Opened first bottle of my 1st ever batch!

[Pantherjon]

Well, I started this adventure called home brewing almost 3 weeks ago. Brewed and put a Mr Beer Grand Bohemian Czech Pilsner in my closet to ferment. After being in there for 2 weeks I pulled a small sample to see if it was ready for bottling. Had a cool, crisp, fruity flavor, so I decided it was ready to bottle. Proceeded and bottled it up. One of the PET bottles(last one) didn't get filled quite as full as the rest, but eh, that's how it goes I suppose..Off to the closet they went for conditioning...
6 days later(yesterday) I decided after doing the squeeze test that the 7/8 full one was pretty firm and would make for a good test subject for that nights get together. So, I pulled it out and put it in the fridge to chill.

Last night when I pulled it out and opened it, it made that lovely hissing sound. Carbonation was good. Then the big test, the pour. Poured it into the glass, nice foam, nice head, which actually stayed up for a good while(unfortunately by the time I thought of taking pictures it had fallen), Nice aroma, it smelt like, well, BEER! Now, the BIG test, ask one of my friends to taste it. He said it was smooth, crisp, fruity and pleasant. But, did have a bit of a bitter aftertaste. 2nd friend tasted it and his assessment was the same. And so was mine..Beer it seems is coming along, but still on the 'green' side..BUT, I know that my 1st foray into home brewing has been a success! At least so far! LOL

Rest of the bottle are staying in the closet for at least another 9 days which will complete their 2 week conditioning..Then into the fridge for chilling and enjoyment..Here are a couple pictures of the golden nectar!

 

[jschein]

Nice job!

 

[sandhiller]

Congrats on your first born. Now hold on tight it's going to be one hell of a ride!!

 

[Gavin C]

Congrats.

Great feeling.

 

[Pantherjon]

Thanks! Yeah, it's a great feeling! I have 3 more batches(gulp) in the closet bubbling away right now! Have a Weissbeir, Classic American Light and a Brew Demon Nut Brown Ale..I think I am going to allow them to ferment for an extra week(will be 3-2-1) because I now recall reading that method here and that might have contributed a little to the 'green' taste in the bottle last night with me bottling after 2 weeks in fermentation..Will see...But, am still proud of the outcome on the 1st batch and will impatiently wait out the next week before I open another..LOL

 

[Gavin C]

Thanks! Yeah, it's a great feeling! I have 3 more batches(gulp) in the closet bubbling away right now! Have a Weissbeir, Classic American Light and a Brew Demon Nut Brown Ale..I think I am going to allow them to ferment for an extra week(will be 3-2-1) because I now recall reading that method here and that might have contributed a little to the 'green' taste in the bottle last night with me bottling after 2 weeks in fermentation..Will see...But, am still proud of the outcome on the 1st batch and will impatiently wait out the next week before I open another..LOL

Save yourself some work and do

3-3. Primary till FG. Bottle. 3 weeks to reach optimal carbonation.

 

[Pantherjon]

Save yourself some work and do

3-3. Primary till FG. Bottle. 3 weeks to reach optimal carbonation.

Thanks..I will give that a try!

 

[Gavin C]

Thanks..I will give that a try!

3 weeks in the bottle at room temperature is a reasonable rule of thumb.

3-3 will not steer you wrong for most beers.

3-2-1 is not a good idea for any beer.

Beware of arbitrary time frames given for fermentation in kits/recipes.

But again, congrats on the first brew. Sounds like you've got a decent pipeline in the works. Nice job.

 

[Elkobrewer]

Congrats on the first brew. I too started with the mr.beer kits then the obsession took over swmbo was not happy at first. Enjoy it only gets better

 

[estricklin]

Sounds like your hooked! Welcome to the rabbit hole. Congrats on your first one, I remember my first..............sigh.

Cheers!

 

[Sailingeric]

It might be bad, better send it all to me for testing.

 

[TylerAI]

And that is how it begins. An obsession is born.

 

[Pantherjon]

And that is how it begins. An obsession is born.

Beginning to look like an obsession! LOL Luckily I don't have a SWMBO type in the household here! Having 3 more batches in the fermentation stage in the closet, conditioning these bottle for another week, a 1 gallon kit I am itching to break into to do my hand at a partial grain brew and 2 complete 5 gallon kits still in their boxes..Oh and a variety of recipe 'kits'! So, yeah, I think I have found something to keep me busy! For a while!..LOL

Couple of weeks at least!

 

[tracyk]

Yeah, thats how this obsession/hobby starts... Congrats and Enjoy!

That is how it started for me, next thing I knew I was building a grain cabinet, brewing rig, fermentor and now off to working on a brew room...

 

[Biscuits]

Bravo!

 

[Sand_Pirate]

Well, I started this adventure called home brewing almost 3 weeks ago. Brewed and put a Mr Beer Grand Bohemian Czech Pilsner in my closet to ferment. After being in there for 2 weeks I pulled a small sample to see if it was ready for bottling. Had a cool, crisp, fruity flavor, so I decided it was ready to bottle. Proceeded and bottled it up. One of the PET bottles(last one) didn't get filled quite as full as the rest, but eh, that's how it goes I suppose..Off to the closet they went for conditioning...
6 days later(yesterday) I decided after doing the squeeze test that the 7/8 full one was pretty firm and would make for a good test subject for that nights get together. So, I pulled it out and put it in the fridge to chill.

Last night when I pulled it out and opened it, it made that lovely hissing sound. Carbonation was good. Then the big test, the pour. Poured it into the glass, nice foam, nice head, which actually stayed up for a good while(unfortunately by the time I thought of taking pictures it had fallen), Nice aroma, it smelt like, well, BEER! Now, the BIG test, ask one of my friends to taste it. He said it was smooth, crisp, fruity and pleasant. But, did have a bit of a bitter aftertaste. 2nd friend tasted it and his assessment was the same. And so was mine..Beer it seems is coming along, but still on the 'green' side..BUT, I know that my 1st foray into home brewing has been a success! At least so far! LOL

Rest of the bottle are staying in the closet for at least another 9 days which will complete their 2 week conditioning..Then into the fridge for chilling and enjoyment..Here are a couple pictures of the golden nectar!

Excellent! Posts like these give me hope. My first batch is fermenting, and I won't know for several weeks if I made beer or made a mess. Good for you, sir.

 

[Malty_Dog]

Hey I made that kit when I started out! It was good! Welcome to the obsession

 

[foley178]

It might be bad, better send it all to me for testing.

I agree and endorse this statement lol

 

[Pantherjon]

Thanks guys! Google Hinesville, GA and be here for a bottle opening party this coming Tuesday! Squeezed a couple bottles last night before bed and they seemed pretty stiff, so I ,at least, know carbonation is happening! Hopefully it will have a more 'beery' taste then the first bottle had..This waiting is killing me! But, does allow me time to drink the Sierra Nevada Celebration and clean out the bottles for when my next brew comes ready to bottle!

 

[bigken462]

Congrats buddy on your first successful brew. Make sure to stash a few back in the closet to condition for several months to see how you like them then with some age.

Now comes the hard part. Give the credit card to the wife and set your firewall to block anything with the words "BrewStand" "Burners", "Pumps" and "Pots", because this ride is about to get real!

Welcome to the dark side!

Ken

 

[Pantherjon]

Okay, so now then, a little over a week later I put 2 bottles of this batch into the fridge this morning to chill...Opened one this evening as I am watching my Tuesday night episodes on satellite TV(Tuesday is my weekday off and I am off every other weekend)..Crack open the cap and hear that pleasant hissing sound. Good carbonation..Pour into glass, poured most of it down the side into the glass not allowing it to foam and form a head..Oh well, smelled it and it has a nice aroma to it..Then a taste..Hmmmm...Light, not a 'kick in the mouth' hoppy feel(which of course I knew it would NOT have..Not bad..Not a complex beer taste that I had grown accustomed to with the Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada beers I had been drinking lately..It was a nice pleasant taste, had a good mouth feel and left a pleasant aftertaste..1st bottle last week left kind of a peculiar aftertaste..So, I think it is getting better! Should be even better come this weekend when I try my hand at a partial grain recipe..

Just as a side note..The refill kit I used was the Grand Bohemian Czech Pilsner..Now, looking at the Mr Beer website and I see that the standard refill kits come with booster packs, the one I used did not have this booster pack..Something real recent in the inclusion of this? Just curious as I bought the Mr Beer kit from their Amazon store the 1st week of December that included the Pils refill..Weird..

Anyways, I will let you all know how the 2nd(that is still in the fridge) bottle tastes this weekend..