First batch ever!

Hey guys!!!

I documented my first batch with a couple of pictures. There they are:


My friend Bruno with our 1st SUPER BATCH... Honey Lager it is!!



Sweet mix!!!





My dog REESE who really helped us a lot!



More on the other post!

Putting it in the primary!



Last step



We even found a name for our brewery. It'll be: La brasserie des 400 coups. It is in french. I don't know how to say what it means in english tough! I'll try something. 400 tricks brewery. I can't find the right word for "coups" (tricks) When you play someone a trick... Is that it?

Well...

And Our first beer will be named: La Yamaska au Miel... Honey Yamaska in english. Yamaska is a really polluted river in the city where my friend and I used to live. We tought it would be funny to name our first brew by the name of that brown river!!!

There you go!

Santé!

J-F!

Good work! Looks like you all have popped your brewing cherry. Its all over with from here on out guys! Enjoy

Looks like you put the LME and hops in a pot before boiling anything. Not that that wont work, but if you use any steeping grains in the future wont be able to put the extract in before boiling and you can get lighter colored beer if you add the LME late.

OK!
Thanks for the tip!!!

It's a wonderful feeling. Congrats!

Welcome to a hoppy *cough..err um hobby* that is the funnest, and most rewarding past time a guy could have! Drink one for me!!

updates ?????

z987k said:

Looks like you put the LME and hops in a pot before boiling anything. Not that that wont work, but if you use any steeping grains in the future wont be able to put the extract in before boiling and you can get lighter colored beer if you add the LME late.

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It's actually a good idea to get some of the malt extract in with the grains to help convert any of the grains that are enzyme free. Depends on what you are going for, but you definitely want to convert a good amount of that extra starch into sugar.

cool brew said:

It's actually a good idea to get some of the malt extract in with the grains to help convert any of the grains that are enzyme free. Depends on what you are going for, but you definitely want to convert a good amount of that extra starch into sugar.

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Um, not to nitpick, but steeping grains is steeping grains, and mashing is mashing. You might pick up some extra sugar from steeping, but that's not the purpose. Steeping is for flavor and color. If you're looking to convert starches into sugars, then you mash. If you convert too much of those starches into sugars, you'll end up raising your OG, which can adversely affect your final product if you're not aware of it and don't adjust your hop bill accordingly.

There you go for the update...

racking to secondary





Cleaning the bottles!


Racking to botteling bucket!



Tasted it when botteling. It was really really good. I drank a commercial honey lager while transfering and ours was way better. Hope it will only get even better with carbonation.

Can't hardly wait the 3 weeks before opening one of em'.

I think I'll start another batch with 2 other buddies. Maybe a belgian ale (coriander & orange peel taste) or a cream ale... we haven't decided yet.

Cheers!

J-F!

And...

There is my first (really basic) label!



For my 2nd batch, i'll try and find a friend who is good in photoshop or something like that... To make a more elaborate label. Maybe with a logo for our brewery?!?



J-F!

Considering all the frenchness (ok so that might not be a real word) perhaps you should eventually give the saison style a try. Not everyone cup of tea but I find it mighty refreshing.

Belated congrats on the first batch! I'm not sure if it'd just the picture, but that wort looks pretty hot going into the primary, is this one of your 400 tricks? Also, I sadly dont have a bottle tree, but every time I see a picture of one that shows how big they are I totall crack up. Good work!

david_the_greek: what is saison style beer??? saison is the french word for season... But, you can have a lot of seasonal beers... fruit beers, honey beers???

NateKerx: Yes, the wort was kind of really hot going to primary. I did not do a total boil so, it was 1 gallon of hot wort going in 4 gallons of cold water. It gave me approx. the good temp. I just had to wait like 15 minutes before pitching the yeast. I think I'll have to do it that until I move up from kits brewing.

from wiki

"'Saison' is the French word for season, because these ales were traditionally brewed in the autumn or winter for consumption during the late summer harvest, however, today they are brewed year round. As the saison style originated before the advent of refrigeration, Belgian brewers had to brew in autumn or winter to prevent the ale from spoiling during the brewing process."


personally, I like that most saisons i've had are well hopped are fantastic on hot summer days

NateKerx said:

Belated congrats on the first batch! I'm not sure if it'd just the picture, but that wort looks pretty hot going into the primary, is this one of your 400 tricks? Also, I sadly dont have a bottle tree, but every time I see a picture of one that shows how big they are I totall crack up. Good work!

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I've been pouring hot wort into my primaries for over 13 years, but I strain out the hops first using a nylon net.

Bill, you're certainly bucking the system with low volume boils and possibly hot side aeration. Hey, you're obviously happy with your brews over 13 years so you do what ya like, more power to you. Has anyone tasted your brews (fellow brewers I mean) and noted any off flavors, extract twang, etc?

Bobby_M said:

Bill, you're certainly bucking the system with low volume boils and possibly hot side aeration. Hey, you're obviously happy with your brews over 13 years so you do what ya like, more power to you. Has anyone tasted your brews (fellow brewers I mean) and noted any off flavors, extract twang, etc?

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No one has ever said, and I have never overheard, that they don't like my brews. I share a lot with fellow drinkers, many of them have spent years in Germany and know what beer's all about.

I never had a bad review...most reviews are like "this is good", "refreshing...beats the shiit out of American beer" (the person who provided this comment says he gave up drinking Bud), "clean, a lot of body", to "great flavor, this reminds me of Germany", as well as "this is great, can I buy some"?

Thanks for the concern, but talk about breaking the rules...I left a HW in a primary for 34 days (I had a heart attack). Anyway, I took some bottles to the brewstore and shared. Several brewers said it tasted great. I entered it in the Land of Muddy Waters HB Contest and it got Best of Style and Best of Show, beating out over 100 entries. That was my first (and last) brew contest.

Two first places. I don't know what else to tell you. I haven't really changed much about my process. I plan better, etc., but it's basically the same process.

I always travel with my own brew so the next time I'm in Jersey we need to get together and imbibe...

I'm certain I'll have a trip out there (Dover/Parsipanny) before the summer is out. Anything in particular you interested in trying?

nice job !

seems this is a VERRY detailed hobby....

Evan! said:

Um, not to nitpick, but steeping grains is steeping grains, and mashing is mashing.

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Your right. I was reading The Complete Joy of Homebrewing at the time and was in the enzyme section. It would definitely change your beer. Thanks for the correction Evan.

SUCCESS!!!

All the way!




One thing is bad tough. It doesn't make a lot of beer when you give a sample to every friend who wants one!!! I guess I'll have to start brewing intensively!

Wd...............

Wd??? Sorry, I don't understand what it means!!! Teach me, I'm french!

Well Done....

Oh... ahahahahahha!!!

Thanks!

lol, yeah with a ten char minimum you might as well just spell that one out

youre French or Canadian? I'm French but American... well French ancestry.

Beau815 said:

youre French or Canadian? I'm French but American... well French ancestry.

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PLEASE check the thread date before you post.

Why was there steam when pouring into the primary?? Please tell me you cooled the wort before pouring?

I'm also of French ancestry, my mom's last name is Leduc and is from Rosemere, Quebec, but I live in Terre-Neuve (Newfoundland). I am fluently bilingual however, and I have an idea. We should make a group for French-speaking brewers to discuss beermaking. I'll add you to my friends list and we can talk about it Jief, an anyone else who is interested can PM me.

wildwest450 said:

Why was there steam when pouring into the primary?? Please tell me you cooled the wort before pouring?

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I was just about to ask that too.. then I saw it the date 2007