The First Taste of My First Batch!

ok i just wanted to share my first experience of drinking my first batch of beer and i must say i was really suprised at how well it turned out. The London Brown Ale was really dark and smooth which was much better than my expectation. Even though i only did primary fermentation it still turned out remarkably smooth even though there is a small amount of sediment at the bottom, but hey i can live with that (Didn't really learn about secondary fermentation till a couple of weeks into this first batch and did not have time to get another carboy or food grade bucket to switch it over). For it being such a dark ale i was suprised at how it lacked a pronounce bitter taste, maybe adding more hops will fix this problem. i also noticed that the beer that was at the top of the bottle was much darker in color than the beer that was at the bottom. i came upon this when i poured the bottle into 2 different classes and noticed a darker brown in the former class than in the latter class, this might be due to the amount of sediment that was in my bottles but it still taste awesome so i can't really complain.

thanks for sharing any comments i am open for any suggestions.

Brew on!!

Browns are good starter brews. If you start loading in hops, you're looking at an ESB. Which isn't a bad thing.

Pouring beer in classes! I guess I went to the wrong school.

i do notice that this beer is so smooth that i end up drinking it too fast lol. ofcourse i only did the minimum time for fermenting (2 weeks) so maybe if i let it ferment longer it will get a stronger taste and aroma.

Tale Of An Ale said:

i do notice that this beer is so smooth that i end up drinking it too fast lol.

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I have that "problem" with my Pale Ale.

What a great hobby this is.

Mmmm...certainly a good problem to have. You're making me even more impatient to try my first brew, which has only been in the bottles for a week. I can't wait.

A great hobby? yeah, I'd say so.

wow it is funny how we all think alike lol. too bad the rest of the world can't be home brewers it would make life much easier i think... so anyways i started out with 20 22 oz. bottles 2 days ago.... i'm down to 14 and i only drink at night after work, i need to slow down a little or atleast until i bottle my second batch lol.

thanks again for the replies

Tale Of An Ale said:

wow it is funny how we all think alike lol. too bad the rest of the world can't be home brewers it would make life much easier i think... so anyways i started out with 20 22 oz. bottles 2 days ago.... i'm down to 14 and i only drink at night after work, i need to slow down a little or atleast until i bottle my second batch lol.

thanks again for the replies

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Actually, i had that very same problem. My solution, brew every 2 to 3 weeks. start with a porter that needs to condition a bit longer like i did and by the time that is ready to drink you will have 20 some bottles of that and your next one, a pilsner, or IPA or something on the light side will be ready to drink as well and BING>......................you have yourself a nice supply of fresh home brew.

FWIW, the darkness of a beer/ale is only tangentially realted to the bitterness of the flavor. Some dark malts (roasted barley* and black patent) will give a roasty bitter taste to a beer, but others (crafa, chocolate, dark crystal malts) don't. The bitterness of any given beer is much more directly related to the hopping amounts and schedule.

(*yeah, I know roasted barley is technically not a malt.)