first ever brew play by play...

[ahoym8e]

wort is transferred to settling tank (with great bravado, as I understand areation is key at this stage), and I topped it off with bottled spring water to make 5 gals.

I am going to lose some when I put the wort in the fermenting container, but since some of the extract had spilled during shipping I think a slightly smaller batch might be just what the doctor ordered.

 

[ahoym8e]

meh, guess I have to clean my pot now...

 

[andyman]

Clean up is always fun. if you use your stirring spoon to aerate the wort that helps. pitch the yeast and your set.

 

[ahoym8e]

Alright, the wort has settled, been transferred to the fermenting container, the yeast pitched, airlock filled... OG right at 1.040

one little tiny splash ricocheted off the back of my hand and into the fermenting bucket as I was trying to keep trub out. Hopefully that doesn't spoil it for me.

now I just need to wait.

oh, and yeast smells AWESOME! Wort smells like ass. I wish wort smelled like yeast.

 

[Megiddo]

oh, and yeast smells AWESOME! Wort smells like ass. I wish wort smelled like yeast.

Agreed

Has SWMBO gone shopping yet? Mine was gagging on the way out!

When I racked to the secondary the smell was pure beer!

 

[ahoym8e]

well, it's about 16 hrs after I pitched my yeast, and the whole concoction is roiling up a storm, my airlock happily bubbling away. that makes me feel good!

I accidentally overfilled the airlock a little and got a wee bit of tapwater in the wort, but hopefully I'll be lucky and there is no contamination.

 

[ahoym8e]

It's been a couple of days now, and the airlock is still bubbling happily. my fermentation closet smells pretty. Lately it smells like bananas when I sniff at the airlock. Yesterday it smelled better; More like beer and less like bananas, but I hear that the banana smell is pretty standard.

My fermentation closet has stayed right around 70, due to a cold snap down here, so that was a pleasant surprise.

More as it develops.

 

[Long Live Liver]

Alright, the wort has settled, been transferred to the fermentin. container, the yeast pitched, airlock filled... OG right at 1.040

one little tiny splash ricocheted off the back of my hand and into the fermenting bucket as I was trying to keep trub out. Hopefully that doesn't spoil it for me.

now I just need to wait.

oh, and yeast smells AWESOME! Wort smells like ass. I wish wort smelled like yeast.

I had to stick my entire arm in my wert to get the air seal that fell in!

 

[Prost!]

Sounds like whoever supplied your kit sucks. Spilled LME in shipping, hops not labeled well, and no instructions—that just sucks. Next time try More Beer. http://www.morebeer.com/

Quality of staff and kits are great. Free shipping on orders over $59. I order two kits at a time for free shipping.

Good luck!

 

[ahoym8e]

ok it is now day 4 of my ferment, and the bubbling of the airlock has all but stopped. The smells coming from the airlock are not really banana-ey anymore, and much more beer-like. temp has stayed right around 70-72 for the whole fermentation. I have high hopes for this first batch ever. I wonder if I could pitch some more wort on my yeast when I drain my fermenter to the bottling bucket...

: ponders:

I think a Red beer of some sort should be next. more malt, less hops. ooh, or maybe a wheat, but I think I need to use different yeast for that, don't I...?

 

[ahoym8e]

fermantation seems to have completed after 5 full days. Krausen has collapsed back into the wort. I drew a beaker to measure the specific gravity, and it was 1.003 (down from 1.040 initially). it smelled really good, so I drank it. It was VERY tasty. it was sort of carbonated too, which really surprised me. it is very cloudy (looks like a Hefeweizen), but tastes better than any beer I've had in the last months.

Saturday I will bottle. Not sure how it can get any bettter... Well, clearer, I suppose.

 

[ahoym8e]

Ok, I am half in the bag form my first ever batch. yay!!!

The beer tastes so marvelous that I have totally lost repect for all the microbrewers in my area charging 4 bucks a pint for their boatmans swill.... My beer has such a good aroma (little tiny bit on the sweet side) and a tastes like real man's beer: a mouth filling beer flavor with a nice bitter finish. It is perfect. I don't think I'll ever order a different ingredients kit.

One weird thing is that it is the prettiest beer ever at room temp, but if I put it in the refrigerator for a few days it becomes somewhat cloudy.

I actually like my brew at room temp (lets the flavor develop more fully in my mouth), but my friends, I am sure, will want COLD beer. It will taste and smell great, but be sorta cloudy... Anything I can do in the future to prevent that???

I need to contribute to the site so I can get some gallery space and post pics. You guys will be very proud of me. It is awesome looking beer. great carbonation, super clarity, beautiful color...

Anyway... My first batch turned out really great. Props to Hoptech for all the equipment and ingredients. Thanks to everyone here for the advice.

out.

 

[Walker]

One weird thing is that it is the prettiest beer ever at room temp, but if I put it in the refrigerator for a few days it becomes somewhat cloudy.

That's not weird. In fact, it's so common it has a name: Chill Haze.

If I recall correctly, the main contributor to this is not getting good hot and (more likely) cold breaks in your wort when you boil and cool it.

How did you chill your wort after boiling it?

I'm not particular about the clarity of my beer at all, and a lot of my beers get cloudy. It doesn't affect taste, so I don't go out of my way to prevent it. Plus, a lot of my beers are dark anyway, and you can't tell they are cloudy easily.

I just recently got a wort chiller, so the next time I make a batch of IPA, I'll be able to tell if it has improved my Chill Haze or not.

-walker

 

[BrewUO]

Congrats. Hopefully I can get my first batch going this weekend. You sound like a proud parent. I can't wait to get mine started and behold my creation.

 

[Kevin K]

Awesome! I'm hoping to get mine going this weekend too, but I've just been notified that I have to work, so I may have to delay it a bit. Either way, I hope my first batch is as successful as yours was. Sounds really great. Post some pictures!

Kevin

 

[SteveM]

I remember my first home brewed beer - it wasn't that long ago, only a year and a few months - and I had the same reaction - darned if this isn't the best beer I ever drank. And this was a "plain vanilla" beginners kit. I've made maybe a dozen batches with some neat variants since then (they come closer and closer together over time) and each one is better than the last, it seems. Congratulations!

 

[Chairman Cheyco]

I don't think I'll ever order a different ingredients kit.

Famous last words....

Isn't it a great feeling getting toasted on your own HB for the first time? Truly a life changing moment. Congrats!
Here is a poem Sasquatch sent me after my first self-induced toasting, I don't know if he wrote it, but I found it quite fitting;

Beware my friend
As you pass by
As you are now
So once was I
As I am now
So you must be
Prepare, my friend,
To follow me.

Edit: No, we're not gay cowboys...

 

[El Pistolero]

Edit: No, we're not gay cowboys...

Not that there would be anything wrong with that.

 

[Caplan]

Here is a poem Sasquatch sent me

So will it be the full church job with pomp and ceremony or a simple civil service for you two guys when the big day comes?

 

[davidkrau]

Hi, Did I read that you boiled the yeast? If you did, that is an absolute No NO.
Yeast is a living organism and will be killed if if the temperture gets much above 80 degrees F. Again if you did boil the yeast you probably won't get any fermentation. What I would suggest is get it to room temp as quiclky as possible, get another yeast either a packet or liquid and reyeast the wort.

Good luck

David

 

[Chairman Cheyco]

So will it be the full church job with pomp and ceremony or a simple civil service for you two guys when the big day comes?

Hasn't your invite reached you yet? We're registered at northern brewer.