Transfer Batch No. 1

Date: November 4, 2007

At this point it's been 7 days since brewing.

Transferring from primary to secondary is pretty straightforward. The biggest concern here was keeping everything sanitary. I sanitized a new airlock, carboy (5 gal.), auto-siphon, tubing, funnel and thief for taking a sample. In the second photo you can see the auto-siphon taking the brew from the primary (above) to the secondary (below). Even though the auto-siphon has a protector on it, I generally hold it above the trub just to keep it from getting a little clogged and slowing down. After the transfer, you need to clean, clean and clean.

Also, it came to my attention later that not all homebrewers use an auto-siphon. This might be one of the most important items my beer kit came with - seriously!!

In this batch, I dry hopped 1.0 oz. of chinook hops in pellet form. Later one I would dry hop a beer using leafs hops. Long story short, dry hop with pellets!!



Krausen left overs



Transferring - gravity is key!!



Almost empty primary - plenty of trub



Dry hopped (pellets)



Hops starting to dissolve

First Brew Day - Thoughts

Some thoughts from my first day:

1. Homebrewing rocks!!!
2. Love the smells of the hops, boiling wort, etc.
   
3. LME is sludge - must heat up to make pouring easier
4. With my 8-gallon kettle no reason to do partial boil
5. Chilling took a long time w/ 1.5 gals, can't imagine how long for 5
   
6. Must make/buy a wort chiller
7. Don't get concerned if airlock activity takes a while
8. When's the next one?
   

Additional equipment to pick up:

1. Bottles (should have saved more!!)
2. Big spoon for stirring extracts
3. Floating thermometer
4. More ingredients!!
   
5. Wort Chiller material
   

Bubbling away after 24 hours



Check out that krausen!!



Blow tube rigged for overflow

Batch No. 1 - Clean Sweep IPA

Clean Sweep IPA

Brewed - October 28, 2007

Style - IPA
Source - Northern Brewer Kit / Chinook IPA

Ingredients:

• 6.0 lbs. Pilsen LME
• 1.0 lbs. Pilsen DME
  
• 0.75 lbs. Dingeman's Caramel Pils
• 0.25 lbs. Briess Caramel 120
• 1.0 oz. Chinook (60)
• 0.5 oz. Chinook (10)
• 0.5 oz. Chinook (1)
• 1.0 oz. Chinook (dry hop)
• Wyeast #1056 American Ale
  

OG - 1.056
Primary - 7 days
Secondary - 21 days

Bottled - November 23, 2007

FG - 1.020
Attenuation - 65%
ABV - 4.72%

Notes:
- Partial boil (1.5 gallons)
- Steep grains at 170° for 15 minutes
- 60 minute boil

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

Prep for first brew day

Date: October 27, 2007

This biggest thing on this day was just getting used to some of the equipment and trying to figure out positions, etc. I didn't want to be totally blind on brew day.

1. For my water I decided to pick up a 5-gallon water jug and then get it filled at local markets. I don't necessarily think anything is wrong with my tap water, but figured this was a good way to keep it consistent. Not sure when or if I'll get into the pH testing, etc.
2. Unpacked stater kit, checked contents
3. Filled up each carboy and marked gallon levels w/ tape
4. Practiced siphoning
5. Cleaned/sanitized some equipment from shipping, etc.
   
6. Pickup up big plastic tub for cooling the wort
7. Reviewed instructions and beer ingredients

And so it began....

For many years I wanted to get into homebrewing and in the fall of 2007 it became a reality. With a handful of gift certificates, I picked up a Deluxe Starter Kit from Northern Brewers, an 8-gallon brew kettle and a few extract recipe kits. I looked at many options before choosing this kit and retailer, and IMO it was the best value and I'm glad I picked up the bigger kit w/ glass carboys, etc.

Similar to when I got into telemark skiing, I jumped right in w/ my investment without any previous experience or knowledge. Sure I drank and loved beer and had even taken a few simple brewery tours, but I didn't know anything about the process. I picked The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian and admittedly was overwhelmed by some of the detail, esp. ones related to sanatizing. Getting into something new can often cause anxiety and I certainly was anxious in the days leading up to my first batch. I took lots of notes to help remember the procedure, read blogs and chatboards and consulted a few folks I knew had homebrewed before. It all seemed like a big to-do, but with just a little prep work and focus, homebrewing really is quite easy.

So, over the next 1.5 years I have brewed 15 batches and I'd have to say that brewing your own beer is a pretty rocking hobby. It's fun, challenging, scientific, creative and the options are endless. No matter what you think you know, there is always more to learn and different things to try.

I intend to get this blog up and running with all my previous batch details, photos, general brewing procedure and then keep it current with aspects of my record keeping that are lacking in my notebook - mainly tasting notes, research and thoughts as I continue to expand as a homebrewer. Thanks for reading!!