First brew day in pictures.....

I started with a MoreBeer! American IPA extract... I ended up with a 1.062 OG, which is right where it was supposed to be. It's in the bucket starting to ferment now.

A few random thoughts:

This was work! I hope it gets easier.
The cold break could have went better.
Mrs. tamoore's help was invaluable.
Can't wait to do it again.

cool pics, you look stoned lol.

I recall reading some literature on become a brewmaster and it said the most important characteristic you must possess among all others is planning. With planning and experience, it does get quicker each time.

Looks great, man! Yeast looked nice and frothy, did you use a starter or just rehydrate dry yeast? Looks like you aerated your wort with the two buckets, did you make sure the temperature was suitable for pitching? Those (and sanitation and RHAHB) seem to be the magical ingredients to making good beer.

Thats a beautiful color brew. I just finished my first ever batch today with a midwest american ale and it looked really dark. I also had some trouble filtering out my hops between the wort and the fermenter, but other posts say there is nothing to worry about. We should be tasting our first brews about the same time.

It gets easier every time and you will get the process down within a few brews.

It will always be "work" but I think of it as a labor of love.

Hope you enjoy the beer.

Eric

congrats on #1!!

I can only make one small suggestion.

Loose the glass thermometer, you will break it or it will break magically on its own either way, you'll end up starting a "should I toss my beer thread"

Grab a digital one. I've had great luck with the cheap one at walmart thats coated in rubber and has a "dishwasher safe" probe on it. I always use a turkey mental one as well.

dracus said:

I can only make one small suggestion.

Loose the glass thermometer, you will break it or it will break magically on its own either way, you'll end up starting a "should I toss my beer thread"

Grab a digital one. I've had great luck with the cheap one at walmart thats coated in rubber and has a "dishwasher safe" probe on it. I always use a turkey mental one as well.

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+1 on this. These posts are all over the place here. I took this advice and now have an analog dial stainless steel thermometer($10-$15).

I don't want to lose a $40+ batch because I skimped out on a $10 thermometer purchase.

Looks like you did a great job.

EricCSU said:

It will always be "work" but I think of it as a labor of love.

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Couldn't be more true. But even as you get your process more refined, you'll find other ways of making it hard for yourself.

Cheers on your first brew. The hardest part for me is the waiting.

It definitely gets faster and easier. Things that you conciously have to think about and plan out become second nature and easy to do after a few batches. Good pics.

Nice pics! I just finished my 8th batch and it really does get easier each time. I'm still a big time noob, but I continue to tweak my process (which is part of the fun) and I find I am enjoying it more and more.

And, I will assume this is the way it works for everyone, but as I tweak, I think about all the equip/gadgets I want that will make it even easier!!

lackey2000 said:

Looks like you did a great job.



Couldn't be more true. But even as you get your process more refined, you'll find other ways of making it hard for yourself.

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So true it isn't funny, but I'll laugh anyway.

Thanks for the comments everyone. I'm going to get a new thermometer for sure before the next brew session, thanks for the tip. I'm also eying a wort chiller.

Update: I hit the OG at 1.062 (kit called for 1.058-1.062).
I got active fermentation within six hours of pitching the yeast.
This morning before I left for work, I was still getting about 1 bubble a second (36 hours after pitching).

Going to siphon to secondary carboy next Saturday if I get consistent hydrometer readings on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Thanks again!

tamoore said:

Going to siphon to secondary carboy next Saturday if I get consistent hydrometer readings on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Thanks again!

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Congrats!


Racking to a secondary fermentor can happen while fermentation is still active, yes? Correct me if I'm wrong, and I'm sure there are open discussions on To Rack or Not To Rack.

From what I understand, ''consistent hydrometer readings'' are only essential to bottling, yes?


Your beer looks great!

Poolside said:

Congrats!


Racking to a secondary fermentor can happen while fermentation is still active, yes? Correct me if I'm wrong, and I'm sure there are open discussions on To Rack or Not To Rack.

From what I understand, ''consistent hydrometer readings'' are only essential to bottling, yes?


Your beer looks great!

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Thanks. You may be right... Perhaps I wont even test it until I'm ready to keg....

Thanks again!