Mozart
Well-Known Member
Greetings everyone!
I'm pretty much brand new to the homebrewing hobby. A friend, a homebrewer himself, introduced me to the hobby a little over three weeks ago when we got together at his place and I helped brew my first batch. I actually tasted the finished product for the first time this past weekend.
Was it nirvana in a glass? Pure heaven on the tastebuds with an aroma to match? Well, um, nope. It's a bit too light, and a bit undercarbed, and likely a whole bunch of other things my pallet isn't yet practiced enough to determine.
Ok, ok, I know, I should let it age more, we shouldn't have let the wort splash around when putting it the the bottling bucket and inadvertently aerate it a little. We should have trusted that the no rinse sanitizer was, as its name would in hindsight seem to obviously imply, actually no rinse! Can you tell I've been reading a little here?
Is it drinkable? Do I enjoy it? Absolutely! That's what's important, isn't it? RDWHAHB, right? It even got a rave review from a friend we had over who said, "You MADE this?! It's GOOD! You REALLY made this?" Ok, so my beer earned this rave review after the guest in question had finished off an entire bottle of wine, but I'll take it.
So, my second batch (and my first flying solo), brewed on Saturday, is sitting in my fermenting bucket as I write this, and, when last I checked this morning, the airlock was happily bubbling away, my little yeast friends diligently working day and night on my behalf. Yeah, ok, after 36 hours with no airlock activity, I peeked -- didn't need to though, the krausen had already formed and when I resealed the lid, the airlock started bubbling happily, so guess the lid was just not sealed down quite tightly enough. And yes, I pitched the yeast when the temp was still a bit warm (as in just opened the pack and dropped it right atop the wort without reading any of the directions first), and my ale is likely fermenting at a temp a bit outside the ideal range, but hey, it's my beer!.
Anyhow... I don't have a question or anything. I just thought I'd introduce myself to this forum since I'll be lurking around while I continue with my newfound hobby and thank you all for the great advice I've gotten and the advice down the road I know I'll be getting.
Cheers!
I'm pretty much brand new to the homebrewing hobby. A friend, a homebrewer himself, introduced me to the hobby a little over three weeks ago when we got together at his place and I helped brew my first batch. I actually tasted the finished product for the first time this past weekend.
Was it nirvana in a glass? Pure heaven on the tastebuds with an aroma to match? Well, um, nope. It's a bit too light, and a bit undercarbed, and likely a whole bunch of other things my pallet isn't yet practiced enough to determine.
Ok, ok, I know, I should let it age more, we shouldn't have let the wort splash around when putting it the the bottling bucket and inadvertently aerate it a little. We should have trusted that the no rinse sanitizer was, as its name would in hindsight seem to obviously imply, actually no rinse! Can you tell I've been reading a little here?
Is it drinkable? Do I enjoy it? Absolutely! That's what's important, isn't it? RDWHAHB, right? It even got a rave review from a friend we had over who said, "You MADE this?! It's GOOD! You REALLY made this?" Ok, so my beer earned this rave review after the guest in question had finished off an entire bottle of wine, but I'll take it.
So, my second batch (and my first flying solo), brewed on Saturday, is sitting in my fermenting bucket as I write this, and, when last I checked this morning, the airlock was happily bubbling away, my little yeast friends diligently working day and night on my behalf. Yeah, ok, after 36 hours with no airlock activity, I peeked -- didn't need to though, the krausen had already formed and when I resealed the lid, the airlock started bubbling happily, so guess the lid was just not sealed down quite tightly enough. And yes, I pitched the yeast when the temp was still a bit warm (as in just opened the pack and dropped it right atop the wort without reading any of the directions first), and my ale is likely fermenting at a temp a bit outside the ideal range, but hey, it's my beer!.
Anyhow... I don't have a question or anything. I just thought I'd introduce myself to this forum since I'll be lurking around while I continue with my newfound hobby and thank you all for the great advice I've gotten and the advice down the road I know I'll be getting.
Cheers!