Just brewed my first batch...Mr. Beer

[MCH]

I let it sit in the fermenter for 11 days. Bottled it. And then visited these forums. After skimming around and doing some research, I was afraid my first batch would turn out bad. So afraid that I only waiting one week before I refrigerated one bottle and then only waited 6 hours before opening aforementioned bottle.

Anyway, long story short, after only a one week carbonation period, my beer turned out great!! Over two inches of head in my first glass. Clear as a bell. Golden w/bubbles floating up everywhere.

And taste!! Wow. I was truly amazed. The beer did seem to have more of an alcohol content than a regular beer. But for my first taste of homebrew, I was very impressed.

Two thumbs up!!!

 

[Displaced MassHole]

Let it sit a little longer and that alcohol heat will probably mellow out a little more. Congrats on breaking your cherry, the homebrew thing is probably going to become an obsession of yours. One little tip, dont try to fight it just let it consume you.....great beer will be the outcome.

 

[MCH]

Let it sit a little longer and that alcohol heat will probably mellow out a little more. Congrats on breaking your cherry, the homebrew thing is probably going to become an obsession of yours. One little tip, dont try to fight it just let it consume you.....great beer will be the outcome.

Not fighting it.

Already researching extract brewing. Plan on gathering all the equipment before Thanksgiving. Also have read How To Brew once and am currently going through it again.

 

[Rezilynt]

Congrats on you first! It's true what they say about the beers getting better the longer you wait. Don't worry too much about it though, at first. Get a pipelineline going and store a few from each batch to drink at a later date. You will taste a difference.

 

[TheFlatline]

Not fighting it.

Already researching extract brewing. Plan on gathering all the equipment before Thanksgiving. Also have read How To Brew once and am currently going through it again.

Most "starter kits" run around 80-90 bucks, and are only missing a few key things. You can easily get out for under 150 if you're doing extract brewing.

I see no reason to wait until Thanksgiving to start brewing. If you start now, you'll have beer ready *for* turkey day!

All told, by the time I'm "comfortable" with steep/extract ales (not lagering, that's another kettle of fish), I'll have invested maybe 300 bucks, and that will let me do 25 gallons in 5 gallon batches at a time. Going AG will up the cost a bit, and if I get into lagering it'll up the cost some more. My brewery will cost less than a grand if I go whole hog with the setup. I've spent more money on video games in a year than that, and video games don't make sweet, sweet beer.