I finally did it....

[dsaavedra]

I finally brewed a beer that when I cracked open the first bottle made me say "WOW that is good!" It took me 8 batches but I did it.

This one is a kit from Midwest called Ferocious IPA (recipe developed in conjunction with Surly Brewing as a clone of their Furious IPA) The recipe is:

6 lb gold LME
3.15 lb amber LME
4oz Crystal 60L (Midwest's kit comes with a 50/60L blend but mine went stale because I bought this kit in May so I replaced it with 4oz 60L because that's what my LHBS had)
1 oz Warrior @ 60 min
0.4 oz Amarillo/Simcoe blend @ 20, 15, 10, 5, 0 min
Dry hop with 1oz Ahtanum, 1oz Amarillo, 1oz Simcoe for 6 days
US04 yeast pitched dry at 63 degrees

I did a full volume boil, slightly miscalculated my volumes (trying to account for the volume that the 9lbs of LME would contribute) so I only ended up with 4.5 gallons into my carboy instead of 5. I chose not to top off because I didn't want to cut the IBUs and I'm okay with getting slightly less beer that is slightly stronger. OG was 1.070 but my FG stopped at 1.020 which I thought was kind of high but not unreasonably high for a 1.070 beer so I didn't worry about it.

One thing I did differently with this batch was I used spring water. Previously I had been using tap water which I found produced kind of a bad after taste, then I tried distilled water on an extract batch and it definitely made a better beer. But this batch with spring water is easily my best. After I brewed this beer (but before I got to taste it) I brewed an AG beer starting from distilled water and adding salts to get a desired mineral profile, I'll see how that turns out in a few weeks.

I am just glad that I have FINALLY brewed a batch that I am really happy with and can't find anything wrong with it. This is the first batch where there isn't something I am not happy about. This is a fun hobby

 

[Caboose]

Congrats!

I had the same experience when I opened the first bottle of Speckled Heifer from NB.

 

[Rockn_M]

Congratulations!

 

[Rev2010]

Congrats! It's a great feeling and never seems to get old, at least with anything new attempted, with repeat beers then yeah since you already know what you're expecting.

Gets even better when you start making your own recipes. I've been brewing for four years and only just recently made my first Porter, a Coconut Porter actually. Formulated my own recipe and it came out so good I was so happy I wanted to do a dance all day long So perfect actually that I'm not going to change or adjust a single aspect of it.

Lastly, it gets even better after all the personal excitement when you share it and have friends and family say things like, "My God... this is the best beer you've ever made, it's amazing!".


Rev.

 

[wardens355]

After the first sip your mind starts singing... "You're the best! Around! Nothing's gonna ever keep you down."

 

[Braufessor]

Nice job. Depending on what you have for tap water, using distilled, Reverse Osmosis or spring water can make a world of difference. Getting to the point where you are brewing beer that is really good within 8 batches is great. It can easily take people a lot longer than that. Took me a lot longer, I will tell you that. "Pre-internet" brewing resulted in much less information and advice. Sounds like you are seeking out good information and applying it - that is the name of the game.

 

[Mike_kever_kombi]

Couldn't agree more on the Internet and free exchange of information being one of the greatest things for me personally. I have been brewing for over 15 years, and I can honestly say that my system/process/recipes etc have come further in the last 3 years than the first 12.

There is only so much you can learn from the limited books/magazines/print available at that time.

Congrats on your great beer, it's a great feeling. I still remember mine, it was a nut brown, based off Sammy Smiths, it still is in regular rotation.

Hopefully you took exquisite notes, and you will be able to replicate it. That is the next step in your brewing evolution...repeatability.

 

[Dixon9717]

That's awesome congrats.....

 

[Minky]

"Pre-internet" brewing resulted in much less information and advice. Sounds like you are seeking out good information and applying it - that is the name of the game.

Talk about "pre-internet" brewing; I started brewing back in the late 70's when the only information out there was a handful of poorly written books. Most "recipes" consisted of a can of LME with an old package of dried yeast taped to the top. The rest of the fermentables consisted of corn sugar, and we added ascorbic acid as an antioxidant. Some of the brewing supply stores had stale hops and a few specialty grains that you had to crush with a rolling pin or, they might have a Corona in stock for the "big time" brewers. I had a book which listed a final gravity of 1.000 for most of the recipes and I couldn't figure out why mine weren't finishing.

Home brewing has come a LONG way from those days.

 

[Rev2010]

I had a book which listed a final gravity of 1.000 for most of the recipes and I couldn't figure out why mine weren't finishing.

I'm on the bus on the way home from work and this just got me cracking up big time.


Rev.

 

[preamble]

Sounds like you finally had some fresh LME! Seriously, unless you can guarantee LME is fresh then you're better off using DME or moving to all grain. I had a very similar experience before moving to AG.

 

[dsaavedra]

Sounds like you finally had some fresh LME! Seriously, unless you can guarantee LME is fresh then you're better off using DME or moving to all grain. I had a very similar experience before moving to AG.

Funny you say that, this particular batch probably had the oldest LME I have ever used. I bought it from Midwest back in May and I didn't get around to brewing it until October 29! The LME, hops, and yeast were all kept refrigerated from day 1 but the specialty grains went stale in the ziplock bag they came in so I replaced them.

I think the spring water was the biggest contributor to making this a great beer. It took me 6 batches to realize that all the beer I was producing was 95% water and the water I was using was tap water that I don't even enjoy drinking so it only makes sense it would produce beer I didn't enjoy drinking. I am at the point in brewing where I feel pretty confident in my techniques so now I am getting really interested how water affects the beer.

And you guys really aren't kidding about the internet being a wealth of information! I don't know what I would do if all I had to go by was the instructions that came with the kits. I probably would have quit after 2 or 3 batches. But I was on this forum reading for 2 months before I even had any homebrewing equipment! And I still read and learn things on here every day.