The obligatory "My First Brew!" thread (Dark Star Brown Ale)

After weeks of reading this forum, two a day drills, scrimmages, and the like, it was time to take the field!! All I want to say is, this was fun. I got a Northwestern Dark Star Brown Ale kit (has anyone tried this?). The prep, the boil, the drinking of the pumpkin ale I bought last month, the watching of the wild card playoff games, too much fun. Let's hope the beer tastes good 6 weeks from now. Oh, and --I'm going All-Grain!!!! (just kidding). Cheers!

Congrats. The first brew is fun and will undoubtedly taste great. Now get started planning for batch number two. Or buy a second fermenter and get busy next weekend.

Also, don't think all-grain is some unacheiveable goal. It's not that much harder and can be done on a fairly small budget. Try an extract with steeping grains recipe next time (if your first one wasn't), or try a mini-mash. Then as you get more comfortable with the process, consider all-grain. You can make some good beers using extract, but many brewers prefer the flexibility that AG can provide (plus the ingredients are cheaper).

Congrats again, and welcome to the obsession.

congrats, i did my first brew today as well. i plan to do another once this one is done!

T-rags said:

I got a Northwestern Dark Star Brown Ale kit (has anyone tried this?).

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I haven't tried it, but I think that it's a kit that George (Home Sweet Homebrew) whipped up himself. Good to see yet another Philly homebrewer!

Yup, that's where I got it.

Update on my first brew. Yesterday was bottling day. A new experience. It took me a while to figure out that the bottle filler and hose would not fully prime until I released some of the pressure at the bottom of the bottle filler. Also, i lost my syphon on the rack to the bottling bucket, twice. And the hose fell off my bottling bucket at least once with beer splashing to the floor. Dog wasn't interested in cleaning it up. A learning experience. The good news is that SWMBO was out of town so she didn't see the mess and confusion.

3 weeks later and ... it's testing and drinking day! I have to say, I was really surprised with how good the beer came out (it's a nut brown ale). I had a Brooklyn Brown ale in the house as well, and this was a little richer in texture and flavor, more enjoyable to drink. Perhaps with a couple more weeks of aging it will even be better. Thanks to everyone for all the help i got on this forum. Will have to work on the next batch soon!