Hello All,
This past weekend, I took the plunge and began my homebrewing "career". I got a kit from the local homebrew store, and decided upon an American-style Wheat. (I'm a sucker for the wheat's...)
The setup/preparation/sanitization went great. I've been reading everything I can, and the whole cleanliness factor really hit home. Also, I've read alot about how your wort can boil over. This brings me to my first question: what's the best way to clean up that sticky wort?
It went like this: I'm an experienced amatuer cook. I've had many a boilover's. When Charles Papzian mentioned in his Joy of Homebrewing that this could happen, I made a mental note to be vigilant. Unfortunately, Charles, and every other source I've read on homebrewing neglect to relay how violent a heated wort can be. My wort was at a rolling boil - as per directions - when I decided to make sure that things weren't sticking to the bottom of the brewpot. As soon as my spoon hit the wort, I got a good 3-4 inches of super-hot wort thrown up in the air, and subsequently all over the stovetop, counters, floor, walls, etc. This "boilover" wasn't your run-of-the-mill boilover, it exploded.
After recovering, I continued on with the process. Half an ounce of Hallertauer at full boil, and then another half an ounce at post-boil for aroma/flavoring. Cooling the wort in the double-sink took a while, and once I got it to 90 degrees, I ladeled it to the fermenter. I then topped off the fermenter with another 3 gallons of cold tap. Unfortunately, "cold" here in Texas is approximately 85 degrees. The O.G. at this point came out to 1.035. This prompts the next question: when adjusting the hydrometer reading for the temperature, I've read it changes .001 for every 7 degrees above 60. Is that the temperature of the wort, or room temperature? If it's room temp - then my final O.G. should be 1.038 to 1.039 - which is in range for what I'm brewing (room temp at that point was ~85 degrees).
By this time, I already had the yeast proofing in a pyrex measuring cup. So I soaked a towel, wrapped the fermenter, and put a fan on it. That was at 9pm last night. At midnight, the temperature strip still wasn't registering below 80. This morning at 6:45am it showed 77 degrees, so I pitched the yeast and Bru-Vigor. If I had written this earlier today, I would have asked my 3rd question on if that's OK to cool the wort all night and then pitch the yeast that had proofed all night. But, I'm happy to report I'm getting the airlock popping every second, so we have fermentation!
The kitchen looks like a war zone, tho. So far Formula 409 Cleaner/Degreaser seems the best at cleaning the wort. Unfortunately the cabinets are still sticking when you open them.
I'm sure I'll have more questions later. Thanks in advance for any replies, and thanks again for the help I've gotten on here so far. BTW
- for logging my brews, I've found this awesome tool called the BrewBlog -
Happy Brewing, Warren