My first brew
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yankinoz
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Once upon a time, in a faraway land, Budweiser sold (lightly) hop-flavoured, liquid malt extract in cans about the present size for LME. Though Prohibition had long passed and packets of yeast were sold with them, directions were for baking bread, not brewing, which fooled no one.
I used boiling well water to dilute. Don't remember anything else about sanitation, but infection did not happen.
Usual practice was to use one can + sugar in five gallons of water. I used two cans in three gallons, no sugar, fermented in carboy with airlock. OG? FG? Who knows? After bottling in quarts, followed by carbonation, I left them over three winter months in an underground, backyard tornado shelter, at a temp of about five degrees, which in that time and place was better known as about 41 degrees.'
It was highly alcoholic, malty and fairly smooth. Despite the high concentration of extract, the bitterness wasn't high, but the connection with Budweiser explains that.
Mostly drunk at a spring party, the beer drew favourable reviews, such as "far out s**t, man, and requests for the recipe, but I should note thst some palates may have been affected by prior consumption of an herb.
I used boiling well water to dilute. Don't remember anything else about sanitation, but infection did not happen.
Usual practice was to use one can + sugar in five gallons of water. I used two cans in three gallons, no sugar, fermented in carboy with airlock. OG? FG? Who knows? After bottling in quarts, followed by carbonation, I left them over three winter months in an underground, backyard tornado shelter, at a temp of about five degrees, which in that time and place was better known as about 41 degrees.'
It was highly alcoholic, malty and fairly smooth. Despite the high concentration of extract, the bitterness wasn't high, but the connection with Budweiser explains that.
Mostly drunk at a spring party, the beer drew favourable reviews, such as "far out s**t, man, and requests for the recipe, but I should note thst some palates may have been affected by prior consumption of an herb.
I was 18, it was a Coopers Home Brew Kit, Coopers Sparkling Ale. Kit and kilo.
Sodium Met was the steriliser back then, I didn't rinse the bottles after using it and the beer was tainted with it. Was not great.
I still drank the 30 odd bottles. *shudder*
Sodium Met was the steriliser back then, I didn't rinse the bottles after using it and the beer was tainted with it. Was not great.
I still drank the 30 odd bottles. *shudder*
Brewing kit as a gift from my daughter and son after I retired. Some sort of lager can plus sugar. I went up market for this my first brew, and used a dry lager yeast rather than the kit yeast. As it was high summer and as I did not have temperature control, you can guess it fermented at a minimum temperature of 28C
After that, and consuming it all through gritted teeth, it's a miracle I'm still brewing some 16 years later.
PS: I think the beers got better with the next batch, which was a UK style Amber Ale.
After that, and consuming it all through gritted teeth, it's a miracle I'm still brewing some 16 years later.
PS: I think the beers got better with the next batch, which was a UK style Amber Ale.
Hangover68
Well-Known Member
it was 1995 and i used a Wander brewing kit with a dubious flavour lager extract can, brewed in my laundry at my parents house and bottled then capped with one of those hand held cappers you wack with a hammer. Broke a few bottles but still have nearly all of the clear Carlton cold embossed stubbies that i used back then, it wasn't the most palatable brew as it had that lovely homebrew tang.
yankinoz
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Yikes! What could go wrong?
Hazah
Member
I started in 1994 with a Wander home brew kit that Santa left me under the Christmas tree that year. I was a young father of three kids under three with a wife that wasn’t working and things were pretty tight at the time – I could afford a carton of beer every fortnight depending on what was on special at the time good old VB was the beverage of choice.
Please try not to cringe when reading this.....
I swear that kit had been sitting in a warehouse all year as what came out of the can was nothing short of the darkest lager that I have ever seen - sanitised everything using sodium metabisulfite and nearly killed myself by sticking my nose in the fermenter to have a smell - lol - seriously don't do this!
Hit it with 2 liters of unfiltered tap water straight out of the kettle and mixed in a kilo of Woolworths finest white sugar - topped it up straight out of the tap to the 23litre mark – Dunked the included plastic flask straight in the wort and took a gravity reading with the included hydrometer and tipped the sample back into the fermenter – no point wasting beer! I then tore open the yeast with my teeth and sprinkled on the included dry yeast and let that baby rip on the kitchen bench in the Townsville Christmas heat. Think 31 C – we didn’t have aircon in the house back then. Warm weather just meant it finished up way quicker and you didn’t have to wait around for two weeks like the guys down south!
I was stoked when it started bubbling about three hours later – I waited the whole seven days before taking a sample over the next three days – diligently returning the sample back into the fermenter after each reading by just unscrewing the lid and dumping it back in – apparently oxidisation wasn’t a thing then
Then came time to bottle I had saved up a bunch of VB stubbies that I diligently washed in some mystery pink powder that I got given from a mate who was an “experienced” homebrewer at work - after nearly passing out again from another lung full of sodium met I belted the caps on with a hammer after carefully measuring out the sugar and priming each bottle.
I then whacked them in the kitchen cupboard above the stove for 2 weeks before chilling my first couple down and opening them for the taste test – it must have been the worst beer I have ever made, but I was proud of it and even convinced my mates to have a go at it.
We all thought it was okay, then again we all used to drink VB as our preferred beverage of choice so that’s saying something.
I might add this started me into home brewing so I guess it's a good thing.
Please try not to cringe when reading this.....
I swear that kit had been sitting in a warehouse all year as what came out of the can was nothing short of the darkest lager that I have ever seen - sanitised everything using sodium metabisulfite and nearly killed myself by sticking my nose in the fermenter to have a smell - lol - seriously don't do this!
Hit it with 2 liters of unfiltered tap water straight out of the kettle and mixed in a kilo of Woolworths finest white sugar - topped it up straight out of the tap to the 23litre mark – Dunked the included plastic flask straight in the wort and took a gravity reading with the included hydrometer and tipped the sample back into the fermenter – no point wasting beer! I then tore open the yeast with my teeth and sprinkled on the included dry yeast and let that baby rip on the kitchen bench in the Townsville Christmas heat. Think 31 C – we didn’t have aircon in the house back then. Warm weather just meant it finished up way quicker and you didn’t have to wait around for two weeks like the guys down south!
I was stoked when it started bubbling about three hours later – I waited the whole seven days before taking a sample over the next three days – diligently returning the sample back into the fermenter after each reading by just unscrewing the lid and dumping it back in – apparently oxidisation wasn’t a thing then
Then came time to bottle I had saved up a bunch of VB stubbies that I diligently washed in some mystery pink powder that I got given from a mate who was an “experienced” homebrewer at work - after nearly passing out again from another lung full of sodium met I belted the caps on with a hammer after carefully measuring out the sugar and priming each bottle.
I then whacked them in the kitchen cupboard above the stove for 2 weeks before chilling my first couple down and opening them for the taste test – it must have been the worst beer I have ever made, but I was proud of it and even convinced my mates to have a go at it.
We all thought it was okay, then again we all used to drink VB as our preferred beverage of choice so that’s saying something.
I might add this started me into home brewing so I guess it's a good thing.
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1975ish, boots the chemist extract kit in UK.
fermented in the airing cupboard where the water heater resides.
bottled with hammer whacker capper, obv too much sugar, laid down horizontally on shelf in my bedroom.
first one exploded, setting off a chain reaction.
the beer went through the carpet, floorboards and the downstairs ceiling.
the few bottles that were left tasted awful.
i don't even know why i tried, i lived across the road from a good Robinsons pub
fermented in the airing cupboard where the water heater resides.
bottled with hammer whacker capper, obv too much sugar, laid down horizontally on shelf in my bedroom.
first one exploded, setting off a chain reaction.
the beer went through the carpet, floorboards and the downstairs ceiling.
the few bottles that were left tasted awful.
i don't even know why i tried, i lived across the road from a good Robinsons pub
Last edited:
DucatiBoyStu
Active Member
.......about 20yrs ago...like I am going to remember that
Timewellspent
Member
A brew only a parent could love!!!I started in 1994 with a Wander home brew kit that Santa left me under the Christmas tree that year. I was a young father of three kids under three with a wife that wasn’t working and things were pretty tight at the time – I could afford a carton of beer every fortnight depending on what was on special at the time good old VB was the beverage of choice.
Please try not to cringe when reading this.....
I swear that kit had been sitting in a warehouse all year as what came out of the can was nothing short of the darkest lager that I have ever seen - sanitised everything using sodium metabisulfite and nearly killed myself by sticking my nose in the fermenter to have a smell - lol - seriously don't do this!
Hit it with 2 liters of unfiltered tap water straight out of the kettle and mixed in a kilo of Woolworths finest white sugar - topped it up straight out of the tap to the 23litre mark – Dunked the included plastic flask straight in the wort and took a gravity reading with the included hydrometer and tipped the sample back into the fermenter – no point wasting beer! I then tore open the yeast with my teeth and sprinkled on the included dry yeast and let that baby rip on the kitchen bench in the Townsville Christmas heat. Think 31 C – we didn’t have aircon in the house back then. Warm weather just meant it finished up way quicker and you didn’t have to wait around for two weeks like the guys down south!
I was stoked when it started bubbling about three hours later – I waited the whole seven days before taking a sample over the next three days – diligently returning the sample back into the fermenter after each reading by just unscrewing the lid and dumping it back in – apparently oxidisation wasn’t a thing then
Then came time to bottle I had saved up a bunch of VB stubbies that I diligently washed in some mystery pink powder that I got given from a mate who was an “experienced” homebrewer at work - after nearly passing out again from another lung full of sodium met I belted the caps on with a hammer after carefully measuring out the sugar and priming each bottle.
I then whacked them in the kitchen cupboard above the stove for 2 weeks before chilling my first couple down and opening them for the taste test – it must have been the worst beer I have ever made, but I was proud of it and even convinced my mates to have a go at it.
We all thought it was okay, then again we all used to drink VB as our preferred beverage of choice so that’s saying something.
I might add this started me into home brewing so I guess it's a good thing.
Cracker !
Timewellspent
Member
Only 4 months ago and I didn’t have any plans so dropped into a LHBS. They spent so much time helping me understand everything I felt obligated to buy a starter kit.
I also wanted my first brew to taste good so I purchased a fresh wort to safely get the feel for it.
Even though all I did was pour it into the fermenter and ad a pack of yeast I was hooked. Longest 4 weeks of my life waiting to taste the first bottle
I think my wife is sick of hearing about how my current brew is going and what I am going to brew next weekend
I also wanted my first brew to taste good so I purchased a fresh wort to safely get the feel for it.
Even though all I did was pour it into the fermenter and ad a pack of yeast I was hooked. Longest 4 weeks of my life waiting to taste the first bottle
I think my wife is sick of hearing about how my current brew is going and what I am going to brew next weekend
JDW81
I make wort, the yeast make it beer.
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First ever brew was in good old Newcastle NSW with a mate, and we brewed a tin of something pale (don't remember what). By dumb luck it was in the winter so temperature wasn't an issue. I remember it being drinkable and not unpleasant, but not overly flavoursome. Didn't really kick on with brewing at that stage.
My first brew at the start of my proper HB odyssey was again another kit, I think it was an amber style brew and I was trying to replicate MG Fancy Pants (the original version, not the poor cousin it is these days). Wasn't that close to the commercial version, but was really good and I was hooked. Had done enough reading prior to understand the importance of sanitisation and temp control.
My first AG brew was Dr Smurto's TT Land Lord clone. Still one of my most memorable brews. Have made it a few times since, but somehow just wasn't quite the same as the first.
JD
My first brew at the start of my proper HB odyssey was again another kit, I think it was an amber style brew and I was trying to replicate MG Fancy Pants (the original version, not the poor cousin it is these days). Wasn't that close to the commercial version, but was really good and I was hooked. Had done enough reading prior to understand the importance of sanitisation and temp control.
My first AG brew was Dr Smurto's TT Land Lord clone. Still one of my most memorable brews. Have made it a few times since, but somehow just wasn't quite the same as the first.
JD
Was in Aug 2020 - Morgan's blue mountain lager kit and kilo that came with the starter kit my partner bought for my birthday. Even used the yeast that came with the tin. Hands down the worst beer I have ever made where something has not gone wrong (had an infection that came with a brand new fermenter (WTF) and a couple batches that had off flavors I think from brewing ginger beer in the same plastic fermenter.
Had read enough to use sanitiser but do remember topping the fermenter up with straight tapwater (no filtering, boiling or de-chlorination). I did not enjoy the brew and it was not well reviewed by others that gave it a try either. Next batch was a partial grain extract Little Creatures Bright Ale Clone that was lovely and the AG version of this is my house beer now (and one which people seem to like as they keep asking for bottles of it).
Had read enough to use sanitiser but do remember topping the fermenter up with straight tapwater (no filtering, boiling or de-chlorination). I did not enjoy the brew and it was not well reviewed by others that gave it a try either. Next batch was a partial grain extract Little Creatures Bright Ale Clone that was lovely and the AG version of this is my house beer now (and one which people seem to like as they keep asking for bottles of it).
