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Author Topic: New to Brewing  (Read 2848 times)

Offline Lizzz160

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New to Brewing
« on: March 14, 2016, 07:56:53 am »
Hello!

My husband, brother and I just started our first batch yesterday and we noticed it to be a little darker than expected. It is supposed to be a light amber and it looks more medium to dark. What can cause the color to be different than expected? I read something saying it could be the pH of the water. We just bought the gallon jugs of spring water. This is our first attempt at it so we used a brewing kit we purchased at the store, we plan on using only grains the next time around, but we want to make sure we get the process down right before we get into that. (I really want to make a honey IPA at some point! If anyone has any suggestions/recipes that would be awesome). Anyway, we noticed that clean up is a b****!! Any strategies on that one? HA

Any tips for us would be greatly appreciated! We loved our first brew day and plan to continue!!

Offline Stevie

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Re: New to Brewing
« Reply #1 on: March 14, 2016, 08:06:33 am »
Are you judging by the color in the fermenter? Larger the mass, darker the color.

Offline flbrewer

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Re: New to Brewing
« Reply #2 on: March 14, 2016, 08:09:37 am »
Extract can make for a darker beer. It'll probably clear up a bit once it ferments. You may be seeing hops and the traub mixed in.

Offline Lizzz160

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Re: New to Brewing
« Reply #3 on: March 14, 2016, 08:17:30 am »
Are you judging by the color in the fermenter? Larger the mass, darker the color.

That's kind of what I was thinking, but my brother was worried we did something wrong. The only thing we did differently was re-hydrate the yeast. I will let you guys know how it turns out! :D

We are excited to not use a kit.

Extract can make for a darker beer. It'll probably clear up a bit once it ferments. You may be seeing hops and the traub mixed in.

We did a pretty good job getting most of the traub out (by the way, the terms for all of this stuff is awesome). We have a pretty good set up, I'm not sure how to insert pictures into posts or I'd send a picture HA.

So how long have you guys been brewing, what is your favorite type of beer to brew??

Offline Slowbrew

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Re: New to Brewing
« Reply #4 on: March 14, 2016, 08:23:26 am »
Many books and commenters will tell you boiling increases cooler and fermentation will decrease the color.  With extract (partial boil) you can add half the extract up front and wait to add the rest until 15 minutes left in the boil and get less darkening.  The heat of the boil will cause the wort to caramelize a bit and thus darken the beer.

As was mentioned by Stevie you can't trust the cooler in the fermenter.  I usually get a better feel the actual color looking at the transfer tubing when I rack the beer out of the fermenter.

Welcome to our chosen obsession.  Many good people here who can are willing to answer any questions you have.

Paul
Where the heck are we going?  And what's with this hand basket?

Offline Slowbrew

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Re: New to Brewing
« Reply #5 on: March 14, 2016, 08:28:19 am »
The instructions for posting a picture are in this thread: https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=20.0

I have been brewing since 1998.  About 18 years.  They go by fast.

I tend to brew wheats and English Ales most often.

Paul
Where the heck are we going?  And what's with this hand basket?

Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: New to Brewing
« Reply #6 on: March 14, 2016, 08:29:19 am »
Welcome to the addiction and lifelong learning experience that is brewing beer.

You already have good advice above.
Jeff Rankert
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BJCP National
Ann Arbor Brewers Guild
Home-brewing, not just a hobby, it is a lifestyle!

Offline Lizzz160

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Re: New to Brewing
« Reply #7 on: March 14, 2016, 08:39:07 am »
Many books and commenters will tell you boiling increases cooler and fermentation will decrease the color.  With extract (partial boil) you can add half the extract up front and wait to add the rest until 15 minutes left in the boil and get less darkening.  The heat of the boil will cause the wort to caramelize a bit and thus darken the beer.

As was mentioned by Stevie you can't trust the cooler in the fermenter.  I usually get a better feel the actual color looking at the transfer tubing when I rack the beer out of the fermenter.

Welcome to our chosen obsession.  Many good people here who can are willing to answer any questions you have.

Paul

Awesome! Thanks for the tip, we have one more kit that we are going to use before switching to just grains (so we can get the procedure down). It is pretty complicated for beginners!

Here is our set up!
http://imgur.com/rT4ONUU

Getting the wort out of the cooling tubes and back into the main kettle was a little confusing for us HAHA we had a few beer by the time we got to that step and it took some discussion, but we figured it out and didn't make a mess! HAHA

Offline Lizzz160

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Re: New to Brewing
« Reply #8 on: March 14, 2016, 08:41:40 am »
The instructions for posting a picture are in this thread: https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=20.0

I have been brewing since 1998.  About 18 years.  They go by fast.

I tend to brew wheats and English Ales most often.

Paul

We will probably be brewing IPAs and Stouts. I love wheats, but the guys prefer the others, hopefully they give me a change on brewing something and not just being their assistant brewer HA

Offline denny

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Re: New to Brewing
« Reply #9 on: March 14, 2016, 10:40:37 am »
So how long have you guys been brewing, what is your favorite type of beer to brew??

18 years, 495 batches.  I prefer German, Belgian, and hoppy American styles.
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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Offline dilluh98

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Re: New to Brewing
« Reply #10 on: March 14, 2016, 11:17:35 am »
So how long have you guys been brewing, what is your favorite type of beer to brew??

18 years, 495 batches.  I prefer German, Belgian, and hoppy American styles.

It has to be asked... What will you brew on the 500th batch??

Also, to the OP, welcome to the hobby! Brew the beer you like to drink, at least initially. That's what I did and then I started to branch out to styles that are either very expensive to buy on the regular (high-alcohol/aged/sour/funky beers) or are not found locally in much variety (British ales, saisons).

RPIScotty

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Re: New to Brewing
« Reply #11 on: March 14, 2016, 11:31:02 am »


18 years, 495 batches.  I prefer German, Belgian, and hoppy American styles.

It has to be asked... What will you brew on the 500th batch??

A hippie, I mean hoppy, American, Quintupel-Dunkel of course!

Offline 69franx

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Re: New to Brewing
« Reply #12 on: March 14, 2016, 12:27:17 pm »
Welcome to the obsession. Learning the process is the best advice you can get, read the forum regularly, read a brewing how to book(I started with Palmer, but there are other great ones out there)
     I have been brewing for almost 3 years, about 30 batches and just love everything about it.
     Your set up is quite nice and extensive, quite a bit more automated than my set up
     Good luck, take good notes, read a lot, and remember to have fun with it
Frank L.
Fermenting: Nothing (ugh!)
Conditioning: Nothing (UGH!)
In keg: Nothing (Double UGH!)
In the works:  House IPA, Dark Mild, Ballantine Ale clone(still trying to work this one into the schedule)

Offline denny

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Re: New to Brewing
« Reply #13 on: March 14, 2016, 12:49:17 pm »


18 years, 495 batches.  I prefer German, Belgian, and hoppy American styles.

It has to be asked... What will you brew on the 500th batch??

A hippie, I mean hoppy, American, Quintupel-Dunkel of course!

I did a quad for my 400th.  I'm thinking I'll go classic for 500 and brew my Rye IPA.
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

www.dennybrew.com

The best, sharpest, funniest, weirdest and most knowledgable minds in home brewing contribute on the AHA forum. - Alewyfe

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

Offline 69franx

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Re: New to Brewing
« Reply #14 on: March 14, 2016, 01:14:36 pm »
Do you have a date set for the #500 @Denny?
Frank L.
Fermenting: Nothing (ugh!)
Conditioning: Nothing (UGH!)
In keg: Nothing (Double UGH!)
In the works:  House IPA, Dark Mild, Ballantine Ale clone(still trying to work this one into the schedule)