Another "I just brewed my first beer" thread.

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MN_Jay

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Yep, another newbie here, 3 days into my first batch. I brewed on friday night - I decided something really simple for my first one - coopers draught. Everything went good except I accidently broke my hydrometer on my basement floor so I didn't get an OG. Live and learn I guess.

I was also paranoid about the water at my house (I live in the country and have a well) so I bought some generic bottled water at $1 a gallon and used that. Everything I read seems to say to ignore the instructions on the kit so I did. I boiled 3 gallons and used 2 gallons of cold. I even made a chiller using some instructions I found online and I had the thing cooled to 75 degrees in about 6 minutes (well water can be very cold).

I had it pitched and put in my basement by 11 pm, the next morning at 7 am it was already started bubbling throught the airlock - good sign I guess. My basement is around 65 degrees constant temperature and even though the coopers instructions says that it should be fermenting at temps over 70 - I chose to take the advice here and go lower (plus it keeps the wife happier when it's in the basement). Fermentation has been steadily chugging along - showing signs of slowing now as there is a bubble about the size of the tip of my pinky finger every 3 or 4 seconds (as opposed to the quarter size bubble every second or two yesterday).

One thing is that I can't leave the damn thing alone - I'm constantly looking at it, smelling the airlock, putting my hand on the side of the bucket for any noticable temp changes. My wife says she swears that I'm taking care of a baby down there because of all the time I go and check on it...:D. I've surprised myself with my restraint to pull the lid off the bucket and take a look at it. The urge is there but so far I haven't done it. I fear I may have a weak moment soon though. I should go and buy another hydrometer and then at least I'll have an excuse to remove the lid...:D
 
Congrats! I second the recommendation to get another batch going asap. The first one disappears way too quickly.
 
My first brew was a Coopers too and just like you, I ignored the directions that came with it (well, not completely) and I used a lot of the advise I read here. It's been about 5 months since my first brew and I'm now on my seventh. Welcome to the addiction.
 
get a carboy or better bottle then you can WATCH fermentation happening instead of trying to feel it happen.

it's an awesome experience - double so when it's blowing off due to ultra violent ferment!!!
 
My first brew was a Coopers too and just like you, I ignored the directions that came with it (well, not completely) and I used a lot of the advise I read here. It's been about 5 months since my first brew and I'm now on my seventh. Welcome to the addiction.

One concern I have about using the beginners extract is that it's going to taste bad because of the simplicity of the brewing process. I don't want to get my hopes too high but on the other hand, I don't want to pour my first one down the drain because it tastes like wet socks. Hopefully this doesn't happen.

Jezter6 - I actually do have a carboy but I was planning on racking my beer into that as a secondary. In retrospect I should have skipped this for the first one so could have used the carboy as the primary. Maybe I'll do this for the next one.
 
Your wife will be soooo glad you started brewing, especialy when you name a beer after her !!

*Julia's Summer Wheat*

Of course, I named the first one after my dog !!

Welcome
 
One concern I have about using the beginners extract is that it's going to taste bad because of the simplicity of the brewing process. I don't want to get my hopes too high but on the other hand, I don't want to pour my first one down the drain because it tastes like wet socks. Hopefully this doesn't happen.

It actually turned out much better than I expected after it had aged for about a month. I was impatient and started drinking within 1 week after bottling. It was drinkable and I was quite proud of myself, but after a month's time, it was so much better. So there, that's my advice. Don't drink it too soon.
 
The pre-hopped extract kits (like Coopers) aren't bad at all. IMO like Mr Beer they are good first step towards true extract or full grain brewing. Normally I do not like lagers all that much but my Coopers Lager (came with the kit) turned out quite nice. I'd listen to AJ4 about taking advice from these forums as opposed to followings Coopers instructions. Those Aussie fermenting temps are just wacky plus the fermenting and conditioning times are a bit on the low side for most people's tastes.
 
So there, that's my advice. Don't drink it too soon.
You might as well of asked me to send you $100 because both stand the same chance of happening....:). Seriously I'll try to hold off but I've got a feeling that not much, if any will make it to the month marker. Second batch maybe...:mug: Thanks for the advice

Those Aussie fermenting temps are just wacky plus the fermenting and conditioning times are a bit on the low side for most people's tastes.

And the brewing instructions were a little "out there" too.
Heat up a gallon of water, pour it in the bucket, pour the malt and sugar in and top up with water.

or something to that effect.
 
Congrats and welcome! You think it goes fast bottling, wait until you get into kegging....and you will! Then you'll be constantly checking your CO2 and pourability every 15 minutes or so just to see if your beer is flowing and before you know it......it's gone!

My question is how & what did you use to get your temp down so fast? chiller? That is extremely fast and it sounded like you made something up. Either way it's great that you can get it down that fast.

Patience truly is a virtue but not many ppl here can truthfully say that they waited 1 whole month after bottling to really get into drinking their first batch.
 
My question is how & what did you use to get your temp down so fast? chiller? That is extremely fast and it sounded like you made something up. Either way it's great that you can get it down that fast.

I went out and bought the copper tubing and flex hose to make a immersion chiller. Finding a hardware store that carried the correct fittings to connect to my kitchen faucet was the hard part but eventually I got something to work. I think the reason I got it to chill so quickly is that my well water is extremely cold, I ran it for awhile before I hooked up the chiller to make sure I was getting the cold water from the outside, rather than from my expansion tank. That and stirring it a lot while chilling.
 
I always talk to mine to make sure it knows its loved.

Hmmm...and does that improve the taste? If so then I think I will have to chat with my brew then. Well...when my wife can't hear me.
 
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