Drinking my first homebrew!

[jrowland74]

I just cracked open my first finished bottle. It is a Northern Brewer Caribou Slobber kit. I brewed it January 13, bottled it January 25, refrigerated February 19, and thoroughly enjoyed it today. Unfortunately it was a 1 gallon batch which only yielded 6 bottles, two of which I gave away. The good news is I have a different 1 gallon batch (8 bottles this time -2 given away) ready to drink and a 5 gallon batch bottled 2-16. I think I'll be sticking to this hobby. Thanks to everyone here for all the help!

 

[cluckk]

Good job. Enjoy.

 

[m1batt1]

Enjoy! And keep the pipeline going so you're never want to rush the next batch!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[Qhrumphf]

You're well on your way down the rabbit hole, it seems...

Congrats.

 

[jrowland74]

I just drank one of the second batch, a White House Honey Ale. It was not good. I am not seasoned enough to describe the off flavor. Almost rubbery?

 

[Qhrumphf]

What water are you using?

Plasticy/rubbery character can often be a result of chlorophenols cause by chlorinated/chloraminated water.

If you're using tap water, it's pretty much guaranteed you've got one or the other in there, if not both. Simplest solution is to switch to bottled water. Alternatively, you can either carbon filter your water (needs a slow flow rate to remove chloramine, which is becoming more and more common since it's more stable than chlorine), or you can go to your homebrew shop and buy potassium metabisulfite (often sold with the winemaking supplies as Campden Tablets). 1 tablet per 20 gallons water (that's water, not batch size, so if you're doing a 5 gallon batch, you'll need between a 1/4 and a 1/2 a tablet depending on how much water gets boiled off). Campden tablets are cheap, the reaction is quick and easy, so that's what I do for my water.

 

[jrowland74]

Is chlorine / chloramine something I can test for cheaply? Or is it something I can find out from the water company?

 

[Qhrumphf]

I'm sure there's tests for it, but you can absolutely get the info from the water company.

 

[jrowland74]

This is my water report. If I am reading this correctly, I have 3 ppm chloramine. Is that likely enough to cause this flavor?

 

[Qhrumphf]

Definitely enough to cause off flavors. I would try a batch using bottled water or treating your tap water with a Campden tablet (a bag of 100+ tablets will cost you a couple bucks). If the flavor persists, then it's being caused by something else. There's a number of things that'd cause that rubbery flavor, but water would be the first place that I'd look.

 

[jrowland74]

Ok thanks for the help. Hopefully my 5 gallon batch isn't terrible. Is this a flavor which will age out while bottled?

 

[hnycrk]

From my own personal experience, the band aid/plastic flavor from chlorinated water will not age out. I now use a under the sink charcoal filter and collect my brewing water very slow through the filter. The slower you collect the water the more time the water is in contact with the charcoal removing all the chlorine.

 

[jrowland74]

The 5 gallon batch doesn't taste bad, thankfully. I talked to my LHBS and was told that it is almost definitely not the chloramine, as no one else had had an issue with it. He thought it was a contamination issue and told me that he once had just one bottle in a batch taste bad because the bottle likely had something stuck in it. I tried a new bottle and am convinced this is exactly what happened. This bottle tasted better! Hopefully the rest are good.

 

[lowelldw]

Been hearing a lot of good things about the slobber....may have to try it!!

I have my first bottle from my first attempt it the fridge and will give it a try on my birthday this Friday...can't wait!!

 

[jrowland74]

It far exceeded my expectations for my first batch. I'll get it again sometime for sure!

Congrats on your first batch! What is it? Happy birthday. Sounds like a great way to celebrate

 

[lowelldw]

It's an American Amber from Brewers Best...looking forward to it!!

I 've got a Cream Ale in the secondary that can e bottled in a week or so.

And ...for my birthday I'm going back to the home brew store to get another kit....and some more bottles!!

 

[jrowland74]

I collected all of my bottles by buying several "samples" to get a better idea of what I want to make in the future. That was my excuse at least. I also went to Michigan a few weeks ago and bought a variety of beer in bombers. Hopefully that will make bottling a little less tedious.

 

[knelson13A]

My first homebrew was thr Irish Red from NB. I fermented a little hot (78-80), so it had some fusel off-flavors, but it wasn't really that bad. I was just excited when it actually tasted like beer! I also have chlorominated water, so I just switched to bottled spring water from Wal-Mart.

Welcome to the addiction! Do you have your next several beers mapped out in your head yet? It seems I'm always thinking 3 or 4 beers ahead!

I collected bottles from friends at A&M football tailgates. First game after I started collecting, people had BMC bottles that I said I couldn't use because they were twist off. Next game, everyone had Sam Adams instead, so I cleaned up. I'm probably closing in on 100 bottles, all recycled!