Beginning Brewer

Hi all,

My name is Frank. I'm brewing my first batch of beer tomorrow. It's going to be a Belgian Trappist ale. I got the Wyeast 1214 Belgian Abbey yeast and what I've been told is a great Belgian partial extract kit from Brewer's Best. I'm making my starter tonight, and hope to have the beer in my new Conical by about midnight tomorrow. I guess I'll be checking in occassionally to report on the progress. I know it's quite a style to start off with, but quite honestly I need to get this recipe down, because I can be spending $20 on a four pack of Chimay anymore!!! Not if I can brew five gallons for $45. Wish me luck!!

good luck... but first brew and you have a conical?... wish i had that kind of cash haha...... i dig chimay though, they have 3 styles by me in larger bottles all delicious...but no 4 pks...

Chimay is good beer. Some make a starter from yeast harvested from a a bottle of beer of choice. I have not tried it myself.

I've read (not saying its gospel) chimay bottles with a different strain. If you're gonna try it, do your homework first to avoid disappointment.

Yeah, conical on your first batch? Nice move.

never heard of it. 20 bucks a 4 pack? ouch

Wow, everything was moving so well. Starter yeast was growing like gangbusters. The boil went great and the cool down process took a little more than 10 minutes. Unfortunately I missed the detail part while adding water and checking the specific gravity. I was adding water after each gravity check, but I think I may have added the water too fast. Now I have six gallons of wort instead of five and a OG of 1.7 instead of 1.86. I'm going to end up with a beer that is about half the ABV than desired and I'll probably get a weak tasting Abbey ale. Well, lesson learned. Can't wait for the next batch.

I bet it still tastes good,maybe not as good as it would have but you live and learn. Congrats

BrewerBear, thanks for the words of encouragement. I hope to see some fermentation going on in the next day or so. I think the best part of the whole process was how well the starter reacted. I started with about an inch high yeast layer, and ended up with about a 3 inch yeast layer. I would say good yeast growth for an 18 hour starter. I'm hoping this compensates a bit for my water addition transgretion. I'm also kind of worried because I don't have a lot of space between the beer and the top of the fermenter. I hope I don't wake up to a pool full of beer some morning.