Brewed my first batch of American Pale Ale yesterday in kit form from MoreBeer. It was a liquid extract kit. All seemed to go well but I do have several questions for you folks. I’ve brewed before about 30 years ago but my memory of that is about as gone as yesterday’s bacon.
First, the recipe stated that once my extract had dissolved, to bring the kettle to a boil again and I would encounter a Hot Break where a large volume of foam would appear quickly and I should turn the heat down then to prevent over flow. The huge volume of foam never happened! I did have about 1/4” of foam on the top that covered about half of the top of the wort, but no more. In total, I boiled for about 30-45 min waiting for the huge foam, gave up and then started my 60 min boil time. I’m sure I lost a lot of liquid to evaporation unnecessarily in that time! Does the Hot Break always occur? Did I mess anything up by boiling for that additional 30 min or so?
Secondly, I used an auto siphon to transfer to a Fermonster. I lost probably about 1/2” or maybe a little less of wort by leaving the crud in the bottom of the kettle. Should I just have transferred everything in the kettle to the Fermonster? Would that have hurt anything?
Third, overnight I have a great krauzen but very little bubble action in the airlock. I made sure the o-ring was properly seated in the lid of the Fermonster and tightened it down pretty hard. I know that there is a camp that doesn’t really worry about bubble activity in the air lock if all else looks good but is it normal for Fermonsters to leak air. I’m not saying it does but good krauzen and hardly any bubbles leads me there!
Background: Cali yeast calls for 59-72 degree F fermentation temp and I’m at 66 where I have the Fermonster stored and out of the light. OG was 1.050 on the dot. Kit says OG range of 1.044-1.050.
I would appreciate any thoughts. Beers up!!
First, the recipe stated that once my extract had dissolved, to bring the kettle to a boil again and I would encounter a Hot Break where a large volume of foam would appear quickly and I should turn the heat down then to prevent over flow. The huge volume of foam never happened! I did have about 1/4” of foam on the top that covered about half of the top of the wort, but no more. In total, I boiled for about 30-45 min waiting for the huge foam, gave up and then started my 60 min boil time. I’m sure I lost a lot of liquid to evaporation unnecessarily in that time! Does the Hot Break always occur? Did I mess anything up by boiling for that additional 30 min or so?
Secondly, I used an auto siphon to transfer to a Fermonster. I lost probably about 1/2” or maybe a little less of wort by leaving the crud in the bottom of the kettle. Should I just have transferred everything in the kettle to the Fermonster? Would that have hurt anything?
Third, overnight I have a great krauzen but very little bubble action in the airlock. I made sure the o-ring was properly seated in the lid of the Fermonster and tightened it down pretty hard. I know that there is a camp that doesn’t really worry about bubble activity in the air lock if all else looks good but is it normal for Fermonsters to leak air. I’m not saying it does but good krauzen and hardly any bubbles leads me there!
Background: Cali yeast calls for 59-72 degree F fermentation temp and I’m at 66 where I have the Fermonster stored and out of the light. OG was 1.050 on the dot. Kit says OG range of 1.044-1.050.
I would appreciate any thoughts. Beers up!!