Hello all!!! As my subject line says I am from Mass and new to the hobby.
I made my first brew this past Sunday and it was a lot of fun. It is a Black IPA from a recipe by my local brew supply store. I am only doing a single fermintation this time but I am about to take another step forward this weekend.
I am going to make a Pale Ale from there basic recipe but I am going to kick it up a notch and dry hop it in the primary after the fermintation stops. I am going to do a both aroma and flavor hop, 1 ounce of each for my first time. Anyone have any do’s or dont’s for me?. All input is welcome)
Mike.
personally i would wait and dry hop in the secondary. when you say flavor and aroma hops do do mean in the boil don’t you?
As speed said, dry hopping is going to benefit you in secondary…
My advice would be to work on your process and consistency the first few brews, then start to get creative with tweaking recipes,etc… If you keep changing things every time you brew as you are learning, and something doesn’t come out quite right, it will be hard to identify what area you need to fix.
Brewing is a lot like science experiments…first you do things a few times the exact same way (control)…then you start to change certain factors and see how they affect the results (variables). Try brewing different recipes and styles, when I started I found a certain recipe I enjoyed and brewed it 3 times out of the first 10 brews I ever made. It helped me a lot because I got minor differences in the results, but careful note taking helped me figure out what variables in my process changed the outcome.
Welcome aboard! :cheers:
I was going to dry hop with a aroma and a flavor hop in the primary… Read a lot of articles where people dry hopped in the primary after the fermentation was pretty much all done. So is this a bad idea?
(Almost) no such thing as a bad idea in brewing…no doubt if you throw some hops in there it will give you a different final product…I think the moral of the story is keep it simple until you have the basics under control…then you can go nuts. But in the spirit of creativity, I say go for it if you want, only one way to find out, right?
Just be sure to sanitize the hop bag before you put it in there… 
Oh… I sure will. The Black IPA I have in the primary right now… I plan on moving it into the bottling bucket probably Sunday, that will have been 7days in the primary. When I siphen it to the bottling bucket is it ok to cheese cloth strain it? I have again read pros and cons.
Or will this remove the yeast I need to carbonate when I bottle it?
If you want to dry hop and do not have a secondary fermenter, I say go ahead and put your dryhops into the primary after fermentation is complete. You won’t be able to reuse the yeast though, but save that method for down the road a bit anyways.
Also, as an FYI, I think if you bottle this beer only 1 week after you made it, you run the risk of having a beer that is not finished. It would probably really help to let it sit for another week.
What was the original gravity of the beer, and what kind of yeast/how much? That can also really have some influence into how quickly the beer will be done fermenting.
[quote=“BlackstoneIPA”]When I siphen it to the bottling bucket is it ok to cheese cloth strain it? I have again read pros and cons.
Or will this remove the yeast I need to carbonate when I bottle it?[/quote]
Forgot about this question - The yeast will settle out when it is done fermenting. If you still see a lot of stuff floating around, then I would wait to siphon it out of the primary fermenter.
Once it is done, you could put a sanitized cheese cloth/muslin bag at the input end of your siphon if you are still worried about carrying over any muck.
Right now my Black IPA is producing 1 bubble every 6 seconds, its been in the primary for 4 days. I used a dry yeast. Ill have to check witch kind of yeast when i get home. Once i rack it to the bottling bucket I plan on letting it sit for a week or so before bottling. So it can settle again and finish fermenting.
If you want to let it finish fermenting, then you need to keep it in your primary fermenter. When you take it off that yeast cake it won’t do much.
Also, you can’t really accurately measure fermenation by how often your airlock bubbles.
To me it sounds like you are itching to brew up another batch, which is great. BUT…don’t hurry this first beer just to do that. If you really want to make another beer, then buy another fermenting bucket/lid for $15 and call it a day. You’ll probably need it in the future anyways.
The recipe i went by for my Black IPA say… “Single vessel fermintation system: 7-10 days for completed fermentation. Bottle no later than 2 weeks after fermintation starts”
So I figured after 7 days rack it to bottling bucket seal it up and let it sit for a few more days. Then bottel it.
Does this sound not right… I read some articles that say when your only getting 1 bubble per min. the fermenting is prety much done…
Is this a false starement…
“Schoole me oh wise ones”…
Sorry, but I don’t think you should necessarily follow all of those directions. A calendar can not dictate how long it will take the yeast to do their business, and telling you to not leave it on the yeast for more than 2 weeks is garbage advice. I would say that in 7 days you have a really good shot of the bulk part of the fermentation being done, however there are other things going on inside that fermenter than just the yeast creating alcohol.
I really think you ought to just leave it be for AT LEAST 10 days, preferably even 14. I think it will pay off in the end.
Don’t get me wrong, it is possible to make a good beer, ferment in 7 days and drink at 21 days.
BUT, being that this is your first batch you should err on the side of caution and leave this one be for 2 weeks before you siphon it to your bottling bucket. This will be hard to do because you seem to be stoked about the process and want to try sample the fruits of your labor asap.
Honestly, if you want to brew another batch this weekend, grab another bucket/lid/airlock and get to work. Then next weekend bottle up that Black IPA.
Just my 2 cents.
I agree 100% with everything HummelBrew said above - I would not bottle a beer after 7 days. I would wait 14. Let it finish out. Get a second fermenting bucket and get started on your next beer - but leave that first one alone a little longer.
If you are antsy to try your first beer - have a clean mason jar or pitcher handy when you are ready to bottle, pour yourself a glass right out of the bottling bucket - give it a try then - I am enjoying a two week old IPA that I poured when I was moving a beer to secondary tonight - quite good. Beer is often quite good even at this early stage.
Dry hopping - I throw a muslin bag in a pan of boiling water for about 10 minutes or so, then I put my dry hops in that bag, tie it off and put it in for dry hopping.
[quote=“HummelBrew”]Sorry, but I don’t think you should necessarily follow all of those directions. A calendar can not dictate how long it will take the yeast to do their business, and telling you to not leave it on the yeast for more than 2 weeks is garbage advice. I would say that in 7 days you have a really good shot of the bulk part of the fermentation being done, however there are other things going on inside that fermenter than just the yeast creating alcohol.
I really think you ought to just leave it be for AT LEAST 10 days, preferably even 14. I think it will pay off in the end.
Don’t get me wrong, it is possible to make a good beer, ferment in 7 days and drink at 21 days.
BUT, being that this is your first batch you should err on the side of caution and leave this one be for 2 weeks before you siphon it to your bottling bucket. This will be hard to do because you seem to be stoked about the process and want to try sample the fruits of your labor asap.
Honestly, if you want to brew another batch this weekend, grab another bucket/lid/airlock and get to work. Then next weekend bottle up that Black IPA.
Just my 2 cents.[/quote]I don’t want to come off as piling on, but the above advice is spot on. You should get this batch bottled as soon as it’s ready, forget the dry hopping. Get a few easy batches under your belt before you start tweaking things.
The important thing is to make good beer.
Mike, i say go with your bad self and you dry hop that beer!!! Your moniker is blackstoneIPA, so I am thinking you like some hops, don’t be scared, its just a dry hop addition, do it. And as far as adding it right at the end of primary, that’s usually how I dry hop? I heard a beer god tell me that’s how he does it and so for the most part that has been my method ever since. Don’t be afraid to expirement, don’t be afraid to screw up, but do be tenacious when it comes to sanitization and inform yourself through this forum and others before trying things. Good luck!
Gentelman I am loving all this input… Trust me I want all the knowledge i can get from my “Peer Brewers”
I will leave my Black IPA sit for a while longer like yall have hinted I should do. I will pick me up another primary this weekend when I pick up my recipe… :~)
I was taking in the aroma this morning before comming to work that the bubbles were giving off from my airlock… AND OMG>>> smell sooo good… I am on pins and needles!!!
Uh oh…we’ve got an airlock sniffer!!!
That’s OK…I sniff mine every night before bed and every morning before work…ASA (Airlock Sniffers Anonymous) always has room for new members
#1 key to brewing…patience…just when you think it’s done…wait just a bit longer. Keep reading about others experiences, ask questions, and try things out. Failure can be the best teacher…experience (good or bad) can give you the best education…
My rule of thumb is this:
Primary Only - 2 weeks primary, 3 weeks conditioning
Primary & Secondary - 1,2,3 rule - 1 week Primary, 2 weeks secondary, 3 weeks conditioning
Leaving your beer in primary longer will allow the yeast to clean up some of their byproducts.
Airlock activity is not a reliable gauge of fermentation being done. Fluctuations in temp (rising) can cause dissolved CO2 from the fermentation process to come out of solution and escape through the airlock.
If you’re dry-hopping before fermentation is over, a good portion of those aromas will escape out the airlock.
If you can handle it a min. of 2 weeks in primary or longer is only going to help. if Dry Hopping I think the consensus is around 5-7 days tops to avoid grassy flavors.
I cant wait to get home from my 12 hour day of work and sniff my airlock now… lol
My wife will now think something is defiantly wrong with me…
Me and a couple of my friends are going to Harpoon Brewery this weekend and do some sampling…
I had there Leviathan Imperial IPA this weekend and was in heaven!!!
On a side note… My Black IPA is at a stable 68 to 70 deg all the time… Is this an optimum temp for an ALE type beer to ferment at? Id like to move my equipment to the basement where it hangs between 62 to 67 deg.
Whats your input?
