Your first time. (if you can remember.)

What was your first brew day like? Mine was filled with. I was to cocky, a kit. Too easy. Then, still cocky. I told myself. "I Got this." Next Brew day. Got 2 or 3 lbs. Of speacilty malt, hops, yeast for a 5 gal batch. Turned out nasty. Beyond nasty. Think I di dd that one more time. Til' one day. Someone told me. 8, 9 lbs of two row. And I think I did 3 lbs. Of black malt. Came out a bit better. I'm a learning. What was your first time like?

Man I went all grain fly sparging my first beer. It was hell to be polite but the second brew was even more memorable. I remember standing there with the grain thinking dang if I dump this in the water I am going to have to finish it. I almost did not dump the grain.

First batch was 3bbl of Amber I believe. Turned out great.

First recipe I designed was about a month or so later, still brew it.

I just started about 6 months ago, having helped a buddy on two occasions with his brewing. Helping might be too strong of a characterization: I drank a lot of his beer and watched him brew his next batch. But for my first batch it was me, my faulty memory, the internet, and crossed fingers.

Anyway, my first time brewing was nerve wracking: I had the kit, the setup and dire warnings about sanitizing everything. And I had my wife and kids looking over my shoulder asking me questions about why I was doing what, and how much longer it would take until I was done. To soothe my jangling nerves I had some beer. To prime the pump, so to speak. Let's just say that my nerves were really jangly at the beginning, and really soothed at the end. Judging from the results, I did everything okay. The deck looked like a bomb had gone off in a LHBS.

Bottling that first batch was worse than brewing it! My wife was not pleased with my efforts in the kitchen. So much so that I now get up early on a weekend to bottle (ably helped by my 11 year old daughter, God bless her) so that my wife doesn't have to witness the process. Interestingly, my wife made no complaints when I announced I was going to start kegging at least some of my beer.

I did my first all grain batch last weekend - which was again nerve-wracking. But I had wised up. I did it when my wife and daughter were away, and my son was watching TV. And I didn't drink quite as much beer...

first batch: made my own recipe, an extract amber. felt comfortable about the process since I'd spent countless hours going over the forums, felt much less confident waiting for it to ferment. didn't turn out too bad for a first batch.
second batch: made a DIPA recipe. again extract with like 12oz of simcoe in it. went way overboard. ended up being super hoppy barleywine syrup. not good at all.
third batch: said screw it. all-grain. nerves kicked in finally. I stood there like varmint did thinking "ok, I really have to do this right, I hope I didn't screw something up"

couple hundred gallons later, I'm still learning stuff, always excited about brewing. I still like to think back over my first brewdays and how much I obsessed over every little detail and making sure everything had to go perfect....and I laugh at myself.

My first batch, I was 18, the year was 1992. My physics teacher taught me. It was "iron master brown ale". Came in a can, had a pack of Fison's yeast taped to the top with directions. We were drinking Foster's oil cans while doing it and he dialed in with his computer to nasa to download a photo, using, what would eventually be called the internet. nobody I knew had a computer back then. That was 21 years ago this month. I still brew and it's a part of who I am.

My first brew day was almost exactly 3 years ago. I had a Brewer Best IPA kit. I tried to do a full boil on an electric stove. I followed the instructions step by step. But no one told me that I needed to top off the finished product. I had 3 gals of pretty good beer, but it was strong. I had fun drinking it just wasn't something that you could solely in one night. But I got better from there. Now doing all-grain and kegging; brewing life is great.

My first brew was like the first time I had sex. I was so scared...

It was dark and I was all alone..


Actually, it was an extract Guinness clone that I boiled down to 4 gallons quite by accident... it wound up being a fairly strong Imperial Stout. ;-)

First batch: a Scottish Ale with extract kit with steeping grains.

Brewing went fine but I had no way to cool the wort. So I pitched the yeast when it finally cooled off to 100F, about 3am.

It had no head, mouthfeel was watery, & it tasted of green apples.

I was a winemaker, but beer intimidated me! I bought a Beer Machine 2000. I made two batches, and it was not good. I thought beer was "too hard".

I later tried a boxed kit with DME, LME, and hops and it was very good. I got seriously addicted to brewing after that, but did extract and partial mash beers for a long time (until mid-2006ish).

I blame this forum for getting me into brewing so much bigger!

My first brew was a kit with pre-hopped LME and some flaked maize for "lightness". Had to mash the maize for about 1/2 hour, strain it out and add the LME and boil. Instructions were to ferment in a "white plastic garbage pail" with a piece of cheese cloth over the top. Ferment for a week, transfer to a carboy for another two weeks and then bottle with table sugar for priming. Turned out pretty good, considering that it was fermented in a non-airconditioned house the summer before Carter signed the legislation legalizing homebrewing! Maybe my recollection is better now than reality was then.

My first batch was a red ale extract. I saw a Sam Adams homwbrew contest commercial and bought a kit. I was so nervous and it was not good, but drinkable..Most likely temp issues. Looking back now, man that was an easy process. I was so excited that I made beer. You know, I'm still excited that I make beer after all these years...

My first batch was an extract DIPA from Midwest. I ended up with about 4 gallons instead of 5 because I forgot to top off my water. That was 2.5 years ago. I had a few bottles left over that I drank a few months back. It was still really good after 2 years.

Unfortunately for me my first brew came out fantastic. It's unfortunate because the next 4-5 were awful. I had infections, off flavors, missing hops, and general nastiness. Then there was the whole 'moving to all-grain' thing that just about sank my whole brewing expedition.

I'm still trying to get back to 'fantastic'. I'm almost there. I just need a few thousand dollars worth of new equipment.

My first time was with the BIL. He pulled out his bucket and 5 gal pot. After a quick trip to the LHBS, we were brewing our first beer. I could not believe how easy it was. The following week, I bought your basic starter kit. Learned a lot about brewing in a very short time. I was hooked!

First brew was a Midwest Irish Red kit (extract with steeping) and the full kit. Was nervous but retentive about the directions. Put it into the bucket and forgot aout it for 2 weeks and then bottled it up. Was not bad, I was proud like a father showing off his son, and a touch sweet. Did not last long.

Then when the weather started warming up I started noticing ferment temperature influenced off flavors.

My first was a Mr. Beer kit. It turned out super nasty. Second try was a Brewers Best IPA kit. It was easy and I was successful. I did a bunch of kits with extract beers afterwards. I recently just tried my hand at BIAB and brewed my own recipe for an IPA. Holy God! Its cool to think about where you start to where you are now with this hobby.

maybe 15 years ago. Some bottles exploded because I didn't mix in the priming sugar. It was pretty delicious (Brewer's Best Red Ale Kit). I think I have notes on it.

11/25/1997
3.3# Muntons light extract
3.3# Muntons light extract (hopped)
4.5# Weyermann Melanoidin malt (german 2-row)
1oz Mount Hood 3.9%
5oz priming sugar
1028 Wyeast

152*F grain steep 20 minutes
half hops for 30 minutes other half at 2 minutes

air-lock activity took 18 hours
bottled 12/30

I remember it being kinda tasty. I have tasting notes from 5 sessions on it. Apparently I dry hopped a half gallon with cascade (no recollection ). I still have all my original equipment.

My first was a Brewers Best kit. It was like a Dos Equis Amber clone, but brewed as an ale. I had been reading Joy of Homebrewing, so I was super careful about sanitation (probably to the point of paranoia), but I added the hot wort to the top-off water before doing the ice bath. :smack: It took probably an hour and a half to get it cooled down. Bottling was also a long, fumbling procedure, with some friends along for help. A few bottles turned out decent, but most were badly oxidized and smelled/tasted like wet cardboard. We still choked every single one down and thought we were total bada$$es for making "beer".

I did my first brew a little over a month ago, partial mash scotch ale that ended up little more like a thin porter.

I don't remember much, I know there was a lot of frantic movements, some boiling water, a cooler. I woke up naked and my face covered in buffalo wing sauce.

My first was a B3 stout kit from B3 in 2005... I followed the procedure and fermented it in a glass carboy stuck in a closet.

I ended up kegging it, never went to bottles and invited a friend over for tapping the keg. Problem was I didn't have a kegerator yet.. just a small fridge that eventually became a kegerator.

So I bought a co2 tank, and a ball lock connector with a hose coming out of it... we'd put the ball lock in, beer would spray everywhere, got enough in the glass to drink and did that over and over again until we got drunk.

Actually turned out great, and set too high a standard because my next few brews were horrible... been addicted ever since though.

First attempt was a Coopers extract kit, who knows how long it had been sitting on the shelf before I bought it. It was NASTY!! Chucked it.
Second attempt was a canned extract, don't remember what brand, it was NASTY!! Chucked it, thoughts running through my head were that home brewing obviously wasn't for me! Tried one more time with a recipe from a LHBS with their extract and ingredients and never looked back. Totally immersed now

Back seat of a 1951 Ford, ca. 1958.

rico567 said:

Back seat of a 1951 Ford, ca. 1958.

Click to expand...

But how did you regulate your fermentation temps back there?

Don't remember my first batch. I know it was an extract, but it was back in the late 80's. Many batches since then.:rockin:

Late '09. My first batch was so disgusting, I'm amazed I still brew to this day. It was a stout K&K with equipment cleaned and sanitized with that pink chlorine powder that I didn't rinse well. The kit must have been sitting around for awhile as well. The stuff literally tasted like it had an electric charge. Roasty with notes of battery acid. Found HBT and The BN and went so far down the rabbit hole. ie; yesterday, I monitored the mash of a new recipe I'm working on, and took a pH sample every 10 minutes of a 90 minute mash LOL

Ha,ha. There is a resemblence to first brewing/ first time sex. In most cases its not so good-at least for the girl?.

Mine was a 1 gallon extract brew/minimal equipment and questionable ingredience. 20 min boil-quick-(like a first time should or is usually?) cheap? Probably like a first timer does it for the first time.Unprepared? Yep Even when you think you are fully prepared.Then after you brew it you realize or learn later what you could have done better. I even thought if homebrewing is like this then-it kinda sucks,and could have gave up.
I love it though,to me discovering brewing was about as exciting,as something youve never done before that you didnt even consider or think possible before.Its fun and you can brew and infinate amount and still learn each time.Whether its teqnique or ingredience,there is no limit in the future either,who knows what they will be malting next.
Anyways after that ramble.My first beer or 3 actually turned out really good with some age on it.If you screw up,dont give up and maybe age it. For me they seem to get better,although if you love them at first then drink them at first that way.

American IPA extract kit
In an apartment
On a gas stove.
Massive boilover
Added tap water straight to cooled wort in the primary
Fermented in the corner of my bedroom with a blanket around it at who knows what temp
Turned out amazing and have been brewing ever since

The difference between my first time and my first brew is only the date. My first brew was mere months ago and was an Everyday IPA AG kit from Brooklyn Brew Shop.

Considering my inexperience, I wound up with one hell of a finished product. Upon completion, I did a touchdown dance, causing the woman in the room at the time to giggle. When I popped the first bottle I was greeted with a massive geiser. The parallels are uncanny.

My first was a mr Beer kit as well. Don't remember how it turned out but it was the first and last time I used it. Went to extract right after that.

Mine was a Mr. Beer kit gifted to me by my sister in law. The first batch was a light ale which was fine aside from being somewhat thin and bland. Apparently I did something right though. I did a few more batches like that and went straight to all grain.

I started making wine at age 15 with a 1 gallon kit pop got & never used. Made wine till about age 30 & got tired of waiting a year to sample my handywork. We agreed I should try my hand at brewing beer in December 2010. Brewed the OS Lager kit that came with my Cooper's micro brew fermenter kit on 1/29/11. Used the Cooper's sanitizer I ordered with it & needed overnight to work. smelled like bleach to me. Still have that jar,as that was the 1st & last time I used it. Ordered Starsan & PBW the next day.
My notes say I got the 1.048 OG @ 30C (86F)! Pitched at 4:32pm. Yikes.
Temp went down to stabilize @ 22C (71.6F). Yeast was def slow being pitched dry,as the 1/2" of foam I saw the night before was gone. Wound up with some fusels & other common off flavors. But I signed up here & learned the differences with brewing beer vs wine making. Cold nights brought temp down to 19C so I figured that was good.
I at least had the sense to let the PET bottles sit from 2/13/11 to 3/6/11. They cleaned up & cleared of chill haze by 3/10/11. Off flavors gone & clear beer even my wife loved.
Wow....lookin at that first brewday in my notebook was like stepping into the way back machine. Rather amusing now that I'm now nit picking partial mash to get it clear,etc.

My first batch was only a month and half ago and was also a mr beer kit. After seeing how easy it was i picked up the equipment for 5 gallon batches. The first one was mexican cervesa and has yet to be tasted carbed but the taste test before bottling was quite enjoyable.

OP said something about being cocky but I gotta take the cake on an overly-cocky first brew.

My real first brew was an Classic American Light Hopped LME that came with Mr. beer kit. This one I don't count.

I wanted to make a Dry Irish Stout. Chose to go with a chocolate stout. I had Beersmith and thought, hell I could make up a recipe (I got into brewing for the creativity and art, if you will, of it).

So I found a basic recipe for a Dry Irish Stout and I think I ended up more than doubling the chocolate malt to a lb in a 2 gallon batch (i know right). I steeped this absurd amount of chocolate malt with a half lb of roasted barley then boiled for an hour with dark dme and a little East Kent and Fuggles and added a .5 lb of brown sugar with 5 min left to boost abv.

This stuff turned out light some sort of dark alcoholic molasses but truth be told as bad as this stuff was i was very proud of it and drank every bottle, with help from some of my nicer friends that are now my biggest supporters of my obsession. To make matters worse i thought to add coffee flavoring to half the batch and accidentally put 1 dram of coffee Lorann oils to 1 gallon of stout syrup and it was ungodly dry and roasty.

Thanks for hearing me out on my homebrew tribulations, lucky for me i found these forums shortly after and all batches since have been 100% better