Sanitize all fermenters and Air Locks with either Star San or Iodophor sanitizer.
Here, a 6 1/2 gallon glass carboy is full of cold water and Iodophor sanitizer
Boil 1 gallon of filtered water or good tasting mineral/ spring water.
Avoid using city water that may contain chloramines (they do not
boil off). You may use city water and add one campden tablet to
neutralize the chlorine products in the water. Notice, the chiller is
installed to sanitize it.
Remove the kettle from the heat and stir in the Liquid Malt Extract
and/or dry malt extract. Return the kettle to boil. Use a water spray
bottle to mist the rising foam to prevent an overboil. Boil 30 minutes
and top off with filtered water. Now add the bittering hops and boil
for 60 minutes. This is the maximum time necessary to isomerize
the large amount of alpha acids needed to bitter the beer. Notice that
this kettle has the chiller installed to sanitize it by boiling.
Remove the kettle from the heat source and cover with aluminum foil to
minimize any airborne microbial infection. Connect the water source to
exchange heat from the brew kettle. The target temperature is 75 F degrees.
You may need to circulate ice water using a small fountain pump submerged
in an ice chest. This technique is very efficient!
Empty the sanitizer from the fermenter. Pour the cooled wort (pronounced wert) into the sanitized
fermenter. When the fermenter has been filled to 5 gallons, pitch the yeast and install
the stopper with the air lock. Now carefully pick-up the entire fermenter and shake vigorously, this
will dissolve oxygen into the wort to sustain the yeast during its first stage of growth.
Return to the brew kettle with the chiller installed. Fill the kettle with filtered water
and boil for 30 minutes. This will kill any microbes in the water supply even though
it comes from the store in a seemingly clean plastic bottle. Cool the water to
75F degrees as previously. Top off the fermenter to 5 gallons and install the
air lock. Move the fermenter to a cool place, not below 70F for ale fermentation.
Temperature control is important to avoid fusel alcohols that may make your
beer taste like paint thinner!
This is a Hoppy fermenter during the second day of fermentation.
Notice the aluminum foil around the top is an added protection for
the rubber stopper and also serves to help retain the stopper in
place.
This fermenter is in high Krausen. It is truly a robust fermentation.
Many volumes of CO2 will be released through the air lock on top.
The air lock is filled with star san sanitizer and a couple of drops
of Fermcap, which keeps the liquid from foaming up.
