Brewed my first 5 gallons on Sunday

How's it going everyone? I'm Kyle, I introduced myself yesterday. I bought all of my HB equipment on Saturday and started my first batch of beer on Sunday. I used the Brewer's Best German Altbier Style kit (an extract kit with steeping grains). Everything went pretty well for my first time. I just took a SG reading and gave it a little taste. Right now it's reading 1.016; the OG was 1.044 (the recipe from the kit calls for a FG of 1.008 - 1.014). It seems as if the heavy fermentation is pretty much done, it should be more than ready by Sunday to rack into my secondary. I'm pretty excited about the whole process. I guess I'll have to make do with some commercial beer while I wait. Well, just wanted to share my first homebrewing experience. Now it's time to start thinking about what I want to brew next.

Congrats. We've all been ther done that whole...waiting for my brew to be done and I need some bottles so I'd better buy some craft brew....thing.

You're on the right track. Get to thinking about your next batch and leave this one alone until it's ready to drink.

Way to go...

Thanks for the encouragement! Everyone here seems like they're more than willing to help out, which is great.

I actually decided to just start off with kegging; it just seemed like the best way for me to go. So now I'm in the process of hunting down a chest freezer to house my kegs and cold-store some lager. I've seen the pictures of your keezer and that's pretty much what I plan on doing. Too bad my mini-fridge from my college days has a freezer section or else I'd probably be turning that into a kegerator right now.

kyle1605 said:

Thanks for the encouragement! Everyone here seems like they're more than willing to help out, which is great.

I actually decided to just start off with kegging; it just seemed like the best way for me to go. So now I'm in the process of hunting down a chest freezer to house my kegs and cold-store some lager. I've seen the pictures of your keezer and that's pretty much what I plan on doing. Too bad my mini-fridge from my college days has a freezer section or else I'd probably be turning that into a kegerator right now.

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Good call going with kegging right off the bat.

Be prepared though...it's easy to drink more. You know...just a 3Oz glass here...a 6Oz glass there...just a snip to wash down this sandwich...

Next thing you know... the keg is blown. If you're gonna keg, be prepared to brew more.

Oh I'm fully prepared (well getting there, I need more kegs and a kegerator...but I digress) and looking forward to it!

Just kegged the beer. It's now sitting in my recently made kegerator (Sanyo 4912) under 12 psig. It tastes pretty good flat; can't wait to try it once it's carbonated! Hopefully this Sunday I'll be brewing up a Pumpkin Ale kit that I bought from Austin Homebrew Supply and possibly making some of EdWort's Apfelwein.

I'm still deciding on the 4912 myself cuz i want something that can also hold secondaries...hrm...

Sounds like you're off to a great start!

Nice! The hardest one to wait for is the first one. Pretty soon you'll have a couple fermenting while a couple are conditioning in the bottles, so the time will fly by.

Apfelwein is good -- so easy to make, you can always have some on hand.

Edit - ignore my part about the bottling, you keg (I've had a few, sorry!)

Luckily the mini-fridge I already had can hold carboys (once I replace the shelving on the door with a dry-erase board) so I'll be able to lager in there and not have to mess with my kegs. I highly recommend the 4912...it's the perfect size for 2 corny's and a 5 lb. CO2 tank, and it looks pretty darn good with a 2-faucet tower.


Edit: Oh and I'm such a believer in homebrewing and HBT that I am now a lifetime supporter!

Hey, no worries! I'm having a few, too. Although they're not homebrews...yet.

BierMuncher said:

Next thing you know... the keg is blown. If you're gonna keg, be prepared to brew more.

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Amen! I am always amazed that a 5gallon keg seems to go about as fast as a 12pack of commercial brew.