A few beginner questions

Pitch the whole darn thing

If your doing a 5gal batch you can use whatever sanitised container you like but make sure it is about 6.5gals to leave headroom with some sort of feermentation lock

Don't have a wort chiller yet but from what I understand you just have to make sure it is clean and put it in your kettle with at least 15min left to boil and that will kill all the nasties

Buzz

I'll just respond to the chiller question, since I use my own homemade one. Do not use bleach to sterilize it! Just put it into the boiling wort about ten minutes before end of boil. I would suggest first making sure it is surface clean by spraying with hot water. This also preheats it, minimizing the effect on the boil when putting a lot of cold metal into the wort. The only other consideration is to perhaps occasionally clean the oxidation by soaking in a vinegar solution, but this would only be rarely necessary if you use it often enough.

It depends.... if you've let it settle out for several days, you can just pitch the yeast on the bottom. If you've only made it within the last day or so, pitch the whole thing.

You can do just one stage of fermentation, it's easiest that way, and the beer will taste fine. It may turn out a bit cloudier and may have slightly more fruitiness, but for your first pale ale you probably aren't too worried about those things. Otherwise, the method you have proposed of using the bottling bucket for primary fermentation is not a bad idea. Actually, I use all of my buckets with complete disregard for whether they are for bottling or fermenting. Given they are all 6 or 7 gallon buckets and I only make

No experience there. I would probably use hot water and One-Step sanitizer.

Good luck! If you like beer as much as the rest of us, this is a hobby I'm sure you'll enjoy!

Thank you both for your quick and informative response. I completely forgot that I could sterilize with the boiling wort. Hense the whole reason of boiling in the first place, right?

Thanks again!

One small tip for young players. Make sure your chiller is connected before dipping in the boiling wort. Otherwise your kitchen floor will be wet before too long.

I also move the pot from the burners when cooling the wort. I normally drop the pot into the laundry tub then run the chiller.

Never done this. I prefer using the Wyeast XL packs - but there's some contention on using this vs making a starter. Take your pick.

I wouldn't dream of using the bottling bucket as a fermenter. Mine has a spigot on it and it's leaked on me before. Further, that would be one more point in which nasties could enter the mix.

Instead I have a 6.5 gallon plastic primary and a 5 gallon glass carboy secondary. Works like a charm! I also don't prime my beer as I seldom bottle it. I got into kegging from my first batch of brew I made at home. I bottled enough at the BOP place to last me for a while.

When I do occasionally bottle, I ferment in my plastic primary, rack to the carboy for secondary and cold-conditioning/lagering, then prime in the bottling bucket and bottle.

Kegs are much easier, and much less work.

Just drop it in the kettle during the last 10-20 minutes of the boil. That's all it takes.

That's just one reason for boiling, and a very small one. The primary reasons are to help coagulate the proteins in the Malt (the hot break) and to extract the ingredients of the hops for bittering and/or flavoring.

On Fri, 18 Mar 2005 21:09:42 -0600, "Stone-ok" said in alt.beer.home-brewing:

This is a bit late, but for the future:

Don't proof, rehydrate. Boil water, pour it into a sterilized jar (or boil it in a canning jar), cover, cool (in the freezer is fast - but only to 68 degrees), shake for a minute to aerate a little, pitch yeast about 30 minutes before you'll need it. Just sprinkle it on the surface of the water - don't shake or stir.

Ferment in the primary. Rack to the bottling bucket, let it sit for a while to clear, then bottle. (It should be *fully* fermented out before you rack - 3-4 days of no change in SG.)

You could always get a head start on kegging by buying one keg now to use as a secondary fermenter. You won't need an airlock - fermentation won't be enough to damage the keg if you keep it closed.

As everyone else said, put it into the boil pot 15-20 minutes before end of boil.

jus comments as I see them

your beer shop has fresh yeast very good and the quality is reflected in the mirror of your brew.

personally, i never make a FUL batch. full to the brim does not guarantee, good brew.

use copper and bleach is like a really BAD idea. vinegr will killl off any and all good brew who ever you spoke to go get a brew book u know knot much of what a beer is.

no this is a one time shot. win lose. actually making bread daily is actually a good idea to making a brew. if things grow big and green and in youir fridge then maybe u should wait. or clean the fridge.