32Brew
Active Member
I just wanted to post another I did it thread. I felt compelled partly because of the wealth of information I gathered from this site. As we speak, I have a batch of BM's Centennial Blonde bottle conditioning from my 1st AG batch.
This past Nov. my wife (mistakenly?) agreed to let me start brewing. First batch was extract brown ale with steeping grains, and after following the standard kit instructions, I got terrible beer ..Its still terrible. Even three months conditioning in the bottles, its so bitter/astringent I cant drink it. But before this batch was even carbed, I wanted to start another batch, so again, I brewed up another extract batch. Again, terrible beer.
Then, I noticed this site come up during many Google searches for why my beer sucked, so I jumped on this site for every question I had. About this same time, my daughter was born. I was at home, staying up all night with a newborn, which gave me ample time to read How to Brew as well as about 1,000 threads from this site. Here is when I realized my greatest mistake that I was told starting out If your water tastes fine, it is fine for brewing. Well, my water does taste fine, but I CANNOT brew just any beer with it!!!!!! After more searching, I was fairly certain my water had something to do with my terrible beer. (My water is hard, alkaline, and high in Mg.)
About this time, I injured my knee working out, which required surgery. Hence, more brain-dulling weeks just sitting around the house, so another 1,000 threads read on this site.
Before I had a successful batch of beer, I was already reading up on water chemistry, adding salts, and pH. I was learning new techniques, how ingredients tasted/married with others, price checking equipment/ingredients, brewing software etc. I gleaned all sorts of information from this site of DOs and DONTs that I hoped would get me a good batch of beer. It got to the point, that I was answering beginner beer forum questions in my mind from the info I got off this site. Although I wasnt able to brew a good batch myself, I had all the information to do so ...in theory. LOL
With knee surgery, and a new baby, I was set back about $8k in medical bills. So, my plain of expanding my equipment was put on hold. I saw there are many other budget brewers, and I took many tips from them for using existing equipment. Through the reading, I came upon Deathbrewers stovetop AG tutorial, BMs Centennial Blonde recipe, pics/tutorials for an Igloo- 50qt Ice Cube fermentation chiller, as well as countless other threads that I took note of. With this info, my sister came over to help me with my 1st AG brewday with all my new-found knowledge (Still have a gimpy knee post-surgery, so I needed lots of help.)
Brewday came off spotless, and the fermentation temps were kept in-check by the Ice Cube chiller. I bottled up the batch, stuck it in the closet and waited a whole week before I HAD to try one. It was awesome! I could have easily drank a sixer of the mostly uncarbed beer! I will wait another 2 weeks before trying again, and as many have posted, this beer is good even when young.
The internet has a wealth of information, and I thank this site for contributing to many successful brews. The brew bug has bit me, and Im already planning my next batches to start a pipeline!
Thanks to all that contribute to the information of this site!
Corey
This past Nov. my wife (mistakenly?) agreed to let me start brewing. First batch was extract brown ale with steeping grains, and after following the standard kit instructions, I got terrible beer ..Its still terrible. Even three months conditioning in the bottles, its so bitter/astringent I cant drink it. But before this batch was even carbed, I wanted to start another batch, so again, I brewed up another extract batch. Again, terrible beer.
Then, I noticed this site come up during many Google searches for why my beer sucked, so I jumped on this site for every question I had. About this same time, my daughter was born. I was at home, staying up all night with a newborn, which gave me ample time to read How to Brew as well as about 1,000 threads from this site. Here is when I realized my greatest mistake that I was told starting out If your water tastes fine, it is fine for brewing. Well, my water does taste fine, but I CANNOT brew just any beer with it!!!!!! After more searching, I was fairly certain my water had something to do with my terrible beer. (My water is hard, alkaline, and high in Mg.)
About this time, I injured my knee working out, which required surgery. Hence, more brain-dulling weeks just sitting around the house, so another 1,000 threads read on this site.
Before I had a successful batch of beer, I was already reading up on water chemistry, adding salts, and pH. I was learning new techniques, how ingredients tasted/married with others, price checking equipment/ingredients, brewing software etc. I gleaned all sorts of information from this site of DOs and DONTs that I hoped would get me a good batch of beer. It got to the point, that I was answering beginner beer forum questions in my mind from the info I got off this site. Although I wasnt able to brew a good batch myself, I had all the information to do so ...in theory. LOL
With knee surgery, and a new baby, I was set back about $8k in medical bills. So, my plain of expanding my equipment was put on hold. I saw there are many other budget brewers, and I took many tips from them for using existing equipment. Through the reading, I came upon Deathbrewers stovetop AG tutorial, BMs Centennial Blonde recipe, pics/tutorials for an Igloo- 50qt Ice Cube fermentation chiller, as well as countless other threads that I took note of. With this info, my sister came over to help me with my 1st AG brewday with all my new-found knowledge (Still have a gimpy knee post-surgery, so I needed lots of help.)
Brewday came off spotless, and the fermentation temps were kept in-check by the Ice Cube chiller. I bottled up the batch, stuck it in the closet and waited a whole week before I HAD to try one. It was awesome! I could have easily drank a sixer of the mostly uncarbed beer! I will wait another 2 weeks before trying again, and as many have posted, this beer is good even when young.
The internet has a wealth of information, and I thank this site for contributing to many successful brews. The brew bug has bit me, and Im already planning my next batches to start a pipeline!
Thanks to all that contribute to the information of this site!
Corey
