"Well, I'm very happy to be here, Bob."

[Dev110]

I say this all the time, but now I mean it. I love beer. Lagers, Porters, Stouts, whatever. And I mean whatever.

Yes, I am a New-bie, and am very eager to learn what I am doing. My wife bought me a Mr Beer kit last Christmas, and I immediately jumped right in. I made the first batch that came with it (a pilsner) and followed the instructions as best as I could. After I bottled it, and conditioned it, I waited for a while, and dove right in.

It tasted like sugar. I felt defeated, and left the last bottle in my fridge. Ignored.

Finally got tired of feeling bad for myself so I bought a pre-measured recipe kit from a local supplier and tried again. I figured I had nothing to lose, so I cut the recipe in half and started boiling up some wort. After fermentation, I was transferring it to the same bottles I used a few months ago, and couldn't find the 8th bottle- until I remembered that I left it in the fridge because it was so god-awful I couldn't drink it.

I grabbed the bottle and opened it, ready to pour it out, when I heard that old familiar ""pssshhht"", and instantly knew that I don't have to work on my recipe. I need to work on my patience! It tasted great !! I did it !!

I am currently waiting to bottle my 3rd batch ever- my second half batch of some kind of Oktoberfest. The first half was okay, but cloudy. I am pretty much convinced that I left the patience part out again....

This time will be different.

 

[tnsen]

Welcome Bob...from a another newbie.......Tom

 

[TrainSafe]

Excellent first post.

Welcome

 

[IXVolt]

Welcome to the boards.

Lots of great people and information here.

 

[gcdowd]

Welcome and cheers for not giving up. You'll find this hobby can be quite rewarding. And although you will have the occasional problem, the important thing to remember is that $hit happens and you gotta just move on. Perfect the art and more importantly, enjoy it!

 

[static]

Welcome. Two pieces of advice that have served me well.

1)Read Read Read. There is a ton of great information around here.

2) RDWHAHB

I'm still learning but with every batch I learn more. That patience part can be tough. I am waiting to sample my first all grain.

 

[neosapien]

Welcome to your new addiction! I have the same problem with patience

cheers!

 

[passedpawn]

Welcome, charleston!

This forum is a big curling wave of homebrew surfing. Wax your board and come on in, the water's fine!

 

[dr_sanch]

Glad to know you had eventual success with Mr.Beer. 2 out of the 3 brews I made with my kit turned out tasting... plastic-y? Really weird off flavour that was strange. I did however make a pretty decent Stout successfully... I'm not onto my own first "real" kit. Welcome!

 

[kwingert]

Welcome to the gang.

 

[MMJfan]

Welcome to the addiction. I too struggle with the patience thing. My first brew was a IIPA. I managed to wait a week after bottling and cracked one open and it was very good and while it was carbonated, it didn't seem fully carbonated. I then managed to control my patience for another week and cracked one open last weekend and I got a fully carbonated beer that tasted great! Can't wait to see how it will taste with another week of conditioning!

Now, I have an Oberon clone that I bottled a week ago and a Fat Tire clone I bottled over the weekend and I'm dealing with that patience thing again... Luckily I'm going on vacation at the end of this week so maybe out of sight will be good for me!

 

[unionrdr]

The thread title makes me think of Cheech-n-Chong. "Hey,how ya doin today bob? hehehe...oh,same as last time,huh?". Lets hear it for todays funntime brew host...Bob Bitchin!!

 

[william_shakes_beer]

What ya gotta do, see, is get a pipeline going. Its a lot easier to give the biguns the time they need when you have a wee little blond all ready and eager to show you her sweet little cakes. Have I told you how much I love sweet little cakes?

 

[passedpawn]

The thread title makes me think of Cheech-n-Chong. "Hey,how ya doin today bob? hehehe...oh,same as last time,huh?". Lets hear it for todays funntime brew host...Bob Bitchin!!

Fight Club. Bob has man-tits and testicular cancer. At least that's what the thread title was to me.

 

[unionrdr]

Now that was one off the wall sumbitch if I ever saw one...

 

[Dev110]

His name was Robert Paulson. His name was Robert Paulson.

 

[punkerdru]

What ya gotta do, see, is get a pipeline going. Its a lot easier to give the biguns the time they need when you have a wee little blond all ready and eager to show you her sweet little cakes. Have I told you how much I love sweet little cakes?

This.

The more you brew, the more beer there is as a buffer between you and your green beer. Hope there's a lot of room at your house!

 

[tre9er]

Hope there's a lot of room at your house!

If you have a basement, I'd begin staking my claim to a large portion of it now and, if not already finished-off, I would plan a brewhouse. You will very soon need one, trust me. It is...inevitable.

 

[Dev110]

I don't have a basement, but I do have a garage - which is, unfortunately, subject to relative outdoor temperatures.

Right now, I only have the 2.5 gallon Mr Beer kit, and there is no way that such a small amount will hold me over for the 3-4 week minimum it takes per decent batch.

I do plan on upgrading to a beginner's two-stage system, and hopefully I'll keep churning it out fast enough to keep me fat and happy.

As long as we're on the subject, does anyone have any recommendations for a guy who knows nothing about the two stagers?

 

[tre9er]

The minimum you need pretty much is:

~5g pot, but a turkey fryer is even better, and cheap anyways, with or without burner depending if you can boil much on your stove...but that's for later.

an ale pail (6.5g. bucket with grommeted lid and airlock)

StarSan (there are other sanitizers, but you want this).

An auto-siphon. You really want this. Don't suck on tubes for siphon.

A bottling bucket or another ale pail. For transfering fermented beer into, leaving yeast and sediment behind in the primary bucket, and then bottling said beer.

You don't need a bottling wand but they are cheap as heck (~$3) and handy.

Extract kits of the 5g. variety are about $30-$40 depending on where you shop and what kind of beer it is. You essentially just heat some water to specified temp, throw the specialty grains (if any) into a provided grain bag, toss into water and maintain temp for 20 minutes or so, remove, bring liquid to boil, add hops per schedule (if kit has hops), and then add malt extract near end of boil, place pot in ice-bath in sink/tub, cool to 60something, use auto siphon to transfer to sanitized ale pail (that you soaked in starsan/water while boiling was going on), pitch yeast, cover, affix airlock, put some starsan water in it, leave alone for 3 weeks.

come back when it's time to bottle.

 

[Dev110]

I must be getting better at this - I know what almost all of that means.

Bitchin'.