Oh wow, it's good! (just had my first home brew)

Hot Damn! Put a bottle of my British Bitter in the fridge yesterday to see how the carbonating was doing. It had been in the bottle for two weeks today so I was curious.

I had no idea what to expect so I slowly twisted the cap off over the sink and heard the lovely and familiar sound of carbonation swooshing out. Awesome, I was about half expecting a gusher, but no, it's good.

Slowly poured it into a pint glass, nice half inch of foam on top and bubbles rising from the bottom of the glass. It looked clear in the bottle, but once poured it was a little hazy. But the important part obviously is taste! Hey, even tho young, this tastes good! I've drank quite a bit of genuine bitter in England in the past, so I knew what this should taste like. I'll be damned, it tastes "right". Malty, just a tad bitter, just the slightest hint of alcohol, very, very drinkable. In fact, before I knew it the pint was gone.

Needless to say, I'm ecstatic over how well my first brew turned out. This was a NB extract kit and I'll be cooking it up again soon. :cross:

Rick

Congrats on your success. You need to change the "soon" to "now." Each one will taste better and go faster and before you know it poof.

Get another in the pipeline now!

Congrats on your first success and too many more.

Congrats on your success and welcome to the cult of homebrewing! You also did a GREAT job describing your first taste, I could almost smell the beer!

Congrats. Still waiting to bottle my first and the wait is rough but there is always the hard job of emptying bottles for bottling to keep me occupied.

flipfloptan said:

Congrats on your success. You need to change the "soon" to "now." Each one will taste better and go faster and before you know it poof.

Get another in the pipeline now!

Congrats on your first success and too many more.

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Thank you.

I've got an Irish Red Ale fermenting now, it's been in the carboy 2 weeks as of tomorrow. Then I've got one of The Home Brewery's light lawnmower ale kits sitting here, plus one of their Oktoberfest kits waiting on Sears to send me my new fridge so I can brew it at lagering temps. I also, yesterday, ordered the SNPA clone kit from NB. So as you can see, I'm trying to follow your sage advice.

I don't know much about brewing yet so I'm following the instructions and keeping my fermentation temps on the lower end and trying not to rush things. If everything comes out as well as it appears this bitter did, I'll be doing this for a long time!:cross:

Rick

dcarter said:

Congrats on your success and welcome to the cult of homebrewing! You also did a GREAT job describing your first taste, I could almost smell the beer!

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This will make a good brew to take along next summer during RV season. Fishing and BBQ'ing while in a lovely setting is thirsty damned work! And I could see putting a few of these away and not getting the little woman upset.

Rick

CatHead said:

Congrats. Still waiting to bottle my first and the wait is rough but there is always the hard job of emptying bottles for bottling to keep me occupied.

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Yes, I'm drinking a pale ale right now, because I need the bottle.

So, what is your first going to be? Lets hope it's awesome!

Rick

flipfloptan said:

Congrats on your success. You need to change the "soon" to "now." Each one will taste better and go faster and before you know it poof.

Get another in the pipeline now!

Click to expand...

This, a lot. Don't rest on your laurels--before you know it, that beer will be gone and you'll be staring down the barrel of an empty beer cupboard. Brew now so you don't regret it tomorrow!

Congrats on your first HB....Next Saturday will be two weeks for my Blonde Ale being in a bottle.....hope my story will be as good as yours,,,,Cheers!

jerrodm said:

This, a lot. Don't rest on your laurels--before you know it, that beer will be gone and you'll be staring down the barrel of an empty beer cupboard. Brew now so you don't regret it tomorrow!

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I'm working on it.

Rick

PackerfaninSanDiego said:

Congrats on your first HB....Next Saturday will be two weeks for my Blonde Ale being in a bottle.....hope my story will be as good as yours,,,,Cheers!

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Packer, did you brew this from a kit, if so who's? Hopefully it's great!

Rick

I heartily recommend putting away a few and seeing how they develop over a few months!

F250 said:

Yes, I'm drinking a pale ale right now, because I need the bottle.

So, what is your first going to be? Lets hope it's awesome!

Rick

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My first is a standard extract brown ale. Wanted something darker for winter months but fairly easy. I keep hoping it turns out good. I think this is the best/worst part of homebrewing, the month plus of anticipation to find out how it turns out.

F250 said:

Packer, did you brew this from a kit, if so who's? Hopefully it's great!

Rick

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Malt extract kit from my LHBS,,,,

F250, can you share your recipe with us? I'm keen to brew a bitter.

HopZombie99 said:

F250, can you share your recipe with us? I'm keen to brew a bitter.

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I used the British Bitter kit from Northern Brewer.

3.15lbs Gold LME (15 min)
1lbs Golden light DME (60 min)

0.5lbs Caramalt grain (steeped)

1 oz UK Kent Goldings (60 min)
0.5 oz UK Kent Goldings (15 min)
0.5 oz UK Kent Goldings (1 min)

Danstar Windsor Ale Yeast

Rick

I've never had a "bitter" but I brewed a 2gallon test batch and it's bottle aging right now. Can't wait to taste it and I hope I get anything close to what you described.

GL

Hackwood said:

I've never had a "bitter" but I brewed a 2gallon test batch and it's bottle aging right now. Can't wait to taste it and I hope I get anything close to what you described.

GL

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Hopefully it turns out well for you.

Also, Hackwood, I have that Sierra Madre kit coming from NB. What did you think of the way it turned out?

Rick

F250 said:

Thank you.

I've got an Irish Red Ale fermenting now, it's been in the carboy 2 weeks as of tomorrow. Then I've got one of The Home Brewery's light lawnmower ale kits sitting here, plus one of their Oktoberfest kits waiting on Sears to send me my new fridge so I can brew it at lagering temps. I also, yesterday, ordered the SNPA clone kit from NB. So as you can see, I'm trying to follow your sage advice.

I don't know much about brewing yet so I'm following the instructions and keeping my fermentation temps on the lower end and trying not to rush things. If everything comes out as well as it appears this bitter did, I'll be doing this for a long time!:cross:

Rick

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My (what passes as) LHBS has plastic bucket fermenters with lid and airlock for about $15. If you bought 2 of those you could have 3 beers fermenting. Doing one each weekend and bottling the first one on the 4th weekend would fill time and fill the pipeline too. Those buckets stack well too should you ever have more than one empty. :rockin:

Temperature control during the initial part of the ferment coupled with enough time for the yeast to complete the cleanup have really improved my beers. I think you are on the right track.

RM-MN said:

My (what passes as) LHBS has plastic bucket fermenters with lid and airlock for about $15. If you bought 2 of those you could have 3 beers fermenting. Doing one each weekend and bottling the first one on the 4th weekend would fill time and fill the pipeline too. Those buckets stack well too should you ever have more than one empty. :rockin:

Temperature control during the initial part of the ferment coupled with enough time for the yeast to complete the cleanup have really improved my beers. I think you are on the right track.

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Thanks.

I've got a plastic ferm bucket as well as my carboy. What I need to get done is put in a cold water line with faucet either in the sink base cabinet, or at the basement stairs so I don't have to run a garden hose inside to use my wort chiller. Hopefully I can accomplish that yet today.

F250 said:

Thanks.

I've got a plastic ferm bucket as well as my carboy. What I need to get done is put in a cold water line with faucet either in the sink base cabinet, or at the basement stairs so I don't have to run a garden hose inside to use my wort chiller. Hopefully I can accomplish that yet today.

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I see. That is your problem right there. I have 3 buckets plus a carboy. Gotta have a place for your brew when you have time to brew. Sometimes that can happen 3 times in one week for me.

Yesterday was cold and windy so I took advantage of that plus the bit of snow we got the night before and set a tub of water out to chill and when the pot went into it for chilling I added about 4 scoops of snow (big scoops) and as that melted I kept adding more to it. It probably took an hour to bring 6 gallons from boiling to 65 degrees when I pitched the yeast.

F250 said:

Hopefully it turns out well for you.

Also, Hackwood, I have that Sierra Madre kit coming from NB. What did you think of the way it turned out?

Rick

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It is fermenting right now at approximately 62-64 degrees. Deciding if I'm going to transferr to secondary or leave in ferm buckets for another 2 weeks.

It still has some time to go, but I will try and throw up a review when it's good and ready.

On a side note: when I bottled last night the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and the "Brian's Best Bitter" both tasted AWESOME!