Early Lessons and New Equipment

Brewing my first batch of beer taught me many lessons, some real and some imagined. Still, I have acted to correct each of them.

First, time heals all. Letting my beer sit longer in the bottles turned what I thought of as a sweet, somewhat watery beer into a more balanced (some would say dry) beer with a nutty complexity. So, I have now resigned myself to letting those babies sit until I cannot bear it any longer.

Second, doing a small boil and mixing with water in the primary leaves me feeling anxious. While it turned out a decent beer, I swear this technique made it watery and lacking a full mouthfeel. Thus, I have procured a 30 qt brew kettle to do full boil batches. This will also help me make the switch to all grain, which I plan to do quite soon. I already have my eye on an unclaimed water cooler in the basement of my building to become my mash tun.

Third, cooling off 2.5 or 3 gallons of water in the sink is hard. Even in an ice bath with a little siphoned circulation, it took forever. This may have also affected the mouthfeel, and when I go to full boils, the problem will only get worse. Thus, I have ponied up and gotten a wort chiller.

Well, actually, I went to the hardware store and built one. For about $25 and an hour of my time, I had a serviceable wort chiller. 20 feet of 1/4 inch copper tubing and 20 feet of nylon tubing, some hose clamps, a hose to tube adapter, and a sink adapter, and I was off to the races. We will see how it works with my next batch.