Graduation

From primary to secondary...fermenters that is.

After 11 days in the primary, and 2 stable readings of 1.012, I racked the brew off into my brand new Better Bottle this evening.

So, 11 days in Primary, means about 21-22 days in the Secondary.

That should have me bottling on Thanksgiving.

One thing's for sure. It definitely tasted a lot better today. Even the wife thought it tasted like what we'd expect (accounting for the fact it's young and flat).

Now, to just keep the temperature stable for 3 weeks.

Brrrrrrr

We've had some unseasonably cold weather past few days.

I put a ceramic space heater in the building where the beer is living.
But the liquid temps still got down to 57 last night.
With the room temperature at 65 almost all day, the liquids were still 57.

So, it's now enjoy nice warm (by its standards) bath in the kitchen sink and will most likely spend the night in the house.

Next gravity reading: tomorrow.

First test

Today, at almost 8 days from pitching, I checked the SG.

1.012 @ 61F

I'll check again in 3 days or so.
Looking for 2 equal readings, then will rack to a secondary.

I thought it tasted OK.
It was great when it first hits your tongue. But as it leeched out it became bitter, and after swallowing and evaporating, it was real bitter.
This, I assume, is the green beer affect.

The wife hated it, but said it was still better than Budweiser!

What a ninny

With all the research I did I knew that patience is the best ingredient in beer making.

But after 24+ hours, the wort wasn't bubbling in the fermenter, and I had held the temp right between 60-65F.
I got on the brewtalk forum and started asking questions. Even wrote to Williams.
But the answer was the one I expected. Give it time! Nothing to even begin worrying about yet.


Finally, about 48 hours after the yeast pitch it start to bubble and it was going good.

After a couple of days of that, the bubbling stopped. But I left it be.

First boil

For a few years I've been interested in making my own beer.

However, about 3-1/2 years ago I came down sick, to the point just doing anything was an issue.
Now I'm doing better. Almost recovered.

Naturally, my interest in brewing rekindled and the wife said "Shut up, and just do it, would you!"
(kinda like sex, but, that's a different blog :))

So, I bought a home brew set from William's Brewing with an English Bitter kit.

Saturday, the 20th, I brewed my first batch; after spending the weekend before "disinfecting" the entire kitchen area.

Notes:

It took longer to get the initial boil than anticipated.
It took longer to get the return to boil after adding the malt extract.
Be sure next time to get the malt extract out of the refrigerator in plenty of time to come to room temperature before using.
Clean the airlock before using it.
Be sure to really aerate the wort before pitching.

The OG was 1.044