I took the leap.....it's go time

If you haven't read "How to Brew," do that. You can read an old version online for free, or buy the updated version from amazon and other places. It has more pointers, organized in an understandable way, than you're going to get in this thread. Though people will try.

 

In addition to reading "How to Brew" you may want to make or find a brewing checklist. It is pretty easy to forget to do something on brew day.

 

Does your Local Homebrew Store (LHBS) have a club affiliated with it? If so, join it (or some other homebrew club in your area).

Cheers!

 

I was in the same boat as you last summer. In addition to everything stated above I found the How to Brew Extract DVD very helpful and reassuring before I brewed my first batch. As I watched the video I took notes so I knew what to do step by step. The brewing process was sound but I ended up fermenting a bit warmer than I should have and my Brown Ale had a Belgium Yeast-like flavor to it. Lucky for me I like Belgium Beers so it wasn't a total loss. Otherwise this is a great hobby and a great site for new brewers to visit.

http://beersmith.com/dvd/

 

How to Brew, amazon sells it for ~$12, buy it and read it, then ask questions.

Get the biggest pot you can

An English Brown is a good first beer. Post what you think you are going to do before you actually do it. For example, heat 2 gallons of water to 150 and then steep grain for 30 minutes,... There is a good chance we can help you avoid mistakes.

Have a way to manage fermentation temps

Save the drinking until after you finish brewing

 

Welcome to the BA site and to this wonderful hobby of homebrewing.

Your kit is a malt extract kit instead of an all-grain kit, so that will make the brewing session easier for you to learn the basic procedures for the boil session. I read the instructions ( http://www.brewersbestkits.com/pdf/1016 2013 English Brown Ale Recipe.pdf ), which are pretty good, but I have three comments to make:

1. The instructions advise against allowing your liquid malt extract (LME) to scorch on the bottom of the boil pot when you add it. (It's heavier than the dry malt extract and will go right to the bottom of your pot.) The best procedure is to cut your flame source and add that stuff, then mix it well before re-lighting your flame. You will lose your boil for a few minutes, but you can extend the 60-minute time period accordingly. (The actual boil time is not that critical.)
2. The instructions advise getting your wort temp down to 70 degrees after the boil before pitching the yeast in your fermentor, but it's actually better to get it around 65 if you can because the fermenting process will actually raise the temp 2-3 degrees to a point that could be harmful to your beer. Ideally wherever you keep your fermentor while the wort ferments should also be around 65 so that the wort stays in the 65-68 range.
3. After you think that fermentation is complete, the instructions say to take a final gravity reading and then proceed to bottling. It's a much better (and safer) procedure to wait 2-3 days after that first reading and then take a second one. If the second one matches or is very close to the first one (and they both are close to the recipe's predicted FG), then you can bottle your beer. The fermentation process can give off false signals that make you think it's done when it's not, and the last thing you want to do is add more sugar (the priming sugar) to the sugars still present in your beer and put that beer in a bottle. It will over-carb and you'll have gushers, or worse, bottle bombs.

It's a busy, detailed one-hour period when you conduct the boil, so be as organized as you can during that period so that you stay on a timeline schedule and don't skip something. You can do it. Good luck.

P.S. Depending on your boil pot size, don't let it be too full so that the wort level is close to the top. Shortly after you add the malt extracts and the boil gets going again, the wort is VERY prone to a boil-over for 5-10 minutes or so. (If it boils over, you have a very sticky mess to clean up.) Watch it like a hawk during that period and be ready to stir like crazy or cut the flame to settle it down. It happens quickly. (There is a chemical that you can purchase that greatly reduces or eliminates the risk of a boil-over, but I can't recall its name right now. Someone will chime in on that name for me.)

 

I'll try to remember to share my instructions with you tonight. I wouldn't mind some of the more experienced brewers to review them for flaws as well!

 

follow directions with your kit, and its a good one, brewed it myself. Buy or read how to brew, then read again. Welcome to a whole lot of fun and a great site full of great opinions!!! and facts.

 

Yeast doesn't work on our clock. Any instructions that tell you to do something after a certain number of days you should disregard. Check the gravity and let the beer tell you when it's ready.

 

Just be gentle when you check the gravity...virgins need to be treated with dignity

 

Just do it.
Follow the directions best you can.
It's really not all that complicated.

The deliberate combination of malt-hops-yeast-water are destined to produce beer no matter what.
One has to try really hard to interfere with destiny.

1st batch success is defined as brewing something 'drinkable.'
Stick with it and it only gets better.

 

Welcome aboard!

 

In addition to reading "how to brew" and re-reading it, I recommend getting familiar with a brewing software like beer smith or brew cypher. I use beer smith it's a very user friendly system that can help you organize recipes and make brewing checklists and schedules, very helpful, very worth the small fee.

 

Brewers friend is also a very useful tool, and it's inexpensive and easy to use, I got started with this

 

Let it be.

For future batches, it sounds like your setup (with sediment ball) is sensitive to having too much trub in the wort. You may want to whirlpool the cooling wort to collect the trub in a pile on the bottom of the kettle, then rack the wort to the fermenter, avoiding the trub pile. Or strain your wort on the way to the fermenter.

 

Sure, it's possible, even likely, that there is fermentation activity happening in the ball.