Bottling First Brew

Well my fellow beer enthusiast:the first batch got bottled today,an IPA.
I can't believe how everything just came right to point.Gravity readings were right on the money,and the aroma it was out of this world.Now I just have to sit back for the next 21 days or so and let mother nature do her thing before popping the first cap.I will let you know how everything turned out.

Thanks
Mike

I sometimes break the cardinal rule and drink one a week and a half in. By then it generally has enough carbonation but still tastes a little sweet from the priming sugar. Congrats on your first finished batch.

And the nice part about homebrewing is, it doesn't matter if your gravity readings are off by a bit, or if you even did everything right. Most likely it will turn out good!

Ben25 said:

And the nice part about homebrewing is, it doesn't matter if your gravity readings are off by a bit, or if you even did everything right. Most likely it will turn out good!

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+1 to that. Tried a bottle of my first fruit beerlast night, thought it was goiing to be a disaster, I was pleasantly surprised!

Bottling my first Irish Red Ale and a Hefe I made a week later next weekend.

Did you do the 3/4 priming sugar in boiling water thing?

I have used the water, and I have also collected a cup of wort from the fermenter and boiled my priming sugar in the beer. Since I have began using Beersmith I actually weigh out my Priming Sugar now to get me as close to the co2 volumes the style calls for.

Simply yes, 3/4 cup of priming sugar in about a cup of water will do you fine.

I'm still dying to taste my final products. Only about a month left to go. While I drink the stuff I use to take gravity readings and it's quite delicious, I just can't wait to get a cold and carbed bottle. It's going to be the longest six weeks of my life.

But that's ok, Fedex delivered more presents today and if I can find some time tomorrow I'll get my 4th batch underway and have a solid pipeline going and everything should be hitting full stride come football season. And that's all that really matters, right?

marubozo said:

But that's ok, Fedex delivered more presents today and if I can find some time tomorrow I'll get my 4th batch underway and have a solid pipeline going and everything should be hitting full stride come football season. And that's all that really matters, right?

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Pipeline is the hardest thing for me to keep going, I definitely can toss'em back faster than I can brew'em. I've got my fruit beer which is just about finished conditioning, a dubbel/abbey that is about 1 week into conditioning and a stout and apa in the fermenters now that are on their first week. I primary for about 28-30 days so I'd say the dubbel will be almost ready by the time the stout and apa are bottled.

I'm hoping that I can pitch on top of the stout and apa cakes once they are ready to come out of the primaries to get mre going right away. I guess the biggest problem is work, I normally don't have a dedicated day to brew and lately with work I have been doiing the 6 day-a-week grind, and SWMBO expects me to spend time with her when I am off, hence, I can't brew as often as I need to.

Sorry for the rant, it is frustrating, not being able to brew often enough!

I hear you on the finding time to brew. This time of year is always tough. Seems like most weekends are filled with graduation parties, weddings, or golf outings. And when you're working 50 hours a week and have a 10 week old baby at home it's almost a miracle I have time to brew at all.

marubozo said:

I hear you on the finding time to brew. This time of year is always tough. Seems like most weekends are filled with graduation parties, weddings, or golf outings. And when you're working 50 hours a week and have a 10 week old baby at home it's almost a miracle I have time to brew at all.

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With a new baby I would be happy just to find time to drink let alone brew. Congrats!