Just popped the top on our first batch

My father and i have been thinking about getting into home brewing for a few years now. Picked up our kit last month with a true brew amber ale kit on an impulse buy because of tax returns The first brew went very smoothly except for one issue when chilling the wort. The only ice we had was an old block in a bag and put it in the sink water early but it was still fairly large when we went to chill so we asked my younger brother to chop it up a bit with a knife and throw the pieces in the water. first thing he did was split the block in half and throw a huge chunk directly into the wort as we both screamed NOOOO! Being out first time we assumed this was a big nono and that the batch would be ruined but continued to finish the process. fast forward to now when i pop the top on my first "ruined" brew. The first taste all i could think was this is my own personal beer heaven! I knew i had just found a life long hobby from the first taste.

TLDR: Messed up your first brew? i bet you didn't

Great first post! Welcome to the madness!

Uh oh. Now you're hooked.

Seek out a local brew club/group if there are any in your area. It'll be even more fun if you can find some good brewing buddies and maybe a mentor or two.

We will keep a look out for any groups up here in Brewer, ME for sure hopefully it won't be to hard. I would love to see a veteran and help out doing an all grain brew and see how they regulate their fermentation temps

Sooo, your next investment will be a wort chiller? I have been brewing for a few months now. My first batch had lots and lots of small mistakes in it. But in the end, it turned out great!:rockin: Turns out...beer is actually pretty resilient. Just give it a little more time to condition and it's all good. Providing everything was sanitized of course.

welcome to the obsession.... if you go with a wort chiller(highly recommended), look up the Do-it-yourself wort chiller, made mine for about $40, the connection to the sink is the tricky part.

You made your own beer. You will enjoy making your own wort chiller. It will make you happy when your wort cools down in 20 minutes or less. You can stop by Home Depot and get everything you need for way less than you will spend at the LHBS. This is an easy afternoon project.

You're going to have a lot of fun brewing

Awesome post! It will take over your life in a way you dont fully understand yet

You made beer. Congrats. You have found a great hobby.

Congratulations! Be warned though, this hobby can really get addicting (and expensive) but it is truly rewarding. I made my first batch back in September and I just finished my 12th tonight, and with each and every one, I learn something new. Maybe a new process, maybe something NOT to do. Have fun with it and reap the benefits!

Sobernaut said:

We will keep a look out for any groups up here in Brewer, ME for sure hopefully it won't be to hard. I would love to see a veteran and help out doing an all grain brew and see how they regulate their fermentation temps

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Brewer, ME? I hope there's a homebrew group, if just because thinking of a name would be fun. Brewer Brewers, maybe.