This weekend...

Not much new going on... still patiently waiting.  This weekend will be two weeks, so I will be transferring to the second fermenter.  More to come... stay tuned.

Save, save, save! Deal alert!

Northern Brewer has $50 OFF orders 250 and up.  Www.northernbrewer.com

Cool me down!

I live in Florida, and one of the major things I was worried about is fermentation temperature.  In the house here, we usually have about 75-76 degrees F.  To keep Ale yeast happy, we typically want to be in the range of 65-70 degrees.  Ooh!  To top that off, the fermentation process itself produces heat, raising the temp about room temperature.

So far, my easy solution works fine.  I had a soft cooler that is large enough to hold the carboy plus room around the edges.  I have a few inches of water on the bottom and a towel wrapped around it.  There is a room fan gently blowing on it.  I have also added ice a few times when it tried going above 70.   Keep it up!

Phases

Moving on through fermentation here... I hit the start of the primary fermentation phase after 24 hours; where it was violently bubbling and churning.  Cool stuff.  Now, over 48 hours, looks like it has calmed down:  the large foamy head of Krausen is down.  I just see some small bubbles in the foam, and nothing out of the air lock.  I believe it is ok.  :-)  Secondary fermentation phase is on its way.

Patiently waiting... after two weeks, I will be transferring to the secondary fermentation carboy.  Leaving the 'trub' and the gunk behind...  ooohhhhh yaaaaaaaaa, can't wait!

It's alive!

So far so good.  This image is from earlier today.  Foaming and churning!
 

 

Now, at 24 hours we have a steady bubbling coming out the airlock.  Yes!!!  Exciting.

 

 

Take cover!

Take the cover off, I should say!  As I said at the beginning of my blog, I am a newbie.   I know I have things to learn.  Aside from reading the How To Brew book, I also joined a forum.  Some advice I received already:  don't have the cover on during the boil!  Sulphur compounds should boil off at this time.  If the cover is left on they may form Dimethyl Sulfide, condense, and get back into the boil.  This could add an off flavor.  Ugh... Thanks guys!

Brew day pics

Brew day!

My first try here, will be Caribou Slobber Brown Ale. An extract kit from Northern Brewer.

First step, set up the brew kettle.  I am using a propane burner as a heat source.  I only have an electric stove, and its not something I trust to keep 5-6 gallons of water boiling for an hour or so...

For this mix, I have a specialty grain mix.  Place them in the sack, and steep for 20-30 minutes while coming up to boil. But, take it out earlier if the water reaches 170 degrees F.

After steeping for a bit:  Don't worry, the little bits and pieces are from the grains.  Some little bits will escape the bag.  I shook it around a bit, before placing in the kettle, to get most of the loose stuff out.  It smells wonderful.

Boil proof plastic spoon:

Re-hydrate the yeast:  I pre-boiled some water earlier, and let it cool.  At about 100 degrees F, sprinkle the dry yeast into 1 cup water and cover with plastic wrap for 15 minutes.  Then gently stir, re cover, and leave until pitching time.

Ok, time to remove the grains:

Once up to the first boil, turn off the burner and add the liquid and dried malt extract (DME):  Be sure to stir well and completely dissolve the malt.  If not, it will burn on the bottom of the kettle.

Not time yet... but here's the three packs of hops:  Oh boy!  I absolutely love the smell of fresh hops.  It is intoxicating.

Enjoying a favorite brew... I love Dogfish Head brews.  :-)

Now we're in business!  We now have what's called wort.  Its boiling away here.

Oops... so, yes, lesson learned already:  Once up to boiling, I learned that I should turn down the heat a bit to JUST keep it boiling.  Next:  when adding hops... I was a little bit over-ambitious and dumped the whole bag at once!  BOIL-OVER time, oops!   Add the hops slowly and stir, stir, stir. 

We will have a total boil time of 60 minutes for the hops.

Second hop addition, 45 minutes to go with the boil...   And last (not shown) add the finishing hops with 15 minutes left in the boil.

Here is the stainless steel wort chiller.  Place in the boiling wort for the last 5 minutes to sterilize it.

Garden hoses attached to inlet and outlet.  Our goal is to chill the wort down to below 100 degrees F as QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.  This is to reduce chances of contamination.

Wort is below 100 degrees...  so, I transferred to the fermenter.  It needs to be below 80 degrees to 'pitch' the yeast. 

Second lesson:  Once in the fermenter, I had a hard time getting it below 80 degrees (per the instructions).  It was sitting at 90 degrees for a while :-(   So... I packed ice around it for a bit.  I think, next time, I will use the wort chiller and get the temp down lower first...

Yay!!!  Yeast has been pitched.  Stopper and airlock inserted.

Now we wait...   and wait .... and wait...

End of brew day.

Beer and the battle ...

Good article:  http://warontherocks.com/2015/04/how-sobriety-lost-the-battle-beer-and-the-battle-of-trenton/?singlepage=1

National Beer Day!

Let us all celebrate.  Today is National Beer Day!  Tip one back.  http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&sqi=2&ved=0CCgQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FNational_Beer_Day_%2528United_States%2529&ei=OrglVamILIipNs_hgZgJ&usg=AFQjCNEsbdMwUEpVCHhthNXeOHe8ALo99w&sig2=kZM_y3NC6ccevvjpUj6oaw&bvm=bv.90237346,d.eXY

 

Favorite Show? Brew Dogs, of course!

I love these guys:   https://www.facebook.com/BrewDogsESQ
Esquire network.

Here is our brew dog:  ;-) Gina

Tall Boy 8 gallon kettle and Dark Star propane burner

Tall Boy 8 gallon kettle and Dark Star propane burner.

Increased boil volume, as they say.  You can get by with a 5 gallon (minimum) kettle.  If you have a gas stove, you probably will be OK.  But, for me... nope.  No such luck.  Stove is not to be trusted to hold a boil on this puppy.  So, the answer is to use a propane burner.  Welcome Dark Star.  Torch it up!!!

8 gallons.  Whoah.  Oh, ya.  That's a big kettle.  If you use a 5 gallon kettle, you boil approximately 3 gallons of liquid, then make up the rest with cold fresh water when going into the fermenter.  We need a total of 5 gallons in the end.  A better method is to boil the full volume.  Start with about 6 gallons, to account for boil off, and we get a much better end product.  To give some extra room in case there is some boil over, always use a larger kettle.  20% or so --  which gives us the 8 gallon Tall Boy.

Stainless steel wort chiller

Stainless steel wort chiller with garden hose attachments.

After the boil, we must cool the wort.  This is a vulnerable time frame.  After boiling, we are at approximately 180 degrees F.  To 'throw' the yeast, we need to be under 80 degrees F.   We want to cool down to this temp as quickly as possible to reduce any chance of contamination.  This will yield the highest possible product.

Big Mouth Bubbler EVO 2 Glass carboy

Big Mouth Bubbler EVO 2 Glass Carboy.  6.5 gallon.  Quantity 2.  Also shown:  Carry harness and (applied) Fermometer to monitor wort temperature.


Here is where I made the decision to make a major upgrade.  You may purchase a starter kit, and get some really decent equipment.  For under $200, you get 'it all'. 

From Northern Brewer, you can get the Big Mouth Bubbler carboys.  Why would you want a Big Mouth?  Well.... simple.  CLEANING.   Most of brewing is cleaning.  Anything which makes this easier, to me, is worth the investment.  These Big Mouth carboys seemed the way to go.  No need to try and cram a brush through a small opening to clean up afterwards.  Here, we can get our whole arm in and do what we need to do.

Glass or Plastic?  Well, the starter kits include plastic.  This is fine and dandy... but for me, I'm just not a big fan of plastic.  I feel that glass is the way to go.  You can scrub scrub SCRUB away at glass without any worries.  Plastic will scratch. 

Caribou Slobber extract kit

Caribou Slobber Brown Ale extract kit.

Siphone, hose, filler

Racking cane / Siphon (middle), spring loaded bottle filler (right), 6' tubing.

These guys will come in handy, later.  We will be transferring the wort from the primary to secondary fermenter.  Use the Racking cane / siphon and the hose.  One magical pump from the siphon starts the flow.  We don't want to introduce extra oxygen at this point, so we must be careful and not let the wort splash around too much.

One month in, we will be transferring to the bottles.  Use the same setup, but add on the spring tip bottle filler.  This spring tip pushes in and starts the flow.  Lift up... all done.  MAGIC.  :-)

Bottling bucket

Bottling bucket.  Drilled for spigot.

Misc

Carboy dryers (blue), funnel, spare gaskets for Big Mouth Bubbler EVO 2 glass carboys.   Cleaning cloth.

Spoon & bottle scrubber

Boil proof 24" spoon and Brush for cleaning bottles.

Hydrometer

Hydrometer.  For testing gravity of wort.

Bubbler air locks and spigot

Bubbler air lock & Bottling bucket spigot.

Fizz drops and One Step cleaner

Fermenters Favorite Fizz Drops for carbonating the beer in the bottle.
&
One Step cleaner.

Deals... deals... deals.

It is a bit late to mention this... but I got some awesome deals from Northern Brewer.  It turns out that March was home brewer month!  Well, to them, at least.  I subscribe to their emails and got two KILLER deals.  I ordered the first batch of stuff and had a $50 off coupon.  BOOM!  Pure awesomeness.  Just a week later, they had a deal to get a free stainless immersion chiller.  YES !!!  I love you guys.  I ended up saving $120.  Good boy.  The wife was proud of me :-)

One last point --- NO, I don't work for Northern Brewer.  I just found good deals and want to pass it on.  They were referred to me by a fellow home brewer and I like the quality of their products (and the deals, deals, deals).

You spent what?

Ok.  So... fess up.  How much, how much?  Well...  sometimes I go a bit overboard. :-).  Everything I mentioned is around $500.   WHAT!?  Oh boy.  Hold on, hold on.  You don't need all that.  Northern Brewer (and others) have kits which are preassembled for under $200.  It will get you going for a lot less.  I wanted some upgrades, so I purchased everything separately.  For example,  I wanted the Big Mouth Bubbler EVO 2 carboys.  The kit includes plastic.  I'm just not a big fan of plastic.  Glass will not scratch, you can scrub to your hearts content without harming it.  It is heavy, but I plan on using this for a while, so its a good investment.  The other main thing to note, is the BIG MOUTH.  I am not a big fan of cramming a brush through a tiny opening to try and clean these bad boys, so this is an AWESOME feature.

2nd extra item:  Immersion wort chiller.  After you boil the wort, you want to bring the temperature down to below 80 degrees F as quickly as possible.  This prevents extra contamination and limits the protein formation which may cloud the beer.  For this chiller, you attach hoses and run water through it to cool the wort.  More details later...

3rd & Fourth extra items:  Tall Boy Kettle and Burner.  At minimum, you will need a 5 gallon kettle.  If you have a gas stove, you may be happy with that cheaper route.  I don't, and I don't trust this stove to keep 3 gallons of worth happily boiling for an hour.  This kettle is awesome quality:  multi-lay bottom for even heating and it is 8 gallons!  Yes, 8 gallons.  Why so much?  Well, you CAN use only a 5 gallon kettle and boil HALF of the wort... adding clean water to bring the mix up to the full 5 gallons.  A better method is to boil everything.  This increases the overall quality.  So we will start off with approximately 6 gallons of liquid.  To leave some extra wiggle room, we want an 8 gallon kettle.  The burner --  I chose one that is fairly cheap:  $50 separately.  Not the best, but it will get me going.  You may purchase the two together for $120.  That's an awesome deal considering the kettle is normally $100 on its own.  Do it!

I need what?

In addition to the previous list, we also need a propane tank to power the burner.  And... of course... we need the kit!  I'm talking about the extract brewing kit.  There are two routes you may choose from when home brewing:  All grain brewing or extract brewing.  Extract brewing costs less for equipment (as is it wasn't enough already) and it a lot easier to start with.  So, that is what I chose.  I plan on getting into the all grain brewing method later, but lets start off a bit easier.  With that in mind, though, I tried to choose good quality equipment that will be useable for all grain brewing later.  For example, the 8 gallon Tall Boy kettle.  Good stuff!

I chose the Caribou Slobber Brown extract kit.  YUM!  We also get a choice of yeast: I went with Danstar Windsor Ale Yeast.    I chose Fermenters Favorites Fizz Drops for bottling.  We will talk about this on bottling day, in approximate ONE MONTH.  OH...   I can't wait!

Hey what about the bottles!?  Yup, you are correct.  We definitely need bottles.  I will be going with the one liter flippy top (Grolsch style) bottles.  I have not purchased them yet, but they will be on their way in a few weeks. 

Show me the goods!

Pictures will be coming later today.

Today is the day!

(EDIT:  This ended up NOT being the day...  I realized I only had cleaner and not the SANITIZER.  Very important.  Then the nut for attaching the propane burner broke when attaching to the propane tank.  UGH!!  Two bad days of luck in a row... I ended up waiting until the next Saturday)

Today is the day.  I am going to attempt my first batch today... oh... I am very excited!  I have wanted to do this for quite some time, and now I have it all.  I have all the necessities.  Well, maybe even more than the minimum required.  But, I believe that if you're going to do something, do it right! 

So...  Where do you get all the goods?  In my case, I chose to go with Northern Brewer.  Awesome!  I love these guys.  I purchased everything from them in two 'batches', except for the propane gas for the burner.  Here is a list:

• Big Mouth Bubbler EVO 2.   Quantity 2.  6.5 gallon carboys with a BIG MOUTH.
• Bubble Air Lock.  Quantity 2.  One for each of the bubbler carboys.
• 6.5 gallon bottling bucket.  Drilled (for the spigot).
• Bottling Spigot for bucket.
• Lid for bucket.  I plan on keeping supplies in here when not in use, so I'd like to cover it.
• Auto siphon / racking cane.  1/2".  This will be used to transfer from primary to secondary fermenting carboys.
• 1/2" ID siphon hose.  To use with the siphon.
• Spring tip bottle filler.
• Carboy dryer.  Just a plastic piece to hold the carboys upside down to dry.
• Fermometer.  Quantity 2.  Adhesive thermometer to stick on outside of each carboys.
• One Step cleaner.  For cleaning everything!!!
• 24" Boil-Proof plastic spoon.
• Beer bottle brush.
• Big Mouth Harness.  For carrying the carboys around.
• Stainless steel Immersion wort chiller with garden hose attachments.  Will explain later.
• Tall Boy 8 gallon kettle.
• The Dark Star propane burner.

The Zon

So... OK, who the f! $@ is Zon?  Oh.  That's me!   Nickname, really.  My real name is a-zon-a-mous ;-)  haha.  This is my blog.  Welcome. 

In the beginning...

In the beginning... there was beer!  Well...  ok, maybe not.  ;-)  but, there should have been. 

Here begins MY journey -- Into the world I have sooooooo admired:  the brew master world.  No, I'm not a brew master.  I am actually getting ready to create my very first batch.  I have to thank this book: John Palmers how to brew beer.  It is highly recommended.  I read it.....   I will read it again.  And probably again.  It's a lot of information to take in.  But, it's very practical.  Do you need it? No, maybe not.  But, why take a chance. Don't you want to brew the best possible beer?

Reading material

 

How to Brew by John Palmer 

Beer? Yup! I'm in.

Seriously.  How can you not love beer?  Now... I'm not talking cheap, junk.  No way.  Coors?  Miller Lite?  Are you kidding me?  Nope.  Life is too short.  Spend two dollars more and actually enjoy your beer.

Post # 1

I love beer.