Stage 2

Soooo, after that hefty foam cap subsided, its time to put it into the secondary fermenter. I was definitely not thinking that the yeast would do work and die that quickly, but one week down about 3 to go! Next Monday I'll be preparing my brews for bottling and conditioning...and then just 2 more weeks until I can enjoy some homemade beer!

Gravity did all the work for me today...

 Siphoning was really really easy, and I felt I did a pretty reasonable job, Id give you a gravity reading but I really dont know how to ready my hydrometer....it had definitely changed from my initial numbers...again I dont have much to go by since I don't know how to read it at all, but anyway...time to let it sit for another week or two!

Cant help but wonder if its a  meth lab or some homebrew

Brew Day!

so today was brew day. I decided to get an early start since there was a chance of rain, and yeah..it rained.

I decided to go ahead and brew anyway and it was quite a learning experience.

Brew setup

 I had never boiled 2.5 gallons of water, or even figure how long it would take. I go to know my way around the propane cooker, I'm sure my next batch will be boiling muuuch quicker.

 When I finally got it all boiled up, the extract was rather interesting. I have to remember to turn it on its head to let the syrup come out better, and maybe be a little more patient I guess. The hardest part was waiting around for the wort to boil the allotted time.

Sanitation:
I learned that its pretty damn easy to sanitize, but I'm sure I made a few mistakes. In time I'll be able to stream line my whole process and become a machine! I really wish there was a sink down in the basement!

I had a problem reading the hydrometer and I think its a 5 10 or 40..I don't really know what those readings mean at this point, but I'm putting it down just for reference. In the future I need more jugs of water, 3 gallons cooled and I can get 5 gallons warm water from upstairs.

I also need to be careful of yeast. Next time I need to dry the funnel and also make sure NOT to aerate it and make the yeast clump! UGHHH, I hope that doesn't kill my brew and it all comes out alright!

Hopefully the next time I brew I'll have the temp controller, have it set up and ready to go, so I can make this process as on point as possible!

And now we wait...

Phase 1 DONE

So, I now have everything I need to brew, the wort chiller and hose should be here tomorrow. All I am really missing is a temp reg for the mini fridge set up downstairs to keep my fermentation temps even and consistent. I could start without the equipment or I could go ahead and just wait until I get enough money for it, I'm not sure yet, but I know I really want to start ASAP!