First Brew Amazing!!!!

[drcook]

First I want to say thanks for all of the help answering my questions.
Last night I popped the top on my first home brew. It was a kit IPA that I used a Sam Adams clone recipe for hopping and dry hopping. I did not move this beer to a secondary, so it was a little cloudy. I did add 16ozs of Belgian White candy sugar to bring the ABV up. I used a high alcohol yeast. The only problem I encountered was underestimating the blow off potential with this being such a warm fermentation with such an active yeast. So I lost almost a 6pack to blow off.

The taste was spot on with the exception of a little bite that was missing at the end. I believe this was due to the fact that I had to replace Zeus with Tetten. It finished cleaner and a little dryer that the Latitude 48, Which I didn't mind.

For my next attempt I brewed a Red Ale last night and going to play with some normal Red Ale hops to create a bit of a Frankenstein Red Ale.

Again Thanks for this site and everyone's help

 

[finsfan]

Congrats on the first brew being good! Thats more than I can say haha. Keep at it

 

[unionrdr]

Congrats on a great first brew! I used most of the hops from the Latitude 48 myself. But my own grain/extract mix for a pb/pm biab version. Reminded me of Pliny & L48 mix. Wasn't cheap to brew with some 8.3ozs of hops,though. Will brew it again for spring or summer.

 

[RM-MN]

Congrats on your brew. Something to note, time in the fermenter has more effect on clarity than racking to secondary does. I always ferment on the cool end of the yeast's preferred range as that keeps me from dealing with blowoff since the ferment is quite slow and gets me better flavors in my beers. The exceptions to that are certain yeasts/beers that depend on higher temps for their flavors.

 

[homebrewmike]

Congrats on your brew. One thing I found helpful when starting out was a note book with each page being devoted to one beer that I used to take notes in, capture recipe specifics, ect.. That way you can go back and should be able to recreate your previous success or change a previous batch to better suit the taste you were going for. Welcome to the addicting hobby!

 

[Rockn_M]

There isn't much like your first beer. Congrats! It only gets better from here.

 

[saeroner]

You're lucky. I've done 5 extracts and 3 mini mashes and they all suck.

Moved to all-grain so i have another week (crossing fingers)

 

[RM-MN]

You're lucky. I've done 5 extracts and 3 mini mashes and they all suck.

Moved to all-grain so i have another week (crossing fingers)

Care to give some detail so we can have a shot at improving your next batches?

 

[drcook]

Congrats on your brew. One thing I found helpful when starting out was a note book with each page being devoted to one beer that I used to take notes in, capture recipe specifics, ect.. That way you can go back and should be able to recreate your previous success or change a previous batch to better suit the taste you were going for. Welcome to the addicting hobby!

Yea I'm a little anal when it comes to keeping notes. I stole one of my sons 1 subject note book and have been writing everything down. Also have been writing COE's ( correction of errors ) for the nest time.

COE's
1. larger carboy for fermentation to prevent blow off
2. Spend the extra money to buy Zeus even if in bulk
3. Since this will be my primary drinker I will buy all the hops on line in bulk
4. Leave it in the primary longer, rack to secondary, or cold shock to gain clarity.

The 4rth point is where I could use the most input from you guys. Every thing I read says to pull it off the yeast after 7 to 14 days and rack to secondary to improve clarity.

Also should I try to save the yeast next time to increase consistency in the flavor or just keep using the dry yeast?

 

[homebrewmike]

The 4rth point is where I could use the most input from you guys. Every thing I read says to pull it off the yeast after 7 to 14 days and rack to secondary to improve clarity.

Also should I try to save the yeast next time to increase consistency in the flavor or just keep using the dry yeast?

First I used to do 7-10 in primary and another 7-10 in secondary. But I have been leaving it in the primary for the whole duration lately to reduce the risk of exposing the beer to oxygen and bacteria.(Unless I'm dry hopping)

Second there are quite a few threads on here about yeast washing. I personally don't want to risk contamination at my own hands so I use new yeast every time. But every brewer is different and what works for me doesn't have to work for you.

 

[drcook]

First I used to do 7-10 in primary and another 7-10 in secondary. But I have been leaving it in the primary for the whole duration lately to reduce the risk of exposing the beer to oxygen and bacteria.(Unless I'm dry hopping)

Second there are quite a few threads on here about yeast washing. I personally don't want to risk contamination at my own hands so I use new yeast every time. But every brewer is different and what works for me doesn't have to work for you.

Theses are the same 2 subjects that I feel that I feel that I need some more guidance in. It would be nice if an expert would give us some insite on what works and doesn't.