So I started brewing last night and as I was cleaning everything up, I realized I forgot to get any pictures. Maybe next time. Anyway, here's how it went down (after sterilizing everything, of course): (oh and I apologize ahead of time if I'm not using correct terminology)
I got out my brewing kettle and stared at it for a while as I tried to figure out how to measure two gallons into it. I then decided to grab a pitcher that is graduated in quarts (as well as oz.) and I added two gallons of water 2 quarts at a time (four quarts in a gallon times two gallons divided by two quarts in a pitcher = four pitchers, eh?). Anyway, I heated the water up to 145°F using my gas stove. I poured my grains into the cheesecloth bag that came with my recipe kit, placed the bag in the water (like a giant teabag) and let it sit for about 25 minutes (with an occasional poke or jab from my long plastic spoon, which later broke). I pulled the bag out and squeesed out as much liquid as I could.
I got the water boiling and using some of the cheesecloth bag that I cut off, I tied off each end after filling it with my hops and threw 'em in for 45 minutes. Following this, I removed the bag, filled my sink with ice and a bit of water, and placed my kettle of wort in for chilling. At this point, I added the rest of my hops. Now, when I boiled my first set of hops, I noticed the bag was quite swollen and I figured that perhaps the hops needed more space to expand, so I just dumped my aroma hops in sans bag (because I figured they would be filtered out by the strainer anyway.
While waiting for the wort to cool, I went downstairs and added 3 gallons (twelve quarts, or six pitchers) of cold water to my 6 1/2 gallon glass carboy.
Once the wort had cooled a while, I boiled a bit of water and started letting it cool so I could use it to activate my dry yeast (this took longer than expected and next time I'll have to start that step sooner). I took the kettle downstairs and attempted to strain it into the carboy. I had a stainless steel strainer placed on top of a funnel containing a smaller strainer. Now, I figured this would work pretty efficiently. However, it didn't take much to clog both strainers (next time, bag the hops, man!). I had to stir the wort in the funnel to get it to go down and after each funnel full, I rinsed off both strainers with hot water and at one point, I even got my hand in the way of the pouring wort (I had just washed my hands prior to this step, so hopefully there wasn't too much contamination).
By this time it was getting pretty late and the water for my yeast was only down to 50°F (the package suggested a narrow 38° to 40°F) despite being in the fridge, so I just went with it. After letting the yeast sit for fifteen minutes, I pitched it, threw on my airlock and hit the sack.
When I went down for a look this morning, nothing exciting had happened except the cap to my airlock was on the floor (I didn't press it on tight, becuase I don't see how gas could escape if its sealed) so I know there has been some activity.
I guess now I just hurry up and wait.
michaellasalle
"If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars." -Jean Paul Getty
3 comments:
Hey, read your post on rec.crafts.brewing, then came here.
I've been brewing for 6 years. Approx 50 batches. But I'm *not* a know-it-all, and I try to keep it *real* simple while still having a fun hobby. Bits of advice follow:
- I have always had great luck leaving the wort in a (plastic bucket) primary fermenter for 5 or 6 days, then moving to a carboy for 7 additional days, then bottling/kegging. I take gravity readings at the beginning, and when I transfer, and when I bottle. But I don't use them to decide when to bottle. If you had good, active bubbling out of your airlock, and then you don't for a few days, you're good to go. (Although the lack of foam is interesting/perplexing.)
- I always use liquid yeast. Used to use the "smack packs" from Wyeast, now use White Labs pitchable vials. They are nice. The pitchable vials are very nice, as you don't have to worry about starting your yeast.
- Something is wrong with your temps (either a typo, or you had Lager yeast instructions, or something). Ale yeast is fine to pitch around 75-85 degrees F. And fermenting at 68 is about perfect. If your instructions said pitch at 40F, something is fishy. Lager yeasts ferment at those temps, but I've never done lagers.
- The best advice ever is clean clean clean! But having said that, I had to dip my whole arm in one batch (just before pitching the yeast) to retrieve something I dropped in, and the beer was still fine.
Hope this helps. Good luck. And always, relax and have a homebrew.
Interestingly enough, I just started my first batch of beer and am blogging about it as well. http://iwankerl.blogspot.com/
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