Your First Brew

[Lampy]

When I first got into alcoholic fermentation 2 years ago, I used Musselman apple juice + honey, only let it ferment 1 week, and was still impressed with my results. Recreating this recipe now (with a longer primary) I find it lackluster! I guess my tastes/expectations have changed.

 

[Andrew7447]

I burnt the LME and its was baddddddd LOL.

 

[MaxStout]

My first brew was an extract kit from Midwest, some kind of Trappist, IIRC. I was surprised at how well it turned out. I then followed with an Irish red, which was also good. Then the 3rd brew, from an IPA extract kit, was, um, not so great. No temp control and I let the ferm temp rise up past 80. Fusel City here we come. Like drinking lighter fluid.

Learned to make a swamp cooler and things went better. I was definitely bitten by the bug.

 

[day_trippr]

My boys gave me a Mister Beer Canadian Blond kit, and I was stunned to discover one could actually brew an amazingly tasty beer at home.

Still riding that epiphany...

Cheers!

 

[DBhomebrew]

There's something to be said for firsts. A multitude of faults are easily ignored in the rush of exultation.

But some firsts need not be remembered.

 

[wepeeler]

My first brew was an extract kit Julius clone, and I wish I could taste it now. I remember it being good enough to get me hooked on the hobby. But it was nothing like Julius...

 

[broot]

My first was an all grain stout kit from Brooklyn brew shop what turned out great. the next 5 however were extract kits ( that were most likely old) and were not very good. That made me go all grain.

 

[mac_1103]

Brewer's Best Belgian Tripel kit. Didn't have a big enough pot for a five gallon batch so I split the boil. Both pots boiled over. And that was only my first mistake. But it actually turned out pretty nice.

 

[zasada]

Early 2013, Coopers Lager Brew Kit with LME split in two 5 litre pots, chilled at balcony, pitched and fermented with 11,5g Fermentis W34/70 at smth like 20-22*C (ambient), dry hopped with Saaz.

I 've found it great then, especially few bottles that last for more than 3 weeks. Many flowery notes and no fussels or solvent as I remember. It was tasty enough to give me a start.

Blog entries on that one starts here: przelot

 

[RichK]

With 20/20 hindsight I don't think my first kit fermented properly. Probably wasn't warm enough.

 

[Miraculix]

Pilsner malt with sorachi ace on a stove top 5 liter -ish. Was pretty good tbh!

 

[redrocker652002]

First kit was in the Northern Brewer Starter Kit I bought. I think it was an IPA. I remember thinking this is way to easy, but also remember the beer tasting ok, but not what I was expecting. I figured there has to be better out there, so here I am LOL

 

[fluketamer]

my first brew was a can of muntons im going to say it was an ale kit. it had no best buiy date but was sitting on a shelf in a hardware store in manhattan with a lot of dust on it. the guy behind the counter said to boil it in 2 gallons of water for an hour. then add 2 lbs of cane sugar add it to a carboy and topo up to 6 gallons.
that tasted really awful. however most of it was drank within the first few days of bottling so it never had a chance. but i remember waiting a few weeks cause everyone said it would get better. (it didint)
on the muntons can it said not to boil it . i got another kit a stout this time and just added sugar and didnt boil it. it came out amazing and i was stoked. i tried again with a lighter coloerd kit and realized i can only make stouts cause those hide all the off flavors. i tried to brew off and on over the years before i discovered swamp coolers (similar to others on here) and i have been brewing steady now for many many years.

temp control has kept me homebrewing.

 

[kevin58]

My wife bought a beginners brewing kit from the local liquor store which had a small selection of brewing supplies. There was an ingredient kit included... probably a Brewers Best kit Brown Ale. I made it on the kitchen stove and fermented in the closet of a back room. It turned out like the average extract homebrew but good enough to spur me on. That was 1997 and I'm still going.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

2010 ish, brewers best kit, red ale iirc. It was good, and I remember thinking what could make this better? I still say that phrase now even though I feel my beer is excellent.

 

[Agent]

My first fermentation forays were Dorm Wine consisting of milk jugs, balloon air-locks, various juices, stolen sugar, and old bread yeast.

Needless to say that cases of any lite beer were preferred by comparison.

 

[Want2Brew]

I don’t really remember but I guess it was good enough to keep me going!

 

[Dr_Jeff]

My first five or so were Cooper's extract kits with LME & DME, most were pretty bad tasting (likely due to old LME, crappy yeast & lack of temperature control), but I drank them anyway and tried to convince myself that there weren't that bad because I made them. (and to keep the wife from telling me that I wasted money, lol)

Since then, all grain and have a few not so stellar along the way, although for the most part have been pretty darn good or better, going on 11+ years now.
Lots of great ciders, meads, melomels, hard lemonades, & etc. as well over the years.

 

[Kickass]

2008, from the very dusty and cluttered LHBS in Wichita I bought 2 cans of muntons or coopers (don’t remember which) wheat LME, an ounce or two of hops and a wyeast pouch.

I remember it being better than ok, but not great. In reality it was likely worst but there was inflated perception due to the novelty.

This was all after renting Charlie P’s book from the library and reading RDWHAHB 100’s of times in it.

 

[mkopec1]

My firsts were all extract brews back in the 90s. I boiled roughly 1/2 the volume, then topped off the fermentor with boiled and cooled water to get roughly 5 gallons. Just did my own mixes of extract and steep grains/hops.

They were not bad but I remember a few getting an infection. This was back in the days of pre-internet, well the internet was around at this point but I was not a part of it yet, lol. So info on brewing was hard to find other than books and the "Brew" magazine at the time.

I bottled my first few batches which was a complete pain in the ass, but then I saw the ad for the used corny kegs in one of the ads in a Brew magazine. So I snatched up 5 of them and never looked back.

Then I made a wart cooler, I got a cheap fridge to do some lagering, did the whole cooler mashtun thing for all grain...etc...

Took a huge break when we had kids, moved to new house, etc. But kept all the brewing stuff. Now decades later my 22 yr yr old showed an interest in all that brewing stuff in the basement so I bought an Anvil 10.5 and brewing again.

 

[Elk479]

2019 was my first homebrew. It was Kvass and I bottled part of the batch in a glass swingtop bottle. The only problem was I didn't realize how fast yeast can carbonate bottles. Needless to say, I learned how to paint my ceiling 2 days later.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

from the title: Your First Brew

A NB starter kit with Caribou Slobber (way back when NB followed the CYBI Moose Drool recipe "to a T") as a Christmas gift.

Since then, the 1st recipe of the year has been "in the spirit of" either Caribou Slobber or CYBI Moose Drool. Did the beer taste like Moose Drool? Never the same, always enjoyable.

 

[Zambezi Special]

First brew was all grain summer blond.
Brew shop put it together, so no big brand name behind it.
I remember spilling a lot of wort due to small pots, clumsiness, etc
But I liked the beer and continued brewing (still using the same pots)

 

[sibelman]

My first brew... details are hazy, as it was over forty years ago. I was ignorant and arrogant - wouldn't take advice. I wanted a dark beer, so I used all dark malt. First impression was it smelled great. But zero body or carbonation. Epic fail. Things got better from there though, and I've almost never dumped a batch.

 

[leedspointbrew]

Northern Brewer Block Party Amber extract kit 4 years ago. Got some leftover equipment from the guy I brew with, followed the directions, brewed a beer. It was pretty good, but my neighbor was honestly more impressed with it than I was; think that his reaction is almost what got me started. Second brew was a NB coffee stout kit - first and last beer I've brewed that my wife actually liked.

 

[Brooothru]

I remember my First, Second and Third attempts at home brewing. 1997. We finally had an ‘empty nest’ (I.e., no more teenagers in the house, without parental oversight). Even though I’d been making wine since the early 70s, and in fact liked beer, I’d never been interested in brewing. Now it’s nearly the opposite.

My first was an Irish Red ale, the second was an American Pale, and the third was steam beer Anchor Steam clone. All were extract kits, and all came out much better than I’d ever dreamed. I was hooked.

I had a head start and all the required gear (mostly) to brew beer, as well as the practical experience with sanitation, fermentation and packaging, plus a very good LHBS with very patient staff that gave a helping hand. They’re still in business, and so am I, with a basement full of brewing equipment. $$$$$.

For me the attraction is the process as much as the product. The bonus is very good beer that I also enjoy consuming and sharing. Great times, good friends, cheap beer. What could be better?

 

[InspectorJon]

First brew was in 1979 or 80 from a recipe in a paperback book. A can of unknown origin malt extract and some whole hops, German I think. I honestly don’t remember where I got those. Partial boil on the stove top, fermented in a plastic trash bin sanitized with Clorox and secondary in a 5 gallon Alhambra water cooler bottle. It was bottled in Anchor Steam Beer bottles we saved up and “sanitized” using TSP in the bathtub.

We were pleasantly surprised by the results. The good result proved to be unpredictable using those same methods. I resumed brewing after a 35 year hiatus in 2018 with a NB Centennial SMaSH kit that came in a 1 gallon starter equipment kit my wife gave me for Christmas. I haven’t had a truly failed brew since until a couple months ago but that’s for a different thread.

I still have the Alhambra and Anchor bottles.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Judging from old rec.crafts.brewing posts, I got started in 2002. I liked SNPA, but I thought it was too dry. I found a clone recipe, and I fiddled with it. I even added fresh ginger.

I was like an expectant father, trying to do everything perfectly. I got my nice clean wort into my sanitized bucket, and then I dropped the bubbler grommet into it.

My solution was to sanitize my arm (bleach) and reach in and grab the grommet. The beer was really good, although I quit adding ginger later. I named it "Strongarm Ale."

I was bottling then. Somehow I thought kegging would be more aggravation. Boy, was I wrong.

I don't miss that giant stash of mismatched bottles.

Things are so much better now. Electric brewing and BIAB. No more mandatory secondaries. Duo-Tight and EVAbarrier. All you young punks don't realize how bad we had it. I brewed in a 10-gallon kettle on my stove. I mashed with towels around the kettle. I threw my fermenters in the pool because the tap water ran about 80 degrees. I still do that.

Now I'll hear from the guys who started in the Eighties.

When I got started, I had to drive from Coral Gables to Hollywood, Florida, for supplies and equipment, so around half an hour on a good day. An old hippie had a brew shop, and he got me started. I think his name was Jeff. Fresh hops. No pellets. He closed his store to run off after a girl, so I discovered Dan Listermann, Austin Homebrew, and Morebeer.

I have never done extract brewing. I figured I would eventually get into all-grain anyway, so extract seemed like a waste of time. I've never brewed anyone else's recipe (exactly) or brewed to a strict style. I imagined a taste in my head, and then I tried to make it.

Back then, I was smoking Cubans. I arranged my diet so I had room for 4 beers per day. I used to sit outside with a Lusi or a Romeo y Julieta Churchill, enjoying that brew.