First Homebrew Batch is done!

[andylegate]

Well I'm enjoying my very first homemade ale. I mentioned in an earlier thread about my first attempt here. Well it seems it was a success! It's been bottled for about 7 days, so I chilled one down and opened her up.
Of course I was really worried that I had introduced bactieria into the batch when it was under going it's first fermintation. Not having a hydrometer, I was having to do the bubble counting at the air lock. After about 3 days, it didn't slow down, it just stopped! So I was a bit worried. I racked the ale into my carboy. There was about an inch of what looked like liquified peanut butter on the bottom. I was careful to leave it behind. The batch in the carboy was a nice dark brown and not too milky looking. But when I capped it with my air lock nothing happened. I let it sit for 2 days, and didn't see any action at all.
Fearing the worst, I went ahead and primed it with the corn sugar that came with the kit, and went about bottling my brew. Not wanting to spill too much, I had a glass aside for the siphon incase of over fill. After awhile, the glass became full, so I HAD to sample it of course. Other than being flat, it tasted great! When I was done bottling the brew, I still had a couple of quarts left. So I helped myself to it.
Man, After the 2nd glass, I was feeling VERY good and knew that the yeast had done it's stuff!
Now a week has gone by and the carbonation is there. I get a very good head on the beer when I pour it, and it's even clearer than I thought possible. This was very encouraging for me, and I"ve already got my ingredients for my next batch on the way. I'm going to try the Carmel Cream Ale recipie that I found on here!
Cheers everyone!

 

[the_bird]

Good to hear!

The peanut-butter looking stuff is "trub"; the mocha porter I racked yesterday left behind what looked to be really nasty chocolate pudding. My wife dared me to sample some, but since all she would promise in return was to be amused, I decided to pass.

How are you bottling? If you don't have a bottling wand, get one - very, very easy way to handling bottling. It also sounds like you're not using a bottling bucket, I've never tried bottling with a siphon but it sounds like much more of a PITA that using the bucket with a spigot and the wand. Might be worth investing $10 - $15 or so on when you're at the HBS.

Amazing how quickly this hobby becomes an obsession, isn't it?

 

[fezzman]

Glad to hear that it turned out so well. Sooo, how much of the warm, flat goodness did you end up sampling.

 

[G. Cretin]

If you can get the first batch bottled and left alone to age properly you'll never go back to BMC. Congrats on the first one.

 

[Brewno]

If it tastes that good after only 7 days wait until you taste it after 2 more weeks!!



Tommy

 

[Tale Of An Ale]

congradulations!! i myself was able to try my first brew last week and i was very impressed! man i love this hobby... more of an art really.

 

[andylegate]

LOL! I "sampled" about 2 glasses worth, and it felt like I'd had a 6 pack! My siphon for bottling is a small clear hose (about the size you use for fish tanks air hose) so it siphoned slowly (hey, I needed time to work the bottle capper! Haha!).
I don't know if there will be anymore of my first batch left in two weeks! It's so S M O O T H! LOL! Ah.....and yes! This has gotten me addicted in a heart beat! Even my wife is excited. Of course she's the big beer drinker, so I have a good critic! She want's me to try making a light american beer after the Carmel Cream Ale. I wrinkled my nose at that (I grew up as a teen in Europe, so I don't really care for American beer), but I promised I would try just for her. What's a good Budwieser Clone? Anyone?

 

[UNOmar]

I guess if you look around there are Budweiser recipe's out there, but just so you know. Budweiser (and most american beers) are lagers. Lagers require a refridgerator to maintain approx. 45 degrees while fermenting for up to 6 months. Also, because of the "lack of flavor", for which they are so well known, there's very little to hide any imperfections caused by poor (read less than perfect) sanitization. If you're still interested do a search on the forums. I'm sure there's a post on here somewhere with a grainbill.