Beer Making 101

I’ve been brewing for about 9 months now and have done about 20 batches. The last 8 batches have been coming out flat, so in an effort to figure out where I was going wrong, I documented what I was doing as precisely as I could. Turns out the problem was that I wasn’t aerating my beer enough at the primary stage. In this photo journal, you’ll see that I mention to cool the beer with the wort chiller and stir rigorously until you see a foam. That puts oxygen back into the wort, which is necessary for fermentation. Since I had this step by step done, I thought it might be a good idea to just post it for others to see.

8/30/2015
7:45am – smacked the liquid yeast bag to start the yeast. This takes about 3 hours.
12:23pm – filled the boiling pot with water to make the wort.

IMG_3308

12:24pm – bagged the crushed grains for steeping.

IMG_3309

12:28pm – started the boil with the lid on

IMG_3310

1:10pm – when the temp is 170 OR the grains have been steeping for 20 minutes, removed the grains.
1:21pm – poured hot tap water over grains, let it drip then discard.

IMG_3311

1:25pm – Return the wort to a boil.

IMG_3312

1:35pm – Added Dry Malt Extract, stirring gently.

IMG_3313

1:37pm – Added Liquid Malt Extract, stirring gently. Started the fire again. Covered

IMG_3314

1:49pm – boil achieved.

IMG_3315

1:52pm – Added 2 oz chinook hops. Stirred and set timer uncovered. Stirred every 10 minutes
2:45pm – added .5 oz fuggles hops
2:50pm – remove from heat

IMG_3316

2:51pm – made sanitizer .5 oz starsan with 2.5 gallons of water

IMG_3317

2:52pm – sanitized bucket. rinsed with cold water.

IMG_3318

2:54pm – added 2.5 gallons of water and capped it.

IMG_3319

3:00pm – sanitized wort chiller. rinsed in cold water.

IMG_3320

3:01pm – sanitized spoon and thermometer. rinsed in cold water.

IMG_3321

3:03pm – dropped temp to 80 degrees stirring vigorously to produce a foam.

IMG_3324

3:13pm – added wort to cold water bucket.

IMG_3325

3:15pm – hydrometer reading 1.046.

IMG_3326

3:18pm – sanitized yeast package.

IMG_3327

3:19pm – and added yeast.

IMG_3328

3:19 sealed the bucket.

IMG_3329

3:20pm – temp is 70 degrees in the room.

IMG_3330

9/6/2015 – one week later
5:36pm – made sanitizing solution 1 oz of starsan for 2.5 gal of water.

IMG_3375

5:39pm – sanitize carboy. rinse with cold water.

IMG_3376

5:41pm – sanitize siphon hose.

5:43pm – add dry hops.

IMG_3378

5:44pm – transfer beer to secondary fermentor (carboy)

5:50pm – cleaned stopper, sanitized and capped.

IMG_3380

9/10/2015
10:30am – washed 50 bottles in dishwasher (no pic)
9/12/2015
10:49am – boiled some water

IMG_3411

10:56am – added 6oz of sugar. returned to boil.

IMG_3412

11:02am – add .5 oz of StarSan to 2.5 gallons of water.

IMG_3413

11:05am – sanitized bottling bucket. Rinsed in cold water.

IMG_3414

11:07am – sanitized siphoning tubes rinsed in cold water.

IMG_3415

11:11am – siphoned beer (tube filled with cold water)

IMG_3416

11:26am – added sugar.

IMG_3417

11:27am – took hydrometer reading 1.014

IMG_3424

11:31am – sanitized bottling hose

IMG_3427

11:32am – prepared bottle sanitizer.

IMG_3429

11:33am – sanitized bottles.

IMG_3430

11:34am – rinsed in cold.

IMG_3431

11:40am – sanitized caps, rinsed in cold.

IMG_3432

11:41am – Filled Bottles

IMG_3433

1:42pm – placed caps on bottle.

IMG_3435

12:09pm – seal caps

IMG_3436

09/26/2015 Done!

IMG_3567