Newbie here - first batch - have a few questions.

[traviscline]

Last Friday I got my first batch into the fermenter, using a kit from midwest (autumn amber ale) but added some things (mainly an immersion chiller and a carboy).

I had a vigorous fermentation for about 24 hours (see: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/440963/beer1fermenting.m4v ) but it's very slow now, from what I've read this is OK and I just need to trust the hydro.

I was being paranoid and didn't pull a hydro reading initially (I realize I should have now) but have a target FG from the recipe so when I rack to secondary I'll pull a reading and compare.

So questions:
I didn't avoid any of the hot or cold break at the bottom of the cooking vessel when pouring to the fermenter -- is a careful secondary enough to mitigate that or should I be more careful to leave some behind in the future?

I rehydrated my dry yeast for 40 or so minutes before pitching, pulled wort off of chiller at 80 degrees and added about two more gallons of water so I probalby pitched mid-70s -- is that all OK? Should I have done a starter?

I poured between cooking vessel and fermenter 3 times with splashing for aeration -- should that be enough?

Also: is it unreasonable (other than cost) to keg off the bat? I'm tempted to do a growler or a few bigger bottles for longer term storage but really like the idea of kegging.

And finally, what ignorance am I showing in what I just asked/said above.

Thanks!

[Joe Yoder]

Take the advice of Charlie Papazian...Relax, Have a Homebrew.
I guess since this is your first batch you'll just have to have a commercial beer this time. But definitely, relax!! Your methods seem to be correct and your beer will be fine!
Start kegging right away if you can. Bottling is a pain, why go through that pain if you don't have to.
Good luck.
Joe

[Steve Brown]

Sounds great!

Yes, bottling is work; I gave it up just over a year ago, and after I kegged once decided I'd never go back! Before I got set up to keg I'd gone to using 22-oz bombers and even some 2-liter plastic bottles to save work. (Recently I only used 2-liters that had water in them; I used to give soda bottles and lids a chlorine soak and copious rinse to get rid of residual flavors.) I mean, who only drinks 12 ounces of a typical beer? And 2-liters is good for sharing!

I try to get the temp a little lower at pitch; it'll ramp up as the yeast do their thing. I find the break material will settle out in the primary, so sometimes I don't worry about it too much, either.

[phil6253]

Joe and Steve are on target. I did notice where you mentioned bottling in a growler, most aren't rated for carbonation. I've got some of those flip-top type growlers and they are rated for the pressure, you don't want explosions.

[traviscline]

Thanks for all the input guys!

Tried it on the way to secondary over the weekend, tasted.. OK, the gravity was 1.019, not as alcoholic as I hoped yet but ah well.

With some time in the secondary I think it'll turn out alright!

[cyburai]

The FG 1.019 seems a bit high since the recipe looks for 1.010-1.012. There could be a couple of reasons for this:

(btw; this is a minor deal for your first beer, don't sweat it.)

Water volume could have been off a bit.
Yeast may not have finished, I usually give them 10-14 days in primary before moving to kegging or secondary.
Temperature may have slowed down the yeast.

Those are just a couple.

But .005 pts off is pretty minor. If it tastes good, drink it.

[JWLero]

I would keg if possible. I bottle everything but it is due to personal reasons. Kids scattered across from Lawrence to Manhattan. Bottling stops the fights over who gets the beer! LOL

Keg unless you have a specific reason to bottle.

[krizwit]

Welcome to homebrewing!

After you read Charlie's book(you can pass on it...), read How to Brew by John Palmer. It is a much better book, however not quite as "relaxing". Dont bother with a secondary unless you are making a fruit beer or sour beer. It is more work and has the potential to add more oxygen to your beer along with some bacteria. Put your carboy or bucket into a large tub of cold water and add frozen 2 liter bottles periodically so that you maintain a fermentation temp lower than 70. If your ambient temp is 70 your beer can hit 80 during the height of fermentation.
Good job rehydrating your dry yeast... Many people dont. You want to pitch it in your beer generally within 30min.
You can aerate by just shaking the pail or carboy around instead of going from bucket to bucket. As long as you shake your wort around for a few minutes, you should be alright. You can also shake it several hours later, but try not shake it after 18 hours or so.
Kegging is great. Only one big bottle to clean instead of 48. Kegging is great for parties since you dont have a million bottles to clean or recycle.

[traviscline]

Thanks!

I've been using/reading Palmer (online and the 3rd edition in print).

Working on advice of a brewing buddy I think when going to my next secondary I'll use my co2 on the intake with a filter so should be safer and easier than how I did it before. I'll do this and if it isn't too much of a pain I'll probably stick to it, seems like with some care it won't be too bad.

Thanks for the temperature advice, ambient was abut 68 through most of my first batch and thermometer hasn't shown much higher than that for most of the primary but I should keep a closer eye on it going forwards.

Did my second batch with a friend yesterday -- an Irish Red.

Ordered a 3-keg setup a few days back and have a fridge I'm going to convert, pretty excited!