I looked all over for recipes and started reading the book that came with the kit and one night decided that I wanted to do a Vanilla Bean Milk Stout.

I was able to brew Thursday night (4/26). it is sitting in the primary now and the action has really started to unfold. OG was 1.062. I am planning on getting it down to ~1.018 for FG. Now, it is sitting in the primary for a total of 14 days. After the primary, and there is where I have been getting lost on things (googled everything I could think of and still couldn't get a complete answer). I am planning to add the vanilla beans, as well as the bourbon that they have been sanitizing in, at day 15. On top of that, after another 7 days I am planning to dry hop with pacifica for another 7 days. Should I be racking to a secondary for this? I have looked all over and still cannot find an answer that truly points me in the right direction. I have read/hear that it isn't and that it is. So I am a bit lost and just looking for some advice. If this has been posted before, I apologize and just point me to it.

 

[st_brewer]

I am an intern at a microbrewery, when we dry hop we go from primary and add it to the secondary to chill and mellow and then we rack into kegs and we always advise to leave the kegs to mellow unmoved for another week

 

[DR_Brew]

I am an intern at a microbrewery, when we dry hop we go from primary and add it to the secondary to chill and mellow and then we rack into kegs and we always advise to leave the kegs to mellow unmoved for another week

Well that is good to hear from someone who works at a brewery. I have been debating it but to hear it from you, seems like I should just go ahead and rack to the secondary as part of it. I know that it is usually used for clarity and that with a stout, that doesn't really matter much as light doesn't really pass through it much. May sound over concerned with it but I really don't want to screw this up and want to make a great first brew.

 

[st_brewer]

Thats why we always advise letting the keg to settle and dont move it, because the beer will settle if you have added your fining agent

 

[DR_Brew]

Thats why we always advise letting the keg to settle and dont move it, because the beer will settle if you have added your fining agent

Mind explaining that a bit? Not really understanding what you mean.

 

[st_brewer]

yeh sure sorry if I dont make sense.

I use Isanglas which is fish collagen to clear out my beer, I add it during secondary to clear out all the proteins and the gunk and all that stuff, so I will still add it as well as the dry hopping. But obviously there is going to be the hop sedament so you leave for a week to let the flavour impart and also let everything settle down.

Then when you keg up or bottle up you need to make sure that when you move it you let it settle for a couple of days as there will still be sedament.

 

[DR_Brew]

yeh sure sorry if I dont make sense.

I use Isanglas which is fish collagen to clear out my beer, I add it during secondary to clear out all the proteins and the gunk and all that stuff, so I will still add it as well as the dry hopping. But obviously there is going to be the hop sedament so you leave for a week to let the flavour impart and also let everything settle down.

Then when you keg up or bottle up you need to make sure that when you move it you let it settle for a couple of days as there will still be sedament.

It's ok. I am REALLY new to this whole thing. It was my first recipe and first one that I came up with with the help of a friend that has been brewing on his own for awhile. The Isanglas sounds like it is something like Irish Moss. So by the sounds of it, still rack to secondary with addition of vanilla/bourbon and also due to the dry hopping. then when bottling comes around, move to an area where I plan to bottle. Then add priming sugar to the bucket (brown sugar for recipe) and siphon to bucket for bottling. That make sense?

 

[DR_Brew]

if you want to look at the recipe in full...here is a link
http://hopville.com/recipe/1324799/sweet-stout-recipes/vanilla-bean-milk-stout

 

[DR_Brew]

I actually just realized after watching a quick youtube video that you aren't supposed to squeeze the bags of malts due to an extra release of tannins. Should I be worried about this?

 

[kh54s10]

I actually just realized after watching a quick youtube video that you aren't supposed to squeeze the bags of malts due to an extra release of tannins. Should I be worried about this?

No, Extracting tannins happens with temperature and PH level not by squeezing the bags.

But, you will probably get differing opinions on this.

It is common on the BIAB threads where half say never squeeze the wort out of the grains and the other half say squeeze the bag like it owes you money.

 

[DR_Brew]

No, Extracting tannins happens with temperature and PH level not by squeezing the bags.

But, you will probably get differing opinions on this.

It is common on the BIAB threads where half say never squeeze the wort out of the grains and the other half say squeeze the bag like it owes you money.

Phew. And here I am thinking I completely ruined this brew. Thanks!