1st brew finally bottled

[Michael357]

I finally reached bottling day

I brewed a India Black Ale on 8/16/14. Dry hopped on 8/29/14. Wanted to dry hop for 7 days, but "Life" got in the way. So it dry hopped for 9 days. Transferred to bottling bucket (after sanitizing everything with star san), mixed and added priming sugar, then filled 47 bottles. So two weeks or so from now, i'll crack open the 1st beer I've ever made. Fingers crossed.

 

[jiggs_casey]

Congratulations! Guaranteed to be the longest two weeks ever!

 

[Trainman]

congrats, enjoy what you have made

 

[unionrdr]

Hear's hoping your first turns out at least as good as mine did! I also found that the boxes Midwest shipps my grains, etc for my recipes will hold 25-26-12oz bottles.
They're about 2/3's the length of a case box too! So they should take up less space. The one on the bottom is shorter hieght-wise, being from one of there grosses of DME bags. Should be even better.

 

[Michael357]

Unfortunately, I don't have a supply of HB boxes yet. So I took advantage of my nephews pamper boxes for the last 23 bottles. Had to use 2, they only hold 12 bottles.

 

[unionrdr]

That's cool to start with. I started with Miller 12 pack boxes & the like. Here's an old pic I found from when I first started using glass 12oz bottles...

This was 2011, maybe late spring?

 

[rodwha]

Mind sharing your recipe?

When I first tried a black IPA I was astounded that it didn't taste roasty as it looked. This coerced me to make my own, which was very good, though with a hint of roast. I tried Alaskan's and, again, loved it. This lead me to believe it's black but not roasty. But then I've had one that was almost like a porter. Being that there is no class of black IPA I guess it's up to interpretation.

It also got the wheels spinning (a little too fast it seems) about brewing a black beer that tasted like an amber. I used a lot of midnight wheat, which is supposed to give color and not flavor, but I found when you use a lot (I wanted my beer middle of the night black) it certainly does give it a roasty flavor. It's a good thing I like porters and stouts too!

 

[Michael357]

Mind sharing your recipe?

When I first tried a black IPA I was astounded that it didn't taste roasty as it looked. This coerced me to make my own, which was very good, though with a hint of roast. I tried Alaskan's and, again, loved it. This lead me to believe it's black but not roasty. But then I've had one that was almost like a porter. Being that there is no class of black IPA I guess it's up to interpretation.

It also got the wheels spinning (a little too fast it seems) about brewing a black beer that tasted like an amber. I used a lot of midnight wheat, which is supposed to give color and not flavor, but I found when you use a lot (I wanted my beer middle of the night black) it certainly does give it a roasty flavor. It's a good thing I like porters and stouts too!

Sure. Recipe is simple...A Brewers Best Kit It came with the following ingredients:

3.3lb Special Dark LME
3.3lb Amber LME
1lb Amber DME
8oz. Victory grains
8oz. Caramel 80L
3/4oz Bittering Hops (40min boil)
1oz Flavoring Hops (15min boil)
1oz Aroma Hops (final 5min boil)
2oz dry hops
Yeast...us-05

 

[rodwha]

Since they gave you amber and dark extracts I can't say what went into it. I was curious as to whether or not it was roasty. Guess you'll find out soon enough...