Got a Northern Brewer kit for Christmas from my brother, and brewed my first batch on 1/14. My equipment kit didn't come with an ingredient kit, so I used one for a Badger Dark Ale from the local shop here in Madison. I feel like my brewing process worked pretty well, although after lurking here since brewing day I realized there were a couple things I probably didn't do properly (didn't aerate enough, didn't boil the tap water used to top off the bucket 
), although I think I lucked out because it doesn't seem to have tainted the beer at all.
I bottled it this past Saturday after 3 weeks fermenting. It tasted pretty good, so I'm quite excited to taste the final product. The bottles are stored at about 65 degrees so I'm going to give it at least 3 weeks in bottles before I open one.
I'm looking forward to starting my next batch, I'm thinking of doing either a porter or oatmeal stout from the kits available at my local store. I do have a couple questions before doing my next batch:
1) The recipes included with the kits from my LHBS don't list OG/FG, what is the best way to calculate what gravity readings to shoot for?
2) Both the porter and oatmeal stout recipes say the kit includes liquid yeast. From what I've read lurking here for a few weeks, I should plan on creating a starter when using liquid yeast, correct?
3) The bottles from my first batch are in a room with an ambient temp of about 64-65 degrees, although they are sitting about a foot away from the radiator so they're closer to 70 or so on the side nearest the radiator. Should I be rotating the cases of bottles every few days or so to ensure they all carb at roughly the same rates?
As a final note, I just wanted to say how great of a resource this site has been already. Can't wait to brew more!
), although I think I lucked out because it doesn't seem to have tainted the beer at all. I bottled it this past Saturday after 3 weeks fermenting. It tasted pretty good, so I'm quite excited to taste the final product. The bottles are stored at about 65 degrees so I'm going to give it at least 3 weeks in bottles before I open one.
I'm looking forward to starting my next batch, I'm thinking of doing either a porter or oatmeal stout from the kits available at my local store. I do have a couple questions before doing my next batch:
1) The recipes included with the kits from my LHBS don't list OG/FG, what is the best way to calculate what gravity readings to shoot for?
2) Both the porter and oatmeal stout recipes say the kit includes liquid yeast. From what I've read lurking here for a few weeks, I should plan on creating a starter when using liquid yeast, correct?
3) The bottles from my first batch are in a room with an ambient temp of about 64-65 degrees, although they are sitting about a foot away from the radiator so they're closer to 70 or so on the side nearest the radiator. Should I be rotating the cases of bottles every few days or so to ensure they all carb at roughly the same rates?
As a final note, I just wanted to say how great of a resource this site has been already. Can't wait to brew more!
