Noob Success Stories? Post 'em if you got 'em

[geer537]

Morning all!

I was up until 1 am last night making my 6th or 7th home brew- a Porter Yooper posted and I bet it'll be great! I hop on here and read/learn a ton from the more experienced members and from the mistakes of the not so experienced. I wanted to say thanks to everyone who posts here and let's hear some success stories after getting some advice on this forum.

Personally I had no clue what I was doing with that Porter last night. I ordered the recipe, posted questions on how to do a 2 step infusion, and made a starter for my Yeasties. The rest is in their hands- go get 'em kids! Thanks to Yooper for the recipe, Suthrncomfrt1884 for showing me http://www.brewersfriend.com/quick-infusion/ and MBasile for sending me to http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html.

So who has helped you RDWHAHB after posting a panicked "Did I ruin my beer thread?" and did it help?

Cheers

Steve

 

[iron_city_ap]

I haven't killed or poinsoned myself (yet) !!!

 

[bennyd]

I've made 4 batches (fifth is just about to be racked to secondary). I've REALLY enjoyed 3 of them. The other was drinkable but really had some off flavors. I had some friends over for a Superbowl party in January and I tested my first brew on them. They seemed to really enjoy it. That was a nut brown. I've shared two others with my neighbor and he liked them quite a bit. The one that didn't turn out as great, I drank that one myself.

My biggest fear was sanitizing everything. I haven't had a problem yet (knock on wood). I've been using a generic form of One Step, but just bought a bottle of StarSan yesterday.

I wouldn't be enjoying this hobby anywhere near as much as this if it weren't for the people on this board. Very helpful and patient group you all are.

 

[BigJerk]

I only wish I had discovered this board when I started (although if I had I guarantee I would have been the worst candidate for RDWHAHB around!)

 

[azscoob]

Thanks to the wealth of information found here I was quite confident in my abilities long before I took the first brew plunge. I like to think of it as "Virtual Brewing". I understood the steps needed, the pitfalls, and possible solutions before hand.

I was going to start on the stove top doing extract, but I learned that doing a full boil if possible gives better results, I learned I could use the turkey fryer I had in my garage to do the full boil, getting the wort chilled was a new issue, I learned to make an immersion chiller to get the job done. then I realized I could cut the top off the old keg that was in the garage from a long forgotten party and use it as a boil kettle, so I could heat water in my fryer pot and boil in my keggle, and using that old cooler I could just do all grain with a trip to the hardware store for some tidbits.

I went from stove top extract-partial-boil-kit brewing, to extract-full-boil-brewing, to all-grain brewing before I ever actually brewed anything.

So thanks to EdWort, Revvy, Yoop, olllllo, Biermuncher, BobbyM, and countless others who posted up advice, DIY posts, and brewing how-to videos and pictorials, I had the knowledge to brew fairly confidently and with a solid understanding of what was happening and why.

 

[brewew]

I just had a small taste of by first bottled brew yesterday (from kit).. still at least one week left to carbonate and chill though, but I've got to say - WOW.
Not going back to storebought after this! Just the fact that I made it myself adds to the whole experience of it.. tastes better, feels better.

I already know it's going to be Great, and can't wait to try out new stuff and get more advanced in the time to come.. this forum provides very good information, with all the helpful souls answering even the smallest question.

Btw, I'm also brewing 2 batches of White wine, also for the first time, to hand out as sort of gifts with my lady, so I'm really anxcious about that, still I find my every question being answered here, it's of great help and I really appreachiate it.

 

[SIXFOOTER]

I started this about a year ago and had absolutely no idea what I was doing. The first batch, after scrounging all the necessary ardware was a simple stout, recipe from the brew store here. I did the brew, fermented and bottled. When I was done bottling there was about a half bottle left over, I thought it was tasting pretty good even with no bubbles. I left a cup on the counter in the kitchen for the GF and her parents to have a taste. Her mom calls an hour or so later, bawling. Seems her grandmother made beer back in Austria and this tasted much like what grandma made back in the day.
18 or so batches later, I am still chasing that flavor..