Cracked my first batch!

I've been lurking on these forums for 6-7 weeks. My SWOMBO bought me a base kit with a Bavarian Hefe, and I eagerly just followed what were very basic instructions. Ultimately the only rule I didn't break was "sanitize" since everything was all new and it seemed logical to overclean.

After racking into the carboy I started reading and learning I realized I did a lot wrong and corrected as best I could. I can definitely taste an 'extract' twang (it's best described as a can of coke vs. the soda fountains - just has that... twang of concentrate), but it's pretty damn good for a first attempt. I had an absolute blast, and this actually tastes like a decent hefeweizen! I have a second raspberry wheat in the hopper (partial mash), cannot wait for that to come out, and my first all-grain kit is on it's way. If this is what a pure LME tastes like with fermentation happening at 75-80, I am definitely hooked on home brewing.

All I can say to anyone new to brewing - it's really, really hard to completely screw up a batch. There was not much more I could do wrong, and another 7 days of carbonation will make this a pretty decent batch.

EDIT / P.S: Home brew certainly has a bigger kick to it than commercial brew. wow.

 

Congrats on your first batch.

 

Agreed, congrats on the first batch.

I brewed a hef for my second batch. It was actually a little undercarbed until about week six. The longer you wait the better they get.

 

hmmm, thank you for that statement. I will watch for that when i taste my first batch, and i will probably do specialty grainon my second batch.

 

Congrats on the success!! I like the advise to newbies, 'specially what you say about extract, it's ALOT like the difference between a fountain soda and a bottled one. You can limit that alot by doing a mini mash (search the site) and adding the bulk of your extract late in the boil.
It's great how easy it is to make good beer, isn't it?! :rockin:

 

If you can get your ferment temps to 65-70 degrees you will like the results even better !!

Cheers !