Pictures of me brewing my first beer!!

[mjknapp]

I finished brewing my first batch, I just bought a brewers best kit for my first batch. Paul at the lhbs said that it is a pretty easy beer to brew and it has a really good taste. Not the easiest kit, but definetely not the hardest.
The label calls it "American Micro Style Pale Ale", but I am going to come up with my own name for it :D

This is when I first got home with it all, I had stuff all over the table!! http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d801b3127cceb0f6230d8d0f0000001610
This is when I was steeping the specialty grains. http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d801b3127cceb0f6203acda10000001610
This is when the wort ras about 50 minutes into the boil, i had just added the finishing hops, and had about ten minutes left. http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d801b3127cceb0f6203f4c940000001610
This is after I pitched the yeast, and put the airlock on it. http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d801b3127cceb0f626f9cd610000001610
This is the next day, fermentation was going crazy, the airlock was bubbling like mad. http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d801b3127cceb0f626f84c500000001610

Let me know what you guys think!!

[mjknapp]

I have alot of questions, and I dont want to post stupid questions on the nb forum, so I am gonna ask you underfoot and tt3. See all the hops in my carboy after fermenting for less than 24 hours, I tried to strain most of them out, but the ss strainer in my funnel kept getting clogged, and alot of it went into the fermenter when I was cleaning it off. I am going to transfer it to my secondary fermenter as soon as the majority of the bubbling subsides, so I do realize that alot of the hops will be left behind when I rack it. Is this normal, or did I screw up??

[underfoot]

I have alot of questions, and I dont want to post stupid questions on the nb forum, so I am gonna ask you underfoot and tt3. See all the hops in my carboy after fermenting for less than 24 hours, I tried to strain most of them out, but the ss strainer in my funnel kept getting clogged, and alot of it went into the fermenter when I was cleaning it off. I am going to transfer it to my secondary fermenter as soon as the majority of the bubbling subsides, so I do realize that alot of the hops will be left behind when I rack it. Is this normal, or did I screw up??

You're fine. some of the hops will settle out, some will stay on the top. No big deal. I use a very fine mesh strainer (or muslin or several layers of cheesecloth) and siphon the beer from the primary thru the strainer and into the secondary. This gets rid of any leftover hops. If you dry hop in the secondary, you can do the exact same procedure when transferring to the bottling bucket and once again the hops will be gone.

The fermenting looks to be going well! Dry yeast or liquid yeast? Either one is good, I'm just nosey.

When the bubbling slows to about 1 every minute or two thats a good time to transfer. If you have a hydrometer or refractometer, you can check the gravity and be real scientific about when to transfer, but I just watch the airlock.

Are you keeping that carboy out of the sunlight?

[mjknapp]

I used dry yeast, but i rehydrated it with a 1/4 cup of boiling water and let it sit for 15 minutes, then added 1 tablespoon of sugar, I covered the yeast and set it next to the stove, it was going nuts in about 20 minutes.

You said you strained it when you were racking it to your secondary, but I thought you had to do a soft transfer, letting the end of the hose lay beneath the surface of the beer in the secondary, How would you do that if you were straining it???

And the carboy is in the laundry room, the temp is around 75-76 degrees, a little warm, but from what I read ok. The light is off for 23 out of 24 hours a day, and no windows in that room, door alwasys closed, so very dark all the time.

[mjknapp]

I just read my post, it sounded like I was accusing you of dong it wrong when you racked it to your secondary, Didnt mean to sound that way, what I was trying to say, is how can I go about straining it without getting too much oxygen exposed to it???

[underfoot]

I just read my post, it sounded like I was accusing you of dong it wrong when you racked it to your secondary, Didnt mean to sound that way, what I was trying to say, is how can I go about straining it without getting too much oxygen exposed to it???

I wasnt offended.

Sanitize the strainer and the cheesecloth and anything else that may come in contact with the beer. Its just a good precaution.

To keep from getting too much splashing, I put the siphoning tube into the strainer and set the strainer about 1 inch into the beer. No splashing and the sides of the strainer are way above the beer level so the hops stay trapped. When I used cheesecloth, it did pretty much the same thing. Just put the cheesecloth in a sieve or another strainer or something with a hole in the bottom and let the beer filter thru it.

There's also a lot of debate about oxidation. I guess its a good idea to avoid introducing too much extra oxygen but if a little splashing goes on, its not really going to be enough to harm your beer. Besides, from what I've read, oxidation takes months to become apparent. Who's beer lasts that long, anyway? :)

[mjknapp]

allright, I see what you are saying, and alot of the hops arent going to go into the secondary anyway, as they will be stuck to the sides and bottom of the primary. When I rack it, I will let you know how it went

[underfoot]

allright, I see what you are saying, and alot of the hops arent going to go into the secondary anyway, as they will be stuck to the sides and bottom of the primary...
Exactly.

Your racking cane may have a small attachment for it that keeps it from siphoning directly off the bottom of the fermenter. The attachment looks like a little knob that slides onto one end of the cane. If you dont have this attachment, just position the cane about 1" off the bottom of the fermenter to avoid sucking up too much yeast and sediment.

[mjknapp]

Yeah. it has a little atachment on it that will keep it from sucking off the bottom.

[tt3]

Whoooo looks like I missed a dooozie of a thread, eh?!?
RELAX!! Forget about the hops and all that, seriously, you're only on your first batch. Its fine! Everthing will settle if you give it time. Nothing screwed up from what I could see. You got a vigorous ferment which is always an awesome sign. Like Kevin says, rack to secondary when its slowed down, then let it sit for two weeks if you can. (I almost never do :lol: )
Please don't worry about straining it or anything, not yet, if ever. Given enough time everything will settle. I've never had a problem with hops floating around the finished product when I don't dryhop my secondary. Thats even with some pretty hefty IPA's and pale ales that use 3+ ounces in the boil and flame out.
Having said that, I'm a pretty laid back brewer with everything BUT sanitization... do what works for you man, thats what makes the hobby great. Just don't try and get too complex with your first ones.
Those Brewer's Best kits, man, I tell ya what, I haven't had a bad one of those. They are always consistant and always decent. Only a little light on the OG, but thats ok... an extra pound of DME cures that :twisted:

[mjknapp]

I was sanitizing like a mad man. My wife was laughing at me, because every time I went neer the wort, carboy I was sanitizing my hands, and the thermometer, the spoon, everything, I think I did a good job sanitizing. The ferment has slowed down some, it was bubbling like twice every couple of seconds, now it is just about 1 every 3 or 4 seconds, I am going to leave it in the primary until wed, or thursday, and if it has slowed to about once a minute or so. Then I will rack it.

[tt3]

Everything that touches the wort preboil and during the boil, don't sweat!
Everything that touches the wort post boil, sweat!
:lol:
Really though, keep in mind they've been doing this for hundreds of years in all sorts of conditions. Granted, it might not have tasted all that good, but it'll be drinkable!
cheers :drinkers:

[mjknapp]

After all the reading I did on brewing, it got me to thinking about the first person who ever tried to brew beer, What made them think that mixing all those ingredients would turn out anything remotely drinkable.

Do you think I bought a good enough brew kit, well it wasnt a kit, we just pieced it together at the lhbs. I am lucky to have such a good store so close to me.

[mjknapp]

I have a quick question, when I took my first reading before I sealed my carboy up, my starting gravity was right where I wanted it to be, it was 1.050, exactly what the recipe called for. I have read where people testing during primary fermentation have tested it every once in a while to dictate when to rack it into my secondary, I realize I would have to sterilize everything really good before I did that, but would it be better to just let it sit and wait for little to no activity in the airlock, then take the final gravity reading, before I transfer it to secondary?

[tt3]

I have never taken a gravity reading during fermentation. IMHO its just one more place to introduce contamination.
When the bubbles have subsided like Kevin suggested, rack. Or just wait a week and rack...
take a gravity when its time to bottle... or wait, you're gonna keg'er up right? Or bottle this batch?
If you don't have it, register and log in to yahoo IM, I'm on there often during the day and can answer more in that kind of format, or we can try the chat room here.
Oh, my yahoo ID is ttreml3

[mjknapp]

I am bottling this batch, as I am waiting for my buddy to ship my tanks to me, and I wanted to try it out this way before I tried kegging. I do have yahoo messenger, and I will try and get ahold of ya later, as today is really busy, alot of catching up to do on the house since I took yesterday off.