First Brew...looks, smells, and tastes good!

Last Wednesday I started my first brew. It is a Coopers Australian Pale Ale kit and I used 1lb LME and around 8 or 9oz dextrose. It was about 78 degrees when I pitched yeast and settled in around 74-75 for the fermentation. It bubbled like mad from early Thursday into Sat. when it quickly tapered off. Wednesday this week I transferred it to a secondary and when I opened the lid I was amazed to see that it actually looked like beer. I bent over to smell it and low and behold it smelled like beer. I took a swig out of the siphon hose after i was done and wow, it even tasted like beer!!

I'm going to let it sit just until Sunday and proceed to bottling. I wasn't going transfer it to a secondary but it seemed like there was quite a bit of sediment as I could actually see some in the spigot itself. Once I transferred it I was surprised to see very little at the bottom. If I'd have known that I probably would have just left it alone in the fermenter which was my initial plan anyway. I plan on adding the sugar to the bottles themselves which I know isn't the most popular method here, but I don't want to stir up any additional sediment and I don't want to transfer it again just to add the sugar. For a noob this kit is just perfect. The really hard part is going to be letting the bottles sit for a couple weeks to carbonate.

I've learned an awful lot here in just the short time I've been around and look forward to many more brews.

Welcome to Home Brewing!
It feels great when you brew and get compliments from your friends! It gets even more fun when you start getting into Extract/partial mash brews.

I can't say that I got the same luck with my Cooper's Australian Pale ale. I used 1.3Kg of liquid malt extract as the fermenting sugar and ended up with a low gravity flavorless brew.. That's when I gave up with kits and moved on to Partial.

I made my first batch of all-grain last month but it ended up in my shopvac. "I dropped my damn carboy!!"

Congrats on your first brew! Welcome to the obsession! Now, run to the LHBS and get another fermenter and recipe kit! Quick!

MyNameIsPaul said:

Congrats on your first brew! Welcome to the obsession! Now, run to the LHBS and get another fermenter and recipe kit! Quick!

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LOL, ain't that the truth? As soon as I bottled my first brew, I wanted to start another immediately. Hell, I think I started a thinking of what my next batch would be as soon as I snapped the lid on the fermenter.

Congrats on your first run...it really is a special day when you get to sit down and enjoy one of your own

Looks, smells, AND Tastes good?

Wow. You really fvcked that batch up good didn't you?

It is imperative that the absolute first thing you do now is dung an athletic shoe in there. Get something reallly funky.

No new brewer should ever be prevented from having that first taste of hard earned homebrew that makes you just want to vommit!

Now get back in there and do it right this time! So, you can get on to obsessing about the hows, whys, and whats and get on with wondering if each an every batch thereafter is going to be the same disaster.

LedBoots said:

LOL, ain't that the truth? As soon as I bottled my first brew, I wanted to start another immediately. Hell, I think I started a thinking of what my next batch would be as soon as I snapped the lid on the fermenter.

Congrats on your first run...it really is a special day when you get to sit down and enjoy one of your own

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I got my kit on a Saturday morning, brewed, and bought another fermenting bucket on Sunday. I've got 3 Carboys and 3 Plastic Fermenters. They're all full right now. I've got an Irish Red to bottle tomorrow, and then it's back to brewing. I can't stop! Help!

MyNameIsPaul said:

I got my kit on a Saturday morning, brewed, and bought another fermenting bucket on Sunday. I've got 3 Carboys and 3 Plastic Fermenters. They're all full right now. I've got an Irish Red to bottle tomorrow, and then it's back to brewing. I can't stop! Help!

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I'd help you drink your brew, but you're too far away.

thanks everybody for the welcome...I'll have to give an update once I get it bottled and let it carbonate...can't wait...

well a buddy came over and we got the bottling done. From the time I started sanitizing bottles to when I was finished cleaning up everything it was just less than an hour and 45 minutes. I know it will go faster next time, but I didn't think that was too bad for never having done it before. I ended up with 51 bottles. I added sugar to the bottles like I had planned so we'll see how carbonation goes. The batwing capper actually seems to work very well...not sure why there are some horror stories about those as it was very smooth and easy to opperate.

I'll be cracking open the first one in a week but It'll be tough to wait a week to "check on" the carbonation...lol

I just bottled my first batch, it look ok, smells ok, and ya know what, it tastes alright too. I just have a sneaking suspicion it didn't ferment all the way even though I let it go for a combined total of two weeks in primary and secondary. I hope I dont get bottle bombs, please, God, no bottle bombs, I value my eyes.

So they have been bottled or 48 hours now, should I throw one in the fridge and open it to test the carbonation? I wanna make sure I dont have bottle bombs >.<

plus i want to taste my first batch, I can hardly wait, its hard when you dont got homebrew to go off!

I'm not sure you'll get much carbonation after just 48 hours.
You might want to let the brew condition in the bottles for a couple weeks.

i just popped one in the fridge and opened it, around 65 hours since its been bottled. it was CARBED, I am afriad it will be a bottle bomb soon, It was kind of sweet when I tasted it, must be more sugar >.<. It tasted... alright, I guess, Kind of tasteless, a little bit of a harsh hoppy finish that leaves you with a unpleasent bittery taste in your mouth.

Ill leave it another 2 weeks, well see how it turns out.

dilbone said:

well a buddy came over and we got the bottling done. From the time I started sanitizing bottles to when I was finished cleaning up everything it was just less than an hour and 45 minutes. I know it will go faster next time, but I didn't think that was too bad for never having done it before. I ended up with 51 bottles. I added sugar to the bottles like I had planned so we'll see how carbonation goes. The batwing capper actually seems to work very well...not sure why there are some horror stories about those as it was very smooth and easy to opperate.

I'll be cracking open the first one in a week but It'll be tough to wait a week to "check on" the carbonation...lol

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I think the biggest problem people have with the batwing capper is using screwtop bottles... that or the cap setting unevenly/not sturdy enough surface or a buddy to help out. Glad to hear your brew went off without a hitch though! Just two days after my first was fermenting I went out and bought another extract kit and bucket. I couldnt wait to get some more brew going. Welcome, and have fun!

Ok, call me impatient...I waited as long as I could but I had to put one in the fridge tonight to "check on it" and make sure it was doing ok after 4 days.

First impressions:
very lightly carbed...I only used 1/2tsp dextrose per bottle...should have used 3/4tsp...easy fix next time.

...other than that, I can't complain in the least. It is VERY good beer. Maybe a little light on malt, nice smooth finish with a hint of hop bitterness. An extra pound of LDME and hop bag would add a lot to what is already a very impressive starting point IMO.

Considering I spent about $35 on consumables for 51 bottles of beer, wow...store bought beers in this price range can't even touch it...

Knowing that it will probably get even better over the next few weeks is icing on the cake. Gonna have to go pick up another one of these APA's and make the above changes to see how much better it gets.