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rigglet

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I haven't posted anything to this forum yet, but I read it nearly everyday. I brewed my first batch about 7 weeks ago. It was an English pale ale kit from Brewer's Best. All in all, the brew day process went well. I decided to secondary my brews, even though I know it's not completely necessary. I'm finding with my limited equipment it enables me to start another brew while the first is finishing. After a week in primary and 3 weeks in the secondary I bottled. I tried a bottle at week 1...no real carbonation, no body to speak of, very hoppy finish and a lot of yeast flavor. I tried another at week 2 and still low on carbonation, body still wasn't there and the yeast flavor was still prominent. Well this weekend was week three and wow...what a difference. Tastes just as I would expect. I can tell that it still needs a bit more time, but it is now drinkable/shareable. :mug:

I've got a Scottish ale in the secondary now that will be going to bottle this weekend. And I just started a Belgian blond this weekend which I'm thinking of racking to some fruit after fermentation completes.

I owe a great big portion of my success to this group. Even though I didn't ask for specific advice I got enough information from reading others posts that I was able to produce a very drinkable beer.

And by far the best piece of advice has been...patience, patience, patience.

Happy brewing all!

Let the obsession begin....
 
You are right the patience part is the hardest part of brewing.

I learned pretty quickly that I need a second fermenter and am even buying a third one this week so I can always have at least two beers (maybe three) going at all times.

They are so tasty that I want plenty of my beer around to drink and share with my friends.
 
Nice! I'm in almost the exact same situation myself. I have a secondary mainly so I can start a new batch after I do the transfer. This "hobby" has already overtaken the guest bedroom, but beer > place for in-laws to sleep anyhow :)

Ditto on the waiting part too, thought I had a bad batch at first.. now after 4 weeks in the bottle it's damn good!

Glad everything turned out good. If it's already "good" after 3 weeks, you'll love it after 4!
 
Good job. Now you know why we recommend time to mature as it definitely changes the flavor of the beer from week to week.

With your pipeline started and the experience you now have, it's time to think about adding another fermenter bucket. They cost less than $20 with lid and airlock and that will let you leave your beer in the fermenter longer which I think will improve the flavor of your beer and shorten the time for the beer to "bottle condition" or mature.
 
Once I started leaving my beer in the fermenter on top the yeast cake for 3 weeks, I found the beer to be pretty darn good with only 2 weeks in the bottle. Try it and see. if I weren't so impatient, I think 4 weeks might even be better.
 
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