I got Craft a Brew's American Pale Ale kit for xmas. I've read through the directions and almost all of How to Brew, so I think I've got passable knowledge to brew my first extract batch. That being said, here comes a very vague question. Any pitfalls to look out for? Specifically in regards to this kit, or to stovetop brewing? I'm going to try to brew tomorrow because the wife and I will be moving into our first home at the end of feb...figured "homeowner's homebrew" would be fun to have on hand for a housewarming. Looking forward to a great new hobby. Cheers & thanks! EDIT: Would it be overambitious to try to rack it to a secondary fermenter and do a little dry hopping (obv not called for in the recipe)? I don't want my first batch to be too "meh", but I also don't want to put the cart before the horse!
Do you have an electric stove or gas? How big is this batch? How do you plan to cool it? Transfer it? What are you using for water? Yeast? No, it's not too ambitious to dry hop, but you don't need to move it to a secondary to do it.
Most of the best APAs I have tasted were not dry hopped. Assuming the kit was designed competently (and you execute reasonably well), the result shouldn't be "meh." (Assuming you like APAs.)
It looks like you have this kit http://craftabrew.com/collections/recipes#american-pale-ale-1 Not a lot of detail, but we can guess that it is a reasonable recipe. So, stove top suggests you won't be doing a full boil, but it looks like this might be a 2.5 gallon batch (based on the 3 gallon carboy). You should consider adding half of your malt extract at the beginning of the boil and half with ~15 minutes left (google late extract). Other than that, be careful with sanitization and don't do a secondary. I would not bother with dryhopping, the beer should be fine. You can branch out with your second beer. good luck
Biggest pitfall of stove top brewing - boil overs happen (unless you have a huge pot) and they make a mess. Truelly watch it like a hawk, and once the wort gets foam on top, you should be able to turn the heat down. The foam acts like a blanket, which can cause rapidly increasing boil rate which increases foam. My first time the foam ran up a good 3 or 4 inches and over the top of the pot in less than 2 seconds.
Thanks for all of the advice! I'm going to skip the dry hopping and just follow the recipe. Also, it's a 1 gallon batch
Adding - not all but- enough of the extract at the beginning of the boil to play with the hops and saving the rest for the end is a good idea to prevent darkening and potential scorching of your wort. Make sure to add it slowly and stir it in well so it doesn't just fall to the bottom of the pot.
The importance of sanitization cannot be overstated. One can make many mistakes during the brewing process that won't ruin a batch of beer, but an infection is one that can result in a drain-pour.
