Just tasted my first brew, 36 oz of it

I bottled my first batch 10 days ago and I was bent on waiting at least 2 weeks for bottle conditioning but tonight I decided I had to taste it so I put 2 in the fridge then 2 more… They were definitely ready and I ended up drinking 3. I was so pleasantly surprised, I didn’t expect to like my first batch much but it came out (relatively) great. It’s a block party amber ale and I can’t complain for a first batch. I expected cloudy and sweet/unfinished, I was worried it wouldn’t be well carbonated or I would have made some unknown and drastic error. But it was clear produced a great head and was enjoyably bitter. Not the most balanced beer ever but hopefully age will help that. It has a hint of fruity ester mostly in aroma but I was expecting worse. It fermented warm in my little Florida apartment bubbling in primary for less than 36 hours before sitting quietly for the rest of fermentation. I was worried to say the least. Other observations are how much it cleared up during conditioning and how utterly hooked I am now!

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Congratulations! Welcome to homebrewing. I brew in Fla. also and temp control is your next challenge.

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[quote=“DreadPirateWestley, post:1, topic:23677, full:true”] Other observations are how much it cleared up during conditioning and how utterly hooked I am now!
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Yep, you’ve been bit by the bug. Welcome to the group… Now you’ll be sitting at work and think, “wonder if adding a little more aroma hops would alter the perceived balance of the beer?”

I’m serious, it will start consuming you! In a good way!

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Ugh… I was bad at work a bit ago. Got in, sat down, and wanted to compare a few British yeast strains, started doing research, jotting down notes, then realized I’d spent two hours at work reading about yeast. You can get a little obsessed.

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I’ve been drinking my first, too—also a Block Party Amber that I converted to an amber saison. Not the best beer in the world but a damn fine start. :smiley:

I am a week out from uncorking my first one. So excited. Glad to hear that you liked it. It seems most folks are happy with their NB brews.

Ha, yeah, they know what’s up at work. I tend to get obsessed in new projects, and this is the latest. But in reading many posts around this forum, it sounds like home brewers tend to be the types to take on many hobbies and projects. I am finding many parallels to some other hobbies. I like things that can be tweaked and toyed with. While there are only a few variables, there are an infinite set of possibilities. I have said this before, in this one we have to wait a heck of a lot longer to see what happens though.

The difference here is that this is a process as old as history. There’s something really cool in doing something others find mysterious. Heck, I thought it was darn’d near magical the first time I saw that someone I knew did it at home. You mean… I… can make beer? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Now that you mention it I don’t know what took me so long to start brewing. I am definitely that type of person. Not only crafting and hobbying but I am an audio engineer, subtly tweaking nuances beyond others perception is literally my career and passion.

Congrats Pirate!
Now get working on your 2nd batch before the 1st runs out!

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Sounds reassuring to me. I just did my first brew with the same recipe in the starter kit. I went through the same worries you did. Ours only bubbled in the primary for 1 to 2 days and then stopped as all the water in the bubbler evaporated. I was incredibly nervous we did something wrong. After reading online in many forums to just stay patient and let the yeast do its thing, we let it sit for 2 weeks before bottling it today. That was an experience in itself!! (unfortunately, Fermenter’s Favorite bottle filler is a crap design that leaks everywhere, that I will soon look to replace with the spring loaded one). Anyway, we tasted it today without carbonation, and it actually tasted like decent.
I’m glad to know I wasn’t the only one freaking out about this same type of occurrence and now I can’t wait to drink it carbonated and cold like beer should be. I’m also looking forward to brewing new recipes and even tinkering with my own IPA recipe (my favorite!!)

I had horrible luck with the bottling wand too! Made bottling day the most difficult part of the process. My worries were put at ease when I poured and sipped the first beer!

I just received 2 extract kits today. The milk chocolate stout and La Petite Orànge. I really want to get my hands on a 5 gallon carboy first so I can do a secondary on these though. I still need a hydrometer too… ah! this rabbit hole looks deep…

Jim are you from Maine as I’m lead to believe by your handle? I’m originally from Scarborough and went to school in Bangor.

Ah, right on… So am I. I graduated from Full Sail in 93 and have been doing something with sound… well pretty much my whole life. Right now I am primarily a video editor, but the world has shifted a bit and I get many gigs because I can mix and fix many audio issues. Sound has been an awesome background. Well… that is unless you have had 36 oz. of your private stash of home brew… then the highs are going to be a wee bit attenuated. :smirk:

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I have no idea why they include that thing in every starter kit. The spring loaded is so much better…

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Best advice I received when I started.

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The more you brew the better the product. The better the product The more you drink. The more you drink the more you have to brew… If this chain of events gets broken the more you have to stand in line at the beer store.
Who wants to do that?

Yes- live in Ellsworth.
We are starting to have a pretty active homebrew club up here- the Greater Bangor Homebrew Club.

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Yes. Still got the issue. Here on bonaire. Use of swampcooler. Kveik yeast. Or even omega hotale. Will keep it under control

Yup, the rabbit hole is deep. I managed to keep from dropping down it a ways for my first two years, my brother had bought me all the gear to get started including a carboy and hydrometer. Year three I jumped… 15 gal stainless kettle, all-grain gear, copper counter flow chiller… seemed best just to make as much of a plunge as I could at once instead of easing down. Next steps that I’m seeing include a pump, dedicated brew area, and kegging.

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