First batch-SUCCESS

[AnkenySmitty]

So I've been talking about home brewing for years and my wife finally told me to do it or quit talking about it.

So we invested in a starter kit and along with my daughter and her boyfriend brewed an Imperial Blonde Ale, fermented in the primary for about 10 days, racked to a carboy for about 2 1/2 weeks, then we bottled 2 weeks later.

I left it alone other than monitoring the airlock activity and only took readings at pitching, racking to secondary, and at bottling.

In retrospect there were only 2 things I was afraid we messed up

1) I thought we got the wort too hot and might have made bitter beer
2) We didn't aggressively stir the priming sugar into the beer before we bottled so I was afraid we might have created some rockets

In the end, we did fine. We sampled it 2 weeks after bottling and I've had about 4 bottles of the final product and it tastes great.

Can't wait to drink the rest, and make our next batch. Probably an IPA.

I'm hooked and already looking to upgrade my equipment!

 

[Cyclman]

Congrats, once you go down the rabbit hole, watch out!

 

[Leezer]

Congratulations, I'm looking forward to trying my own first batch in the next week or two, and it's nice to read a success story.

 

[AnkenySmitty]

Congratulations, I'm looking forward to trying my own first batch in the next week or two, and it's nice to read a success story.

One thing I feared was sanitation, which most people say is the biggest fear in home brew. We were careful but not anal. My daughter reminded me they have been making beer for 7000 years, long before star san was invented.

So my advice is be careful about sanitation but don't let it freak you out.

Go by the recipe and you will be fine

 

[Sailingeric]

Congrats. I have been at a couple months and amazed at how good my beers have come out. keep up the good brews