I succumbed to noob temptation

FatDuc · 11-30-2007, 03:56 AM

It's only been a week in the bottle, but I cracked open a 12 oz'er of my Brewer's Best Scotch Ale tonight after I got home from work.

I made good beer!!!

Ok, so it wasn't the best beer I've ever had, but it went "pfffft" when I lifted the cap with an opener and that was a good sign. I poured it right out into a pint glass and it had a nice head, which was another good sign. It smelled like a nice balance of hops and malt. Finally, it tasted good, but had a "green" bitterness that was present, but nowhere near overpowering.

I bottled the majority of my first batch in 22 oz bottles, but I set aside 3 12 oz ones just for this purpose, but I had said I was going to wait until 3 weeks was up to open one. So much for that plan, but now I know that this is more than drinkable, it's good. I can wait for the rest to get some more conditioning in peace now.

I've got my shopping list ready for the LHBS tomorrow! Time to make more.

Kevin Dean · 11-30-2007, 04:22 AM

Excellent! Congrats on a drinkable beer.

I did the same thing (hell, I'm probably STILL doing it) but due to lucky and a really loving SWMBO, I managed to work out a brew-a-week schedule that had me filling carboy, Better Bottles and bucket alike. This helped me stock up enough that I didn't have a choice BUT to allow my beers to age before drinking them...

This is the goal of homebrewing.

mikeyc · 11-30-2007, 04:45 AM

Its cool. I do it too, and Im pretty sure alot of us do. I actually drank one of my Stone IPA's tonight, 1 week in the bottle. Just dont get carried away. I did with my Irish Stout and ended up drinking almost all of it before it was done. I still have two bottles left though. Saving those for St. Patty's day. The real pressure for me comes when ive been drinking and i remember that they are up stairs, and somehow convince myself that its ok to taste one.

Kai · 11-30-2007, 05:30 AM

My plan is to use the Christmas vacation - I'm going home for four weeks - to let all my current batches bottle condition and have another round ready for bottling in January. That should give me enough of a head start to keep myself out of green batches.

buraglio · 11-30-2007, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ma2brew

It's only been a week in the bottle, but I cracked open a 12 oz'er of my Brewer's Best Scotch Ale tonight after I got home from work.

I made good beer!!!

Ok, so it wasn't the best beer I've ever had, but it went "pfffft" when I lifted the cap with an opener and that was a good sign. I poured it right out into a pint glass and it had a nice head, which was another good sign. It smelled like a nice balance of hops and malt. Finally, it tasted good, but had a "green" bitterness that was present, but nowhere near overpowering.

I bottled the majority of my first batch in 22 oz bottles, but I set aside 3 12 oz ones just for this purpose, but I had said I was going to wait until 3 weeks was up to open one. So much for that plan, but now I know that this is more than drinkable, it's good. I can wait for the rest to get some more conditioning in peace now.

I've got my shopping list ready for the LHBS tomorrow! Time to make more.

I did the same thing after ~10 days and it was totally worth it. It has helped me to leave it alone for a little while longer (actually, I opened like 4 bottles and shared it with some family). Everyone was impressed and I realized that making beer wasn't as much of a daunting task as I had thought for so long.
Congrats on the first batch. If you're anything like me you'll be diving head first into many more.

**david_42** · 11-30-2007, 02:37 PM

Sampling a bottle early is NOT a noob thing. It's called quality control.

Noob is when you drink the whole batch at a week, regardless of how it tastes.

**Joker** · 11-30-2007, 03:30 PM

I think David has the newb definition nailed down pretty well with his response.

jca · 12-02-2007, 04:54 PM

I'm trying one out from my 4th batch right now that's only been in the bottle 10 days. It gives me an idea how it's going to taste and lets me see the changes that take place later on.

**rabidgerbil** · 12-02-2007, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin Dean

Excellent! Congrats on a drinkable beer.

I did the same thing (hell, I'm probably STILL doing it) but due to lucky and a really loving SWMBO, I managed to work out a brew-a-week schedule that had me filling carboy, Better Bottles and bucket alike. This helped me stock up enough that I didn't have a choice BUT to allow my beers to age before drinking them...

This is the goal of homebrewing.

Brew once a week??? wow... my wife will kill me if I brew that often. But at least I would die with good beer in my belly.

Hmm... lets see... five primaries, five secondaries, two kegs, and 15 cases of bottles that I have collected so far... I just might be able to do it. Now I just need to line up enough of my friends to help me drink 5 gallons a week

I guess when you have 7 brothers in law, that helps.

Silviakitty · 12-02-2007, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ma2brew

It's only been a week in the bottle, but I cracked open a 12 oz'er of my Brewer's Best Scotch Ale tonight after I got home from work.

I made good beer!!!

I've got my shopping list ready for the LHBS tomorrow! Time to make more.

Woo! Congrats!

I'm bottling my first Mr Beer batch tonight; I can't wait to get through the rest of what I've ordered so I can get a real kit!! The one at Lumina looks really good, and really reasonably priced too.

Enjoy the shopping.