first ever brew play by play...

fermantation seems to have completed after 5 full days. Krausen has collapsed back into the wort. I drew a beaker to measure the specific gravity, and it was 1.003 (down from 1.040 initially). it smelled really good, so I drank it. It was VERY tasty. it was sort of carbonated too, which really surprised me. it is very cloudy (looks like a Hefeweizen), but tastes better than any beer I've had in the last months.

Saturday I will bottle. Not sure how it can get any bettter... Well, clearer, I suppose.

Ok, I am half in the bag form my first ever batch. yay!!!

The beer tastes so marvelous that I have totally lost repect for all the microbrewers in my area charging 4 bucks a pint for their boatmans swill.... My beer has such a good aroma (little tiny bit on the sweet side) and a tastes like real man's beer: a mouth filling beer flavor with a nice bitter finish. It is perfect. I don't think I'll ever order a different ingredients kit.

One weird thing is that it is the prettiest beer ever at room temp, but if I put it in the refrigerator for a few days it becomes somewhat cloudy.

I actually like my brew at room temp (lets the flavor develop more fully in my mouth), but my friends, I am sure, will want COLD beer. It will taste and smell great, but be sorta cloudy... Anything I can do in the future to prevent that???

I need to contribute to the site so I can get some gallery space and post pics. You guys will be very proud of me. It is awesome looking beer. great carbonation, super clarity, beautiful color...

Anyway... My first batch turned out really great. Props to Hoptech for all the equipment and ingredients. Thanks to everyone here for the advice.

out.

ahoym8e said:

One weird thing is that it is the prettiest beer ever at room temp, but if I put it in the refrigerator for a few days it becomes somewhat cloudy.

Click to expand...

That's not weird. In fact, it's so common it has a name: Chill Haze.

If I recall correctly, the main contributor to this is not getting good hot and (more likely) cold breaks in your wort when you boil and cool it.

How did you chill your wort after boiling it?

I'm not particular about the clarity of my beer at all, and a lot of my beers get cloudy. It doesn't affect taste, so I don't go out of my way to prevent it. Plus, a lot of my beers are dark anyway, and you can't tell they are cloudy easily.

I just recently got a wort chiller, so the next time I make a batch of IPA, I'll be able to tell if it has improved my Chill Haze or not.

-walker

Congrats. Hopefully I can get my first batch going this weekend. You sound like a proud parent. I can't wait to get mine started and behold my creation.

Awesome! I'm hoping to get mine going this weekend too, but I've just been notified that I have to work, so I may have to delay it a bit. Either way, I hope my first batch is as successful as yours was. Sounds really great. Post some pictures!

Kevin

I remember my first home brewed beer - it wasn't that long ago, only a year and a few months - and I had the same reaction - darned if this isn't the best beer I ever drank. And this was a "plain vanilla" beginners kit. I've made maybe a dozen batches with some neat variants since then (they come closer and closer together over time) and each one is better than the last, it seems. Congratulations!

ahoym8e said:

I don't think I'll ever order a different ingredients kit.

Click to expand...

Famous last words....

Isn't it a great feeling getting toasted on your own HB for the first time? Truly a life changing moment. Congrats!
Here is a poem Sasquatch sent me after my first self-induced toasting, I don't know if he wrote it, but I found it quite fitting;

Beware my friend
As you pass by
As you are now
So once was I
As I am now
So you must be
Prepare, my friend,
To follow me.

Edit: No, we're not gay cowboys...

Cheyco said:

Edit: No, we're not gay cowboys...

Click to expand...

Not that there would be anything wrong with that.

Cheyco said:

Here is a poem Sasquatch sent me

Click to expand...

So will it be the full church job with pomp and ceremony or a simple civil service for you two guys when the big day comes?

Hi, Did I read that you boiled the yeast? If you did, that is an absolute No NO.
Yeast is a living organism and will be killed if if the temperture gets much above 80 degrees F. Again if you did boil the yeast you probably won't get any fermentation. What I would suggest is get it to room temp as quiclky as possible, get another yeast either a packet or liquid and reyeast the wort.

Good luck

David

Caplan said:

So will it be the full church job with pomp and ceremony or a simple civil service for you two guys when the big day comes?

Click to expand...

Hasn't your invite reached you yet? We're registered at northern brewer.