Just enjoyed 1st brewed beer ever!!!

Like the title states I cracked open my first brew tonight. I did what everyone recommends, I drank one after a couple of days to get an idea of why its better to wait. I bottled the beers on Monday and today is Friday and that's a little over 5 days and the beer already tasted great. I didn't have much head but there were a lot of bubbles coming up to the top as I was enjoying the beer. It had a great taste. Oh yea it was a Pilsner True Brew kit. I can't wait to try to new kits. I'm not confident enough to do the grain brewing that I hear about. I'll just stick with the extract kits since I have a little experience now. Thanks guy and I can't wait to see how it tastes after a couple more weeks.:rockin:

Well congrats! Home brew will spoil you though, you won't want anything else.

wow, 4 days in the bottle and you had carbonation? Hopefully not a sign of bombs. Give them 21 days in bottles before cracking open. Then put them in the fridge a couple days before opening as well.

IrregularPulse said:

wow, 4 days in the bottle and you had carbonation? Hopefully not a sign of bombs. Give them 21 days in bottles before cracking open. Then put them in the fridge a couple days before opening as well.

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My FG was 1.016. I shouldn't have bottle bombs with that FG should I?

Congrats, and I hope you have some extra money, because you're going to spend about $400 on additional equipment in the coming months. It is a rewarding, but addicting hobby.

Chances are other beers you've drank were also brewed.

Perhaps this is your first home brew

HIT_MAN said:

My FG was 1.016. I shouldn't have bottle bombs with that FG should I?

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You could if your target TG was 1.008.

impatient said:

You could if your target TG was 1.008.

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I'm guessing that TG means target gravity..? If such the case the TG for my brew was 1.012-1.014

HIT_MAN said:

I'm guessing that TG means target gravity..? If such the case the TG for my brew was 1.012-1.014

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Did you hit your target OG? If so then it might not have been done yet.

DONT DO IT!!!

WAIT until you at least have something ELSE close to being bottled.
You sound like I did when I did my first beer - It tasted great green! Well, come to the time when I SHOULD have cracked my first beer, more than half of it is gone.
And I must say, now that It has conditioned properly its WONDERFUL!

Do yourself a favor and hide your beer, or exhibit some serious ass willpower - YOU WILL BE GREATLY REWARDED!!
-Me

Homebrew....mmmmm good. Congrats

Congratulations and I'm glad you're already enjoying your first brew. Just don't drink it all now and deprive yourself of the chance to taste how much better it is after 4 weeks in the bottle.

Glad it tasted good!

Don't Touch That Beer!

Go buy another kit, brew and bottle. Meanwhile, treat your tastebuds to a wide variety of excellent brews now available from all over the country. Learn what tastes you really like.

Ok, now try your beer again. Don't forget to keep brewing or you're pipeline will go dry.

Welcome to the addicti...er hobby!

JoeMama said:

DONT DO IT!!!

WAIT until you at least have something ELSE close to being bottled.
You sound like I did when I did my first beer - It tasted great green! Well, come to the time when I SHOULD have cracked my first beer, more than half of it is gone.
And I must say, now that It has conditioned properly its WONDERFUL!

Do yourself a favor and hide your beer, or exhibit some serious ass willpower - YOU WILL BE GREATLY REWARDED!!
-Me

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Yeah I would listen to Joe on this one, he KNOWS to which he writes (guess he learned his lesson) he's been getting ribbed incessantly for his beer pedophile tendencies....Give them some more time to condition, develop a head and round out flavor wise and you will be really impressed...and definitely get brewing again.

Congrats,
I bottled my first batch this morning. I post all of the gory details over in the Mr. Beer thread as that is what I used for my first batch. ( I got it for an early Christmas present)

Congrats, but let them sit a while longer. They'll go from great to amazing!

Revvy said:

beer pedophile tendencies

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This is singularly the best and worst thing I've ever heard! Awesomeness becomes you, Revvy!

So guys, curious what could possibly make the beer change in a negative way as it's aging. I know of:

Light: skunkiness from hops
Possible infections: creating off flavors
Oxidation: creating cardboard off flavor

Anything else?

Reason I ask is I had a Red Ale that tasted off after a week, then better, then better, etc. I also just recently had an IPA that was about 1.060-1.070 OG, 65 IBUs, and dry-hopped. For about 2-4 weeks after bottling it tasted and smelled great (causing visions of being the next Sam C. but that could have been the ABV). But the last few I opened had the off flavors that were present in the Red Ale early on...it's a complete reversal.

Not sure how to explain it really...hop aroma is kind of gone...flavor has a subtle off flavor the SWMBO defines it as "plastic-y". I used the same LME, so perhaps its from that? I dunno I wish you guys could taste it. Anyone live in NYC? haha.

I had a Red Ale that tasted off after a week, then better, then better, etc.

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That's why everyone says to wait a while before consuming.

Your flavor is going to go through a lot of changes in the first few weeks and is highly unpredictable. It's pretty certain that it WILL taste like the beer has gone off at some point. With some experience you will know what "green" beer tastes like and if it is heading in the right direction. 21 days in the bottle is about right for everything to settle down to what the beer is "supposed" (what the recipe was shooting for) to taste like.

If you handled the beer properly (sanitation, little splashing) and you store it correctly (not on that sunny shelf, or next to the furnace, etc.) You should not find any of the flaws you mention. If you are arguing that somehow it makes sense to drink your beer in this early state to avoid some future unknown problem, you aren't going to convince many people.

Don;t feel bad. I suspect that we all chugged down our first brew, until we had that one bottle left to try after a month, which did taste the best. Tom Petty said it "that waiting is the hardest part".