well, the bottling is done!!!!! My first amber ale will be ready to drink in 2 weeks or so(i hope!). Now what? what the hell should I brew next????? I totally loved the whole process it was awesome, I think I should still get a beginners kit but im looking into a partial mash kit, just dont know what style I should go with.
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my 1st homebrew
- Thread starter BigFoot
- Start date
How about something with specialty grains? Learning to hold the temprature for steeping the grains will give you a leg up when you try to do a partial mash. Or maybe something with a high gravity that you need to make a yeast starter? Glad to here you got the first batch bottled I bet it will be great.
I would also suggest maybe an extract with specialty grains. That Graff cider I've been making is basically beer but instead of water it's apple juice, and a 1 gallon boil of water with specialty grains and some malt extract. It makes damn tastey stuff!
Also like derfatdutchman said maybe something high gravity that needs a huge starter. I have a half gallon starter going right now for a Russian Imperial Stout that should end up with a specific gravity of about 1.135. I still have to pick up an aquarium aerating stone to oxygenate my wort for the huge starter. Stirring simply won't do it with this high a gravity.
Also like derfatdutchman said maybe something high gravity that needs a huge starter. I have a half gallon starter going right now for a Russian Imperial Stout that should end up with a specific gravity of about 1.135. I still have to pick up an aquarium aerating stone to oxygenate my wort for the huge starter. Stirring simply won't do it with this high a gravity.
BigFoot care to give us an update?
I've got my first batch clearing in the secondary right now and I'm starting my second batch on Saturday. Irish Red Ale and and English Brown Ale. The waiting is killing me.
I've got my first batch clearing in the secondary right now and I'm starting my second batch on Saturday. Irish Red Ale and and English Brown Ale. The waiting is killing me.
All bottles up, Im into half a case already, not bad for my first time, I think! Came out a little light but tasty, little fruity though almost peachy flavor(ever so light). Ive got all the ingredients for an English Brown that I'll be whipping up Saturday too!!!
I brewed a Wheat and an IPA a few months ago. I didn't care for them but everyone else loved em, but I brewed an Irish Red around Halloween thats been aging and will prolly bottle with in the next few weeks. Hopefully I'll like them more.
-LB
-LB
SkinsFanLarry
Craft Beer Addict!
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2008
- Messages
- 14,355
LB, in my opinion, nothing beats a good Wheat Beer, the more unfiltered it is the better it is to me!
Just picked up yeasts and hops for three other brews I'm doing. I just bottled a dark IPA on monday night. I have a Pliney the Elder clone kit on the way and a red ale kit on the way. I got ingredients for a blue moon clone (keep the wifey happy), and ingredients for a recipe from Sgresso here.
kmckinn3
Learning from the best
In a month or 2 we should make a trade my friend. I'd like to know how that pliney the elder comes out.
kmckinn3
Learning from the best
I use pellets for the boil and whole hops for "dry hopping". You'll need a sock of some sort to put the hops in and you soak them in the beer while it ferments and take out before bottling.
Whole leaf is easier to deal with. Get some reuseable nylon bags for the boil or dry hopping. That way you can pull them out easy with no straining needed. Pellets are even more of a pain if not bagged.
kmckinn3
Learning from the best
I don't bag the pellets. They completely disappear in to the boil or mix with the trub.
You can boil whole hops no prob. Everyone does it. You can dry hop with either it's just that one is easier than the other to dry hop with. I always bag my hops now after my first time of dry hopping using pellets and not bagging them I primed with my bottling sugar and then couldn't bottle for a while because I mixed up all the broken down hops back into suspension (shaking bottle to mix sugar in). So to take it out and have a clearer beer I filtered for bottling.
kmckinn3
Learning from the best
I'm able to leave all that trub in the fermenter with my auto-siphon
NO need to sanitize the hydro because you shouldn't be dumping the beer back in to ferment.
Now when it comes to DME you can use whatever company you want one might just taste a little different than another one. I buy munton typically. If you're talking liquid it's just a perference thing I would say.
Now when it comes to DME you can use whatever company you want one might just taste a little different than another one. I buy munton typically. If you're talking liquid it's just a perference thing I would say.
I use the better bottles with the siphon on the side which makes for easy bottling but like I said when shaking it mixes everything up. So when throwing pellets in for dry hopping in the secondary I'll be bagging them now.