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Homebrewing Beer

tsywake said:
Brewing the WH Ale now, later today the Heifer. Its my first time using the hops spider, and I'm currently using it for the grains. Its so much better than tying the bag off. I love the smell of brewing beer. Its so sweet and lovely.
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Not true. He didn't built that.
 
tsywake said:
Brewing the WH Ale now, later today the Heifer. Its my first time using the hops spider, and I'm currently using it for the grains. Its so much better than tying the bag off. I love the smell of brewing beer. Its so sweet and lovely.
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Yes, the smell is intoxicating. I see you are taking advantage of your additional primary. You will wonder what took you so long to get it. Did you go with a pail or a carboy?

I'm getting ready to brew my smoked imperial IPA and Munich Helles tomorrow. I feel bad about the Helles cause it is for my wife and she wants me to put lime peel in during the lagering and that breaks the Purity Law. Oh well, I have avoided doing so up until now. Please forgive me Bavaria.
 
I totally fucked up today. Like seriously. I did my WH Ale first and transferred to the primary. As I normally do I went to chill it in the glass carboy. I forgot to put the water in the keg bucket before the ice and ended up shattering a carboy. I feel like a complete failure making such a rookie mistake. 1/2 a day of work, plus the beer and the carboy ruined. I was so pissed that I almost shed a tear. I'm still fuming and not a pleasure to be around. Anyways, I've got a wort chiller ordered, I'll pick up the grains and extract and carboy this week and will brew it again next week. I'm still so fucking pissed.
 
tsywake said:
I totally fucked up today. Like seriously. I did my WH Ale first and transferred to the primary. As I normally do I went to chill it in the glass carboy. I forgot to put the water in the keg bucket before the ice and ended up shattering a carboy. I feel like a complete failure making such a rookie mistake. 1/2 a day of work, plus the beer and the carboy ruined. I was so pissed that I almost shed a tear. I'm still fuming and not a pleasure to be around. Anyways, I've got a wort chiller ordered, I'll pick up the grains and extract and carboy this week and will brew it again next week. I'm still so fucking pissed.
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Mistakes happen so you can learn from them. Shake it off and make the next batch extra awesome.
 
bym051d said:
Mistakes happen so you can learn from them. Shake it off and make the next batch extra awesome.
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Thanks. When it comes to smoking meat and brewing beer, I'm a perfectionist. IMO, I shouldn't be making such a careless mistake. Oh well, add another $100 to my brewing budget.
 
tsywake said:
Thanks. When it comes to smoking meat and brewing beer, I'm a perfectionist. IMO, I shouldn't be making such a careless mistake. Oh well, add another $100 to my brewing budget.
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Happens to the best of us. I have a doctorate in a biomedical science and I once tried to harvest virally infected ovaries from a cage of male mice. Needless to say I should never have made such a mistake but alas it happened. It is the nature of being human my friend.
 
tsywake said:
I totally fucked up today. Like seriously. I did my WH Ale first and transferred to the primary. As I normally do I went to chill it in the glass carboy. I forgot to put the water in the keg bucket before the ice and ended up shattering a carboy. I feel like a complete failure making such a rookie mistake. 1/2 a day of work, plus the beer and the carboy ruined. I was so pissed that I almost shed a tear. I'm still fuming and not a pleasure to be around. Anyways, I've got a wort chiller ordered, I'll pick up the grains and extract and carboy this week and will brew it again next week. I'm still so fucking pissed.
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That stinks. I think anyone that does this often enough has made similar mistakes. I've certainly lost an entire batch before. Stuff happens.

I would not have thought to chill the wort in a glass carboy (do you siphon it in their hot?). I take my brew kettle off the heat and place it directly in my sink (stainless) into an ice bath, and then stir it to circulate the wort towards the cooler temps. This usually takes about 30 minutes, and then transfer into the fermenter and pitch the yeast. If it makes you feel better, I once fell asleep while it was cooling and lost an entire batch when I woke up the next day with it still in the sink.
 
Most of the kits I made before I'd boil 2.5 gallons and then top it off with cooler tap water. The way I was doing it would bring down the temps to roughly 100 degrees off the bat. My brew kettle is too large to fit in a sink or my keg tub. This time I boiled all 6 gallons and then directly transferred it to the carboy. I waited 30 min and then moved it to the keg tub and started adding ice. I should have added lukewarm water first and then added ice a little along. It just shocked the glass this time with so much heat touching so much cold. The wort chiller should be here mid-week so I'll start chilling it traditionally going forward.
 
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After a few days of slow deep breaths, I've finally come back to earth. I still cant believe I made such a stupid mistake, but it enabled me to buy the wort chiller I'd been wanting, but until now, the wife wouldnt approve. I'll brew another of my go to batches on Saturday to rebound.

Since I've still got the yeast, I'm going to end up buying the grains and the malt to redo the kit. A friend of mine suggested this guy in Greensboro. http://bigdansbrewshed.com/ Anyone been out there yet?
 
Haven't been, but will check it out. It can't be worse than Triad Homebrew Supply.
 
When you go, give me a report of what you think. I wish they'd have some sort of online catalog to see if it'd be worth the trip all the way to Greensboro from my house. Hopefully they'll have some specialty grains that City Beverage doesnt carry.
 
Those that secondary ferment... if the brew ferments quicker than the standard week, do you wait until the week is over anyways or go ahead and transfer it to the secondary? My latest brew had a very vigorous fermentation and seems to be finished already. Rather than wait until Saturday, is there any harm in going ahead and transferring now, or will it be cleaner if I just wait rest of the week?
 
I think you can transfer once active fermentation is over. There's no harm in waiting, though (unless you're talking months instead of weeks).
 
I always ferment in my plastic bucket fermenter first then transfer into the glass carboy for the secondary after 7 to 10 days. The initial fermentation is "messy" and the bucket fermenter is easier to clean than the glass carboy. I usually let the secondary go at least two weeks just to be safe, sometimes 3 weeks.
 
HailToTheDeacons said:
I think you can transfer once active fermentation is over. There's no harm in waiting, though (unless you're talking months instead of weeks).
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This. An extra couple of days will allow more yeast to fall out before transfer. Some of it also depends on how long you plan to secondary. If it is short (1-2 weeks) then waiting a few days will help clarity. If it is longer than that, it will surely fall out in secondary anyways. The other thing to consider is that if you are going 4+ weeks in secondary it can be beneficial to transfer before fermentation has stopped completely (final gravity has stabilized) because it will push the oxygen out of the head space of the carboy.
 
deacfan78 said:
I always ferment in my plastic bucket fermenter first then transfer into the glass carboy for the secondary after 7 to 10 days. The initial fermentation is "messy" and the bucket fermenter is easier to clean than the glass carboy. I usually let the secondary go at least two weeks just to be safe, sometimes 3 weeks.
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This is my standard MO unless it is a big bodied beer that needs longer in primary.
 
bym051d said:
Same, except I secondary in keg. :)
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Sorry to ask this again, but do you secondary in a spare keg and then rack into a different keg, or do you just let it sent in the keg at room temp before chilling/force carbonating in place?
 
jhmd2000 said:
Sorry to ask this again, but do you secondary in a spare keg and then rack into a different keg, or do you just let it sent in the keg at room temp before chilling/force carbonating in place?
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Sit in the keg at room temp for a couple of weeks before chilling/carbing. Your first glass has whatever settled yeast in it and everything else after is wonderful.
 
bym051d said:
Mistakes happen so you can learn from them. Shake it off and make the next batch extra awesome.
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One of my best beers ever was a "mistake". I was making a raspberry wheat and put the fruit in to steep after the boil. While transferring into the primary, I was trying strain the fruit off and a big clump of fruit knocked the strainer out of my funnel and all the fruit fell into the primary. I left it there and siphoned the beer off into the secondary after 10 days and then bottled after 2 to 3 weeks as usual and what turned out I have never been able to duplicate.
 
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