Just finished last bottle of first batch brewed

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Boston85

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Brewed the American Pale Ale by Brewers Best, and just finished my last bottle of it. I now completely 100% understand why everyone here preaches to wait longer before opening those bottles. I could easily tell over the past 3 weeks of drinking them how much better they got as time passed. The next time I will certainly leave all of them for a lot longer before cracking that first one. All in all though a successful brew for my first time.

Looking for what my next brew will be. I was thinking of attempting an IPA, but a little worried that I do not have the experience yet for that. I also would love to do a type of Blue Moon or Sam Summer clone, this way it will be done by end of summer when I can enjoy them on a hot September day. Anyone have any good suggestions?
 
Boston85 said:
Brewed the American Pale Ale by Brewers Best, and just finished my last bottle of it. I now completely 100% understand why everyone here preaches to wait longer before opening those bottles. I could easily tell over the past 3 weeks of drinking them how much better they got as time passed. The next time I will certainly leave all of them for a lot longer before cracking that first one. All in all though a successful brew for my first time.

Looking for what my next brew will be. I was thinking of attempting an IPA, but a little worried that I do not have the experience yet for that. I also would love to do a type of Blue Moon or Sam Summer clone, this way it will be done by end of summer when I can enjoy them on a hot September day. Anyone have any good suggestions?
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Congrats on a good first brew!

You can easily do an IPA- they aren't any harder than any other beer. Just more hops, but the instructions will clearly state when to add them.

If you like Blue Moon, we several recipes that you may like. I'm not a fan so I really don't have any advice on that style of beer.

Take a look at our recipes here on the forum and see what looks good to you. Almost any recipe can be converted to extract, and many of the recipes already have extract instructions included. There are some really good recipes in the database!
 
An IPA really wouldn't necessarily that much different brewing-wise from your Pale Ale. If you like IPAs, I say go for it. Congrats on the successful first batch. :mug:
 
Here is a recipe for my Simcoe Slam IPA. You can use cascade, kent, nugget..etc instead of simcoe, I'm just a huge fan of that hop and it's grapefruit nose.

8 lbs Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 88.9 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 11.1 %
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00%] (60 min) Hops 31.0 IBU
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00%] (20 min) Hops 17.7 IBU
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00%] (15 min) Hops 14.5 IBU
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00%] (5 min) Hops 5.8 IBU
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00%] (Dry Hop 5 days) Hops -
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale

Simple.
 
Thanks for the advice. I actually may try a Hefeweizen first. Looks like they do not take very long between fermenting and conditioning. I have a bachelor party in mid July, so would like to have a batch done for the party bus in between stops. I know that goes counter to my first post that said I want to wait longer before drinking, but really want to try and have one done by July 10. 4 weeks time if I brew this weekend, do you think even that is too short for a Hefe?
 
Nope, Hefe's taste good young, and Wyeast 3068 will ferment like a bat out of hell and should have you ready for that party. The only thing is you'll need decent temp control with that yeast. I like to start mine out at 62 for 5 days then 72 for 5 days to balance the banana and clove flavors. Hefe's are super easy beers to brew so long as you get the temps right.

6 lbs Wheat Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 85.7 %
8.0 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 7.1 %
8.0 oz Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 7.1 %
1.00 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00%] (60 min) Hops 13.3 IBU
1 Pkgs Weihenstephan Weizen (Wyeast Labs #3068) Yeast-Wheat
 
Yep, it's definitely better if you wait, only problem is that it's hard to wait! Especially if it's your first brew.
 
I am still choking down my first batch. I am about to brew my third batch this Sunday. Lets just say my first batch was the product of a slew of nOOb mistakes. It turned out like hop water with no malt character...however I am too proud to dump any of the bottles down the drain, so I suck it up and drink them one by one. It gives me motivation to not make crappy beer in the future!
 
Beware the party bus. I was on one for a bachelor party and glass wasn't allowed on the bus. You might want to make sure your packaging will be allowed on the bus.
 
Just bottled a Hefe. Left it in primary for 4 weeks and no secondary to try for the first time due to all the information on this site. Tasted while bottling and its already better than most the beers Ive made using secondary. Started with a OG of 1.056 and it ended up 1.009 and I had that finished gravity a week ago.
 

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