Fingers pops his cherry!

My first brew day! I thought I'd share some pics with you as it goes.

Feel free to shout words of encouragement or derision, as the case may be.

Got everything laid out.

Uh, how do I get my forum pics to load without having to click the link?

Good luck.

What's the kit?
I think you will succeed. Plenty of posts before you start and I can't see any sugar.
AND you are wearing the lucky brew hat.



right click the image, click copy image location.

then

Sugar?? God no! I want to make GOOD beer...

So how do I make my gallery pics appear like that, Orfy? I speak computer, BTW.

*edit* sorry, didn't see the whole post. Let me try this...

Got the magic homebrewing hat..

Got my inspiration and resource guides out. Hopefully I won't be buying that commercial pisswater too much longer!

Bwaaahhhhaahahahahaa!!

Sorry, forgot to answer your question, Orfy. The kit is one of those dextrose laden off the shelf pieces of crap that you slap together and pat yourself on the back for having made 'beer'. I quickly learned that the only good thing about it was the malt. I threw away the yeast and, as you yourself noted, substituted the dextrose for high maltose syrup. The LME and the DME are both hopped so I think I may add some hop pellets part of the way through the boil and again at the end to just bump it up a bit, but for the most part I'll just keep it simple.

I actually have enough ingredients for two batches there. One is going to be the kit and the syrup, and the other will be light LME and the hopped DME. I'll pellet hop the crap out of the second one and see what happens. I don't really expect fantastic beer from either of these two attempts, but I do expect to learn a fair bit from them. I'll buy proper kits or follow real recipes from here on in I expect.

Thanks for your support!

Congrats mate!! looks like your ready to roll!
I have a feeling that the 'magic beer hat' will make all the difference, and I am sure your beer will be fantastic!! Its been a great pleasure having you around here, didnt even realise you had not brewed yet! thats the brewer who makes exceptional beer!

CHEERS!

What a nice thing to say, Kadmium. I've been really enjoying my time here too.

I had brewed a few batches of beer many years ago (pre-web days) but I *hangs his head in shame* bought those kits I was deriding earlier. In my own defense I really had no idea there was a better way and really had no source other than the store where I bought my supplies. The just rang up the swill and away I went. So I really consider myself a noob because I didn't really do it right. That changes tonight!

Here's the liquid malt going in. Thank god for all the warnings I've read about boil-overs. I was vigilante and suitably impressed at how quickly the wort swelled. Had I not been standing admiringly over the pot, it would have boiled over for sure.

That's one of the reasons why I've been on this site for so many hours each night since I found it.

So after this shot I rinsed the can with the hot water to get more of the syrup out, but I saved some for the yeast. I've read contradictory information about whether to make a starter with the dry yeast so I'm going with what makes the most sense to me.

I made a slurry of LME, water and dextrose. I knew that stuff had to be good for something. I then had my first boil over in the microwave. Nothing serious. Just had to get a damp rag.

Hooray!!

And I LOVE the hat!

I think I know someone who needs one

Can't wait to see more pics and btw, LOVE the stonework around your range

Hi Shimms, SWMBO bought me the hat one year for father's day. It was a big hit with me and the kids. I can't take credit for the stonework. The guy I bought the house from did it.

The wort did another attempt to boil over after I added two pounds of hopped DME to it. Heh. I had forgotten that I was going to use the Maltose syrup on this one. What a noob. Doesn't matter, I'll just adjust the 'recipe' on the next batch to compensate.

Okay, hops now....

Let's try about 2 AAU of Fuggles at 30 minutes boil....

Hehehe.. SWMBO doesn't like the smell. She says it smells like the Seagram's distillery outside the town where we met.

I love the smell of malt brewing in the evening. To me it smells like...... victory.

Looks like its going awesome! going to have to let me know how pre-hopped DME tastes... and don't be discouraged by your first atempts! my first "brew" was an unhopped pilsner, brewed with lager yeast, no hops, no boiling, and a good 2.5 pounds DME... it was just 2 pounds LME, 2.5 pounds dextrose, away I went.. I ddint realise I needed to lager it, so I fermented for 6 days then bottled... 3 weeks later I couldnt understand why it was so eggy that I could almost scramble it... ohwell! I forgot a 6er in the fridge for like 6 months, found them the other day, I have to admit, they are a freaking great lager!

Here goes the yeast. The wort is almost 60 minutes boil. I think that's enough hops for now so I'm going to take it for a walk in the heart of a Manitoba February. Winter storm watch tonight so I won't stray far from the homestead... *sigh*

I don't get how someone CAN'T like the smell lol

I love that part of brewing

Not as much as drinking what we make though ...

Fingers I love the hat! I have a Mardi Gras hat from 10 years ago I think I should start wearing to brew. It just looks like more fun with that hat!

aduncan75 said:

Fingers I love the hat! I have a Mardi Gras hat from 10 years ago I think I should start wearing to brew. It just looks like more fun with that hat!

Click to expand...

Don't forget to share pics

About the only good time it's dark and cold.



It's been an hour and there's little activity on the yeast. Problem?

I haven't pitched the yeast at all,B4B. I made a starter with a bit of malt from the jar and about a teaspoon full of dextrose. It was lukewarm when I put the yeast into the starter. It's a lager yeast. I have a cold storage room. Really freakin' cold....

Should I put it into my cooled wort then, B4B?

if it is lager yeast, you will want to have the wort at fermentation temp (around 50-55, i think? - i don't do many lagers)

you can cold pitch, meaning, your yeast is cold, and the wort is warm, relatively speaking. do not do the other way around though. more info on cold pitching can be found here: http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=26969

also, to help prevent boilovers, you can use a product called 'foam control', or 'defoamer', you can get it at a number of online homebrew shops, or maybe even your LHBS. i started using it, and am quite impressed.

Fingers...welcome to the board, and congrats on your first brew!

[SARCASM]
[RIDICULE]
Nice laptop, but where'd you get that TV? The 1973 issue of Woolworth's mail order catalog?
[/RIDICULE]
[/SARCASM]

Heh. A $1500 laptop and a $10 TV. Shows you where my priorities are, doesn't it? The TV is actually black and white too! It's good enought to watch the news while I make my breakfast.

So the posts kind of petered off last night. I kept going and made a second batch all the while washing it down with those commercial beers. When it got too hard to figure out how to use the camera and type I just gave up.

So I'll go and see how that lager is doing. I left it in the kitchen last night so if it's bubbling away I'll move it into the cold storage room. If not, I'll pitch the yeast that came with the kit.

Thanks for all the words of encouragement. I think this hobby is a keeper for me.

Dan

For those who liked Fingers's hat, I just found two online

http://www.starcostumes.com/items/Beer_Glass_Hat.aspx

and

http://www.starcostumes.com/items/Got_Beer_Hat.aspx

There's a pizza hat too LOL

The lager wasn't doing much by 9 at night so I pitched another package of yeast. I just checked and I have a good fermentation going. It's kind of ironic that cheap-ass yeast that came with a kit worked and my 'better quality' yeast didn't. I sure hope that's an anomoly because I don't plan on buying the cheap-ass cans anymore anyway. Another member, Kevin K, is from my neck of the woods and he's turned me on to what appears to be a really good supplier about an hour and a half's drive away. By the time these two batches are ready for the kegs, I should be ready to start some quality kits from the 'Grape and Grain'.

Thanks Kevin!