beer D3's Newb Brew

it's going into a spare grow cabinet void of light. 
 
I'm sanitizing my funnel and the big strainer. It has a fine screen. Will pump the wort out of pot with siphon and use funnel and strainer to catch anything that may accidentally get sucked up. 
 
I don't have a lid to seal my jug when I shake it. just the one with hole in it.  so will have to put my finger over hole. Should I dip my finger in sanitizer?
 
D3monic said:
it's going into a spare grow cabinet void of light. 
 
I'm sanitizing my funnel and the big strainer. It has a fine screen. Will pump the wort out of pot with siphon and use funnel and strainer to catch anything that may accidentally get sucked up. 
 
I don't have a lid to seal my jug when I shake it. just the one with hole in it.  so will have to put my finger over hole. Should I dip my finger in sanitizer?
Click to expand...
 
When I was doing the gallons, I sanitized my palm and cupped the open jug, yup ...
 
Hold a little sanitizer in your palm for like 30 secs and go w/ it ...
Oh dude, we need to get a drop or two on your (preferably calibrated) refractometer ...
Need to get the Original Gravity (OG) ...
And by all means, take a pic of it, for us ... or, me ...
 
Wasn't enough fluid in the pot to get the siphon going so I ditched that and used the sanitized funnel and strainer and just dumped the liquid into the jug carefully leaving the pile of crap in the bottom of the pot. 
 

 
off to the basement to ferment. Hopefully it turns out well. Couldn't keep the hose in the sanitizer so I dipped a chip clip in it and used it to hold the hose in place. 
 


grantmichaels said:
 
 
Oh dude, we need to get a drop or two on your (preferably calibrated) refractometer ...

Need to get the Original Gravity (OG) ...

And by all means, take a pic of it, for us ... or, me ...
Click to expand...
 
doh, I got a hydrometer that tctenten sent me. I do have a refractometer for my reef tank though it only reads SG and not sure if displays range I would be looking for
 
D3monic said:
Wasn't enough fluid in the pot to get the siphon going so I ditched that and used the sanitized funnel and strainer and just dumped the liquid into the jug carefully leaving the pile of crap in the bottom of the pot. 
 

 
off to the basement to ferment. Hopefully it turns out well. Couldn't keep the hose in the sanitizer so I dipped a chip clip in it and used it to hold the hose in place. 
 

 
doh, I got a hydrometer that tctenten sent me. I do have a refractometer for my reef tank though it only reads SG and not sure if displays range I would be looking for
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i hate to say it, but it's worth getting the damn gravity ... especially since you are going to be bottling ...
 
sanitize the hydro jar using the sanitizer in the bowl, that way you can put the wort back in so you don't lose 6 oz on the gallon or whatever ...
 
sorry, i posted when i thought of it ...
PS - I fucking hate the siphons and pour through the funnel too ... fuck that ish.
 
Good thing I went down stairs because the stupid clip came off hose so it would of been just venting down onto floor. Speaking of which does the hose just have to be in the cap or all the way down to the liquid? Right now it's just inserted into the cap like 1/2"
 
If i'm reading the hydrometer right, minus the meniscus it's around 1.025
 
 
If you don't have an OG, then you can't figure out the ABV later, and it's less info you'll have if it stalls out before it's done ... and with dry yeast factored in, no starter, and without yeast nutrients - there's def a chance of premature flocculation =)
 
D3monic said:
Good thing I went down stairs because the stupid clip came off hose so it would of been just venting down onto floor. Speaking of which does the hose just have to be in the cap or all the way down to the liquid? Right now it's just inserted into the cap like 1/2"
 
If i'm reading the hydrometer right, minus the meniscus it's around 1.025
 
Click to expand...
 
It will be sessionable ;)
 
On the plus side, you won't have to wait long for it to ferment, condition, and be ready to bottle, I'm thinking ...
 
It's going to be a pretty low ABV beer, but who cares ...
 
If you had excess wort and had to pour some out, the extra water we added was a bit too much ...
 
If you didn't, the mash didn't extract that much sugar, which would be a matter of it having lost too much temp over the hour ... I'm assuming you didn't give it little period of heat to re-heat it over the hour ...
 
Take a picture of the inside of your illuminated refractometer if you get a chance one of these days, so we can see the SG range ... because what would have saved you, is something I didn't learn to do until my 6th or 7th batch ... getting a pre-boil gravity w/ the refractometer ...
 
The whole notion of mashing for time is a little bit myopic ... I've been mashing for gravity, driven by the refractometer, and constraining it to a time limit secondarily ...
 
It's a better mental model, for me anyways, and my beers improved when I managed the pH, and then mashed for gravity, as opposed to mashing for time ...
 
The other thing, I'm just thinking of ... what was the water like? ... was it tap, or spring, or RO, or filtered tap (hopefully ...), or ? ... happen to know the pH? ...
D3monic said:
But according to my not so recently calibrated refractometer it's more like 1.040.. I kind of want to trust that reading more
 
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well, if you put distilled water on it tomorrow, and that reads 0, that's a good sign ...
 
although generally speaking, a hydrometer is a more 'trusted' measurement ...
 
the hydrometer was definitely bobbing right? ... it was floated or whatever ...
 
grantmichaels said:
 
 
 
the hydrometer was definitely bobbing right? ... it was floated or whatever ...
Click to expand...
 
Yes, part of my job in measurement for BP was taking several crude samples a day and taking SG via hydrometer. Then off to the centrifuge. 
 
One thing that could be affecting the SG of this sample was that the directions say to take reading prior to adding yeast and I had already added yeast. 
 
Water was filtered tap from fridge. Relatively new filter. 

sample photo of refractometer with just fridge water. 
 
 
D3monic said:
 
Yes, part of my job in measurement for BP was taking several crude samples a day and taking SG via hydrometer. Then off to the centrifuge. 
 
One thing that could be affecting the SG of this sample was that the directions say to take reading prior to adding yeast and I had already added yeast. 
 
Water was filtered tap from fridge. Relatively new filter. 
Click to expand...
 
Ok, cool ...
 
So, all in all pretty successful for a 1st run IMHO ...
 
You have to realize, I lost a whole batch to each of those things ...
 
Forgot the OG on my 1st batch ... pitched dry ... shocked the yeast with temp change ... ended up w/ bottle bombs ...
 
2nd batch worked ...
 
3rd batch ... cooked the mash ... didn't attenuate, then started to bottle bomb, ultimately drain poured ...
 
Later it was low efficiency from the mash from high pH tap water ...
 
Later it was consistently low pitching rates, from dry yeast halving on hitting the wort from not rehydrating ...
 
Later it was yeast pooping out from not having yeast nutrient enough for the size of beers I was making ...
 
So, like ... to have gotten all this extra info in on your 1st, you are in good shape ...
PS - that refractometer reading with the 1.040 is a lot more credible with the water sample landing squarely on 0 like that ... cool ...
 
grantmichaels said:
 
PS - that refractometer reading with the 1.040 is a lot more credible with the water sample landing squarely on 0 like that ... cool ...
Click to expand...
 
yea i'm more inclined to trust a recratometer over a hydrometer any day. As far as I've always known from the aquarium hobby is they are much more accurate. 
 
This was the crap I left at the bottom of the pot. I'm conflicted on whether it was a good idea to not dump it through the screen or not. obviously too late now but would be good to know on future batches. 
 
 
D3monic said:
 
yea i'm more inclined to trust a recratometer over a hydrometer any day. As far as I've always known from the aquarium hobby is they are much more accurate. 
 
This was the crap I left at the bottom of the pot. I'm conflicted on whether it was a good idea to not dump it through the screen or not. obviously too late now but would be good to know on future batches. 
 
Click to expand...
 
Modern brew folks mostly saying the trub isn't going to hurt anything in the fermenter, classic-trained folks seem to have been taught otherwise, that you want to leave as much of that shit behind as possible ...
 
It may have some negative consequence on some level, but you'll still make beer despite it for sure, and I think it can be a good thing in terms of nucleation sites, but that's a very vague recollection from something I listened to quite a while back, now ...
Since you are doing a wheat - lack of clarity is a feature, not a bug =)
 
I wouldn't waste too much $ on the one gallon stuff ... just get some (food grade) 2 gallon plastic paint buckets and make a couple of gallons using those ... the shitty part about the plastic is microabrasions and oxygen permeability, I guess ... but you'll move on to 5 gal that much sooner for not wasting too much money on one gallon size stuff IMO ...
 
It would be easy to order $20 ingredients, a packet of US-05 and a high AA bittering hop, and some Amarillo for late addition, and the grains enough for 3 gallons, and you can just do them back to back to back throughout a day, and make three gallons for like $20 ... then it's 30x IPA's for $20, so, less than a dollar a bottle ...
 
grantmichaels said:
I wouldn't waste too much $ on the one gallon stuff ... just get some (food grade) 2 gallon plastic paint buckets and make a couple of gallons using those ... the shitty part about the plastic is microabrasions and oxygen permeability, I guess ... but you'll move on to 5 gal that much sooner for not wasting too much money on one gallon size stuff IMO ...
 
It would be easy to order $20 ingredients, a packet of US-05 and a high AA bittering hop, and some Amarillo for late addition, and the grains enough for 3 gallons, and you can just do them back to back to back throughout a day, and make three gallons for like $20 ... then it's 30x IPA's for $20, so, less than a dollar a bottle ...
Click to expand...
 
yea that's where i'm leaning. I probably wont buy any one gallon kits. Go through the same amount of effort be it one gallon or 5
 
not to mention a one gallon kit is around $15 pre shipping. Not very cost effective to brew it especially the amount of time dedicated to it. Maybe i'd go that route if it was to try something i've never had and was unsure about. 
 
I suggest picking and choosing from these:
http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/category/shows/brewstrong/feed/
 
And when I have time, I kind of like the slant over at:
http://brulosophy.com/
http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Braukaiser.com
http://seanterrill.com/
 
You'll note there's a bunch of computer programmer beer folks ... Jamil is, Beersmith dude is, guys from Craft Beer Podcast are, Drew from Experimental Brewing is, Sean Terrill and Kai Troester both are too ...

D3monic said:
 
yea that's where i'm leaning. I probably wont buy any one gallon kits. Go through the same amount of effort be it one gallon or 5
 
not to mention a one gallon kit is around $15 pre shipping. Not very cost effective to brew it especially the amount of time dedicated to it. Maybe i'd go that route if it was to try something i've never had and was unsure about. 
Click to expand...
 
this.
 
and with that, you've been bestowed w/ a better path than mine ... getting to learn from all of my mistakes, lol ...
 
http://brulosophy.com/2015/06/17/brew-in-a-bag-in-a-cooler-reviewing-the-brew-bags-mlt-filter/
http://brulosophy.com/methods/diy-cooler-mlt/
 
i'm about to try to brew 10-12 gallons using basically none of the gadgetry i acquired ...
 
D3monic said:
interesting using the coolers. 
 
I'm throwing the link to gumballhead clone recipes here so I can find it later. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=11740
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i asked wheebz in my thread: http://thehotpepper.com/topic/53751-remgrandt/?p=1239122
 
i might tandem brew it on the stove w/ ya ...
 
never got to tandem brew w/ Bumper ... who has disappeared for a couple of months now ...
 
and didn't get to tandem brew w/ tctenten either ... he brews while i sleep, lol ...
 
grantmichaels said:
 
i asked wheebz in my thread: http://thehotpepper.com/topic/53751-remgrandt/?p=1239122
 
i might tandem brew it on the stove w/ ya ...
 
never got to tandem brew w/ Bumper ... who has disappeared for a couple of months now ...
 
and didn't get to tandem brew w/ tctenten either ... he brews while i sleep, lol ...
Click to expand...
 
Don't wait on me,  going to be a long while before I can afford to do anything. Thursday I have a interview for a supervisor position at Nicor gas. Hopefully that goes well and will be an extra 20-30k a year. 
 
D3monic said:
 
Don't wait on me,  going to be a long while before I can afford to do anything. Thursday I have a interview for a supervisor position at Nicor gas. Hopefully that goes well and will be an extra 20-30k a year. 
Click to expand...
 
no matter ... there's no hurry on my end, and i need to practice trying to nail down recipes anyways ...
 
i haven't bothered to calc the costs of the batches i've made, so i'm curious what the cost differential of kits vs compiled ingredients is ...
 
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