Just bottled my first beer!

[gregjohnston]

I've been interested in starting home brewing for about three years and only just moved into an apartment where it's feasible. Naturally I've dived right in!

Just bottled my first batch, a 5 gallon Northern Brewer Smashing Pumpkin ('tis the season!) I bottled after two weeks in primary, more because I want to have some ready for a birthday party next week...but FG was down around 1.010 so I feel good.

Everything went off without a hitch with bottling, although I had more leftover in the primary that I couldn't siphon out than I would have liked, even with tipping the bucket significantly.

There was no noticeable pumpkin spice flavor or aroma (I've sampled a few times while testing gravity) so I boiled an additional spice blend and dissolved my priming sugar in that. I wanted to avoid the possibility of bottle bombs so used a bit less sugar than I would have otherwise.

We'll see in a week how it turns out! And of course in the many weeks after...

What a great feeling!

 

[mbobhat]

Just bottled my first batch, a 5 gallon Northern Brewer Smashing Pumpkin ('tis the season!) I bottled after two weeks in primary, more because I want to have some ready for a birthday party next week...but FG was down around 1.010 so I feel good.

We'll see in a week how it turns out! And of course in the many weeks after...

What a great feeling!

Congrats! I'm not sure it will be ready in a week, usually the thing doesn't quite become beer until maybe the third week, then it has legs. About the time the CO2 finally dissolves into the wort and brings the pH Down a bit, giving it that crispness that is beer.

Enjoy!!! What are you going to brew next?

 

[ncboiler]

Good luck man!

 

[gregjohnston]

Next up, something English -- a bitter or mild? Gotta please the girlfriend, and I've been missing those smooth, lightly-carbed real English ales for the last few years, ever since I spent a summer though.

 

[ryansanders]

That's great! Sounds like you're really off to a good start - tasting often, responding to your assessments. I think you're going one heck of a brewer. Cheers!

 

[Smeato]

Congrats man, I'm about to bottle my second batch. All I can say is patience is the key.

My first brew was a Coopers Wheat Beer kit and it tasted pretty awful when I tasted it a week in. By week 2 it was all right, definitely beer but tasted a little strange and chemically and was pretty flat. It's been just over a month now and it tastes pretty amazing. Incredibly crisp, refreshing and a very decent head that doesn't go away.

So don't become too disenchanted if it tastes pretty mediocre in the first few weeks. It WILL get better.

Enjoy lad.

 

[Mountainsax]

Nice! We just bottled our first batch today. The waiting is definitely harD but t from everyone I have talked to and everything I have read it it completely worth it. Patience! Good luck on your second batch.

 

[gregjohnston]

I snuck one of these today. Refrigerated it for a few hours first. Extremely quaffable. No head retention (it's only been five days since bottling!) but a fair amount of carbonation in the beer itself and, hey, the flavor's great. Of course I'm trying to hold off on the other forty-something for a bit, but you only live once.

It's hard to believe you can make beer this good at home. To be honest this is my #2 pumpkin ale -- #1 is from a local micro. The satisfaction of doing it yourself?

 

[exovis]

That looks delicious ! I'm actually planning to have a go at a pumpkin-something after I finish my current mistake ridden brewing adventure.