Canadian Homebrew supplies

iguenard · Post by **iguenard** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 10:08 pm

My first batch was a disaster of epic proportions.

Dont worry if its not up to your expectations on the first try.

One tip I can give you to help... dont worry too much about sanitizing until after the boil is done. Then sanitize the hell out of everything that even remotely comes into contact with the beer. For example:

- Your hands
- Any tubing/chiller/canes youll use
- Any utensils/canes/thermometers/hydrometer
- Your hands again
- Any bucket/pail/fermentor/carboy youll use
- The airlock and rubber tip (the beer will rise and touch it)
- The yeast packet
- The scisors/hands/teeth that youll open the packet with
- The air pump tube and stone youll use to aerate your wort with

You get the idea. It took Larry Kress to remind me that even though I try to do a good job, my sanitation still sucks compared to what he goes through.

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 10:46 pm

Holy crap...if I didn't ruin this beer I'll be surprised....I sanitized the spoon I used to stir the yeast into the wort, but not the knife I used to open the packet...

We'll see...How long before I know if it's gone off? Can I test it before bottling?

If it does go off, can I just call it a flemish brown ale?

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 11:26 pm

Cale wrote:
JerCraigs wrote:It takes some practice to get your bottle levels exact though.
Not with a bottling wand! Just fill to the top and the space taken up by said wand will leave a consistent head space. I've never had foaming issues but I also tend to leave my beers in the primary/secondary for a couple weeks after fermentation is complete, which likely leaves me with less CO2 left in suspension.

I have only used it once with a friend, and the wand seemed really finicky. Others seem to like it though so perhaps I will give it another go someday.

iguenard · Post by **iguenard** » Tue Aug 23, 2011 11:43 pm

JeffPorter wrote:

Holy crap...if I didn't ruin this beer I'll be surprised....I sanitized the spoon I used to stir the yeast into the wort, but not the knife I used to open the packet...

We'll see...How long before I know if it's gone off? Can I test it before bottling?

If it does go off, can I just call it a flemish brown ale?

Some days, it just aint hard winning russian roulette. After all there's only one bullet in the gun. The trick is to take the least amount of trigger pulls.

What I mean, is limit the number of manipulations, and you reduce risk of infection. Risk on contaminated yeast packets is very low.

But it takes only one bullet.

After ruining a 21-hour brew day and 50$ worth of ingredients, you tend to take less and less chances.

From what I read in your other posts, you should be fine.

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 12:43 am

thanks Ian. That analogy really helps...

bufordsbest · Post by **bufordsbest** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 8:09 am

JeffPorter wrote:
...I sanitized the spoon I used to stir the yeast into the wort, but not the knife I used to open the packet...

there's really no need to stir the yeast into the wort, just pitch it and let it go, they'll find their way around unless you are talking about sprinkling dry yeast on top of the wort? if that's the case you should be re hydrating the yeast before pitching.

elproducto · Post by **elproducto** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 1:03 pm

Yes sanitation is important, but don't go crazy!

Remember, beer is something that is pretty hard to screw up.
RDWHAHB