Your first Brew

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Mine is Autum Amber Ale, I actually tried my first homebrew a few weeks ago from a friend at work:) (Mr. Beer recvd as gift in Dec.), I was hooked, purchased a 5 gal kit and a away I went, will be bottling my first batch this weekend, we keep bouncing ideas off each other daily :mug: My buddy has upgraded to a 5 gal set up, purchased a kegerater will drop in keg this weekend...It will be tough keepin' up with the Jones's
 
"Williamston Wheat" Wheat beer. Been conditioning for almost a week. Looking forward to popping one open in about a week or so.
 
First batch was a Bass clone recipe, provided by my LHBS, in 1982. I still go to the same shop! I no longer have the recipe, and the current one they provide is quite different. As I recall, it was a can of hopped LME, a 3lb bag of DME, an oz or two of fuggles and one of the British Wyeast smack packs.

Back then, my "starter kit" came with a 5 gallon carboy which was used as a primary, even for a five gallon batch. It was common practice to ferment with just 4 gallons of liquid to allow some headspace, then top up to 5 gallons when bottling. Can't say I see anybody using that technique these days.

And yes, I still have and use the same carboy, as a secondary now.
 
My first was a Belgian dubbel that I bottled on Saturday and my second beer was the weissenbeir in Papazian's book. I think my starter got infected so I'll drink it out (not horrible just not good) and now my third batch is a higher hopped APA.
 
Mine was last May. Simplest possible APA kit from the LHBS - Hopped LME, Can-Add-A, ancient packet of Cooper's dry yeast. It was decent.
 
extract with grains dry stout from austinhomebrew. turned out so good i spoiled my next two batches. doh! still got me hooked and still empting my pocket book on homebrew every chance i get!
 
My first batch, included exactly the following ingredients:

1 can of prehopped LME. Nut brown
2 lbs corn sugar
5 gallons water
1 pkg yeast, taped to bottom of said can

Well the beer came out pretty terrible and I finally called it "WhyTee's after hours ale". As in, damn it we're out of beer and we can't buy anymore, let's drink that stuff.

If it wasn't for HBT I probably would have never tried again, but instead i've got one more in bottles and one more in my second fermenter :p Cheers everyone. :mug:
 
DeathBrewer said:
my first was Oak Barrel's Black Death Stout:

http://oakbarrel.com/beermaking/ingredient_kit_blkdeath.shtml

it was a GREAT beer, just don't drink most of it by yourself in a weekends time or you WILL get the black death...no leaving the bathroom for a while after that! :D

EDIT: lol, i love that they haven't filled in the description...it should read: warning, may cause BM of death!

I don't have the ingredients, unfortunately...
Click to expand...

I bet that's just from not being used to drinking lots of yeast.
 
English Pale Ale extract kit. It was extremely delicious after aging for about a month and a half.

It did cause power farting the next day though.
 
DFH 60m "clone" recipe worked up by LHBS. Much darker than it should have been, but still tasted great. WAY undercarbed though. Extract with steeped grains.

1 year ago in March. I brew with 2 other guys, now we're doing all grain (though we'll probably do some extract and grains ocassionally when we're low on home brew!- full boils though)
 
My first is the Mr Beer came with the kit High Country Canadian hopped extract. Though I changed the recipe. Instead of booster (sugar) I added 1.5 lbs of amber LME and 5 min boil I added 1/4 oz of Amarillo hops. I don't know what the OG was because I didn't have a hygrometer but it is now 1.015 after 2 weeks and 4 days. Still a little cloudy I think I am going to put it in a secondary for a few more days maybe it will get down to 1.010 then I will bottle. So far from what I have sampled its pretty smooth with a VERY grapefruit finish that does not linger.
 
My first batch is still in Primary Fermentation...a hefeweizen. Can't wait to taste and start on my second batch.

-Ron
 
My first batch was a Brewer's Best German Oktoberfest kit - 6.6 lbs of extract and steeped grains...turned out great! I highly recommend BB kits...pretty economical for the beginner, great instructions, and, best of all, it's pretty tough to mess up if you follow the directions. My brew was excellent!
 
I'm proud to say that Mr. Beer took my brewing cherry. It was a West Coast Pale Ale that tasted like ass for the first six months after bottling. I got hard up one day and drank a bottle of it. It seemed to work OK, and I was able to keep it down. The rest of my beers have been exponentionally better.
Orfy has my old Mr. Beer keg. God knows what evil he's working with it.
I'm glad to have been exposed to brewing through the kit, even happier that I stuck with it long enough to learn to make good beer.
 
My first attempt was several years ago, Mr Beer Pale Ale. Absolutely horrid! Even tried bottling in mason jars. LOL!!!
Several years later tried again, no boil Pale Ale. Horrid! No mason jars though.
Now 4 years later 3rd attempt, actualy know what I'm into and the 3rd St IPA is now in the secondary waiting for bottling. Thanks for all the help folks at HBT!!!!
 
I bought Papazian's Joy of Homebrewing, and pieced together a kit from my local farmer's co-op (yep, that's the local homebrew store), and brewed Elbro Nerkte brown ale. No fuggles to be had, so I used a combo of Styrian Goldings and Cascade. I didn't know much about hops, but oh well.

Still have about a dozen bottles left. Later brews have been improvements, but I must say, even that first brew was better than almost every beer I've ever bought in a store!
 
Includes: 6 lbs. Dark DME, 2 oz. Bullion hop pellets, and dry ale yeast. Approx alc. 4.5% a.b.v.

Kit from homebrewart. About 10 months ago. I've brewed about 150 gallons since. Damn you, homebrewmart!
 
O hell I cant hardly remember yesterday let alone 4+ years ago:drunk: I do know it was a full wort boil extract with steeped grains and so was the second but I do believe the third was AG and there was no turning back then:rockin: :rockin:
WOW what a ride its been
JJ
 
The Year...1999. I was a bright eyed and eager 21 years old and Going to Make beer Come Hell or High Water. Without the benefit of internet and Home Brew Talk.com, I purchased the best equipment kit I could afford and the New Joy of Home Brewing. I Purchased a Brewers best American Light Ale kit, Thinking I would make something like Coors Light.
I went home and immediately got the first batch going. During my 1 week in the primary, I had read enough to know I wanted to do something else. I wanted to brew a Bock, so Back to the brew store I went to get the ingredients.
Now, I want' very smart; and I didn't really like any beer I'd ever tried, (other than coors), and at 21, your tastes have not developed very well. But this was an endeavor that I wasn't going to give up on.
I got the first batch bottled, and the bock on...THANK GOD I got the bock on.
That first kit was so horrible that I would have never managed to even think about brewing again had it not been for that malty black elixir that was in the primary.
The rest is pretty boring...Uh....History.
 
Hoegaarden Clone recipe, a belgain white with orange peel and coliander
Steeped wheat and some other grains, sterling hops, kent goldings as well and DME. Its in the primary and is being transferred to the secondary tomorrow.
 
Mine was an ESB of sorts. My efficiency wasn't very good, so it was more of an ordinary bitter. I don't recall the exact recipe, but it was about 10 lbs of Maris Otter, 1/2 lb of CaraPils, 1/2 lb of Crystal 60, a couple ounces of Kent Goldings, and Nottingham dry yeast.

It wasn't very clear since I forgot the Irish moss and my racking skills were pretty bad (I was learning my trial and error). But, it turned out good. I have about 6 pints left in the cellar, and the last one tasted pretty decent.
 
New here and to brewing.... I have my first batch in the primary as of last sunday. It is a cream ale kit from the local high gravity store Desiree cream ale (house kit). I researched for about 2 weeks before hand and jumped right in.

4lbs Muntons Light LME
2lbs 6-row American Pale Malt
2lbs Flaked Maize
.5 oz cluster hops (bittering)
1 oz cluster hops (finishing)
1tsp irish moss
wyeast 1056 American ale.

I have decided to do a 2 stage 1-2-3 method and hope for a clear batch. It wasn't too hard or at least as not as I had thought. I am eager to try it and have the primary in my nice dark, temperature controlled hall closet and per the instructions it is happy between the 66-76 deg range.

I am already planning my next batch as soon as this one hits 2nd week in the carboy.
 
How common is this! My first was a Mr. Beer American Devil IPA. SWMBO was so impressed that one day as we drove past the local home brew store (Culver City Home Brewing) she asked if I perhaps I might be considering the idea of stopping in. Reluctantly :D, I said I might consider it.

To make a long story short, I came out with an equipment set for 5 gal. extract brews and a recipe kit for the store's "Evil Monk" Belgian pale ale. I've got about a case of that left, some Scottish ale in the secondary and an IPA in the primary.

Once the bug bites, it bites hard.
 
American Light extract from a company called Mount Mellick or something (it was many years ago!). Didn't turn out too bad. I dont' think I boiled that batch. I do remember it being on the stove, so I at least heated it up to give the bacteria a head start! LOL!

I had a friend who had made wine for many years help out. We got it done somehow. He even gave me a bench capper!
 
Mine has been the fermenter for 2 days and is bubbling away:

6lbs Australian Pale (Light?) Malt
1lb Dry Dark Malt
1.5oz Cascade @45min
1.5oz Cascade @20min
1oz Centenniel @5min
(Super Hopped!! Should have an IBU of 85 or so)

Fermenting at 68deg...and waiting
 
Mine is a kit-borne wort concentrate of Coopers Lager purchased from K-Mart last Sunday.

It begun three nights ago and is beautiful (smells like vegemite, mmmmmmm).

No taste tests yet, I can wait a week or so until bottling day before liking my fingers.

It blew the water clean out of the air lock on the first night. I love it.
 
slater said:
But I figured some beginners may not look at other threads outside of the beginners one until they had a specific question about it. So I figured what was everyones first brew?.
Click to expand...

My first was a brown ale kit from Williams Brewing. Would have been around 1989, I think. I have pics of the fermenter bucket; I was so proud and geeky-happy. When I rotated back to the US I started AG brewing so I could make weizen; burned through lots of 6row and wheat. For a time time I was living in little 24' trailer in a cow pasture. The cows would stare at me, knowing they would get the spent grains. I guess they could smell the kettle.

Had a long layoff for various reason. Back to the kettle and enjoying it very much. Still finding my old gear in dusty boxes.
 
I did a B3 mild brown ale extract kit just this past Sunday. Then I got home, realized exactly how mild a "mild brown" is, downloaded Beersmith, and promptly modified the recipe to make it more into a northern brown. Results pending.

It's on it's 5th day in the primary fermenter now, and it looks great.
 
My first brew was an amber.
- 2 pounds hopped light DME
1 pound hopped dark DME
10 grams aroma hops
Coopers Ale yeast

Bottling this weekend, can't wait to taste. Half of the batch is conditioning with 1/2 cup of southern pecan coffee beens.
 
American Pale Ale
6.5# Alexander's LME
1# Caramel Malt (60L)
2oz Cascade
1/3 tsp Irish Moss

I just brewed this up last sunday, and it smelled great...love those hops! I'm not going to do a secondary, so I plan on leaving it in the primary for 2-3 weeks depending on the weather around here. Right now it's a perfect 65-70F, so my fermenter is in my garage. But if the temp starts to rise after week two, I'll just go to bottles and store in my closet where it's cooler. Right now it's bubbling away and I've got about 3in of krausen on top looking pretty yeasty! The bubbles coming out of the airlock smell faintly of bananas, but mostly like beer and hops :) .
 
I bought my friend's brewing equipment (basic stuff). It included a porter box kit so that was my first. He lost interest in the hobby. My roommate and I are brewing like crazy now. We've brewed a Belgian triple, a Hefe, and an IPA all in a couple months and we're doing AG from now on. It helps to have a partner to stay motivated and share ideas. I guess that goes with any hobby.
 
My first is an Irish Stout from Brewer's Best. Nearing the end of bottle conditioning and should be ready to drink this weekend. Just in time for St. Patty's Day.
 
Coopers Lager was used for my 1st 4 batches & IPA for # 5. Drinking the first two batches now. First one was flat because I put it in the basement after bottling so recabinated it & now it's super carbed & has a yeasty after taste but the 2nd batch is great. Can't wait for the IPA.
 
It seems like it was just yesterday... (wavy fade-off to dream sequence)

"Merry Christmas honey"
"Awesome, a beer kit, just what I've always wanted!"

It was a Muntons Gold IPA no-boil kit, just mix with boiled water, fill to 5 gal and let-er rip. I was a little dissastified by the ease, so I went and got some ingredients and made my second beer, from a weizen recipe in a book (who knows which one) and a little help from the LHBS, something like 5 days later. Good thing I did too, because that first batch was no bueno, and with a second on the way, I didn't get too discouraged, and that one turned out great. Now I'm AG, next step, brew pub (snaps out of dream).

OK, maybe brew pub is a little ambitious at this point, but this becomes a lifestyle (obsession?) pretty quickly if you let it. Cheers
:mug:
 

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