Brewed my first batch on Saturday!

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BlackPoint
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Brewed my first batch on Saturday!

Post by BlackPoint »

So my friend Laura and I took the plunge on Saturday 2/17.

First time either of us have brewed and how exciting it was!

I have to say I was rather nervous since I decided from the start I wanted to brew my own recipe. We had only one goal in mind; to make a triple IPA, dubbed Triple Rope. From the kettle just before the transfer to the fermentation bucket we had a starting gravity of 1.090!

Fermentation started off to a quick start at just a little over a day.

As anxious as I am, I will check on it again tomorrow night and then one more time on Saturday.

Once the fermentation has gone through it's course we plan on transferring to the secondary fermenter and dry hopping for another couple of weeks were we will let that sit for about two weeks and then off to bottling!

To see all the details and view pictures take a look at our little blog: http://beer.thejphotogroup.com
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wottaguy
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RE: Brewed my first batch on Saturday!

Post by wottaguy »

Hello BlackPoint and GF and WELCOME to the awesome world of homebrewing and congrats go to both of you for taking the plunge!

You will never be the same again!

I started to homebrew many years ago and was introduced to it by a close friend of mine. He invited me over to his apartment to drink some brews, but I didn't think that it was his homebrew. I took a sip of his brew...then another..then another. After I finished that infamous brew, I asked him "where in the world did he ever get such a beer"? With much pride on his face and a giant smile he exclaimed "hey man...I made that beer...what do you think"? I said that it was great and very tastey and asked him about the details of how he went about it to make such a great libation. He explained the process that he followed and invited me over to witness the making of another brew.
I joined him for that brew session and never turned back! I've been brewing ever since and went out an bought Charlie P's wonderful book "The Joy of Homebrewing". {That was the 1st edition back then}.

I sincerely hope that both of you have found a new hobby which will follow you for your remaining days. It only gets better from here! If you guys ever need any advise, feel free to ask. There are a lot of very knowledgable homebrewers that frequent this forum and I'm sure that any one of them will be very happy to answer any questions you may have.
Here's the url to my blog if you're interested:

http://www.wottashomebrewblog.blogspot.com/

Once again...I welcome you as your journey begins into the fantastic world of homebrewing!

Ron S
Visit my blog @ http://www.wottashomebrewblog.blogspot.com

On Tap:
HL Pale Ale
HL Lite Lager
Bottled:
HL Simcoe Pale Ale
HL Wizeguy Weizenbock
HL Reveur Saison
HL Dry Stout
HL Kentucky Common
BlackPoint
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Post by BlackPoint »

Thanks Ron for the warm welcome Ron! Just to inform you, Laura and I are just friends - no romance lol

What kind of beer do you brew?
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wottaguy
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another RE:

Post by wottaguy »

LOL..!!! I thought you guy's looked too happy!!! Where you guys from? I'm in Florida. I like tobrew most styles but my favs are APA, Brown Ales, Stout, and a few of my own recipes too...scotch ales, marzen...etc...!!
Visit my blog @ http://www.wottashomebrewblog.blogspot.com

On Tap:
HL Pale Ale
HL Lite Lager
Bottled:
HL Simcoe Pale Ale
HL Wizeguy Weizenbock
HL Reveur Saison
HL Dry Stout
HL Kentucky Common
BlackPoint
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Post by BlackPoint »

lol No problem! Yeah we're all about the hops! But we also like darker beers like stouts and porters! We're in the northern California, in the Bay Area.
Chief
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Post by Chief »

Very cool guys...I took the plung (but not as deep) about a year ago. I was one of those Mr. Beer kits...and I thought it was okay...but now I am in Japan...and I home brew to the Intermediate level. Much like what you guys did for your first batch. Now my only question, I read that plastic was not the best to use to let your beer age, that glass was what it was all about. Did you hear or read the same thing? Just trying to learn like you guys...and good luck with the Triple P! BTW, they have a double IPA here in Japan...that freakin rocks! Anyway, very cool pics...
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billvelek
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Welcome ... and a suggestion ...

Post by billvelek »

Welcome to a great craft, BlackPoint (and Laura). Nice pics, too. I do have a suggestion or two based on what I see or think I see.

1. The butterfly capper. I used mine for the first couple of batches, and then went to a bench capper; they're really not that expensive, and I've never been happier. Until you do that, keep in mind that the butterfly capper will not work with all bottles; some bottles (don't know the beer brands) have a shortened area (for lack of a better word) that the butterfly capper needs to be able to grab hold of in order to force the cap down and crimp it. I'd hate to see you sanitize a bunch of bottles and find that you are not able to cap some of them and then not have enough bottles. Just be sure you know which bottles you can cap and have enough of them.

2. In your 'Kettle to Fermentation' pic, it is hard to tell if you are draining from the kettle directly into the fermenter or whether I'm seeing a chiller next to it. It looks like the coils from an immersion chiller or possibly you are running through the coils sitting in a tub of cold water or whatever. Just curious about what you are doing and how well you are chilling and the technique that you are using. If that is a chiller, you are starting out way ahead of where I started 10+ years ago. If you want some good ideas on EQUIPMENT, you are welcome to join my Yahoo Group -- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BrewingEquipment -- however, please note that it is strictly about equipment and is NOT a forum for discussing HOW to brew, etc. If you need help with that, there are lots of good forums, including this one.

3. I don't care how cute Laura is ... don't let her drink more than half the beer. :D And don't go anywhere near the bedroom with her during any critical brewing times or I'm afraid your schedule will get all out ot wack.

Note to wottaguy: very nice blog and brewery.

Cheers, and good luck.

Bill Velek
Visit www.tinyurl.com/bvelek - portal to my brewing sites: 3,100+ members on 'Grow-Hops', and 1,350+ brewers on my 'BrewingEquip' group.
Running BTP v1.5.3 on WinXP 2005 SP3 w/AMD Athlon 64@3800+, 1GigRam, Res 1024x768
BlackPoint
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Post by BlackPoint »

Thanks everyone for all the kind words! One thing I have noticed about the homebrew community is that everyone is so nice and so down to earth.

Bill, just to answer your question, we are draining the wort to the fermentation bucket. To chill the wort we did use a brass wort chiller. My faucet didn't have the right hook up so we had to hold it in place (but no we didn't get any of the tap water in the wort).

In regards to the bottling, thanks for the advice. I plan on getting some better equipment over the next year, this is just all to get me started. I have about forty-eight 12 oz bottles but we will also get a few 22 oz bottles as well.

The pics and the blog are a little dry, I think I was kinda buzzed when I wrote it, as that may be obvious in some of the wording :lol:
akueck
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Post by akueck »

BlackPoint wrote:lol No problem! Yeah we're all about the hops! But we also like darker beers like stouts and porters! We're in the northern California, in the Bay Area.
Where around the bay? I'm in Oakland. Let me know if you want to swap a 6-pack.

Aaron
akueck at comcast dot net

PS nice propane setup.
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Post by Dissolution »

BlackPoint wrote:Thanks everyone for all the kind words! One thing I have noticed about the homebrew community is that everyone is so nice and so down to earth.
That's what you get when you have a group of people with an unlimited supply of beer at their disposal.
BlackPoint
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Post by BlackPoint »

So yesterday was the second official day! Dry hopping! :D Pictures will be up shortly lol

We took a hydrometer reading and it came out to 1.020 so we're well on our way for a nice triple IPA :mrgreen:

The samples could not be more delicious! We only took a shot glass full each and could definitely feel the alcohol :o

Will keep all of you posted!
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Post by jawbox »

Black,
Looks like you had a long day. Sounds like your fermentation is moving along, not sure if you'll be dropping much more than 1.020. How long do you intened to dryhop?

Later,
jaw
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BlackPoint
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Post by BlackPoint »

We were planning on dry hopping for two weeks. Yeah the first day was crazy long! Even yesterday was kind of long (about two hours) but it was well worth it!

I figure when we are ready to bottle, (two weeks) we will add in the corn syrup mix and it will increase the gravity reading a little bit.
BlackPoint
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Post by BlackPoint »

Okay well the blog has been updated with a new entry and some new photos! http://beer.thejphotogroup.com
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