My first batch is in the fermenter. Now for the wait for final product. I am pretty stoked but feel like I learned a ton this morning. I know I screwed up on a few things but I will learn. I am so stoked to be doing this. Thank you all! Also, at least my post boil reading came in at 1.026 so might be a more session beer. But for Brew #1 I am ok with it. Stayed tuned and I will be posting bottling pics next week.
Beer is really very forgiving. Assuming no major sanitation issues, it will be beer. In about 8 days (4 to ferment, 4 to 'rest') you'll bottle it, and 2 weeks later (at room temperature) it'll be fizzy. Chill one, see where it's at... and drink the rest if they're ready! So, patience. After your third or fourth brew, sanitation becomes more important. The fermenter gets micro scratches, the spigot gets crud, and so on. But cleaning is easy when everything is still damp.
mistakes or learning experience its your first try, you will make mistakes. been doing it 8 years, I still screw up and do things that are less than ideal, lol. as @Donoroto said, it will be beer when its done. once you done 5+ batches you will start to get your process down better and you will get beer that will continue to get better. just realise that you will make mistakes, up to and including mistakes that will require you to dump a batch. it happens. its all about learning from it. we've all been there.
Woo, congrats!! That was just step 1 of a very rewarding process patience is key, unfortunately. Time is my least favorite ingredient for homebrew
And so the journey begins. It's good of you to ask questions, whether or not you think it may be silly or novice. We all started at one time or another and our resources may not have been as good as this community is. Brew, ask questions, evaluate, research and go forward. Congrats on batch #1 Cheers, Brian
1.026 might be more of a table beer, but learning is good. What were you aiming for? I usually let mine sit in the fermenter for 14 days.
I was shooting for a 1.014 but I am ok with a table beer to start. It will still be beer when it is all said and done.
Calibrated and sample at 68 degrees. Not sure what happened but hey if nothing else I can give it to a non alcoholic beet drinker. Also, I am good with a beer flavored water.
True that. Hope to see you there. You missed a good club meeting last night: Julia Herz, executive director of the American Homebrewers Association, was there talking about Marzen. It'll be a pretty small beer.... I'm guessing you're reading the gravity using a hydrometer. What was your recipe?
The reason I asked what you are shooting far is to get an idea of what kind of alcohol you want. I like to make moderate alcohol beers (usually in the 5s). Most of my starting gravities are somewhere between 1.049 and 1.055. Now, I did screw up on my first batch estimating how much water I needed. Your final gravity (after fermentation) will depend on a lot of things: What kind of yeast, quantity of base malts vs. crystal or other malts, and adjuncts used. I also had issues with high FG when I was using extracts. I love your attitude because as with everything else, you are going to need a lot of patience and to learn from mistakes. Make sure you are taking notes. An OG that low using brewing software leads me to believe you either used too much water for the recipe, set the efficiency in the software too high, or both. Whatever it is, if properly sanitized, it will be drinkable as non-alcoholic, table beer, or something.
So I dry hopped today. The beer smelled fantastic, almost all hops no barnyard or fruit. I am going to let it sit for a few days and then bottle. I am pretty excited no matter what I get.
I can usually get a hint if my beer is going to be decent when I take my FG. I take a sample off the top with a sanitized wine thief to get a reading, and since the beer is there, well, why not taste it, even flat? I always try to make sure I get 14 days in the fermenter before bottling. It is a good habit when you brew something with a higher gravity and want to avoid bottle bombs. Also, make sure you watch a couple of videos and give those bottles a little bit of room at the top for CO2. Additionally, make a conscious effort to make sure all the sanitizing liquid is out of your bottle before putting beer in it. Foam is fine. Liquid is not. I've done that too. Another really easy way for an additional sanitation step for the bottles is to load them CAREFULLY into the dishwasher and let it run a cycle.
