My first brew day

[brewer_sam]

Update 3/3: I tried my first beer ever last night! I put one in the fridge a couple of days ago after they have been bottled for a little over a week to condition up. All I can say is wow! This ale came out a little darker than I expected but that is probably because I steeped the grains for 30 minutes and not the 20 minutes that the instructions said. Either way, it tastes amazing and can't wait to let it sit a little longer and try it when it has aged that much more.

Now I can finally RDWHAHB!

 

[RM-MN]

Congratulations on a brew well done. The most common reason that extract kit beers turn out darker than anticipated is the extract undergoing the Maillard reaction as you boil the wort to isomerize the hop oils. Some of this darkening can be avoided by only putting in part of the extract at the beginning of the boil and the rest for only the last 10 minutes. The early addition is supposed to help with the bittering but without all the extract undergoing the full boil your color will remain lighter.

Now that you have completed one brew, what brews do you plan to do next?

 

[brewer_sam]

I'm thinking my next brew will be a wheat beer or an ipa of some sorts. I did do a late DME addition as well.

 

[tre9er]

You can add it all late. It's fine.

 

[unionrdr]

I use 1.5-2lbs of plain DME in a 3G boil for hop additions. Then add remaining DME & all LME at flame out.