My first brew!

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whitmorr86

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Corvallis, OR
It's a brown ale. Got the recipe as a good first brew from Corvallis Brewing supply (www.brewbeer.cc).

Boiled the wort and got it into the primary last night by about 10 o clock. Just as I expected it took me about 3 1/2 hours (working by myself). Everything went really smooth aside from the fact that I tried to sanitize our plastic strainer and turned it blue. Woops! :drunk: Anyway, once it was in the primary I pitched the vial of yeast and aerated it for a good 5 mins. Put it in the living room with a blanket around it to shield the light and went to bed.

Today I got home from class at about 3:15 and found my airlock bubbling away! I was encouraged to see that steady fermentation was underway after 17 hours. I'm loving this so far!
 
I know that feeling. I am not a new brewer, but one that hasn't done it in a long time. I had to put pictures of my krausen blow-off up on my Facebook page. I was so proud, but most of my friends have no idea of what I am talking about.
Enjoy the hobby, it's very rewarding and tasty.

Dave:)
 
LOL @DaveO

I did the same thing... I took video of my yeast swirling around and the airlock bubbling and put it on facebook as well.

Whitmorr... Best thing I ever invested in as a new brewer was a secondary fermenter and another primary. This has allowed me to put myself on a 2 week rotation of brewing. Every weekend I'm either bottling, racking, or brewing. In a few weeks I'll have a super steady stream of homebrew coming in.
 
I know that feeling. I am not a new brewer, but one that hasn't done it in a long time. I had to put pictures of my krausen blow-off up on my Facebook page. I was so proud, but most of my friends have no idea of what I am talking about.
Enjoy the hobby, it's very rewarding and tasty.

Dave:)

That is so funny man because not only did I post pictures of the wort creation on Facebook, but I even posted a video today of the airlock bubbling. I was giddy to see that I had successfully gotten the fermenting started.

It's pretty active right now. We've got it on the other side of the living room and it's really fun to listen to and watch the airlock bubbling away. I keep peeking under the blanket that I'm using to shield it from light to watch the yeast swirl around.

Right now I've got a 5 gallon glass carboy to use as a secondary. I'm hesitant to get a second batch going too soon because we're going to Vegas March 22-25th. My plan is to get this batch bottled and have another one ready to rack to the secondary right before we leave.
 
Congrats on the new brew man. Like another said, welcome to the obsession!

You may not do it right away, but accumulate 4 more fermenting buckets, and do one a week. That way you can let em sit for a month and still brew every week! If you dont get out of sync with your brewing schedule, you'll have tasty brew every week after awhile!

Think about it.....:)

Anyways, enjoy. Your first homebrew will be one of the best!
 
Day 3 in the primary. After shutting off my alarm clock this morning the first thing I heard in the silence of the house was my airlock. :D I can see the yeast swirling around through the sides of my opaque bucket primary (sure makes me want to get a larger glass carboy as a second primary.) I got my nose right above the airlock to catch a whiff of it as it was bubbling.

Already thinking about what I want to do for my second brew. Probably going to go with a pale ale. After doing some more reading around I feel better about leaving it in my primary for longer than I thought I was going to. I want my first brew be nice and clear as possible so I'm thinking that letting it settle and clean up in the primary before racking to the secondary will help that?

My fiance surprised me with a six-pack of Widmer heff last night just 'cause. She gave me a sideways look when my first reaction was excitement to clean and delabel the bottles.
 
Seems the most active part of the fermentation has slowed down now. Room temp hasn't really changed from 70+/- degrees. I can't see any yeast swirling anymore and the airlock has slowed down to about 35ish seconds between bubbles. I know the yeast is still in there doing the job but it was certainly a lot of fun to be able to see it churn.

Going to wait until at least Thursday before I move to the secondary. Depends on the SG and the interval between bubbles.
 
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