Hello everyone! I'm new to home brewing but just bottled my first batch from a 1 gallon pale ale starter kit.
What prompted me to get into this? Crafting a pumpkin ale. I love pumpkin ales so, instead of waiting till fall, why not learn how to make them? This was the inspiration that made me jump into brewing. Arrogant Bastard Ale and Hangar 24's Orange Wheat are two beers that I would eventually love to clone. I am well aware that I need to start simple and work up to that point.
What did I learn from the first brew? Controls. It kind of goes without saying but that is what I learned. Before I opened my starter kit, I tried sifting through the how to brew sites but nothing really made sense. I studied the directions that came with the kit. The following weekend I just decided to jump into it because I have to learn by doing. I had my pots, pasta strainer, digital meat thermometer, my star san and the contents of the kit. It didn't take long to figure out that I needed a way to move water/wort without pouring from one vessel into the other. I drew up a gravity fed design using valves and tubes, revealed later that I was reinventing the wheel. I am still fine tuning this on the cheap.
What was the process of my first brew? Mashed and boiled in SS pots. After I got the wort into the glass fermenter I was able to keep the temp around 68F for 2.5 weeks. As far as I know the fermentation was complete. This past weekend, I racked the beer into a jar with the priming solution then bottled it. I was only able to bottle eight 12oz bottles due to dropping the cane into the trub, clogging the diverter and stirring it up. When that settled, I tasted what little beer was left in the fermenter. It tastes like beer and hoppy. I guess I will see what happens. One thing I tried with my leftover beer and sediment was trying to strain it with a re-usable coffee filter. I know why people do not use them now. The ultra fine mesh becomes clogged and useless while not really filtering out much.
As the bottles sit now, day two of carb, the beer is fairly cloudy with about 1/16" of sediment on the bottom. No explosions yet.
I am currently designing and building my 3-tier system on the cheap. The main function is to rig everything so I can turn a valve to move water/wort around gravity-fed. I want to star with a cooler MT, aluminum HLT and BK. I want to see if I am as really into brewing as I think I am right now. Once my confidence boosts a little, I will start looking into a little more complexity.
That's a little about my first brew and future in brewing.
What prompted me to get into this? Crafting a pumpkin ale. I love pumpkin ales so, instead of waiting till fall, why not learn how to make them? This was the inspiration that made me jump into brewing. Arrogant Bastard Ale and Hangar 24's Orange Wheat are two beers that I would eventually love to clone. I am well aware that I need to start simple and work up to that point.
What did I learn from the first brew? Controls. It kind of goes without saying but that is what I learned. Before I opened my starter kit, I tried sifting through the how to brew sites but nothing really made sense. I studied the directions that came with the kit. The following weekend I just decided to jump into it because I have to learn by doing. I had my pots, pasta strainer, digital meat thermometer, my star san and the contents of the kit. It didn't take long to figure out that I needed a way to move water/wort without pouring from one vessel into the other. I drew up a gravity fed design using valves and tubes, revealed later that I was reinventing the wheel. I am still fine tuning this on the cheap.
What was the process of my first brew? Mashed and boiled in SS pots. After I got the wort into the glass fermenter I was able to keep the temp around 68F for 2.5 weeks. As far as I know the fermentation was complete. This past weekend, I racked the beer into a jar with the priming solution then bottled it. I was only able to bottle eight 12oz bottles due to dropping the cane into the trub, clogging the diverter and stirring it up. When that settled, I tasted what little beer was left in the fermenter. It tastes like beer and hoppy. I guess I will see what happens. One thing I tried with my leftover beer and sediment was trying to strain it with a re-usable coffee filter. I know why people do not use them now. The ultra fine mesh becomes clogged and useless while not really filtering out much.
As the bottles sit now, day two of carb, the beer is fairly cloudy with about 1/16" of sediment on the bottom. No explosions yet.
I am currently designing and building my 3-tier system on the cheap. The main function is to rig everything so I can turn a valve to move water/wort around gravity-fed. I want to star with a cooler MT, aluminum HLT and BK. I want to see if I am as really into brewing as I think I am right now. Once my confidence boosts a little, I will start looking into a little more complexity.
That's a little about my first brew and future in brewing.
![Craft A Brew - Safale S-04 Dry Yeast - Fermentis - English Ale Dry Yeast - For English and American Ales and Hard Apple Ciders - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [1 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41fVGNh6JfL._SL500_.jpg)
