Pretty excited...

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Silviakitty

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Bottled my first _real_ batch today. My first red ale!

Here's the beer and the brewery it sprang from (otherwise known as 'newbie beer kit'):
1199312750.jpg


You couldn't really see the color or clarity in the first pic, so I took another:
1199312728.jpg



Sorry about the iffy quality; they're camera phone pictures.

I'm pretty pleased with the way it's turned out so far; after bottling, there was about a glass-worth at the bottom of the bucket, so I racked myself a sample. It's pretty darn tasty. :)
 
Way to go man. That looks great ! It will come together during bottle conditioning. How did it taste did you hop it highly?
 
Thanks to all. :)

Dr Vorlauf: It tasted quite good, actually; it's obviously not done (needs carbing time and some aging under its belt), but it reminds me of red ales I've had in the past even now. As for highly hopped, not really. This ale was a Brewer's Best extract kit with steeping grains...I posted the recipe here. One ounce of Willamette bittering hops and one ounce of Willamette for finishing. It smells _amazing_.

As for the next batch, it's coming soon. Irish Stout, again a Brewer's Best kit. I'm still debating whether I'm going to alter the recipe slightly (add home-roasted coffee) or make it straight the first time to get a 'baseline'.
 
If there is one thing I like about bottling day is the sampling. I always start with a sample and end with a couple of more.
 
Nice job SK! Now you just have to wait and wait and wait for it to age and carb. Of course, I'm pretty sure you are going to give it a try in a week or so. :p
 
I'm gonna try to hold out. ;) Good thing is, I just started a new job and apparently am going to be out of town for a couple of weeks this month. That'll force me to leave 'em alone at least that long.

My goal is to not open my first 'test bottle' until three weeks from today. We'll see how long that lasts. *grin*
 
I'm gonna try to hold out.

But why???? Suppose through some miracle of juxstapositional feng shui that occurs only at that one exact location of bottle storage during that one brief period of cosmic alignment your beer reaches an absolutely perfect flavor after, say, four days . . . you’d miss it. You owe it to both science and pseudo-science to sample early and often.

At least that’s my theory, and I’m not getting talked out of it. :)

Rick
 
Great job sk....i know the feeling. ive for stout i bottled on the 28th in PET bottles that im itching to see how carbonated they are. lol..
 
Congrats on getting the first batch in bottles. Now comes the hard part - WAITING!

Get another batch going asap because the first batch will disappear much too quickly.
 
I believe you and me have the same taste. My first was a Red Ale from BB then i have a Irish Stout that i am doing this weekend also from BB. The Red Ale was amazing. We drank it for Christmas and the whole family loved it.

SD
 
Congrats...the more you brew, the more you have and one day you go:

"Oh, I have beer that should be ready!"

And you have fresh HB for brewday
 
Congrats, SK. It really is a great thing to drink beer that you made yourself - there's a sense of pride in it that I can only compare to creating a work of art. Enjoy it man!:mug:
 
Maybe its maudlin remembrance but my first batch tasted special, which your's is sure to be as well.


What do the characters spell on your right forearm?
 
This was so different of an experience than the Mr Beer kit that I feel I just went from an Easy-Bake oven to normal cooking. ;) If I ever go to AG (space and money willing), that'll just raise the bar even more.

cowgo: the characters I lifted from Alan Watt's 'Book of Zen'. They translate to (or supposedly; I had them translated before I got the tattoo) "Between object and object there is no obstruction"...basically the idea is that everything is connected, and that everything you do to someone/something else comes back to you. It's my reminder to myself to do right. :)
 
Silviakitty said:
cowgo: the characters I lifted from Alan Watt's 'Book of Zen'. They translate to (or supposedly; I had them translated before I got the tattoo) "Between object and object there is no obstruction"...basically the idea is that everything is connected, and that everything you do to someone/something else comes back to you. It's my reminder to myself to do right. :)

Very cool. Just making sure, as you did, that you didn't tat "Beef with Broccoli" on yourself. :p
 
Nah. If I did that, it'd be on purpose. That's some funny stuff. ;)

It's actually been translated a couple of times over the years while it's on my arm, too, so I know that it's at least mostly correct (I think there's a misplaced stroke in the final character, but it didn't get turned into something foul).

Warning: if you get a tattoo, you will get more. That is all.
 
Nurmey said:
Nice job SK! Now you just have to wait and wait and wait for it to age and carb. Of course, I'm pretty sure you are going to give it a try in a week or so. :p


Okay, so I didn't make my goal of three weeks. I made it 11 days. ;)

Right now, it's slightly carbed, with lovely hop flavor. The malt flavor is there, but will surely improve with age. It reminds me a bit of Killian's right now (luckily, I enjoy Killian's). I can't wait to see how it improves.
 
Silviakitty said:
Okay, so I didn't make my goal of three weeks. I made it 11 days. ;)

Right now, it's slightly carbed, with lovely hop flavor. The malt flavor is there, but will surely improve with age. It reminds me a bit of Killian's right now (luckily, I enjoy Killian's). I can't wait to see how it improves.

It gets worse when you start kegging. I'll brew on a Saturday, keg the following Saturday, and by the next Wednesday, I'm drinking and thinking ..damn this is good...I need to wait a few weeks. What's left a week later IS good. I learned to just brew every week. You will too. It's the hobby...remember? You aren't collecting stamps....it's something beyond yourself.
 
Obsession, not hobby. I get hooked easily on new hobbies. ;)

Once my life settles down, I have no doubt that I'll brew every week...I'm already having a blast with the little bit I've been doing. :)
 
Silviakitty said:
Obsession, not hobby. I get hooked easily on new hobbies. ;)

Once my life settles down, I have no doubt that I'll brew every week...I'm already having a blast with the little bit I've been doing. :)


Ha!! Hobby was the polite term:fro: ...you've called it for what it is...obsession. O/C hobbies have that compulsive edge to to them, but brewing beer has that singular edge all to itself. Being compulsive about something is one thing....being compulsive about something that makes you happy...well, that's a whole 'nother thing. Good on you!
 
The beer looks great SK.
I have to say this is truely an addiction. I had a buddy that had a Mr. Beer kit and made a batch that I thought was pretty good but I thought " I can do better". I made my first batch of Irish Stout that I have so far only had a bottle a week out of, have to make sure that I am not missing that one chance taste, and as soon as I had moved it to the secondary I had to make a Brown ale. I Started at Christmas and I am already have my third batch in the fermentor, second in the secondary, first bottled and to top it off started a cider just last night.
My SWMBO is hanging in there with me only because the third batch and cider are for her.:ban:
 
Quote:

As for the next batch, it's coming soon. Irish Stout, again a Brewer's Best kit. I'm still debating whether I'm going to alter the recipe slightly (add home-roasted coffee) or make it straight the first time to get a 'baseline'.
__________________

I brewed that kit twice. The first time I added a pot of brewed coffee to the primary. It was good. The second time I added 1/2 lb of fresh ground Starbucks French Roast to the secondary...Awesome! If you want a good coffe flavor I suggest adding the coffee at the secondary it was much more pronounced than when I added it at in the primary.
 
[The first time I added a pot of brewed coffee to the primary. It was good. The second time I added 1/2 lb of fresh ground Starbucks French Roast to the secondary...Awesome! If you want a good coffe flavor I suggest adding the coffee at the secondary it was much more pronounced than when I added it at in the primary./I]

Tonight I was just reading to read. On here for a couple hours, not posting.. just reading. I have a batch of dark stuff in primary now and I was contemplating adding some coffee. Guess I will secondary when it is convenient and add some coffee.

11 # 2 row
.5 # cara 3 (dark&tasty)
.5 # dark crystal
.5 # biscuit
.5 # vienna

1 oz williamete
1 oz centenniel

the hops were added in equal amounts .50 at 80 (big boil)
.............................. irish moss added & .25 at 15
.......................................................... .25 at 5

will add coffee to secondary
 
brewing a red ale this weekend hope yours turns out as good as I hope mine to
 
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