Homebrewers, UNITE!
- Thread starter isukendall
- Start date
Welcome to the hobby! As far as scorching the pot, make sure you remove the pot from the burner before you stir in the liquid extract, and then return it to the burner and begin boiling again. As long as you have bubbling activity in the fermentor you're good to go! Let us know how it turns out.
Thanks for the advice on the scortching. I did read that after the fact of course, oh well learning process.
As far as an update. The wort went into primary on Sat about 9pm and as of Tuesday at 9pm it was still bubbling away about once every 3-5 seconds so no matter what it taste like it will have alcohol in it:yes:.
I was originally going to bottle this weekend but after further review and reading I've decided to wait untill next weekend which would be 2 weeks in the primary.
Im pretty sure that I am going to hit up the LHBS and get another fermentation vessle so I can brew another batch this weekend and get my pipeline built up. Also the second vessle will allow for racking to secondary if needed for dry hopping or other additions like fruit, honey etc for future more complex brewing.
The hardest thing to do when you're a newbie home brewer is to have patience. Wait a minimum of two weeks in primary before bottling or transferring to secondary. Being a wheat you should be good to go at two weeks. Your bubbles may slow way down after a week, but the yeast is still doing it's thing. Then, make sure you bottling condition at around 70 degrees to get the carbonation process going. I usually crack open a bottle at 10 days to see how it's coming, but two weeks is the norm. Absolutely get another fermentor! There are some beers that you will want to transfer to secondary to clear up the beer.
I make quite a few wines and meads in the summer. Last year I made a killer run of elderberry wine.
PSA:
I have to say this but only once, if you want to grow your own hops let me know.
That is all Cyclone Nation, you're regular scheduled brodcast will continue.
I have to say this but only once, if you want to grow your own hops let me know.
That is all Cyclone Nation, you're regular scheduled brodcast will continue.
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There is a reason why it's probably one of the biggest fallacies. It's easily one of the most common debates on brewing forums as well. LHBS perpetuate it because they make money being one of the few sources where you can easily get a 30 qt or bigger stainless steel brew kettle, as compared to going to a dozen places to get an aluminum turkey fryer kettle.
Another contributing factor is that around the time homebrewing started to gain steam was the same time that the belief that aluminum led to Alzheimer's started to sprout.
John Palmer who wrote the book "How to Brew", is a metalurgist in the R&D department of 3M. He has said repeatedly that aluminum is safe and there will be no chance for off-taste as long as you basically "season" the pot by first boiling water in it for a hour (creating a layer of oxidation).
Again, all this being said, stainless steel is still generally preferred for a variety of reasons (some more opinion than fact), but aluminum will work as well.
I just got my 5 gallon brandy oak barrel delivered today... (It took the long route from WI to Brooklyn and back to St. Paul...) In any case, I need to brew this weekend and planning on doing a brandy brown ale of some sort... I figure that if I get any funk out of it, the brown will handle it better.
I also got my malt mill today and my erector set brew stand will be complete enough to fire one of the burners and brew on this weekend. I looooove having a house versus the ol' brooklyn apartment.
10 gallons of lambic are happily fermenting in basement in warm water bath (via small submersible pump and aquarium heater).
I seriously love this hobby...
I also got my malt mill today and my erector set brew stand will be complete enough to fire one of the burners and brew on this weekend. I looooove having a house versus the ol' brooklyn apartment.
10 gallons of lambic are happily fermenting in basement in warm water bath (via small submersible pump and aquarium heater).
I seriously love this hobby...
My red ale is in the fermenter and started bubbling this morning. :yes:
Bought the stuff from Beer Crazy in Urbandale. Had a boil over but other than that everything went fine. :err:
Bought the stuff from Beer Crazy in Urbandale. Had a boil over but other than that everything went fine. :err:
I brewed a Dusseldorf Altbier this weekend. Sitting in the cellar now fermenting at 59-60 degrees. Once that fermentation heat goes down, I'll keep it around 52-54 degrees for 4 weeks for a warmer lager period.
Got the starter kit from my wife for my birthday and have read Palmer's book and spent many hours on homebrewtalk. I feel like I'm finally ready to go. First brew is scheduled for this Saturday...can't wait!
Good luck! And, as Charlie Papazian says: Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew. Don't overthink it to the point that you're stressing.
Update: I'm about to get really good at bottling, as I have four fermenters full of stuff: Mead, Belgian IPA, Trippel, Saison. Know what my main plans are for Memorial Day weekend.
I'm debating what to make for batch #2. Haven't had time lately. Think I'm going to do at least one more extract before moving on to the real deal
Would appreciate any info from people that wash their yeast to use it for future batches, which I'm starting to consider. I've watched some videos on it and it doesn't look hard, but there's lots of time cut out of the videos.
Roughly how long does it take you to wash a batch of yeast from start to finish (not including making a starter for the future batch)? In your opinion is it worth it, both dollar wise and quality wise? Thanks y'all
Roughly how long does it take you to wash a batch of yeast from start to finish (not including making a starter for the future batch)? In your opinion is it worth it, both dollar wise and quality wise? Thanks y'all
I'm sort of in the same boat. Yeast tends to be between $3-$5 bucks for a fresh dry pack or even north of $6 for liquid so I have tossed around the idea of trying to wash yeast and save for future use. Probably economical when you consider time and supplies on types of yeast that you would use regularly.
My biggest hold up is that I dont really have room in a fridge for a bunch of jars of yeast and I am not confident enough in my ability to wash and package properly to eliminate contamination or off flavors at this point.
What type will you be making? Recently just got done with a Wheat with orange zest and coriander. Worked out pretty well I think.
Also love homebrew talk, great resource. Noticed quite a few fellow Iowans there as well.