My first beer - well, kinda...

[belsonc]

not my first first beer, but my first beer a) with fresh hops and b) in my new 6.5 gallon carboy. It's pretty neat to be able to see the krausen and all that while it's going on, and not just open the bucket and see where all the krausen used to be. I decided to go with an APA - a take off on the one from JZ's book.

12oz Victory malt
6lb light dme
1lb wheat dme

.5oz Millenium @ 60
.75oz Galena wet hops and .25oz Centennial pellets @ 15
1.25oz Galena wet hops and 2.75oz Northern Brewer wet hops @ 0
and a half gallon starter of 1056


Unfortunately, the one thing I don't have right now is temperature control. I have it in the coolest area possible in my building, and the temperature on the carboy thermometer is 79 - so I'll see what I can to try to bring it down somewhat, but even if I can't, I've made good beer over temperature before. Maybe not great beer, but good beer - good thing I have no BJCP judges in my family. ;-) (And I'm still seeing if it would be feasible to build Red Headed Stepchild of Fermentation Chiller.)


I also have a handful of pellet hops in my fridge/freezer, so I'll see about dry hopping it - I want it to ferment out first before I see about doing any of that, though.

Just thought I'd share my, well, excitement with people who would appreciate it. :)

[hooky]

Congrats on the wet hop brew. Crazy thing to watch when it's really going, isn't it?

Can you put your carboy in a container that will hold water? You could submerg it in cool water, use a t-shirt and a fan and keep the temp lower.

[belsonc]

Yeah, I was thinking about that, but truth be told, I'm surprised the temperature's only 79. When I get home, my apartment's in the mid 80s - today it was 87. Any cold water down there wouldn't stay cold for long (I'm thinking half a day, maybe), and there's no outlet, so the fan's not really an option...

[markaberrant]

Any cold water down there wouldn't stay cold for long (I'm thinking half a day, maybe),

That's what a rotation of frozen water bottles are for.

[belsonc]

But I'm out of my apartment for about half a day (literally, some days it's about 14-15 hours) at a stretch - so the beer could, in theory, be sitting in room temperature water for longer than it's sitting in cold water...

[markaberrant]

I think you would be surprised at how effective this works. I change my bottles twice a day... typically when I wake up, and when I get home from work. Certainly seems worth a try if your temp strip is reading 79.

[belsonc]

Hm - you know, now I'm wondering.


Ok, so I would think I'd need one of those big plastic pails (the kind you fill with ice and put sodas/beers/etc at a backyard bbq, about 10-15 bucks at your friendly neighborhood distributor), right? And figure 2-3-4 frozen bottles of some size - how big do you use? 20oz? 32oz? 2L? Also, how much water do you fill it with?

[markaberrant]

yep, those big plastic barrel type things (the ones around here are blue, and they are about 2/3 the height of a 6.5 gallon carboy).

I have 4 plastic water bottles, they are either 1.5 or 2L. Fill them up to the top, the volume will shrink when it's frozen. Depending on the time of year, and what I am brewing, I will rotate in 1 or 2 bottles at time.

[belsonc]

Sounds good - and sounds like you and I have the same tub in mind.


How much water do you fill the tub with?

[beerking]

I have 4 plastic water bottles, they are either 1.5 or 2L. Fill them up to the top, the volume will shrink when it's frozen.
Ummm... water expands when it freezes. Aerated water even more so.

[markaberrant]

Yeah... ignore what I said about shrinking volume. That was pretty stupid... guess that's what happens you post while you are working on 4 other things at work.

[belsonc]

Ummm... water expands when it freezes. Aerated water even more so.

You'll notice I didn't comment on his saying the volume went down. ;)

I was at work when I wrote most of the posts from today, I just kind of assumed the same for him :) So, for anyone who's done this, how much water did you put in the tub? Also, would I have to wet the tshirt first or just to have the bottom of it in the water would be enough?

[beerking]

You'll notice I didn't comment on his saying the volume went down. ;)

I was at work when I wrote most of the posts from today, I just kind of assumed the same for him :) So, for anyone who's done this, how much water did you put in the tub? Also, would I have to wet the tshirt first or just to have the bottom of it in the water would be enough?

Wet the shirt first. Put enough water in to keep 4" or more in the tub at all times.