Finished brewing my first batch

[Meatyboy]

Just finished brewing my first batch and I learned a few things in the process. Most namely, don't confuse Celsius with Fahrenheit (I about froze my poor yeast to death). Also learned that trying to cool the wort with running cold water sucks and to invest in either bags of ice or bite the bullet and get a wort chiller.

Overall though, I've had a great time doing it and learned a lot in the process. Looking forward to tasting the finished product a few weeks down the line.

 

[TopherM]

Good stuff! What beer did you make?

 

[bobeer]

Just finished brewing my first batch and I learned a few things in the process. Most namely, don't confuse Celsius with Fahrenheit (I about froze my poor yeast to death). Also learned that trying to cool the wort with running cold water sucks and to invest in either bags of ice or bite the bullet and get a wort chiller.

Overall though, I've had a great time doing it and learned a lot in the process. Looking forward to tasting the finished product a few weeks down the line.

Ice baths work well too for cooling the wort down. I get one of those big keg buckets from lowes and fill it with ice and water then submerge my kettle in it. Cools it down to pitching temp in about 15 minutes. I've found if you have an aluminum kettle it helps to cool it faster too. Congrats on the first batch and welcome to the hobby!

 

[cmybeer]

Sounds like a good time to me and yes temperature is important and cold water cooling sucks! Brewing can almost be more of a investment than a hobby sometimes in that regard because there is always something new and shiny to be had.

Biggest advice: don't rush it. You say a few weeks but at least leave it in your primary for two, preferably three weeks, before bottling. And then give it two more weeks before you think about opening one.

 

[inturnldemize]

Just finished brewing my first batch and I learned a few things in the process. Most namely, don't confuse Celsius with Fahrenheit (I about froze my poor yeast to death). Also learned that trying to cool the wort with running cold water sucks and to invest in either bags of ice or bite the bullet and get a wort chiller.

Overall though, I've had a great time doing it and learned a lot in the process. Looking forward to tasting the finished product a few weeks down the line.

Welcome to the hobby!! I'm also relatively new to this, have brewed 2 and a half batches so far, and I find it fun and rewarding as hell!

Let me tell you, there is nothing like tasting ur first batch for the firs time!

 

[Meatyboy]

I'm a truck driver by trade, usually out for 3 weeks at a time so my fermenter will be left alone for 3 weeks at least. Then I plan going to a secondary to improve the clarity for a couple weeks then to bottle for a few more weeks. I'm a patient guy. Little disappointed I won't get to see the bubbles in my air lock but my wife reports my lil yeastie friends are going to town like gang busters.

I'm brewing an Irish Red extract kit from Midwest.

 

[jmprdood]

Welcome to the board and the hobby! Let us know how it turns out.

Cheers!

 

[gtmaus]

Nice. I understand your excitement. My first batch is sitting in the bottles right now. They're getting so close!

 

[atimmerman88]

I'm only about a month ahead you! Brewed my first batch and I'm finally enjoying the fruits of, well, patience.

Ended up with a quite drinkable beer and now the drive to make another batch and kick my self for waiting so long because I think I will be 'homebrew-less' before my 2nd batch is ready to drink.

I can say now, well to the hobby, and don't do what I did and wait 6 weeks before your next batch

 

[Meatyboy]

Already have a witbier lined up for when I move my batch from the primary to my secondary. And hopefully I'll have some bottles freed up for my 3rd batch (English stout).

I can't do anything half-@!? I tend to go a bit overboard when I find a hobby.

 

[Meatyboy]

So, after 9 days on the road and a back injury (severe back spasm, a really really bad pulled muscle in my lower back) from leaping from the back of a big rig trailer... Yeah, I'm not as young as I used to be, gotta remember that. I finally made it home.

After looking at my Hydrometer I realized that my OG was actually 1.048 which is exactly where it was supposed to be. I tested my batch just a few minutes ago and saw it was at 1.024 which is also where it's exactly supposed to be. I just racked to secondary to help clear up more of the loose grain floating around. The sample I tasted was quite a bit like a flat Killians with some alcohol flavor (I know, it's very very green). I have a feeling it's gonna turn out really good. I plan on bottling in about 3 weeks, which is around the time the doc said I should be able to stand for any extended period of time if I'm lucky.

Thanks for everyone's replies and help.

 

[Meatyboy]

Well, after 9 days in the primary and 20 in the secondary and bottled for a week and a half I decided to cheat and pop one open. Still has some carbonating to go but it did give me a nice lil head for about a minute or two so it's looking like it's going about happily. Tastes excellent. Pretty close to a Killians Irish Red with just a bit more hop overtones and finishes with a hint of esters. Mouth feel is a lil sticky in the back of the throat, but generally pretty good. I think in about 2 weeks I'll have me something I can thoroughly enjoy. Hope my Hefe I bottled last night comes out just as good.