Brew Day.... Boiling Point



The time finally came..... BREW DAY!

Fortunately brewing took place before we got a snow storm, blizzard warnings, freezing temperature and now high velocity winds.  We have a brick house, and I can still feel the wind blowing from inside.  Brew day was a little windy too, but at least the sun was shining.


Brew Gear

I was brewing from a partial grain kit that came with my homebrew gear that I picked up at the local homebrew supply store.  It was a pale ale, and I was told that I could have switched it out for a stout or something more complicated, but it was my first time.... let's feel the water before we jump in, right?  I had told a few buddies about brewing, and they were all gung-ho about pitching in, or at least standing around for moral support.  I thought noon would be a good time to start, but everyone slept in and I was almost done with the wort boil before anyone showed.  Ah well...  homebrewing is an individual sport.

Getting my boil on...

I didn't keep track of the ingredients that came with the kit, but in the future I plan to keep you all updated with the recipe I am using.  Considering that it was a Pale Ale, according to the recipe, I picked up a few savory brews of the same style.  I didn't even attempt to make notes that day, mainly because we were outside, and I was constantly running back into the house to wash or sanitize something that I needed.  PIMA to be sure...

Pale Ale Bonanza!

Brewing buddy

Overall it was a fun experience, and it didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would.  The longest waiting part was waiting for the wort to cool enough to pitch the yeast.  I wish I had used a yeast starter, because it would have been quicker to pitch into the wort and it may have been more effective.  After getting the wort into the carboy, I placed the blow off tube into the carboy and into the bucket I used to sanitize everything.  Unfortunately, the blow off tube was too far down in the carboy and it ended up siphoning off about a gallon of brew.  DANG!

We had strong bubbling for the first day, and I replaced the blow off tube with the airlock the next evening.  Bubbling still continued but died off after only two and half days.  I'm not completely sure why, but I think its that I haven't been able to hold the temperature of the carboy above 68 degrees.  The yeast probably died off before it had a chance to finish fermenting.  You can probably see it all sitting in the bottom of the carboy here.

Primary Fermentor... see about a gallon missing from the top.

Since fermentation stopped completely or at least so we thought, we decided to rack the brew to the secondary fermentor after only 5 days.  This time I did take a gravity reading, but it was coming up as 2.000.  Maybe I read it wrong, but that seems really high.  We did eventually get a good siphon, and yes I know that you shouldn't start the siphon by sucking on the hose, but that's an upgrade I'll make a point of getting soon. 

Starting the siphon

After racking, there was some bubbling through the new airlock, but that faded overnight.  We racked as much as we could, CW was a big help.  The only leftover was the brew used for the gravity reading and a about a coffee mug full.  We both tasted it, and it tastes like beer already, similar to a pale ale but a little weaker.  It's not bad by any means, but considering the brews I've been purchasing and reviewing here, it's really weak.
 

Leftovers... Oh Yeah!

I'll put up some photos and another post after I move the brew to bottles.  I've been keeping all the bottles I've purchased, with the exception of green or clear bottles.  Brown bottles are best to keep light out.  Eventually I want to got to kegs, and I have a plan for a kegerator and a portable kegerator in the works..... homebrew at the family swaarey.... I'm excited.

Do you have any first batch blues?  What did you brew?  What went well, and what went wrong?