My first batch!

[Cdreid]

Im a wine brewer normally but finally decided to do a half*ssed beer the other day. Picked up some amber malt extract and safale-05 at the hbs when i was there. Boiled and started fermenting but didnt expect much from it. I used 1/2 lb malt extract to make approx .8gal. I was worried at first because the safale seemed to take forever to start, and i made a starter. Well i tasted it while ago and wow.. it tastes great! (Please note: wine at this stage is normally scary to taste). I did add maybe a half cup more sugar earlier today as i was worried it was stuck. (ya i know) so this may end up being scary high alchohol. Ironically i dont remember if i checked fg before or after the sugar...

I calculated its current alchohol % as about 3% and its only been 4 days. It is entirely unhopped (i dont like hops anyway) because.. ok in reality because i forgot to pick up hops. Anyway id like comments and suggestions. My plan is to leave it another 2 or 3 days then rack it and if it still tastes decent chill it then bottle carbonate it. I was going to do somethign about the hops but frankly if it ends up tasting like this im all good with that. Any suggestions? Honestly what you guys do is a LOT more complicated than winemaking though MUCH less picky. I didnt think id like beermaking but if this is anything like typical im gonna be hooked.

Note: im a coors light drinker. Dont shoot me i drink beer BECAUSE i dont like what we americans call "beer".. so i get less drunk And im starting to think coors/bud/miller etc just halfass some malt extract and then toss in some cheap nastyass hops before they water it down heh.

 

[shanecb]

Well if it tastes good without hops then it tastes good without hops. The owner of a LHBS near me was going to do a full batch without hops as his wife doesn't like the taste or bitterness of them whatsoever. It's really not as big of a deal as people think to make beer without hops. For all the history of beermaking, hops have been used a relatively small amount of that. They just happen to function very well as a preservative by staving off lactobacillus bacteria (it's incredibly hard to sour a beer that has even a moderate level of IBUs) among some other things. So the only real "risk" you have is something like that taking hold. But if you're following sound sanitation techniques, then don't sweat it.

"before they water it down heh." Funny you should mention that. I've heard from a number of people that the stronger and more full-bodied versions of Budweiser are actually quite good. I can't remember what they call it or if they still do it anymore, but there have been some releases from Budweiser near the holidays that are just the first runnings of their beer, and it's supposed to be pretty damn good. A beer place near me has a bottle, but he won't sell it to anyone.

 

[Cdreid]

"before they water it down heh." Funny you should mention that. I've heard from a number of people that the stronger and more full-bodied versions of Budweiser are actually quite good. I can't remember what they call it or if they still do it anymore, but there have been some releases from Budweiser near the holidays that are just the first runnings of their beer, and it's supposed to be pretty damn good. A beer place near me has a bottle, but he won't sell it to anyone.

The actual reason i say that is thats what "american beers" taste like to me... watered down beer. Im 90% certain bar draft is (ex bartender). I dont have a problem with that... if you want to drink watered down beer (like lite beer) thats fine. Though the weird part is people who drink Bud think they are drinking a "real beer" and want "full flavor". To me the stuff tastes like bitter acidy fizzy water with alchohol in it. While VB ... mm mheaven! (so of course you cant fricking get it here

 

[Cdreid]

Just in case anyone searchs out this post. The beer turned out fantastic (and its still not technically done). Amber DME and Safale-05. Boiled , cooled in water and fermented about 5 daysish. Then sugared for carbonation. Grabbe a coke bottle full saturday night.. because i could. NO hops. It had a very mellow taste with a bitterness that was slightly stronger than maybe coors light. It was.. id say "microcarbonated" at the time but was till better than BMC. I brewed a gallon. Total cost maybe $1. Cant beat that. Now just waiting on the rest to carb up.

When someone tells newbies you need a $40 brew kit, 40 chemicals, a complex process, and voodoo under the full moon we should just tell them to get a container some malt , nutrients and yeast and go at it.