Hello--
I have been lurking on here for about two months learning as much as I can. I finially went for it and brewed my first batch, Liberty Cream Ale from Midwest. I must say--it was really easy--time consuming but easy to do. I had a lot of questions a long the way but all I had to do was type my question into the search portion of this site or check the stickies and I always found at least 5-6 people with the same questions which were well answered by people with lots of experience. I was encouraged to be patient and that no matter what I thought I didnt have an infection in my beer. Even though I wanted to pry the lid off every day, I only took it off twice during fermentation, at 20 and 22 days to check FG. Much to my surprise, each time I opened the lid--there was beer--no infection, no stuck fermentation, no problems--just beer. I bottled on Monday and tonight I finially stopped following advice from this forum. Three of the bottles just happened to end up in my fridge and then into my stomach. I wont say it is the most carbonated I have ever had but it was the best somewhat flat beer I have ever had. I wont say it is my favorite style of beer but as a newer beer drinker without a very experience palate it was pretty tasty. I will say for a first effort it is pretty dang good, even the one I tried warm.
I just wanted to post this for all the new people out there--listen to what the old timers have to say, believe them and trust them. They know what they are doing and if you follow their advice you will end up with some pretty dang good beer. I cant wait until I try to brew again--and I especially cant wait until this beer actually matures as advocated by the Jesus drinking a beer guy (sorry I cant remember your name but you have great advice). Anyway--thanks for the advice--and thanks for the forum.
I have been lurking on here for about two months learning as much as I can. I finially went for it and brewed my first batch, Liberty Cream Ale from Midwest. I must say--it was really easy--time consuming but easy to do. I had a lot of questions a long the way but all I had to do was type my question into the search portion of this site or check the stickies and I always found at least 5-6 people with the same questions which were well answered by people with lots of experience. I was encouraged to be patient and that no matter what I thought I didnt have an infection in my beer. Even though I wanted to pry the lid off every day, I only took it off twice during fermentation, at 20 and 22 days to check FG. Much to my surprise, each time I opened the lid--there was beer--no infection, no stuck fermentation, no problems--just beer. I bottled on Monday and tonight I finially stopped following advice from this forum. Three of the bottles just happened to end up in my fridge and then into my stomach. I wont say it is the most carbonated I have ever had but it was the best somewhat flat beer I have ever had. I wont say it is my favorite style of beer but as a newer beer drinker without a very experience palate it was pretty tasty. I will say for a first effort it is pretty dang good, even the one I tried warm.
I just wanted to post this for all the new people out there--listen to what the old timers have to say, believe them and trust them. They know what they are doing and if you follow their advice you will end up with some pretty dang good beer. I cant wait until I try to brew again--and I especially cant wait until this beer actually matures as advocated by the Jesus drinking a beer guy (sorry I cant remember your name but you have great advice). Anyway--thanks for the advice--and thanks for the forum.