This last batch of beer Scott and I brewed was a nightmare. After four very successful batches, #5 kicked our butts. What happened to make this one so difficult? Well, there were a few things. Here are five quick tips for I wish I’d remembered when brewing beer – especially because I’m starting to know enough to be dangerous.
Note: Scott and I are also recognizing the pains of having starter equipment… more on that later.
We recently moved into a different house. It’s got more space, and we love it; however, we had a good, consistent beer brewing setup at the old house.
Scott and I just assumed it would be easy to just start brewing at the new place, right? WRONG!!!
Just before brew time (at 8pm…), while out shopping, we found a new 7.5G kettle and decided to buy it. We also bought a new cooler to hold the kettle as it cooled down. The sink in the new place is wider and shallower than our old sink.
We started brew day by heating 1.5G of spring water in our new kettle. When it got to 150°, I noticed a strange film on the water. Not knowing what it was, I got out the trusty 5G kettle and started over.
The new cooler is waaaaaay bigger than the sink. Once done, the wort took way longer to cool down, and we ran out of ice. We finally emptied part of our freezer and put it in there.
So, tired and weary at around 12:30am, Scott was carrying the cooled kettle down our new and unfamiliar basement stairs. Ugh.
Tip 1: Don’t change too much at once!
The moral of the story: we had too many variables that were new or that had changed. That was not smart. We should have started with the things we needed for the house to make it work.
Tip 2: Don’t forget to activate your (liquid) yeast!
As Scott and I headed back from the brew shop, we were talking about dry yeast versus liquid. The liquid one had to be taken home right away or kept cold with an ice pack in the car. Although we both agreed that dry yeast was easier, we thought our brew benefited from liquid yeast since switching.
At around 12:45am on brew day, I hear Scott swearing. We never activated the yeast. There it was, sitting in the refrigerator. Damn. It. All.
So, at around 5:45am, we were done brewing. Sure, we got to sleep some, but that sucked. I may buy a dry yeast packet (for the styles we brew) and keep handy in case this happens again. Our beer is pretty good, but our first two batched with dry yeast were also just fine.
Tip 3: Don’t start too late!
It was 8:30pm I realized that we needed to start over with the old kettle. Scott wanted to stop, but I figured, what the hell? We could be done by midnight. Alas, Scott was right. We should have waited a night.
Tip 4: Temperature control is key!
Also, we didn’t consider that the basement here is finished – so the insulation keeps the temperature higher (71°-72°F) down there. It is steady, though, which does help.
We learned a very handy trick to lower the temperature while getting our ingredients at the brew store (thank you beer guys at Brew and Wine Hobby in E. Hartford!): Wrap a towel around the carboy, and then put water under the carboy and dip the towel into it. Blow a fan on the water and towel. The towel wicks the water up, lowering the temperature by up to 10°. For us, it got this batch safely into the 67°-68° range. It was just what we needed!
Tip 5: Don’t forget the muslin bags! (make a checklist)
The recipe that we used never mentioned to buy a bag… or activate the yeast, for that matter.
Summary
Our next steps are to work on temperature control and process. I will make a quick checklist of things to do that aren’t on recipes and items to have on hand (think caps, activating the yeast, muslin bags, ice, etc). We also decided that we’ll always start brewing before 6pm.
I really want a brew room in the basement, so we don’t have to go up and down the stairs at all, and so we can start improving our brewing equipment. Let’s hope I get my way 😀
Do you have a brewing nightmare and corresponding brewing tip? Please post them in the comments… I need all the help I can get! 🙂