I gotta brag...

[Dude]

I don't expect a response to the thread--but I finally had the chance to sit down tonight and taste my first brews. I've been working non-stop lately and tonight was a first opportunity to savor my first batch, the brown ale, and to really sample the stouts I made a few weeks back.

The brown ale is one of the best beers I've ever tasted. Is that normally the opinion of every nOOb who hasa taste of his/her first beer? I REALLY like it. Smooth, good carbonation, great flavor.

The oatmeal stout was sweeter than I expected, but very drinkable. I think it was a little light (not in color but in depth) though--maybe closer to a porter. Probably my bad during the brewing process. Stout, porter, who cares, it tastes pretty good and that is the objective, right?

The experimentation Vanilla Stout came out okay. I'd say very similar to a Mackeson's in sweetness. If you like that, you'd probably like this. I fashion this to something I'd drink for after dinner. Good beer.

The hit for me is the brown ale which was my first. I'm really impressed with that. I compare it to how much I like Newcastle and Samuel Smiths and my batch blows it away.

So, newbies and experts, would you consider trading a bottle or two for comparison? I'm open to shipping off a few for you guys to judge!
All I know is I'm really enjoying this new hobby!!!!

 

[rightwingnut]

My first batch (a pale ale attempt), disappointed me. Although as it's aged, it's gotten better. Not great, but better. My second, kinda winged it...haven't really tasted it enough, but it's young. My third, my porter, tasted good at bottling, so I'm excited. I'd love to trade brews with ya. I'd probably be getting the better part of the deal, though (except maybe with my porter...maybe.) Did you use pellets or whole hops? My first was pellets, and I thought maybe that had something to do with the iffy flavor. Second and third were whole hops...

 

[Dude]

Did you use pellets or whole hops? My first was pellets, and I thought maybe that had something to do with the iffy flavor. Second and third were whole hops...

I used pellet hops for all the batches (brown ale, stout and the irish red)--real soon I'm going to do the brown ale recipe again but I'm going to try dry hopping with whole hops. If anything could be better with that batch it could be hoppier.
Shoot me your address in a PM and I'll send out some bottles.

 

[zprime]

The first batch we did turned into malt vinegar. It was a pre-hopped kit-in-a-can, I don't even remember what it was supposed to be, but nasty it was. The funny part is we were almost paranoid about sanitation the first time, we wore mask to keep from breathing into it, we wore gloves to avoid the nasties on our fingers, and used some sort of expensive one step sanitizer on all our equip. No its just bleachy water and away we go and haven't been contaminated since.....knock on wood.

 

[uglygoat]

i used the one step sanitizer once, and i think thats what my beer tasted like.

first batch i made was a stout my little bro had shipped to me, i fermented it in a bucket, and think that also contributed some nice off flavors, in combo with the sanitizer. it tasted ok after almost a month in the bottle.

the second batch a cheap attempt at a bitter was ok, and has gotten better the longer it sits in the bottle. this was done in the bucket, then transfered to glass carboy. i enjoy this brew, but it is not all that great.

the third batch i made was a cream ale fermented in a glass carboy, the bucket is now a sanitizing (bleach only now) bucket..., that is just starting to develope the proper carbonation and is ok, though it has the same malt extract as the bitter and tastes suspicously similar.

the last four batches have been with five plus pounds of grain in a mini mash and then fortified with DME. the pale ale i tasted a week after bottling blows the other three startup batches outta the water. plus it had the pleasure of three weeks in glass carboys. the other three batches are still at various stages of aging in glass...

i've used dry yeast on all except the most recent batch, and after watching the fermention and how much better the foam looks from the liquid yeast i will never go back to dry...

so overall i think my beer sucks, though i'm proud i've made it meself, and i am pleased that each batch appears to be getting better taste wise... i know once i dump the extract i'll be more satisfied.

 

[NUCC98]

so overall i think my beer sucks, though i'm proud i've made it meself, and i am pleased that each batch appears to be getting better taste wise... i know once i dump the extract i'll be more satisfied.

I've had my share of good and bad batches....but being a newbie, I realise that Rome wasn't built in a day...but had Bob Villa been around, well, that may be a different story...

 

[rightwingnut]

I've had my share of good and bad batches....but being a newbie, I realise that Rome wasn't built in a day...but had Bob Villa been around, well, that may be a different story...

Actually...Bob Villa doesn't really know anything about construction, except maybe what he's learned as a host...now Norm Abram is a different story...not to shoot down your joke...

 

[uglygoat]

norm is the man...

 

[Hops, Tx]

I drank the last of my first batch last night....probably would have been better with more aging...but whatever..I thought it was good becuase I made it (and that's the point, right?) My second batch is in the bottle, my third batch is in the secondary, and my fourth batch is in the primary....hopefully I will have a fifth batch in the primary this weekend.

I think regardless of the taste (especially the first couple of batches) we are going to love it because we made it...I know I do.

Here's a question...any of ya'll ever go to any of the homebrew conferences? We have one coming up in March here in Texas, and I thought about going. Just wondering if anyone has been to one.

 

[rightwingnut]

I've never been to one. There are some clubs around that I will check out eventually...a bit of a drive, though.