December 26, 2012
As I mentioned in my previous post, I purchased the True Brew Pale Ale ingredient kit. Please feel free to comment with suggestions, feedback or just to say hi.
Now it’s time to brew!
1. Equipment List
Bottling / Fermenting bucket with lid
Large, stainless steel brew pot (stock pot)
Long, plastic spoon
Airlock
Spigot
Thermometer
2. Sanitizing My Equipment
Please note: This is the last time it’s safe to have cat hair in the bucket.
Everything I’ve read has said that brewing beer can be easy, but screwing it up is equally easy. Where most go wrong is with inadequately cleaned equipment. Let’s hope I get this right because an infected first batch doesn’t sound good to me. The guy at the brew supply store sold me an iodine sanitizer which I was instructed to dilute to 1/2 tablespoon per gallon of water. I added the 1/2 tbsp and gallon of water to my fermenting/bottling bucket and submerged any of the equipment I’d be using into this mix. I cleaned the bucket itself and inside of the lid with a clean sponge soaked in the solution.
3. Brewing!
With everything nice and sanitary, I brought a gallon and half of spring water to a boil. I used spring water because I don’t want my first beer to taste like my nasty, city tap water… not sure how much it imparts it’s flavor, if at all, but better safe than sorry.
Edit – It definitely has an impact on the flavor. Minerals and chemicals can turn your beer into something completely different than you expected. My water, for example, is high in chloramine. Chloramine has a tendency to create a plastic or “band-aid” flavor in beer. I now have an under-sink filter on my cold water line and I add desired minerals back into my “blank canvas” water.
While that boiled I remove the label from the Malt Extract can and submerged it in a sink full of hot water to soften it. I imagine it’s a similar consistency to molasses.
I followed all the instructions for steeping, reheating, adding dried malt bags and hop pellets (they look like rodent food, but smell like IPA!). The mix goes back on the heat. I’m warned that it will foam up as it boils, but removing it from the heat will allow the foam to subside. My brew does foam a bit, but not to the point that it’s going to boil over the top of my giant pot (I hope this isn’t a bad sign). It boils like this for another 25 minutes or so.
It’s at about this time, when I’m thinking how amazing it smells, the lady friend walks in and shares a differing opinion on the odor now filling our house. I interpret this as a huge success!
Boil, boil, toil and trouble. Get me hammered on the double!
Once the brewing has completed, I removed the wort from the heat and resist the urge to pour myself a mug of hot, highly concentrated, non-alcoholic, non-bubbly beer. While it’s cooling I dump 3 gallons of cold spring water into my fermenting / bottling bucket. Then I pour the wort in and add more spring water…. Damn cat! Get out!!…. to fill it to 5 gallons. Next I take a temp reading. 80 degrees…. Ahhh!! Stupid cats, get out!!! The instructions say it safe to add the yeast when it’s below 90.
Damn, that looks good! And the beer isn’t bad looking either!
The yeast packet is sprinkled over the top *look around for feline saboteurs and close the door*, allowed to rest for 10 minutes then gently stirred in. I put the lid on the bucket and fill the airlock halfway with water. In the picture above, you can see I also put a plastic bag over the spigot to prevent any contaminants from getting into/onto it (unnecessary… it won’t be used).
Edit – Dry yeast should be re-hydrated in a specific volume and temperature of water. They all provide instructions on the package.
Edit to the edit – No it shouldn’t. While many of them call for it on the packages, my experience has shown that just letting it sit on the foam rehydrates it well enough… don’t stir it in either.
From here it’s a waiting game. I should start seeing activity in the airlock within the next 12-24 hours (though not always). The instructions call for a week in the fermenter, but I’m going to follow the advice of the guy from the brew supply store and leave it in an extra week… you know, so the yeast can eat it’s own poo (diacetyl) after it’s done with the sugars from the malt/grains.
See you in the morning, beer!
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