First day homebrewing!!!

Date: October 28, 2007

So my first day homebrewing was also the same day the Red Sox completed a World Series sweep of the Rockies and I finished just in time to catch the game.

The temps were chilly on this fall morning, so I cranked heat for approx. 70 degree temp before starting yeast pack at 9:30 am; the inner pack seemed hard to break at first; process seemed slow to start, so shook package more and heard “crackling” inside

I PM’ed my friend Sharon w/ some final questions that now seem kind of silly:

1. Started my yeast pack a little while ago, but my place was really cold this morning and had to crank the heat first (says must be 70 degrees)....package hasn't swelled at all yet and could be a while before i can start boiling...should I be concerned?
2. My kit came with some specialty grains (that i need to smash up a little), malt syrup, DME powder and hops i need to put at 4 different times....the final being dry hop (secondary ferm)....the hops are very small pellets...do those just dissolve?
3. After pouring in the yeast, should you agitate the wort in the primary before letting it sit for fermentation?
4. I haven't seen anything in my instructions about straining...maybe b/c of my type of kit and small hop pellets, but do you recommend straining anyway, especially from kettle to primary? all I have is a strainer I use for pasta, etc.
5. Is it ok to sanitize a bunch of stuff (like what i need for today) all at once and let dry on a towel, or does sitting around for a bit still mess them up again?
6. When transferring from primary to secondary, no air should be getting into the secondary? my siphon hose doesn't fit into the rubber stopper so the top of the secondary would be open to the air during the whole transfer
   

She was helpful with answers, but also words of wisdom to relax and not worry so much.

Time to start!!!!

1. 12:00 pm - Place specialty grains into plastic bag and crush; pour grains into mesh sock; some grains escape
2. 12:15 pm – Pour 1.5 gallons into kettle and begin to cook
3. 12:19 pm – Start to steep specialty grains
4. 12:32 pm – water temp reaches 170°; remove grains (13 minutes)
5. Prep extracts
6. 12:50 pm – water reaches boil (35 minutes)
7. Remove kettle from stove
8. Add liquid extract (like sludge – next time soak in hot water first)
9. Add DME (poured too fast and formed big clumps)
10. 1:00 pm – extracts all mixed in; cloudy brown
11. 1:03 pm – Kettle put back on burner
12. 1:25 pm – Wort boiling; time for hops; 1.0 oz. chinook @ 60 min.
    
13. 2:15 pm - 0.5 oz. chinook hops @ 10 min.
14. 2:24 pm - 0.5 oz. chinook hops @ 1 min.
15. lots of foaming and lovely hop aromas; prep cooling tub
16. 2:25 pm – Boil is complete; place wort in cooling tub (some ice)
17. While wort cools, all equipment is sanitized
18. 3:10 pm – wort is under 80° (45 minutes)
19. The next steps happen in a flurry
20. Fill primary carboy w/ 3 gallons
21. Dump wort into carboy using funnel
22. Fill up to 5 gallon mark with water
23. Sanitize wort package and scissors
24. Pitch yeast (pour down funnel – ok?)
25. Stopper with lock (and water)
26. Very little trub left in kettle
27. Clean up and done by 4:45 pm
    

Steeping the grains



LME/DME mixed in



Boiling away after first hop addition



Trying to chill wort



Sanitized equipment



All finished