First "real" brew, Irish red ale.

[Doctor_Wily]

Checked the beer today because I wanted to. Took a SG reading. looking at 1.018. I am planning to bottle friday depending on the next reading which I will take friday.

 

[Doctor_Wily]

Checked again today and the reading was the same. Decided it was bottle time. Yield was 49 bottles. I ordered 2 new kits tonight and hope to be starting at least one of em on friday.

Cheers

 

[1KD1]

Sounds like you got it under control. Now just got to get that pipeline rolling!

 

[Doctor_Wily]

My Final Gravity was higher than it was suppose to be on the recipe sheet so I think things got stuck. Oh well, first brew, it happens. I just ordered 2 more ingredient kits last night and picked up a second fermenter bucket last week. Planning to get at least one of the kits running this week if not both.

Cheers

 

[bchurch]

I would put those bottles in a case then put it in a trash bag just in case. Your fg seems a little high and you might be making some overcarbed bottles. That maybe a little over kill and it may be fine but you never know.

 

[Doctor_Wily]

bchurch that was a concern of mine. I have the bottles in the box they came in and I taped up the box. Heres to hoping nothing explodes, that would bum me out

 

[bchurch]

Your fg isn't terribly high so here's to hoping for the best.

 

[Doctor_Wily]

Thanks! I'll be sure to update this thread once I try one. I'll try and get a few photos too assuming all goes well.

Thanks to everyone who has been following along!

 

[grimstuff]

I bought the Midwest starter kit and chose the Irish Red Ale in February. In early March, I brewed it up. Here's what I recorded:

3/2 - Brew day: followed directions except added 1 cup honey at 30 mins. Started boil with 5 gallons, appx. 0.4 gallons evaporation loss; after aeration and pitching went back and topped off with tap water (unsanitized - lol) to 5.2 gallons. Within 12 hrs rapid airlock activity.
3/5 - slowdown
3/19 - Bottled @ consecutive readings of 1.020 (forgot to take OG, so don't know ABV; est. ~ 4.0% based on recipe instructions). Stored at 67-72 F. Tasting on bottling day: Tastes very good, full-bodied, surprisingly already "like beer" for no conditioning and being murky.
4/7 - Tastes very good, full carbonation, or at least as much as I'd want, great 3/4 inch head with low to moderate retention. Not cloudy, but not clear either.
4/9 - Marked improvement in taste, clarity.
4/15 - Great beer. Very happy with body, flavor, and clarity, but can still taste slightly "tinny" or metallic on the end. Not sure if this is the "extract effect"... still the beer is very tasty, with terrific mouthfeel, aroma, etc. Don't think it's the water... we have good-tasting tap water.

In retrospect, I highly recommend letting this one sit for at least 3 weeks after bottling. Not sure if I'd make it again, being that I'm moving into all-grain, and there are tons of other beers i want to make, but as a first beer I couldn't be more pleased. Everyone who's tasted it says it's great. It was a good confidence-booster to continue brewing.

 

[Doctor_Wily]

Hi Grim,

Sounds like the same experience as I. However, my airlock activity dropped off after about 24 hours. I think my temps were too high during this brew.

I see you stuck around 1.020 as well.

I plan to try one that I left out of the rest of the cases in about a week or 2 just to see how things are progressing.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

 

[Doctor_Wily]

Oh yea, and my bucket still smells like beer, lol.

 

[Doctor_Wily]

....

In retrospect, I highly recommend letting this one sit for at least 3 weeks after bottling. Not sure if I'd make it again, being that I'm moving into all-grain, and there are tons of other beers i want to make, but as a first beer I couldn't be more pleased. Everyone who's tasted it says it's great. It was a good confidence-booster to continue brewing.

Glad to hear you've had great reception! I hope for the same. I can tell tasting it during bottling that it'll need to condition for a bit to really turn good. That's why I sealed the boxes to keep myself out of it! lol. The one I left out was the final bottle I made and was a spare red stripe bottle I had floating about.

I ordered the Liberty Cream Ale from Midwest last night and also the Black Dog Ale. Those will be my next brews. I haven't decided if I'm going to run them concurrently or not yet.

Cheers.

 

[grimstuff]

After the Irish Red turned out good, I ordered the Imperial Stout and California Steam. The IS is in secondary, and the Steam is in primary out in the garage. I feel good about both of them, since my method was better and all I did was follow directions. My next batches will be all-grain, so I'm looking forward to comparing the extract+steeped grains recipes against the all-grain.

 

[Doctor_Wily]

When I can afford the additional equipment I'm going to get into all grain. I want to play in extract land to build up the stock and get the method down pat then I'll make the jump.

 

[shoman89]

I bought the starter kit with Irish Red after brewing about 8 extract kits from other vendor and a few all grains batches mainly for the equipment. I wanted some dedicated gear for sour beers. I noticed that the Munton yeast they give you seems to get stuck a 1.018-1.020. My buddies Amber Ale did the same thing and took a while to carb. There were some strange off tastes that haven't corrected with time yet. The next kit I bought from them was a porter and I used Danstar Nottingham I had instead and it fermented out better. I wish they would supply a better yeast and raise the price $1, but it seems the kit is focused on price. I also thought it was lacking in the hops department and would probably add the last hop addition at 10-15 minutes instead of the very end. It is a decent deal, but could turn beginners off with the resulting beer when they expect something amazing. IMHO

 

[Doctor_Wily]

In the next 2 kits I ordered their "premium" yeast (midwest) so we'll see if that makes a difference. I may also re-hydrate the yeast this time around instead of throwing it in dry. Guess we'll see how I feel come that point! lol.