First home brew today !

Well it's been a ride for sure since the first batch. I made a American amber ale extract "no spec grains". Bought the kit from my LHBS. New to brewing and before I knew of the forum I brewed it per instructions. Used Wyeast northwest ale.

The whole brew day and fermintation went really well. I knew going in that a fermintation chamber "freezer with temp control" was a must. The kit called for 7-14 days in the primary and then bottle. I went the full 14 days and checked the FG until stable. I drank the hydro tubes and it tasted great !

Bottled using 22oz bottles. 24 22oz and one 12oz. Used 4.5oz of priming sugar according to a online calculator. They have been conditioning for a week. Last night I put the 12oz tester in the fridge.

Just opened the test bottle. Nice hiss when opening it. Filled the glass to see I nice "but small" head with remarkable lace. Smell was off the chain and the taste was amazing. For my first home brew and being a bit rushed. It was really good ! The tast was as good if not better than anything I've bought in the store out side of craft beers. Guys it came out amazing. I can't imagine it gets better !

Comgrats and welcome to the obsession/hobby

Congrats.

Let the brew sit for a couple more weeks and it will only get better.

It is best to get a good pipeline going so it becomes easier to let your brews sit and condition.

Woohoo!!!

Congrats! You do have your next batch going, right?

Yup have a Bearcat Wheaton beat down fermenting "one week in". Should be ready to go next weekend "fast turn around brew". Have a IPA inbound in a week for the brew after that. Sitting on about 4 cases of empty 22oz bottles. The pipe line is started !

It gets better. Good job.

Congratulations welcome o the dark side...

Not to pour water on the fire. SHMBO is having company over and I'm maning the grill. She brought home a case of Sam Adams summer mix. Tried a couple of different ones. Nothing is as good. Last night we went to a pub and I ordered a local brew ale. Nada nothing is as good. Am I ruined ?

BronxBrew said:

Not to pour water on the fire. SHMBO is having company over and I'm maning the grill. She brought home a case of Sam Adams summer mix. Tried a couple of different ones. Nothing is as good. Last night we went to a pub and I ordered a local brew ale. Nada nothing is as good. Am I ruined ?

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Totally. You're finished as a pub drinker as you will be hard pressed to find a beer you like as well as one you have brewed.

It's good to get a pipeline going but sometimes you have extra time and sometimes life gets in the way when you want to brew and your pipeline will be broken. To avoid running out of beer due to that broken pipeline, spend about $15 on a plastic fermenter bucket with lid and airlock. When you have some free time, brew 2 batches. Once you have them in the fermenter you don't have to rush to empty one so you can brew again, you have 2 brews already going. I just bottled a batch that had been in the fermenter for 9 weeks as I got "life" under control and it's good.

p.s. I have 3 bucket fermenters and a plastic carboy to brew in. I never have to rush my beer to bottle.

Ehh,local craft brew may be comparable maybe worse, same as commercial.There are definatly great craft commercial beers, although for instance my homebrew ginger pale ale was better than the few commercial ginger beers ive had. It depends I havent had a better india brown ale than mine,till i tried DFH's finally. I made a really awesome porter but ive had a few better craft commercial porters. Hit or miss, the bar is so raised and competitively raised continuously. Ive made plenty of ok ones as well.

Once you start to craft your own recipes, and create truly personal brews, your perception of mass-produced beer will never be the same. There are some really good brews out there, but making your own at home will completely change your ideas of what is possible.

If its amazing now drink it!!!

drawdy10 said:

If its amazing now drink it!!!

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Drinking and drunk. I had to quick chill a brew so a female friend could try it. Need less to say it wasn't right but damn if it wasn't good ! I think fermintation cooling had a lot to do with it . Over all damn! What a great bear!

And he sir is drunk!

Nice work!

Bx? Ever get sandwiches from Ann Claire's in Morris Park?

keg it

grasshopperfirestarter said:

keg it

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Is there an actual point to your post?

BrewerBear said:

Is there an actual point to your post?

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Lol

Yeeaaa!! Atta boy!! :rockin: first batch always blows you away.

just gettin around to seeing this. I dont remember what my actual point was, if any? I tapped a new brew that night!

PHOTOS!!!

I love seeing photos of a guy's first batch of beer. Agreed on the pipeline. It's what I've been doing. 4 beers on tap, one keg waiting to go when one of those 4 finishes and 3 more fermenting. Once you have a solid pipeline of beers just waiting to go in your glass, things get easier and...with beer bottled, you can let the next beer ferment and you won't even think about it.