WooHoo! Made my first homebrew.

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tellish33

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Just finished my first homebrew. Its a Brewers Best American Pale Ale. Pretty freaking awesome. Was curious to know if you can add fruit to the mix when you go from primary to secondary? Was thinking cherry or apple. If so, is that the puree in the small cans that you add?
 
First brew; don't mess with it.

I find fruit really doesn't do well in most beers. Brew a few beers first and then try experimenting.
 
Congrats! I'm starting my first brew tomorrow and I look forward to the same excitement.

For the first batch I wouldn't change anything. Just get the hang of the process.

As for fruit in beer, I personally haven't liked it with anything other than pumpkin ale or raspberry porter. Maybe it's been in others I've had and enjoyed without knowing...

Really though, isn't the joy of home brew that you can make a beer to your tastes? I'd say that if you've had and enjoyed a cherry ale previously, go for it! :)
 
I made a strawberry blond a while back that turned out pretty good. You can find the recipe on this site.
I used frozen cut strawberries, the key here was freezing them.It would kill off any contaminants.
 
A strawberry ale sounds good I tried a strawberry lime cider and the taste was great not sure what it would be like with beer
 
First brew; don't mess with it.

I find fruit really doesn't do well in most beers. Brew a few beers first and then try experimenting.

I concur. I've tried some fruits in beers. Most of these have come really close to being dumped as they didn't come out anywhere close to what I had in mind. Even ones done with fruit extract flavoring weren't very good.

Start first with making beer. Learn how to make better beer. Learn to make the best beer you can. If you get bored with that, then think about adding fruit or fruit extract. Then have another bottle and think about something else.:cross:
 
I wouldn't experiment with your first brew. Get the basics down and then start adding stuff. Fruit can make your beer very tart and not like what you wanted. Best to do your research and figure out the best method. Some add frozen fruit or purée to the secondary, some use extract, some add juice right before bottling
 
First brew; don't mess with it.

I find fruit really doesn't do well in most beers. Brew a few beers first and then try experimenting.

I agree. Get a few brews under your belt to get to know the basics before trying to get too creative. I did the same brew you just did for my first and it turned out pretty good. I then did a recipe from the forum for my next and then I was off an running.

BB kits have pretty good instructions until the fermentation part. Leave it alone in the primary for 3 weeks and then 3 weeks in the bottles. I know it being your first that will be hard, so you will try to rush it. Go ahead and taste one at 2 weeks in the bottles to see what it tastes like but then notice how the taste improves at week 3 and week 4 (if they last that long).

Start thinking about brewing your next brew. Even think about getting another fermenter to put it in, so that you can build a pipeline.

Welcome to the addiction.
 
I would move onto kits from Northern Brewer, Austin Homebrew, Midwest for future brews. I found they were much better. They come with better yeast and fresher ingredients. That BB kit may have been sitting on the LHBS shelf for months
 
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