1st Brew - Last Bottle

[MarkMc]

Just sat with the last bottle from my first ever brew. Its been bottled since 5th Jan, I first tried it around 12th to 14th Jan and have had a few here and there since, all I can say is 9-10 more weeks in the bottle has helped emensely.

So to all you new brewers out there, patience is a virtue and 1 fermentor is not enough. I now plan to get my 2nd fermentor in the next few weeks, and will also be masively adding to my tallie collection.

 

[Cube]

Two fermenters is the key to finding your 'sweet spot' in taste/brews. It is a sport of at least 3 weeks before taste. Within that 3 weeks three more brews can be ( two preferably ) made and NO improvements to YOUR taste can be made because of the wait for the initial brew to taste.

I'm now a month from pitching yeast until the brew hits a bottle(ing) and then add 3 weeks to carb up ( gelatine and polyclar = more carb time ) so it was VERY important for me to have two fermenters to find what I like back then. So average 7 weeks or more before I even taste my beer. Without my initial 'two fermenters' pumping out the beer to start with I wouldn't be drinking what I am now. And that's beer that I LIKE.

Now it's one brew always fermenting for two weeks whilst one is clearing in the fridge and previous brews being drunk and maturing/carbing.

 

[mxd]

masively adding to my tallie collection.

kegs h34r:

 

[QldKev]

Just sat with the last bottle from my first ever brew. Its been bottled since 5th Jan, I first tried it around 12th to 14th Jan and have had a few here and there since, all I can say is 9-10 more weeks in the bottle has helped emensely.

So to all you new brewers out there, patience is a virtue and 1 fermentor is not enough. I now plan to get my 2nd fermentor in the next few weeks, and will also be masively adding to my tallie collection.

lol - I remember back in the good ol days when I only had one fermentor too. I was fermenting from start to finish in a week at the time. Along come fermentor number 2 to be used for catch ups. Then I got a fermenting fridge and found a whole new world of homebrew quality. So 2 fermentors running for 2 weeks to a brew (normal Ale = 1 week @18, 2 days @22, 5 days @2). I needed a 3rd fermentor for catchups. So the obsession goes.

You will find different beers age differently. I prefer my IPAs young, general ALEs with a few weeks on them, higher alcohol / stouts are normally best aged for months.


QldKev

 

[Hatchy]

I'm up to 2 30L & a 60L fermenter, about 25 dozen longnecks, I don't know how many crown seal stubbies. Once I can get my hands on another free fridge there will be kegs. It doesn't take long before it can start getting a bit silly.

 

[zoidbergmerc]

It doesn't take long at all...

I started when my mates got me a 30L feremeter for my Bday in novemeber now I've got 3x30L and 2x60L.

Luckily enough I live in tassie and my spare room is now a dedicated brewery and keeping it around 17 degrees is easy!

 

[MarkMc]

kegs is a medium term plan. happy with bottles for now, they are easy to store in the bottom of the laundry cupboard, and its easy to fit 6 at a time in to the fridge. Problem at the minute is this rental does not have a space for the big american style fridge in the kitchen, so my little beer fridge is in the kitchen with everyday stuff like milk/cheese/butter/pop in it and I am sharing the big fridge in the garage with the main food for the house....

I don't think my brewing is excuse enough to move...Once we have our own place I'll have a chest freezer setup like the rest of you.

 

[Hatchy]

The other advantages of bottles is that they're more portable & you can buy them with beer already in them. It's a good way to try some different beers in the process of building a bottle collection.