BeerBorg

Welcome Tal!
I watched the original series and some of the movies. Brew long and prosper!

Hey everyone, Chad here! From southern Ohio and new to brewing. Super excited! I was directed here from the Brewdemon card I got in my kit. I have the 3 gallon kit and am on my second batch since Christmas, haven't even tried the first yet! First batch was the One Evil Pilsner that came with it, and then I ordered some more bottles and the St. Paddy's Day recipe Demon's Irish Red. I hope the first batch turns out alright. After reading a few posts here I see I should have probably fermented at least the 14 days instead of the 10 days I did. I bottled the pilsner on Saturday and by Wednesday they were already hard so, hoping I didn't create some bottle bombs! I put my second batch, the Irish Red, in the fermenter same day and am now waiting, I'm going to wait 3 weeks for that to ferment. I'm going to put one of the bottles of the pilsner in the fridge on Saturday and try it Sunday. I have the others in a Coleman cooler just in case of explosions. Any advice would be great! I was going to get a Cider kit as my second brew for my GF but she quickly shot that down and told me to brew a few batches before I brew anything for her

I did have a question or two though... What do I do with beer samples I take out to check with the hydrometer? I've taken 3 samples so far, 2 of pilsner and one of the Irish Red, the pilsner after adding yeast and the Irish Red before. I dumped the 2 pilsner samples down the drain because I didn't think I could add it back to the fermenter. Was this the right move? It hurt my heart to dump it but you live you learn. My second question is would anyone have any idea of BIAB kits that come very close to Smithwick's or Harp? They are my favorites to drink and until I'm confident enough to play around with recipes, I would love to have something really close to those. Looking forward to talking with you folks!

Hi Chad, welcome aboard!
Sounds like you're off to a good start. If you used the plastic bottles that came with your kit, I don't think they'll explode, they can stretch if pressure gets too high. While two weeks or even three would let your beer finish, after ten days most of the sugars are eaten. You can pour the samples back into the fermenter if you carefully sanitized the sample tube and hydrometer. But two samples doesn't even equal one beer. I only take a sample before fermenting and one when I package. After three weeks my beers are always finished fermenting.
Good luck, have fun and keep us posted.

Welcome.

I used to sanitize my hydrometer and tube and pour the samples back into the fermenter, but at some point, I decided it's not worth the risk. If I don't sanitize well enough, I risk ruining the entire batch. If rather dump the sample and not risk needing to dump the whole batch. Having said that, I was lucky (or careful) enough and never had a batch get ruined that way.

I usually drink the final sample. Some people drink the first one, also, but I just dump mine.

Where's the best place to post questions? Here, find a thread that goes with my question, or create a new thread?

Luthrose wrote:Where's the best place to post questions? Here, find a thread that goes with my question, or create a new thread?

Welcome to The Borg Luthrose. You can do it any of the 3 ways you mentioned above. This is a very friendly group that has no problem with petty things like do a search or already been answered like some forums I have been on and get your head bit off if don't do like they expect. We like to help. Post a question in a sub forum topic that best relates. Most on here view as "view active topics" and your post will be on top. Ask away

Ok thanks! In that case I’ll ask real quick, if I open a bottle that’s been in the fridge, and I taste the cider/apple flavor, should I take it out of the fridge and put it back with my other conditioning/carbonating bottles, or dump it?

Edit for clarification: the bottles have been carbonating for about 10 days and seemed to be carbonated after 4. I went ahead and put one in the fridge last night because I simply want to taste it. I’m not worried about clarity quite yet. I’ll be doing as people have suggested and trying them week after week to taste the progress.

Luthrose wrote:Ok thanks! In that case I’ll ask real quick, if I open a bottle that’s been in the fridge, and I taste the cider/apple flavor, should I take it out of the fridge and put it back with my other conditioning/carbonating bottles, or dump it?

Edit for clarification: the bottles have been carbonating for about 10 days and seemed to be carbonated after 4. I went ahead and put one in the fridge last night because I simply want to taste it. I’m not worried about clarity quite yet. I’ll be doing as people have suggested and trying them week after week to taste the progress.

A cidery taste is a sign of a "green" beer that needs more conditioning time.

Hi, everybody, new member wephat (weft) here. Glad to be onboard and look forward to brewing.

that's (wefat)

Hi, Chris here. Brand new to the board. I have some experience with brewing technology and limited experience actually making beer myself. I'm a lawyer who has done a fair amount of work in the beer industry.

But eager to learn from the collective wisdom of the group.

Welcome Chris. This is a very laid back and uber friendly forum. Not as busy as others but the wisdom here for many years of experience can help you get to where you want to be.
Share when you want and you'll get the help you ask for.

welcome wephatt and welcome chris ...

Welcome!

Welcome aboard to both! Keep us posted on your brewing.