How many of you enjoyed your first

[drewN]

How many of you enjoyed the first home brew you brewed, im a bit discouraged on how mine came out. Did anyone else have their first batch go wrong?

 

[MotorcycleMatt]

No, it came out pretty great, had my pro brewer friend wanting more of it. I considered it a success.

 

[harrymanback92]

Mine was meh. Wasn't bad, but wasn't great. A year later and I'm making some beers that I think are better than what the store carries

 

[Varmintman]

My first batch was a all grain and no one to help me along other than what I read in books. Stuck sparges lousy temp control and a limp boil to say the least. And it felt like it took days to finish cleaning up. The next batch I will tell you I sat there for a good long time holding the bag of grain NOT wanting to do it.

But over time and once I got to drink that first batch I started to look forward to brewing

 

[zmanzorro]

My first batch has been one of my best so far. Probably because it was a Papazian recipe and everything was already clean.

 

[feinbera]

My first beer, while at least recognizable as "beer," was super estery from not bothering to control fermentation temperature (even a clean yeast like Safale US-05 will make a "belgiany" beer if you ferment in the mid-to-high 70's...), yeasty from bottling too soon, and under-hopped for reasons I'm still trying to nail down (probably just not enough hops).

It wasn't anywhere close to what I was aiming for style-wise, but it was at least drinkable, and it served as an excellent point of comparison to my much-improved second batch.

 

[mattd2]

It was a long while ago but I enjoyed my first batch... not because it was a great beer but because it was my first batch. Things will improve over time with more experience, look at it as what it is - your first attempt to brew beer. No doubt you had some "issues" that you would do differently on the next batch.
What was so wrong with you beer? Biggest beginner problem I would assume would be controlling the fermentation temperature, what was yours?

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Mine was so-so. Definitely showed the effect of high ferment temps...

Stick with it, and remember that brewing, like baking, is very process-oriented. Each incremental process step you improve makes the beer a little bit better, and what you'll find over time is that each little bit makes a BIG difference when you add them all together.

My #1 tip is to make sure you're controlling fermentation temps, though. This will result in an immediate and significant improvement...

 

[CatHead]

My first was Ok at best. Pitched yeast too hot and I couldn't get temp. down quick enough. My second I believe is pretty good though but I only had one after only just a little over a week in the bottle but I enjoyed it even then. I brewed my third this weekend and I checked the gravity yesterday and even the wort was amazing.

 

[zmanzorro]

The only issue that I recognized at the time, was that I didn't know what an English IPA was. All I saw was "IPA," and I expected it to be super hoppy. A homebrewing acquaintance at the time said it was pretty good for a first brew.

 

[ColoHox]

I still have a sixer from my first batch sitting in my cellar, a 10% pumpkin ale extract recipe, its been there for 3 years. It was ok after 6 months but great after 18.

 

[EdMerican]

I brewed an extract kit that came with my equipment kit. It was pretty unremarkable. I don't know for certain if it was something I did or if it was the kit, or perhaps I don't like dry stout as much as I thought I did. My second was another kit, but an IPA with bad directions. It turned out well after dry hopping it. Third time was a charm when I brewed an extract recipe my dad came up with without any experience. It was an awesome steam beer. Now two years later I have my processes down and have gone all grain and all my proven recipes come out great 95% of the time. And a good portion of my new recipes come out well or at very least drinkable enough to save.

Moral of the story is never give up. Soon enough you will make very good beer.

 

[Qhrumphf]

I thought my first beer was the best thing I ever tasted. There was undoubtedly some bias because I made it, and if I was brewing then like I'm brewing now years later, I'd probably think it was garbage. I liked it so much I got over ambitious for my second beer, and that ended up being, to this day, the worst thing I ever made.

 

[danorocks17]

my first batch was good, Brewers Best IPA kit. If I brewed it now I would drink it, but I wouldn't be super proud of it like I was back then.

 

[daksin]

Mine was terrible and undrinkable, thanks to being fermented between 80 and 95F. I drank the whole gallon anyway. All of my beers have been better since then.

 

[jtejedor]

I wouldn't feel too bad my first batch was pretty awful.

 

[stvo]

Duplicate post

 

[stvo]

Remarkably mine came out great.... I had my doubts due to some rookie mistakes. I just left it alone 3 weeks primary 3 in bottle 5 days in the fridge before taste test. Poured a bottle of Mendocino Brewing Red Tail ale then samples of mine and I'd say it was better but I'm a little biased... haha mine is in the small glass

 

[PilotCline]

My first beer was a Brewers Best Pumpkin Spice Porter. I learned a lot with that one. It is ok, but not great. There is just enough of a hint of fusel alcohol that it kind of has a bit of a kick. It is also very estery. My problem was at 90 minutes into the cooling I was finally at 80 degrees F. Pitched the yeast and called it good. Immediately bought an immersion chiller before my next brew. Best $40 I have spent yet. Drinking my second brew right now, Caribou Slobber. It is amazing. Very similar to Moose Drool, but not exact. With my 44F tap water in MI in took about 8 minutes to go from boiling to 66F. Learn from what you did to fix future batches. Took a few bottles to the LHBS and they helped me with the off flavors. Since I never had tasted fusel alcohol before, I did not know that's what it was. Good Luck!

 

[EaglePoint]

My first was an all-grain wheat that came out drinkable, but you could vaguely taste off-ness due to a 70 degree fermentation (and I didn't know enough at the time to figure out it was a temp thing). My second was absolutely undrinkable due to me pitching yeast at over 100 degrees and getting some extreme fusels.

My third brew came out awesome, and things have been, in general, improving since.

 

[sjohnv3]

My first beer was good until i figured out how to implement controls like temperature, yeast, and time. Compared to the beers I make now I believe it was borderline yukky. My pallet has matured.

 

[CityOChampBrew]

My first beer was amazing in taste.. if only I didn't have issues with trub and raspberry chunks in some of them. It was an Irish stout kit for mr beer that I turned into a raspberry stout. Even family members that hate dark beer loved it.

 

[sudbuster]

Ha Ha... My first batch (1976) tasted like Shreck barfed in the bottle...

 

[jperry]

My first home brew wasn't great to me, but I learned from it. I won't brew the same recipe again, it was too sweet.

 

[5gallonbucket]

My first was a Midwest Supplies extract kit, brewed in my tiny dorm on a hotplate. Throughout the process friends (and floormates investigating the smell) poked in. I did my best to try and control temp but it was pretty futile on a $10 hotplate. It's a miracle it turned out. Somebody sampling my beer (not a snob, but familiar with good beer) a few weeks later stated that I should start selling it. I'd call that a success.

Hope your next batch is turns out better, and don't be too hard on yourself.

 

[highgravitybacon]

I thought this would be some random thread where you fill in the blank of "how many of you enjoyed your first...

pirate raid
time firing a home made automatic weapon
ham and cheese sandwich made with turkey and bacon
shoes made of meat
toothbrush shaped like a spoon
leather flavored salsa

But instead, it's was normal.

 

[Epimetheus]

If you don't brew a bad batch, how will you learn what not to do?

Do not be discouraged. Some people seem to turn out wonderful AG from the time of Adam. Yippee for them. Just keep practicing, maybe with half batches.

Mt first 3 with Mr Beer kits were meh. First all grain was great. Next two AG were meh but much better than the MB kits. For me it's the mash temp control and learning the equipment.

 

[whoaru99]

Mine turned out OK, certainly drinkable and enjoyably so. It stuck at 1.020 so the ABV was like only 3% vs. projected 4-something therefore a touch sweeter than it should have been too but otherwise not bad at all.

 

[dpatrickv]

My first homebrew was a coconut cascadian ale, and after all the other beers I have brewed is still one of my favorites. I even won our local homebrew monthly comp with it.

Then again, I had been around brewing for quite some time, some never created a recipe and went for it until then.

 

[Fennis]

My first was a Mr. Beer recipe as my wife purchased me the kit for Christmas. It was the recipe that came with the kit, West Coast Pale Ale. I followed the instructions exactly and the outcome was okay, it had a sweet off-taste to it that I had read about in forums because it used table sugar and what they called a booster pack--more sugar. It wasn't good but it wasn't bad. It sparked my interest enough to brew 1 more Mr. Beer batch before buying a setup to brew 5 gallon batches and move on from cans of extract and yeast with no name.

My first non-Mr.Beer was an Austin Homebrew extract kit, Texas Blonde Ale. That turned out to be a fantastic batch and really started my love for the hobby.