first taste of success

i couldnt wait any longer and i had to try my beer.

i bottled it about 5 days ago and it has been sitting in a warm room. i moved it to the shed for its week cold clearing stage yesterday but the sound of all those bottles chinking aginst each other whetted my appitite. i know it is a bit early but i had to try.

firstly, i was extremely satisfied to hear a decent 'hiss' as i took off the cap. i kind of expected a flat beer. i poured and was amazed at the thick creamy head. but the crucial part was still to come, how would it taste?

a little strange at first, quite a tangy, citrus flavour. the second quaff and i was accustomed to the flavour-not a bad flavour, just new. my wife tried a sip and confirmed it was indeed beer.

it was a lovely pint (500mls) and i had to try another.

now i will leave it. a week in the shed and the flavours should (as i am told) develop. i hope the citrus flavour rounds out and mellows a bit but it wont be a disaster if it doesnt.

happily, my guts dont feel bad at all today so i assume all is well with the brew. i am one happy new brewer.

my second brew has been in the tub for 7 days and should be ready to bottle by day 9, if my last brew is anything to go by.

with the guys coming over for the wales newzealand game i expect my first batch to take a decent hiding, much like the wales team will thankfully i will have another 40 bottles developing nicely and another brew in the tub so i should be all set for christmas.

:
cheers.

Great news sounds like it's going well, I only got into brewing this summer and through joining this site I have learned loads about brewing, cant wait to get home from work and have a bottle or two of my Muntons Smugglers Ale :

Good man! What did you brew?

I must admit that a thick creamy head after a few days is pretty good going!

Tony said:

Good man! What did you brew?

I must admit that a thick creamy head after a few days is pretty good going!

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i used a kit, youngs definitive bitter. i used brown sugar for the finishing sugar-not sure if that made much difference to the head.
i bottled it last thursday so it actually had 6 days in a warm room to carbonate. i will have to force myself to leave it for a week in the cold before i try again.

in my new brew i used malt extract and brown sugar in the tub and i will again finish it with brown sugar.

beer is such a good hobby

happyhoppytaff said:

now i will leave it. a week in the shed and the flavours should (as i am told) develop.

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PATIENCE HHT, leave it 4wks minimum (if you can)

evanvine said:

happyhoppytaff said:

now i will leave it. a week in the shed and the flavours should (as i am told) develop.

Click to expand...

PATIENCE HHT, leave it 4wks minimum (if you can)

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there is no way it'll survive the wales allblacks game unscathed. i'll try and keep a few bottles back and see what might have been. my next batch-bottling monday probably-will have more maturing time.

happyhoppytaff said:

evanvine said:

happyhoppytaff said:

now i will leave it. a week in the shed and the flavours should (as i am told) develop.

Click to expand...

PATIENCE HHT, leave it 4wks minimum (if you can)

Click to expand...

there is no way it'll survive the wales allblacks game unscathed. i'll try and keep a few bottles back and see what might have been. my next batch-bottling monday probably-will have more maturing time.

Click to expand...

Get the 3rd one on immediately... :thumb:

Sooner or later you have done enough where you can wait a few more weeks ( although I still struggle sometimes!! :whistle: )

sounds a great success congratulations

evanvine said:

happyhoppytaff said:

now i will leave it. a week in the shed and the flavours should (as i am told) develop.

Click to expand...

PATIENCE HHT, leave it 4wks minimum (if you can)

Click to expand...

yes but when starting out you need to try one every few days so you can appreciate how the flavour changes and develops. Thats what i did when i started.............and still do

happyhoppytaff said:

happily, my guts dont feel bad at all today

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I have to admit that made me smile Definite mark of success.
It's a nice feeling opening that first bottle and confirming you have in fact MADE beer, isn't it?!

nice one man, I remember how happy I was when I tasted my first ever bottle of brew, that was 10 kits,3 batches of turbo cider, 20 bottles of elderflower champagne and 30 bottles of ginger beer ago!, and I'm still loving making beer! its a great hobby to have. get as much beer made as possible to start with so you have got a constant supply to drink!
awra best.

evanvine said:

happyhoppytaff said:

now i will leave it. a week in the shed and the flavours should (as i am told) develop.

Click to expand...

PATIENCE HHT, leave it 4wks minimum (if you can)

Click to expand...

I've been brewing for a good few years no and I'm still lucky if the bottles last 4 weeks

I'm another new starter and I too have had trouble leaving the beer alone! I started a Coopers Dark Ale kit at the end of September which was my first ever brew and I've got to say I was tempted to try it while it was still in the fermenter .

I left it for the four weeks only having the occasional little sample to see how it was getting on and you can really taste the difference even over just a couple of days. It initially had a kind of slightly chemically tangy kind of taste to it which wasn't unpleasant but it didn't really seem like it should be there. After the four weeks it had completely gone and it tasted just overall better so if yours is anything like mine I wouldn't worry about it.

I drank that fairly quickly and I have started a Coopers Brewmaster IPA kit which has been in the keg for a fortnight now and I have had about 5 pints of it and it is already tasting amazing. It was a bit of a worry to start with, it went from nice smelling and foamy to stagnant and vinegary smelling after 3 days in the fermenter but I went with it and kegged it after the week and it was fine. I had all good intentions at the start of leaving it until Christmas but I dont think thats going to happen :drink:

I'm getting another keg for Christmas so I'll have more than one beer on the go so that should ease the temptation somewhat but I'll probably still be the same. I'm planning on having three kegs on the go so there is always beer brewing and always beer thats drinkable.

I definitely agree that it is unbelievable when you try it for the first time and realise you have actually made beer!