My First Homebrew™

Well, well. Just polished off my third glass of my first batch. 'Tis very good indeed, even if I do say so myself.

For my very first brew, I decided to go All-Grain. Yes. A Düsseldorf Altbier, no less.

And god damn, it is good.



I think I'm having a beergasm.



So yeah, this tasting was only meant to be a sample. After all, the Alt has only been bottled a week. But I just couldn't resist.

The first bottle I had been tracking for a while. It seemed to be more carbonated than the rest. It wasn't as fizzy as I'd hoped though. The second, however... I poured rather clumsily into the glass, thinking it would also be under carbonated. Whoops. Had to wipe my creamy head off the table. Good stuff.

So, why all grain?

- Because I could
- The price of extract here in Norway is hideously expensive
- I figured 'What the hey?'
- I'm a sucker for punishment

Why an Altbier?

- I've never had it before, and wanted to try a new style
- It fit my profile of what constitutes a good beer
- Because I could

I wanted to try some techniques that perhaps the majority of new homebrewers don't try. I did a triple decoction (actually, a quadruple, but hey), a starter, and yeast washing.

I kinda fluffed mash-in, undershooting my target temp (the beer turned out fine). The rest of the decoction went off without a hitch, though.

I miscalculated the amount of chocolate malt (the beer turned out fine), making the end result slightly lighter than expected.

I misjudged the hops, and the beer turned out perfectly bitter (to my tastes)... The beer turned out fine.

I had a cold when brewing. Snotting and sneezing everywhere. The beer turned out fine.

So yeah, I'm extremely pleased with the way my first beer turned out. I now have a Munton's kit (Old Conkerwood) fermenting upstairs, and I'm thinking that should turn out great too. I bought it half price because it had gone out of date... the HBS threw in a new packet of yeast, but I opted to pitch a packet of Nottingham instead. 36 hours in and it's bubbling away happily. I'll throw in a batch of Scottish Export onto the yeast cake when it's done, just to keep the pipeline going.

So there you have it. A newb with a brew.

And I couldn't be happier. Oh, here's a pic:

Wow, congratulations! Sounds awesome!!

It surely is. But I shouldn't have had four glasses before breakfast... ergg...

If you like the beer now, just wait 3-4 more weeks. You'll absolutely love it then! You mentioned that your Alt has only been in the bottles for 1 week... why you drinking all of that beer up before it's even "ready" to go? I know it's hard, but wait as long as you possibly can before you start drinking it. I have a Saison in bottles right now that was brewed back in February. Have only touched 3-4 bottles for taste testing purposes. Hoping to hold off of really putting them down for at least another month or so. Congrats on your first brews!

Bravo! Looks like you'll be hooked for life now.

Quad decoction for a first brew?!

You and the bowling alley man.... 10 lbs. balls!

It was only supposed to be a triple, but I missed my temp, meaning I had to decoct just to get to my mash-in temp (I cried. Then I laughed).

Oh, and I do intend on keeping my beer longer than one week (honestly!), but it was so sexy, it just called out to me. I had to have it. I wanted it. I needed it.


And now I'm satisfied.

*lights cigarette*

you need to start brewing another batch.

the only thing more amazing than the first brew is how fast it goes!

Already accounted for. This time it's extract. Yeast pitched two nights ago. 3/4 inch krausen from the Notty, and it's doin' its thang.


Oh, and just to save Revvy some time:


Even Palmer recommends not rushing the beer out of primary.

From How to Brew;
Leaving an ale beer in the primary fermentor for a total of 2-3 weeks (instead of just the one week most canned kits recommend), will provide time for the conditioning reactions and improve the beer. This extra time will also let more sediment settle out before bottling, resulting in a clearer beer and easier pouring. And, three weeks in the primary fermentor is usually not enough time for off-flavors to occur....

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