mmmm gooood

my first brew in the primary

two weeks last sunday 12/07/08

took my first hydro and sample was at 1.12

right where my structions said

took a taste from the sample

gave it to SWMBO

she said damm thats good

so I take a drink of the flat beer from the hydro tube

and say THANKS midwest

for the great Hefe Weizen kit

can not wait till this stuff is carbed

wait wait wait, you have a chick that thinks flat beer tastes awesome? like you haven't even carbed it, and she said "damn thats good".

that, my friend, is either a lier or a keeper.

on topic, gratz on a good brew, i'm raising mine in the air as i type.

Either a liar, a keeper, or an alcoholic!


anyhoo, congrats. i have been soured to the taste of hefe, i will never try another. but, some people hate IPA's, and that's all i want anymore. even my favorite micro (mirror pond) is not hoppy enough...

now, you need to have three to four brews in your fermentors by the time you bottle a batch! get to work! (ok, i do not fit yet, i have three in primaries, and only one conditioning in bottles).
but, honestly, to keep your patience, pick up a few more fermentors( i love buckets for the ease of mevement, and everyhting else) to help with the patience.
i go through a twelver a night with SWMBO (you put an H where a W belonged) so even if i brew every weekend, i can never keep up. luckily however, i LOVE rum. i love beer too, but it is a different love. i love certain red wines too, but i will take the gas of homebrew to the headache of wine any day.

sucks being an alcoholic and a brewer at the same time. i would need to brew every fourth day to ever hope to keep up.
btw, my first brew(an APA) was good. my second was the best porter i have ever had. and i love porters.. i have had many. it only gets better. brewed batch 5 or 6 this weekend, and next weekend, mother-in-law gets to see what brewin is all about!

pretty soon you will have 5 or more fermentors too

Mirror Pond is a Pale Ale isn't it? I didn't think Deschutes made an IPA. But, as far as PA's go, it's phenomenal! They're just a pretty good brewery overall, imo.

I'm still on 2 fermentors, just upgraded to a very small kegging system, so I can knock out the pain of bottling to an extent. But I've got some money from my last job, so I plan on adding quick.

Deschutes makes an "Inversion IPA"...in fact I'm drinking one right now

ifishsum said:

Deschutes makes an "Inversion IPA"...in fact I'm drinking one right now

Click to expand...

living close to the brewery has it's advantages ehh? i do not think you can get that in cali at all...

+1 to Deschutes Brewery, I grew up really close to there (Redmond, OR) and now I miss the brewery since I can drink their fantastic beer now.

Your SWMBO rocks. Mine loves warm/flat beer too for some reason.

ok took second sample and did a reading still same as yesterday

spent the whole day today getting the lables off the bottles

what a PIA

used oxyclean and an overnight soak

the sam adams lables were the worst followed by petes wicked

gonna bottle in a few hours

what a full day

now I know why you guys go kegs

I found that St. Pauli Girl labels come off the easiest. Not a huge fan of the St. Pauli but a friend of mine goes through a case of it every week so a never ending supply of easy bottles for me.

I also found that doing a hot soak in sanitizer for only 5-10 mins got even the most stubourn labels off pretty easily.

EWWW. green bottles...



anyhoo, label wise, pete's suck ass. the beer tastes like **** too though.
deshuttes labels are easy, but the bottle capper always sticks on their bottles
SN bottles are pretty easy, but the bottles are shorties, and i prefer long necks.
red hook is the best of all worlds though. they use very little glue, the capper works great on em, they are longnecks, and they come with really good beer inside!

for labels, i fill one side my my kitchen sink with HOT water, and add 1/3 cup of liquid cacade dishwashing detergent. soak em for about 3 hours, and break out the scotchbrite. SWMBO helps and we go thorugh a case (all that fits in my sink) in about an hour or so.
i have gotten lazy lately, now i soak em for about 20 mins in starsan, and leave the labels on em

really? i found sam adams bottles to be the easiest(winter and boston lager at least) with only a minute or so under hot water and they come right off.

congrats, got my first batch (american wheat)still in the primary and got started with removing some labels today.

My fiancee LOVES Magners Hard Cider and those labels come right off in about 30 minutes of soaking. Magic Hat & Sierra Nevada were horrible.

One bottle I'd say to avoid are Stella Artois, labels come off easy but a standard 2 hand bottle capper doesnt fit right on the neck.

winzerz said:

took my first hydro and sample was at 1.12

Click to expand...

Are you sure your OG was 1.12, that's a pretty big beer for just a kit you bought online. You are looking at a 11% beer when that thing ferments out...did you add somthing else to the it, like more extract

kit says starting 1.042-1.046

fg 1.010-1.012

oh I see i didn't put the zero in my first post was so excited

1.012 is what its at in 2 days checking well dishwasher is almost finished with the bottles

gotta go fill em up

ok its all in the bottles will keep ya posted on christmas eve and new years

how it goes

man bottling alone sucks

good thing I had my grandson (3 1/2) to help me he handed me clean

bottles from the dishwasher and reminded me "don't spill it grandpa"

and when to put the cap on

I must say he made a long process fun

:rockin:

here is my helper

You did let those bottles cool first, right?

mmm. i bottled my cranberry porter last night. i'm real excited about it. my raspberry wheat will have it's three week anniversary in the bottle tomorrow...

i'm real excited about that, too