First time mistakes

[cookingPixie]

Hi!

First post here. Just made my first beer (IPA) on Sat. and thought I'd share the mistakes that I've made (and so far discovered) here in case it helps anyone!

1. Forgot to mark 5 gallon mark on glass carboy -- so I ended up adding an additional 2 gallons of water 1 day late...
2. Forgot to buy a funnel, then could only find a small funnel at QFC. Definitely need to buy a funnel and strainer of similar size!
3. Didn't put water in the airlock (not sure how I thought the airlock would work)
4. Forgot that I had dry malts AND liquid malts -- just threw the dry ones in with 10 min left in the boil phase =)
5. My soup spoon was half the size of my brew pot and I lost the spoon in the brew for a while.. next time I need to build a way to store it

plus a few woulda-been-nice-to-haves:
1. a sanitized tray to store my thermometer, measuring spoons, etc
2. Those grain bags for the grains when I did the initial steeping
3. A trashcan dedicated to brew mess

not sure how this batch with turn out, but it looks great! Either way very excited and hope this post will help other newbies not make the same ones!

 

[comer88888]

Hi
Your beer will most likley turn out fine. Brewing is a learning process. It seems like everytime I brew I learn something new. Something I didn't really pay atention to when I first started to brew was the temperature I fermented in. It will make a big difference. Its amazing what people do, have dropped in, forgot to put in and still made good beer. Good luck and always trust your hydrometer.

 

[unionrdr]

That's why I like my plastic FV's. They have graduations on them. But,as said,it's a learning curve. Mostly getting over the rabid excitement of that 1st batch. I calmed down as of my 2nd batch & started trying to pay attention to details. Trying to learn everything I could from previous experiences. Maybe my user name shoulda been "vyger"? lolz

 

[mux]

Get this.
https://bellsbeer.com/store/products/Thermometer-%2d-5-Gallon-VTemp-Strip.html

 

[MaizeandBrew]

Glad to know I'm not the only one making mistakes on my first brew. I also forgot a funnel, but thankfully my kit came with an auto-siphon that came in handy. I'm sure I made some mistakes in the sanitation process too. I bottled my first batch today so we'll see how everything turns out in 1 week or 2.

 

[Stauffbier]

4. Forgot that I had dry malts AND liquid malts -- just threw the dry ones in with 10 min left in the boil phase..

This actually isn't a mistake. A lot of us add part of the extracts late in the boil or even at flameout. I wouldn't call any of your mistakes "major".. I'm sure your first brew will turn out great. My first batch was pretty darn good. I started back in September and I have already done 12 batches and I've moved to all grain on batch 9.. I still have 4 - 12oz botles of my first batch left that I'm just keeping around to age them and see how they taste compared to when they were young. I kind of hate to drink them as they represent the milestone of my brewing endeavors..

 

[cookingPixie]

Wow awesome to hear these stories. I've been having tons of fun reading other peoples stories. I'm really excited to see how my IPA turns out, after all fell in love with beer after a Lagunitas IPA =)