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shafferpilot

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Sep 24, 2007
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Cincinnati OH
First brew is in the bottles. The last bottle burbled with air while filling, so i decided to just drink it. Despite the priming sugar sweetness and a quite a few yeast burps, it tastes great!! So hard to wait to drink it all:ban:

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TheJadedDog said:
Gotta love the feeling of having your first batch in the bottles; that was when I knew I was hooked.


You said it.. Problem now is I have an empty carboy:mad: and that's just not acceptable
 
Congrats! But definitely learn to savor some unless you plan to brew the same thing again in short order? I usually put at least 6-12 of my bottles away for a minimum of 4-6 months later... Almost always, they've gotten better with time. There are exceptions (low gravity wheats, etc), but a few months will do almost any beer good...

Interesting that this came up b/c I just cracked open a beer of mine that was over a year-old yesterday - a spiced holiday ale I brewed almost exactly a year ago - yay, its my 1 year brewing anniversary!! Anyway, it was still pretty darn tasty - I'm assuming the heavy dose of spices has somewhat 'preserved' this since its low gravity and still very good... but anyway, it was crazy to think I brewed it 1 year ago and it was still pretty much just fine. :)
 
Yeah, the full cases of just-bottled brew still make me smile. I've bottled 30 gallons in the past 3 weeks, and am up to my eyeballs in homebrew. I love it. I'm gonna get into kegging soon. Maybe after the new year. But I'll still bottle even then, because I brew too much to keg all of it.

I remember the first bottle from my first batch. Still gives me chills thinking about.
 
Did you just bottle those by cracking the spigot open and closed for each bottle?

if so, you might want to look into a bottling wand to make life a little easier.
 
yeah, I do need a wand. I found the way to make the spigot work was to open it a little to fill the bottom half inch of the bottle, then open it wide open to push the air out of the tube, then slow it down and close it when it was full. Then drop the bottle till the tube was just in the bottle's mouth. lastly, the spigot, when turned all the way closed, has a pinhole that breaks the vaccuum to let the beer in the tube flow out. That's quite the process to be repeated 43 times.

I too want to keg, and am already dropping some serious hints to SWMBO:)

Anyways, I think a brown ale is next on the brewing list. My first lager will follow shortly after since my lager cabinet is nearly finished:ban: Thanks to all for all the encouragement.
 
BTW brew number one, I'm calling "Bastard Ale" here's the recipe:

7lbs 2 row
1lb victory
2 oz home roasted 2-row
6 oz light DME
dough-in 110F 1:30
mash 140F 0:40
158F 0:20
mash out and sparge 170F

OG = 1.053
FG = 1.009
A/V = 5.7%

the multistep probably wasn't necessary at all, but I was testing the equipment as much as I was making beer:)

.75 oz centenniel 9.5 for 60 minutes
.25 oz centenniel 9.5 for 40 minutes
1 oz hallertau 3.2 for 5 minutes
dry hopped 1 oz hallertau in secondary

I guess it's kinda hard to determine IBU's as each calculator I use seems to give a different answer. Anyways, the average calculation is about 40

It's hoppy, I must admit, but what started as a grassy overpowering taste a week ago has settled into a pleasant strong hoppiness. If I do it again, I'll reduce the IBU's by a bit, but I'm not unhoppy with the results... come on that was punny..... gosh i kill myself. Also, I think I'll switch the two mash times in an effort to raise the final gravity for a little more body. That or maybe a bit of crystal malt. We'll see what I think after it's totally done
 
It's great isn't it...I'm drinking my first batch and have a batch of Kolsch in the bottle, conditioning...I'm brewing a Bohemiun Pilsner this saturday...I can't wait..

I put a 12 pack a side of my first batch...
 
i'm bottling my first beer tomorrow. it's was supposed to be an ESB but the OG was a little low due to my poor mash efficiency.

Seeing the picture of the nice row of capped bottles is making me want to break out the bottling bucket right now. Nice job!
 
Nice! It's great to know that all you have to do know is wait...as you brew more.
I'm in Cincy too...welcome!
 
Thanks to everyone:) I couldn't help myself, so I chilled a bottle over the weekend. SWMBO is used to me bringing home a variety of microbrews, so I just poored it in a glass and sat down to watch tv. After a sip or two from my glass, she remarked, "Wow that's a really good one, what kind is it?" I think my head almost exploded:rockin:

BTW
Brewdey:
GO BENGALS!!
 
Shafferpilot, you are in the SAME exact spot that I'm in. I just bottled my first beer last night, I also tried a bit of my beer (also tasted great) and I'm having a hard time waiting these last two weeks! I hope your beer turns out great.
 
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