Newbie's first brew.

Just began fermenting my first home brew. It's an Irish red ale from Midwest Supplies. I'm half in the bag from pounding down a six pack of Bell's Two Hearted during the brewing process, but it's in the swamp cooler for the next two weeks. EXCITED!!!!

Congrats! Welcome to the hobby and the forum!

Congrats! Welcome to the addiction/obsession. Just remember, be patient, and you will be rewarded with great beer.

Nice! Do 3 weeks on the yeast, you won't regret it.

Want to make that kit into a really good tasting beer with the proper final gravity? Keep it in the low 60's for 4 or 5 days (swamp cooler?) and then let it warm to room temperature (low to mid 70's) for another 2 weeks. Keeping it cool while the initial fast ferment keeps the yeast from going crazy and creating compounds that don't taste particularly good but if you keep it too cool for too long, the yeast go dormant before they get all the alcohol produced.

Well, just took my end of week one gravity reading. It's at 1.02 and needs to get to 1.012. So, it's got a ways to go. Don't worry guys. I'm not freaking out about it. It's gonna stay there for another 2 weeks like RM-MN suggested. Just updating. It's got good color. It's still pretty cloudy but it tastes like beer. Granted, warm, flat beer, but it's beer. Got a sample chilling for a bit to check that out.

Brewed the Octane IPA last Wednesday. So, that's fermenting too. Boy, is THAT airlock going crazy.

I'm excited about them both.