My first ever homebrew is bottled! Pic inside.

Using the instructions in John Palmers excellent book "How to Brew" I made my very first beer. It is pretty close to his Cincinnati Pale Ale recipe. I used WLP028 for the yeast.

It tasted AWESOME when I bottled it on Sunday (04/01). Most of it was bottled in Erdinger 22 ounce bottles but I filled eight 12 ounce clear Newcastle bottles so I could watch what happens as the beer ages. In just a little over 48 hours it has started to clear beautifully and looks really nice. I am very excited! I think I will have to open one this Sunday after only a week to see if it is starting to carbonate and if I did everything correctly. I know clear bottles are not the first choice in beer bottling but it just looks so darn pretty in them!

When I pulled this one out of the closet today to take a peek it looked so nice I had to put it out in the sun and take a picture.

Since the recipe is a little different from the one in the book I am calling this Tall Pines Pale Ale after all the beautiful and enormous pine trees we have here on our property.

Thanks to everyone who makes this such a great forum and wealth of homebrewing information.

Looks great bro! You are right about the clear glass. Make sure you keep them somewhere dark. You would be amazed at how quickly light can turn them into a skunky smelling cheap import!

Cheers! Looks great - enjoy!

Aaaaaand he's hooked.

Awesome man congrats it's looking great!

I use the newie ale bottles for the same thing. I do a couple so I can sample after each week passes. I keep them in the dark and bring em out to "candle" them (hold up to a light) so I can check progress.

The beer in the photo looks as proud as you. Welcome to our world. You will be impressed with what you make, but you will also become your harshest critic. Just remember why you are doing this. Enjoy your craft.

Congrats on the beer. I like the ideal of watching the beer in the bottle and might give it a try. I use a carboy just so I can watch the beer ferment

Sithdad said:

Aaaaaand he's hooked.

Click to expand...

Boom.

That. Just. Happened.


Welcome to the obsession

he didn't resist, and he was assimilated

Thank you guys for the nice comments!

I couldn't hang on any longer and opened one last night. I opened one of the 12 OZ Newcastle bottles and it was amazing. In fact it was so good I went and grabbed one of the 22 ounce bottles and put in the freezer so I could have another. I took it out twenty minutes later and drained that one too!

The beer I made was so good I could hardly believe it. No joke, it really was probably the best beer I have ever tasted, and at 39 years old I have tasted a lot of beer.

My beer was a little undercarbonated but since it had only been in the bottle 5 days I am not surprised. I can't wait until next weekend to crack another and see how it has changed.

So long story longer my very first ever home brew came out amazing and I am more than hooked, I am totally enamored with homebrewing at this point.


Here is my first 12 ounce bottle before I cracked it. It just keeps clearing more and more. It is gorgeous!




And here is a picture from when I opened a 22 ounce bottle and poured it into this glass. This pic does show some nice carbonation. I just want it to be a little more carbonated. It really is an amazing recipe though, I highly recommend it!