5:30AM start is awesome

Yesterday I went to the brew shop and got all my ingredients and supplies for a brew day. I got everything all set up and ready. Woke up at 5:30 AM and went outside in the crisp, 60 degree F air and started my brew day. It’s an awesome feeling on a Sunday morning. Not without it’s issues though. I need to rebuild my mash tun. My hose assembly came apart and I had to do a quick improvise to repair it since Home Depot is not open till 8:00 on Sundays. But here I am now, posting of a glorious morning at 7:30 while my mash is in progress. If all goes well, I can be done brewing before noon. And oh…Noon! Aint that time to start drinking beer?

It’s actually after 2 pm in Paris right now!

:cheers:

Ron

I really like an early start. Get everything possible ready the day before and fire up the burners about that time. Done and cleaned up then a sample or two of the last creation with lunch.

+1 to early weekend start. And the smell of malt and hops in the morning is amazing.

I love the smell of wort in the morning! (Your witty addition here)

Charlie don’t homebrew…

Always cool watching the sunrise over the boil kettle.

Wow 5:30 is way to early for me. Always try to start at 9:00am but I didn’t get started until about 10am, after I got my starter going, grain crushed, and everything setup. But even still was a great day to brew, only started getting hot around 1:30-2:00 so finished just in time.

I agree 100%- love the early morning starts. Get the mash water started, then go upstairs and start the coffee, start the mash, grab some breakfast. Listening to the Saturday NPR lineup(showing my age there).

I am wishing someone would come up with an air freshener that smells like hops in the BK! I brewed Saturday to use up the last of my pilsner malt…. It fought me all the way… So I will call it stuck up blonde!! Sneezles61 :cheers:

I didn’t get started until 1 pm. Man, it was hot. Must’ve drunk a gallon of ice water just to stay hydrated. But, the beer turned out and is happily bubbling away this morning.

I pitched yeast last night around 9:00PM. Tried something new this time, just to experiment. In the past I was very concerned about chilling the wort down to below 60 degrees F as quickly as possible. But then I have heard of people who don’t chill, don’t filter, don’t really do anything that I have heard is so important. So I decided not to buy the bags of ice for quick chilling. I just used water from the hose in a pail and immersed my BK into the cool water. I chilled the wort to below 110, then just poured the whole thing into the bucket fermenter. I placed that in my freezer for 8 hours and got the temp down to around 55 degrees F. Then I pitched yeast. No activity as of this morning but that’s consistent with the last time I was down at such a low fermentation temp. I am excited to find out if there is any issue with not fast chilling. Anyone have any experience with it? The way it sounds is that the quick chill is mostly to avoid any infections. I think I was careful enough in keeping the wort covered and away from sources of contamination during the cooling process. Hopefully all will go well.

I’ve slow chilled more than a few times (before I had a chiller :slight_smile: ) and didn’t have any problems, but I did notice an immediate improvement in my beer’s clarity once I started using a chiller. And from what I’ve read, that is typical. Rapid chilling increases cold break, which drives more proteins out of solution and results in clearer, more stable beer.

So yes, as long as they practice good sanitation lots of brewers get great beer using no-chill, but the beer could be better if rapidly chilled.

[quote=“Frenchie”]It’s actually after 2 pm in Paris right now!

:cheers:

Ron[/quote]
Are you in Paris or TN? If Paris, where do you get your supplies? I’ll be there next week and might stop by a brew shop if there is something in reach of the metro.

[quote=“rebuiltcellars”][quote=“Frenchie”]It’s actually after 2 pm in Paris right now!

:cheers:

Ron[/quote]
Are you in Paris or TN? If Paris, where do you get your supplies? I’ll be there next week and might stop by a brew shop if there is something in reach of the metro.[/quote]

Rebuilt, I only wish! Nope, just in Tennessee. Just a francophile and former French teacher. Wish I could give you some help, but I have never seen anywhere in France to buy brewing supplies(although I’ve never looked for any while I was there). Best of luck. I am always encouraged by your perseverance in brewing in a sort of brewing wasteland.

:cheers:

Ron

If you slow chill maybe you could use gelatin to get your beer clear.

So this was very strange. I pitched yeast when the wort temp was at 55. It was Nottingham yeast. I have pitched before at this temp and had no issue. This time, no go. I waited 48 hours and saw no activity. I opened the bucked and repitched another packet of Nottingham and boom. A day later I had fermentation. THe pack was not compromised and the date was good. I don’t get it. THe good news is that I am back on track. Just don’t understand.

Maybe the pack got cooked before you bought it.

No worries, if the wort was clean and had been kept sealed, an extra day or two before the yeast are pitched won’t hurt it.