Beer blog - First ever batch - British Pale Ale - brewed 12/17/11

So, my wife bought me a Homebrew kit at the store in Ozark for an early X-Mas present.  It included all the stuff shown here.  I also bought a 9 gallon brewpot and a portable propane stove to add to my list of equipment.

The Ozark Homebrewery store also had several ready-made kits available for beginners to make their first batches.  Ami bought me a Yellow Dog Pale Ale kit already (Matt, Fred and I cooked up a batch of this 2 years ago in Fred's garage), and I bought a British Pale Ale kit. 

Of course I had to dive right in that night.  I had previously done a batch w/ Fred, so I thought I could remember how I did it and handle it on my own.  The instructions (I figured) are pretty foolproof, so after a quick scan of the instructions and the brew guide that came with my kit, I was off....

After I brewed this batch of beer, I read the entire How to Brew book, by John Palmer.  Apparently it's a sort of bible for first time and experienced homebrewers.  He's also made it available here online for free.  The book suggests keeping a journal of your brewing experiences and recipies, so you can track and learn from your past.  This is that journal.

For the most part, the majority of the brewing was uneventful.  I sanitized all my equipment and followed the instructions to a T.

I started with 5 gallons of water in the brewpot.  I raised it to 170 degrees F, then added a specialty grain mix (Crystal and Chocolate malted grains) included with the kit.  How to Brew mentioned specialty grain was a good way for beginning extract brewers to add some complexity to their beer recipes.  The instructions said you could try to steep the specialty grain (in a cheesecloth grain bag) at 170 for 10-15 minutes, but to be careful not to get the temp above 170, or else there was a danger of off flavor releasing into the wort.  I tried to maintain 170, but since I was using a brand new propane heater I was still unfamiliar with, I didn't eactly know what setting to put it on.  I steeped for about 2 minutes, then saw the temp creep above 170, then turned off the heat and took the specialty grain out.

Next step was to mix in the dry malt extract - mix of Light, Amber and Wheat DME (bittering hops were also included in the bag) that came with the kit, and then raise the wort to a boil.  The boil was really rolling once I got it to temp.  I wasn't sure how vigorous to boil it, so I went pretty high.  The wort didn't ever raise up and threaten to boil over, so I thought I was ok.  Added the Irish Moss (supposed to clarify the beer) at 45 minutes, the Flavoring Hops at 50 minutes, and the Aromatic Hops at 58 minutes, as instructed.


After the 60 minutes from full boil expired, I took it off the heat and tried to cool it as fast as possible.  Since I don't have a copper wort chiller, I prepared an ice bath in a tub I had laying in the garage.  I covered the wort and put it in the ice bath.  I had to add more ice after several minutes since it was melting quick.

The recipe said to get the wort down to 75 degrees as quick as possible.  Problem was when I would put the floating thermometer I have in the wort to check the temp, it was touching the bottom, so it would give me improper readings.  I had to hold the top of the thermometer for 10-20 seconds to get an accurate reading.  It was kind of a pain.  I did not time how long it took to get down to 75 degrees, but I would guess 20-30 minutes.

When I got down to 75 degrees, I started the siphoning process.  Since I didn't have a helper, and since I forgot about Issac Newton, I didn't place the wort pot higher than the primary fermenting bucket.  I guess I thought the "auto-siphon" that came with my kit would take care of all that.  Instead, I was constantly pumping the siphon and trying to keep the tube in the fermenting bucket.  Ugh.

Eventually I pumped the wort into the fermenter, and saw that I had barely over 3 gallons.  Yikes.  Guess that means I over-boiled, since almost 2 gallons evaporated.  Evaporation was expected, so I pre-boiled and cooled some water back in the kitchen before I started.  I poured this water into the wort to raise it back to 5 gallons.  I then took a hydrometer reading by placing the hydrometer in the wort.  The Original Gravity (OG) was 1.035 (or 35 for short). I think it was supposed to be around 1.040.

Next was the addition of the yeast.  I just tore open the packet and sprinkled it on top of the wort, as per the instructions.  I didn't "aerate" the wort (as I later learned I needed to do after reading HTB) before or after adding the yeast, other than the aeration that occurred from my poor siphoning, and the sloshing that probably occurred as I carried the wort from my garage to my spare bathroom. The instructions just mentioned that it was "OK to splash and introduce oxygen at this point".  They failed to mention that this was a vital part of making sure the yeast began the fermenting process properly

I then sealed the fermenter, attached the airlock (partially filled w/ vodka), and put it in the bathtub of my spare bathroom.  It's an area I can seal in darkness, so I thought it was best.

After a few days, I noticed that the airlock wasn't bubbling or "burping" as I read it should be doing, so I was a bit worried.  I then opened and checked the wort (you are NOT supposed to do this, but I was desperate), and noticed that the lid of the fermenter wasn't actually closed as it should've been.  I really had to push hard all around the outside to make sure it sealed.  Once I did that, after a few hours, I did notice some occasional bubbles in the airlock. 

Also, after reading HTB, I saw that most homebrew ales need to ferment at between 60-75 degrees.  My spare bathroom gets a bit chilly, so I put a space heater in there to try to raise the temp after a few days.  The ferment seems to be percolating now (5 days later).  I will probably take a hydrometer reading on Saturday (7 days) and then Sunday, to see if we are ready to bottle.   Another few weeks after bottling it's time to chill the beer, and pray it tastes ok!

Very detailed, but I wanted to recall my first brewing, hopefully to avoid future mistakes.   This is the list of things I want to fix for next time:

• Start with more water.  I started with 5 gallons, and ended with just over 3 after the boil.  Next time, I'm going to turn down the boil a bit, and start with closer to 6 gallons.  
• Try to perfect the steeping of the specialty grains.  As I get more used to the propane stove, I should be able to keep the wort at 170 to steep the grain for the recommended time.
• Turn down the boiling heat a bit.  Boiling off nearly 2 gallons of wort is probably a bit too much.
• Be sure to take into account gravity when siphoning.  Damn you, Newton.
• Get some more ice ready before brewing.  I ran out during the cooling process last time.  I'm going to freeze some extra water before the brewing next time to ensure I have enough coldness. 
• Re-hydrate the yeast, instead of just sprinkling the dry yeast on top.  Rehydrating the yeast activates more yeast cells at the outset, leads to a better and quicker fermentation, and hopefully, a better tasting beer.  There are a few videos that tell you how to do this online.  Not sure whether to do this before the brew or when I'm chilling my wort.  Will check the HTB book.
• Be sure my primary fermenter is completely sealed before putting it away.  Push down hard on that damn lid!!
• Set up the space heater in the spare bathroom when fermenting begins.  Be sure that temp is above 60 degrees.