Well, it must have been pretty good!

So I just finished my third batch of beer this past weekend (first one was good as well, but second one got contaminated and I had to dump it )

It must've been a hit. A lot of my family was in town for my sister's wedding on Saturday, and on Friday night, the whole 5 gallon keg was completely drunk, and everyone was saying that it was pretty good (interesting to see how many people went back to my keg compared to the keg of Miller Lite my Dad had on tap next to it) It was a pretty basic, low hop American Pale Ale, that I designed (with a LOT of help from my LHBS) to be pretty mild and appease the most people. I swear that I noticed a bit of an off-flavor in it that tasted a bit sour-ish and it left a weird after-taste but no one else noticed it, even after I tried to tell them what I was tasting. It was more than drinkable and I had my share, but I was just trying to figure out if there was anything I messed up or not.

I'll admit that I now have the bug. My 4th batch (an American Amber) is just about ready to keg and I'm going to be making my 5th sometime this week (that's going to be an English Brown.)

So far I seem to be making a different style every batch. I'll probably continue to do that for quite a while until I get all the techniques down and find a recipe I like enough to make another batch of, but boy this is fun! Just wanted to thank everyone here. I don't post much, but I read a lot and you've answered every question I've ever had, with just a little searching!

My American Amber turned out pretty good, especially for the first batch ever. It still has a week to go in the bottles, but I had to "sneak a peek" this past weekend. Oh boy, can't wait until Friday.....WOOOOOHOOOOOOO! I'm finally starting to get a return on my investment meaning no more stopping off at the local microbrew and picking up a gallon to go for 18 bucks!!!!

You shouldn't have dumped your "contaminated" brew. One of the best beers I ever brewed was "contaminated". Apparently, "souring" is an actual brewing process that can lend interesting flavors.

Yeah, I've never been a fan of sour beers (Lambics or Berliner style Weisses) and this one was so bad I couldn't even drink a half pint of it without gagging. Maybe if I let it sit a lot longer, it would've come out okay, but I needed the keg for something else I need more than 2 kegs, that's for sure. I also know that I screwed up on that batch by being impatient, so now I go slower and so far, so good.