First Brew

outdoorsfan

outdoorsfan

Joined
Sep 30, 2009
Messages
2,351
My dear wife bought me a starter brewing kit for Father's Day. I have wanted to give this a try for the longest time. I have several friends that brew and, well, I just love beer so why not make it?!!?!?

I had some time Saturday night and started my first batch. This kit has a one gallon fermenter. I will eventually move up to 5 gal. batches but this is a nice size to kind of learn the process and, also, use for "experimenting" in the future with different styles and ingredients. I got a lot of tips and info from two of my friends that brew and the kit had directions online that made the process easy to understand. It did take a bit longer than I expected and it turned out to be kind of a late evening. I thought it might be fun to do a "making of" thread out of this, so, here it is.......

The Making Of.....

beer-label_zps2b84dac8.jpg


The wort really had a great smell when it was cooking away...very chocolatey! At the end of the boil, you add 3/4 cup of maple syrup and, wow, did it look and smell good.

Mini Brewery in my kitchen....

brew2_zpsa7c3ff03.jpg


And the desired result....bubbles!

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It bubbled away fairly steadily throughout the day and was still at it this morning, although the bubbling had slowed a bit. Tonight, I will install the airlock and move the fermenter into the basement where it will do its thing for about two weeks.

So far, I think I am on the right track. Everything looks to be going like it should. With any luck, I will be enjoying a nice cold Trapline in about a month. After I bottle this batch in two weeks, I plan to start Batch #2 which is a Brown Ale. I would guess there are a few of you guys that have done this as well. Any tips would be appreciated!
 
Put a tarp under your storage area in the basement after bottling. Sometimes the screw ups can be pretty messy!--KV
 
Pretty cool Sean,I'm a teetotaler myself,but making your own anything is cool,good luck with it.(diggin' the label BTW)
 
You should have the process pretty much dialed in by the Fall Gathering.

Jeff
 
Nice man! I've always been interested in making my own brew, looks like fun. Thanks for the 'making of', looking forward to seeing more!
 
Pulled the tubing and installed the airlock last night. Moved my little jug of love into the basement for a two week nap. Everything still seems to be going well, yeast still active and looking good!

Off to the Brew store this weekend to pick up a capper, caps, priming sugar tabs and some additional sanitizer.

This may actually work!!!!!
 
outdoorsfan said:
Pulled the tubing and installed the airlock last night. Moved my little jug of love into the basement for a two week nap. Everything still seems to be going well, yeast still active and looking good!

Off to the Brew store this weekend to pick up a capper, caps, priming sugar tabs and some additional sanitizer.

This may actually work!!!!!
Click to expand...

hey sean. just seeing this. i've always thought about doing this, but haven't rassled up the gumption yet. very cool thread. can't wait to see how it turns out. subscribed!
 
Sweet! DBH!!!

The biggest problem that I think most home brewers have is bacteria. Make sure your bottles are super clean, use a sanitizing solution.

When I do a 5 gallon batch, I put two gallons of water in the fridge to cool, and boil my 3 gallons of wort. When you are ready to pitch your yeast, I then pour the hot wort and the two cold gallons of water into the fermentation tun, immediately bringing the beer to room temperature, perfect for pitching the yeast. If you allow the wort to cool to room temperature without assistance, you risk bacterial growth, since the bacterias can grow at a higher temperature than the yeast can, so the bacteria can get a head start and color the flavor of your brew.

I stopped using syrups early on, as I can tell immediately when a syrup was used. I now prefer dry malt extract (DME) and then steep cheesecloth bags of grains to color the flavor.

Also, the yeast "smack packs" are much better than dry yeast. Wyeast is the brand I prefer.

Be careful to not use too much bottling sugar - doing so can cause the dreaded homebrew-grenades. Not fun. I would keep the bottled beer in boxes as a precaution until you are sure of your measures.

I used cheap vodka in the bubbler.

I look forward to a taste of your DBH - at 9.6% and with a name like that.......yum!

best

mqqn
 
This is very interesting. The closest I ever came to this was going several times to a place where groups of us would brew different beers on one night, then return in 2 weeks to bottle. It was a fun way to experience the home brew without having to worry about not having everything just right. Of course, that's half the fun in the discovery of things.

Anyway, looks like fun. Good luck!
 
Nice man. My dad and i have been brewing for years. Afew tips are that if the fermentation dies out, you can save the beer with maple syrup. Also, never keg your beer. Every time weve tried it it comes out way to yeasty. Not like hefenweisen yeasty but i think it almost tastes like pizza dough
 
Looks interesting, but just not for me, I don`t like the different tasting beers. Besides, I basically drink twice a year, March and October.
 
I have seen you drink on other occasions Mr K...granted not all that often yet...

Appreciate the advice guys. Every little bit helps!

Mr Moon, the DBH Stout only exists in my mind. My skill level is at a big fat zero now, might be a bit of time before I can figure out a yeast and recipe to brew an ABV closing in on 10%. My buddy suggested the premade priming tabs to avoid the grenade scenario. I think that will work well for me.

A keg system is a long way off, if ever. But, again, thanks for the wisdom!!!

Looking forward to visiting the brewatorium this weekend!
 
JK Knives said:
Looks interesting, but just not for me, I don`t like the different tasting beers. Besides, I basically drink twice a year, March and October.
Click to expand...

Me too - I only drink during two periods each year. Once from Late November through June, then from July through late November.

best

mqqn
 
Well Ok... Time for me to chime in:

I am so pleased to see that the homebrewing spirit is still alive and well. And I'm psyched to see this post on one of my favorite message boards! Congrats and cheers to a job well done!
Oh by the way, I'm a professional craft brewer who got his start by homebrewing in college. Fire away or PM me if you have any questions. I'll always try to help.

Cheers,

Jeremy
 
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