First home brew ever

[brewshki]

Well, I finally opened one bottle of my first batch. It is a Czech Pilsner that fermented for 2 weeks and conditioned in bottles for 3. It was a mr beer extract kit.







I was pretty happy with the results. It has plenty of carbonation, not a great head but has retained its carbonation and feels like beer. The flavor however isn't great.







It isn't bad by any stretch. There just is not a whole lot of flavor. It has a bit of a cidery taste but not much else. Not off putting flavors, just nothing recognizable or great. It seemed to be a little low on the alcohol which I was expecting. I have a few mr beer kits left, including 2 Mexican cervesas, and am holding off on starting those until I can fashion some sort of fermentation chamber.







Any thoughts? Help is always appreciated. I'm hoping to improve for my second batch.


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[myndflyte]

I started with Mr. Beer as well. My first wasn't that great either. It's a simple recipe that I think is just meant to get you used to the basics of brewing (mainly proper sanitation). If you want to keep with the MB kits for now, order some of their more "advanced" recipes, ones that only include cans of malt extract.

Otherwise, look into making some 2.4 gallon recipes using dried malt extract (DME), specialty grains and doing your own hop boil. Steeping grains is easy, like making tea, and this will get you more involved in the process and make some better beers. This was the first recipe I did where I did my own hop boil and everything: https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/to-helles-and-back-1. It's a simple recipe to follow and it makes a pretty tasty beer.

Welcome to the addiction!

 

[brewshki]

Much appreciated. My plan is to eventually graduate to real and better ingredients haha. For now however, I have three cans of the stuff left and fully intend to use them all. I know some recipes can up the amount of LME but would two cans be too much fermentables for my little brown keg?


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[podz]

It's really great to make your own beer; it sets you on the path to freedom from the man.

That said, you already posted the same text in another thread.. We're not blind!

 

[myndflyte]

Much appreciated. My plan is to eventually graduate to real and better ingredients haha. For now however, I have three cans of the stuff left and fully intend to use them all. I know some recipes can up the amount of LME but would two cans be too much fermentables for my little brown keg?


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2 cans will be fine. I don't know if they still give you that white powder stuff, booster or whatever they called that, but I'd avoid using that. Use more malt if you want to add anything.

 

[brewshki]

Well I wanted some help and no one was responding haha


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[brewshki]

2 cans will be fine. I don't know if they still give you that white powder stuff, booster or whatever they called that, but I'd avoid using that. Use more malt if you want to add anything.

Good to know, thank you. I don't have any boosters, they must not include them anymore. I was originally going to do two separate batches of the cervesa but with the way my first one came out, I'm thinking maybe I will see if I can bump up the flavor. Thanks again!


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[mkyl428]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDqnFPgpb-0[/ame]

 

[brewshki]

As it has aged, it almost tastes like wort. Or like the smell when I open a can of malt extract. Any reasoning? there are plenty of mistakes I know I made but I'm wondering which contributed to this.

On a happier note, just Brewed up my second batch and I'm much happier. Everything went smoothly and I didn't forget a thing. It is now sitting in my ferm chamber and a nice 19 degrees Celsius. About 66 Fahrenheit


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