Our First Brews

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Punn

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2005
Messages
65
Reaction score
0
Well I know there is a lot of begginer stories on the forum, so I figured I would toss mine into the mix. Me and my brother brewed our first two batches last night. We did a "Blazberry Honey Wheat" (raspberry, blueberry, and wheat beer with honey). The brew process was very easy. It was a partial mash recipie. My brother is a cook and I do the science end, so it was a good mix of brains on the matter. We enjoyed it very much. And nothing went wrong. We were sanitary (probably over sanitary) but that is a good thing! The initial SG of the batch was 1.060, and it tasted good, we had to steal a taste of the wort! And we had yeast action within the first hour after pitching. We will secondary it this saturday , depending on the activity on it, then bottle two weeks from them.

The second batch we did was a Holiday Spice Ale, a recipe we got out of "The Brewmasters Bible". It again came out awsome. Our specifig gravity was dead on the recipie. Also had quick yeast action on that batch as well. And now 24 hours into it, the action is good and heavy, and we have not had any spill over!!!! So I will update on the secondary and then bottleing! I can see how this can get obsessive.


-Punn
 
1) Welcome to the forum!

2) You sound like a pro already. Cooking and science is all there is to it, and it sounds like you have the best of both worlds.
 
Punn said:
Well I know there is a lot of begginer stories on the forum, so I figured I would toss mine into the mix. Me and my brother brewed our first two batches last night. We did a "Blazberry Honey Wheat" (raspberry, blueberry, and wheat beer with honey). The brew process was very easy. It was a partial mash recipie. My brother is a cook and I do the science end, so it was a good mix of brains on the matter. We enjoyed it very much. And nothing went wrong. We were sanitary (probably over sanitary) but that is a good thing! The initial SG of the batch was 1.060, and it tasted good, we had to steal a taste of the wort! And we had yeast action within the first hour after pitching. We will secondary it this saturday , depending on the activity on it, then bottle two weeks from them.

The second batch we did was a Holiday Spice Ale, a recipe we got out of "The Brewmasters Bible". It again came out awsome. Our specifig gravity was dead on the recipie. Also had quick yeast action on that batch as well. And now 24 hours into it, the action is good and heavy, and we have not had any spill over!!!! So I will update on the secondary and then bottleing! I can see how this can get obsessive.


-Punn

You make me SICK!! I hope you have a massive boilover next batch. And a stuck sparge on your first all grain batch!! ;)

Congrats man....two on your first brew day is motivation! Welcome to the forum and let us know how they come out!
 
thanks guys! Appreciate all the feedback! And I will definatly let u know how it goes. And as for our first all grain, we are planning a frambose lambic. Got my 10 gallon oak barrel on the way! But we got a cpl stouts we are gonna do, and the mead. So its all good! I will get back to u all upon secondary of these two awsome brews
 
You might want to try making a standard beer style beer like an IPA or an ale. There's nothing as fun as pouring a beer for a friend and they react with suprise that your beer is better than the Sierra Nevada they buy at the store.

Also, just a suggestion, but you may want to try something a little more...simple...for your first all-grain. There's a lot of new stuff to figure out, and a framboise fermented in wood has a very real chance of failure for even the most experienced brewer. I'd hate to see all the tricky aspects of lambic brewing (unmalted wheat, wild yeast, unsanitary fermenter) sour your first all-grain experience...no pun intended ;)

Just a suggestion. Maybe you like drinking fruit and spice beer all the time, but it's something I see a lot of new brewers doing because of their initial enthusiasm ans desire to be really creative. You'd be suprised how satisfying it is to make a beer that tastes more like beers you'd buy at the pub (pale ale, IPA, porter, etc) and realize it's fresher and tastier and, heck yeah, you made it!

Cheers :D
 
damn guy's, talk about full blast! good luck and welcome to the world of brewing. looks like your already addicted like us. :~)
 
If the lambic fails, that is life, we try try again! And we are dark beer drinkers. The only regular beer we drink is rolling rock. Thats about it. I would rather sit with a honey wheat, which is one of our friends best brews, But thanks for the advice!
 
You've got to have a boilover before you can consider yourself "initiated" in this fraternity. Simply turn around, just for 10 seconds or so... just long enough for the pot to spit some foam and crud down the side of the kettle. It's quick, painless, and part of life. (unless you have a nice 10-15 gallon brew kettle. In that case, I envy you) ;)
 
so can i just say that i stopped a boilover before it happened cause i had a cut of cool water waiting, that is the cook in my brother. so I got a slight advantage! I just hope from what all I have been reading that my one step cleaner did the trick. cause i have heard very good about it and bad. So i hope ours are good. but lke i said, quick action, and now 2 days in they are still going to town. So I am hopeing it is all well. Gonna sanny the secondarys about 30 minutes prior to filling and let them sit with sani till about 2 mins before filling.

And Janx, We are gonna brew a simple IPA next i think , just because it seems it will be ready to drink quicker! and good to sit around and drink during a 2 - 3 batch brew session!
 
I'd agree with Janx on the simple AG. I have only 20 batches or so under my belt and my last two were all grain. An english pale ale with minimal ingredients that I just started tapping into this weekend. I am extremely satisfied with it. Nice and clear; nice hop bitterness / flavor. Nothing masking the success based on exotic ingredients. Its just a great batch from a simple recipe.
 
Blazberry Honey Wheat! I like the name! Sounds like it would taste good, too! I'd like to take a stab at brewing that sometime.

I'll second, er... third Janx' advice. Glad to see you're gonna do an IPA. I did my first two AG's recently, both pale ales, and I'm glad I started out that way. I think I might've been overwhelmed starting out with something complex like an Imperial Stout or even a Blazberry Honey Wheat.

And I'm willing to bet your IPA will make for much better sipping than a Rolling Rock! ;)
 
yeah we are gonna do a extract IPA first, then get a few more fancy ones under our belts and then goto all grain. Oh BTW, we smelt the beer today, (bubbles from the air locks) and wow the blazberry honey wheat smells awsome, the holiday spice smells, like cinamon and ginger, very nice! Secondary this week, bottle in two weeks. drink in 1 month!!!!!!! Mmmmmmm Beer!
 
Well day 2 in the "brew house" is officially in the record books. 6 hours, 3 more batches! We moved our Holiday Spice Ale and Blazberry Honey Wheat to the Secondary. Wow the smells!!! And the taste!!! Hydrometer readings are good so far. No bad taste. And if you like ginger then make the Holiday Spice Ale!

We brewed an "IDA" calling it India Dark Ale, cause insted of toasted malt we used 1/2 lb of dark malt , L440 I believe was the scale on it. But it come out nice and simple and started fermenting within 2 hours. Then we did a Deep Winter Stout. wow was it a good black beer. Also fermenting within an hour. And then we made a batch of mead... How simple was that. 2 gallons of boiling water, added 1 gallon of honey. Boiled for 40 minutes. Cooled, pitched yeast and off it went. With a starting Gravity of 1.080 So it should be nice when it is finished!!! I will keep ya updated!
 
No way you're a beginning brewer! Your last brew week by far has topped my best brew month :p
Keep at it :)
 
andre the giant said:
You've got to have a boilover before you can consider yourself "initiated" in this fraternity. Simply turn around, just for 10 seconds or so... just long enough for the pot to spit some foam and crud down the side of the kettle. It's quick, painless, and part of life. (unless you have a nice 10-15 gallon brew kettle. In that case, I envy you) ;)

You mean like what happened to me today when I was boiling the DME for my priming. I BLINKED and there was DME water everywhere. And wow, does that crystalize on the burners quickly.

What's even better than a boil-over is an overzealous siphoning. Or when you let go of the hose for just a moment and BAM there's wort everywhere. Then you're better off burning the house down and starting over than trying to clean that sticky mess off your floor. Somehow, I STILL have wort in my sandals.
 
Kephren said:
No way you're a beginning brewer! Your last brew week by far has topped my best brew month :p
Keep at it :)

Thanks thanks!

And to Sam, still no boil over. Must be the chef in my brother as he wathces and makes sure stuff does not boil over. Hell today when the mead was boiling, we went up stairs for the 40 minutes it boiled and let it go alone with no boil over. Once the surface tension has set, it is ok after that. Atleast that is what the chef tells me!
 
You'd be suprised how satisfying it is to make a beer that tastes more like beers you'd buy at the pub (pale ale, IPA, porter, etc) and realize it's fresher and tastier and, heck yeah, you made it!

you have to walk before you run :) best to make the pales/bitters/ipa's first with the all grain, get yer sparge techniques down, then move on to more advanced and creative recipes.

welcome to the club and enjoy! :D
 
Well the IDA is keg'd and tasted good going in. we force carbinated it because we have a huge band festivle this weekend to attend and want some home brew. So it is sitting in the keg, at 35psi. Can not wait to taste it. We are bottleing our first 2 brews tomorrow. and moveing the stout to the secondary!
 
And finally. All but the mead are either keg'd or bottled. We bottled our first 2 today, wow did they smell and taste awsome. And keg'd the winter stout, it was freaking great! Gonna be drinking 10 gallons of home brew this weeked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
So you guys just kegged two brews that have fermented less than five days? :confused: Sorry, didn't realize I'd stumbled into the speed brewing forum. :D
 
the ida was done wednesday, it reached correct final and was done fermenting. and the stout also was down to gravity, it called for a secondary for clearity and some more fermentation, but we got a bit overzealous when we tasted it while moveing it to the secondary, so it went into a keg and force carbed for this weekend. mmmmm good. the other two are gonna sit in the bottles for a few weeks bfore we crack them. but the ida was ment to be for this weekend, being a single fermenting batch
 
As I understand it, even though your FG may get to the target quickly (mine often does after 5 days) it's still not completely done. Other things are going on as well after that and the reason to let it sit a while longer (2 weeks one fermenter, 3 weeks two for pri/sec on avg). I don't recall the techie stuff pertaining to this but I do recall reading that in the Complete Joy of HB book.

It most certainly will still be beer but I'd suspect would be even better if you let it site/age a while longer. If nothing else it allows it to clarify and the suspended gunk to settle out with time. Its hard though especially with the 1st batch.
 
desertBrew said:
As I understand it, even though your FG may get to the target quickly (mine often does after 5 days) it's still not completely done. Other things are going on as well after that and the reason to let it sit a while longer (2 weeks one fermenter, 3 weeks two for pri/sec on avg). I don't recall the techie stuff pertaining to this but I do recall reading that in the Complete Joy of HB book.

It most certainly will still be beer but I'd suspect would be even better if you let it site/age a while longer. If nothing else it allows it to clarify and the suspended gunk to settle out with time. Its hard though especially with the 1st batch.


I do understand this, thus the reason for the other batches doin their secondary and being bottled to age. The ida only called for 5-6 days ferment, or untill it met gravity, per the recipe, remember not a too complex recipe. And after the taste test with the co2 forced into it, it is doing quite well. And when we make more they will be fermented longer, but give us a small break, patience is something I lack! hahah, but hey it all tastes good, and I'm hopeing the ageing of the other 2 will be awsome! as they were awsome during bottleing today!
 
wow, We drank the blazberry, phew, 2-3 of them and I get buzzed!!!! Nice!!!! The spiced winter ale is quite stong on the ginger side, we over did the ginger a bit, but there are a few ppl who love it. It should settle good by november/december,. I got first pour pics but left the camera at my brothers house. Next 2 we are gonna do , is a cherry stout and an oatmeal stout
 
Back
Top