My first brew

[Winglover]

Well I finally started it. Thanks to a friend of mine, my "All Talk" mentality about brewing ended and I brewed my first batch ( I think thats what they call it )

I took the easy way and brewed a Packaged deal "Oktoberfest" I think I am playing around with the packaged deals for 2 or 3 more times and then go to "creating my own " like my wife likes to say ( she has much more brewing experience than I do .

So here we go... My first brewing experience..... the beer is in the basement fermenting right now and I am running up and down the steps like a little boy at christmas eve... just to see the bubbles.

If anyone is interested in the pics they can be found here

Incredients
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/9662/10003859mc.jpg

Summary
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/4163/10003881oo.jpg


Equipment

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/458/10003897ac.jpg


Boiling the barley malt

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/5131/10003938yz.jpg


Filtration
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/1524/10003903ee.jpg
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/2141/10003949ks.jpg


Getting the malt and hops in and boil

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/79/10003970qz.jpg


cooling down and adding yeast

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/1994/10003984nz.jpg

Fermentation

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/9646/10003990cj.jpg

Next Friday I will be botlting it and hopefully mid september doing some tasting

 

[Wayne Havens]

Congratulations!!!!!! Welcome to an obssesion we call homebrewing!! Keep us posted on how your beer turns out.

 

[Winglover]

I will, I just emailed a friend of mine in germany has what I think we call a Microbrewery ( viking themed ) . I asked her to asked the brewmaster to send me some of his yeast so that I can start my own here .. I have no idea what that really means but my wife told me to ask for it.

The beer smelled great when I was brewing it.. I am wondering if you can use the barley after its boiled and cooks something with it... Maybe bread or so of course my low carb diet goes right out of the window then...

now I have to get some bottles for next weekend and be patient. Maybe I am gonna pick a light ale set up and do that next weekend if the weather permits

 

[SwAMi75]

Welcome to the forum!

Ehh, am I seeing that correctly? Did you boil with all those grains still in your pot? Or did you filter out the water, then dump the grains out, then add the water back to your pot?

 

[Winglover]

according to the instructions I dumped the grain in the water, brought it to a boil, filtered the grain out put the water back in the pot and brought it to a boil ( and followed the rest of the instructions ).

If this is wrong then I will never in my life read or follow any kind of instructions given to my by a product ( cuase this was pretty juch the fuirst time I actually sat down, read all the instructions and followed them )

 

[El Pistolero]

Well generally those here don't boil the grain...it's steeped at around 150F for 30 minutes or so, then rinsed with a little hotter (180F) water. I doubt that it's any big deal tho...I've read plenty of other sites where people do boil the grain for a short while...how long did you boil it for? Or did you maybe just bring it to a boil, then turn the heat off and let it steep?

As far as instructions go...John Palmer's Online Book is as good an intro as you'll find...very good "first brew" section.

Did you mention that you're bottling next Friday...meaning after one week? That would seem a little soon...the rule of thumb seems to be one week in the primary and two in the secondary, or two to three weeks in the primary if you're doing single stage.

 

[Winglover]

"boil, then turn the heat off and let it steep?" I think this is what I did

Again according to the instructions I should bottle them 3 -4 days after the fermentation started. 1 week after brewing they said ( "They" being the TRUE BREW instructions writers )

I am getting a little discouraged now. For once in my Life I followed instructions and it seems I did a lot of things wrong. I think I wll be doing some reading in that Online book and see what else I screwed up


P.S

What kind of title is "Hauptflaschenwaschmaschin" I am ( was born ) german and never heard of this word, I mean they are words but putting them together doesnt make sense

 

[El Pistolero]

"boil, then turn the heat off and let it steep?" I think this is what I did

You're OK here a lot of people recommend doing it like that.

I am getting a little discouraged now. For once in my Life I followed instructions and it seems I did a lot of things wrong. I think I wll be doing some reading in that Online book and see what else I screwed up

The one universal truth seems to be "Don't follow the mfg's instructions that come with the kit"

Again according to the instructions I should bottle them 3 -4 days after the fermentation started. 1 week after brewing they said ( "They" being the TRUE BREW instructions writers )

Well that seems like crazy talk to me but I'm sure those way more in the know then myself will chime in.

What kind of title is "Hauptflaschenwaschmaschin" I am ( was born ) german and never heard of this word, I mean they are words but putting them together doesnt make sense

Well, according to Babelfish, a bottle washer is a flaschenwaschmaschin, and the chief bottle washer is the hauptflaschenwaschmaschin. I guess I should stop believing Babelfish?

 

[homebrewer_99]

Actually, you are not a machine so you can drop the "maschin" part...

"Hauptflaschenputzer" would be more correct, although not technically a word.

The Germans do have a lot of compound words that they are trying to "dummy down" for the rest of the world, which in my opinion, is a mistake.

Winglover: Where were you born in Germany?

 

[El Pistolero]

Actually, you are not a machine so you can drop the "maschin" part...

"Hauptflaschenputzer" would be more correct, although not technically a word.

Thanks for the help...my three years of HS and college german (30+ yrs ago) weren't much help on this. I can still let you know whether or not Mrs Schmidt is at home tho.

 

[Winglover]

Winglover: Where were you born in Germany?

I was born in mettmann, sa small town close to duesseldorf and cologne.


Nowe to the dark mysteries of the german language.

I would replace Putzer with Reiniger.
Flaschenreiniger I think would be better.
You "putz" a floor because it is full of "schmutz" but you "reinigst" a bottle cause it is not clean. I think if you have 'schmutz" in a bottle so that you have to "Putz" it you might as well buy a new one.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I was born in mettmann, sa small town close to duesseldorf and cologne.


Nowe to the dark mysteries of the german language.

I would replace Putzer with Reiniger.
Flaschenreiniger I think would be better.
You "putz" a floor because it is full of "schmutz" but you "reinigst" a bottle cause it is not clean. I think if you have 'schmutz" in a bottle so that you have to "Putz" it you might as well buy a new one.

You, are correct. I forgot about "rein", but was thinking more at "pur" for pure than clean. Nice job catching it. Putz is dust, so I knew I was wrong there. Schmutz is dirt, as in the Scorpions song "Du Bist So Schmutzig" (You Are So Dirty).

I lived in Augsburg (75-79) and Altendorf bei Bamberg (99-04).

Incidently, I mentioned German wording earlier, check this out. I just found it:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050812/lf_nm/germany_election_spelling_dc

 

[El Pistolero]

I would replace Putzer with Reiniger.
Flaschenreiniger I think would be better.

Thank you winglover and HB99 for your help with this matter of grave social and political import...I am now a Hauptflaschenreiniger. You got to admit tho, Hauptflaschenwaschmaschin does have kind of a ring to it.

I think if you have 'schmutz" in a bottle so that you have to "Putz" it you might as well buy a new one.

I certainly can't argue with that.

 

[Sir Sudster]

EL PISTOLERO, I still like the original bastardized pronunciation of

" Hops-A-Flashin-Whatcha-Mashin" .

Still ROFL!

 

[El Pistolero]

Yes, that is my Native American name you know...Hops-A-Flashin!

 

[Sasquatch]

We call him "Counting-the-tiles"