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I'm planning to make my first batch within the next couple of days and was checking what all thing i should not OVERDO (like bleach sanitation).

Should i be careful before i cap my bottle (i don't want it to explode) ?? i was guessing most of you ll have something from experience which i'll mostly not give much attention . Thanks in advance

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Fermentation temperature is often overlooked and it's really the key to making good beer. If you don't control the temp, everything else you do doesn't really matter. I prefer most beers to ferment in the 63-65F range. Whatever you do, don't let the beer get over 70F. That's beer temp, not room temp. Due to the heat created during fermentation, the beer can be as much as 10F hotter than the room.

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  • Thanks a lot ! im from the state of Kerala and the climate here is usually always 90F. And im guessing the beer temp ll be 100F. I'll find some way to reduce the temp. Thanks again. :)
    – Joseph
    Commented May 20, 2015 at 7:09
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    Putting the fermenter in a tub of water provides extra mass that will reduce temp swings. Then you can ice, frozen water bottles, etc. to the tub of water to cool it down.
    – Denny Conn
    Commented May 20, 2015 at 15:41
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Make sure you sanitize everything. Make sure you aerate your wort properly before pitching your yeast. Make sure you've got an air tight seal on your FV along with suitable blow off. As Denny said, try to control your fermentation temp. And be patient when it's fermenting. Don't open the vessel, don't shake it. Just relax and let it happen.

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Another thing... don't use bleach! At your local brew shop, you'll find a product called StarSan. It's probably the most popular product for sanitizing stuff, for a very good reason. It works and it's easy to use. You won't have a Clorox smell to deal with and bleach can be a pain to rinse out completely and is disastrous to your stainless steel.

That said, sanitize everything that will go anywhere near your beer. All of the utensils, fermenmter, siphon, tubing, and everything else that the liquid will touch post boil. I even use it in my airlock.

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  • Thanks :) i'm from india ... Please check my other question i have posted . There is no Star San available and everyone recommended bleach as next best thing.
    – Joseph
    Commented May 25, 2015 at 6:44
  • You should be able to order StarSan in from over the Internet. IIRC, India doesn't have the stigma of drinking alcohol that some neighboring countries do, so you shouldn't have some of the issues that folks from those countries experience bringing brew supplies into the country.
    – CharlieHorse
    Commented May 26, 2015 at 13:29

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