Well I took the plunge after reading The Joy of Brewing(Papazian) book I got for Christmas.
My first attempt was with a Brewer's Best Rye Pale Ale Kit. I won't lie was nervous but jumped in feet first. Had plenty of good info and help from the guys at Brewstock in NOLA. We even tweaked the recipe-added some extra hops(Simcoe,Columbus).
I probably sanitized everything twice prior to lighting the fire. Not really knowing what to expect it definitely was an adventure. Boil seemed to go well, managed to keep temp/boil steady throughout. Excited! Fast forward to Fermentor. Boil over started, cool bath, transferred to 6.5 gallon carboy (at 70 deg) pitched yeast and capped off with airlock/blowout setup with hose to gallon jug.
Put in dark cool area and to my surprise nothing was happening. Checked it Monday morning and it looked like flat amber colored water. The hamster wheels were spinning - Maybe I did something wrong? Well got home from work and boom we have activity. It is like watching a newborn fresh from the hospital. I was sitting there watching the activity pretty pumped up. Looking forward to getting home today to see what is going on. New to HBT Look forward to keeping this monumental process updated. I sure I am going to have plenty of questions. Thanks for the help ahead of time. Who Dat!
My first attempt was with a Brewer's Best Rye Pale Ale Kit. I won't lie was nervous but jumped in feet first. Had plenty of good info and help from the guys at Brewstock in NOLA. We even tweaked the recipe-added some extra hops(Simcoe,Columbus).
I probably sanitized everything twice prior to lighting the fire. Not really knowing what to expect it definitely was an adventure. Boil seemed to go well, managed to keep temp/boil steady throughout. Excited! Fast forward to Fermentor. Boil over started, cool bath, transferred to 6.5 gallon carboy (at 70 deg) pitched yeast and capped off with airlock/blowout setup with hose to gallon jug.
Put in dark cool area and to my surprise nothing was happening. Checked it Monday morning and it looked like flat amber colored water. The hamster wheels were spinning - Maybe I did something wrong? Well got home from work and boom we have activity. It is like watching a newborn fresh from the hospital. I was sitting there watching the activity pretty pumped up. Looking forward to getting home today to see what is going on. New to HBT Look forward to keeping this monumental process updated. I sure I am going to have plenty of questions. Thanks for the help ahead of time. Who Dat!
