First Brew, but a couple mistakes to share

[Ricmcam]

Ok so I've been hanging around this forum for a few months now absorbing all,the information I can. Great information from a bunch of wise people.

Just did my first brew, and you would expect that I coud have at
Least followed a few basic intructions. That together with the great information I have gotten from this group should have made for an awesome first batch of ale.

The beer is Dead Ringer extract kit,and I used a smack pack of wyeast 3191. I received 3 packs of this yeast from NB and one of the packs was already fully expanded when I got it. Made my starter late, started it about 24 hours before brew time.

Did not follow the instructions to remove the brew pot from the heat before adding the malt. Well of course the malt sank right to the bottom and Scorched.

After pitching the suspisious yeast starter, I realized I did not take an initial hydrometer reading.

Sweated it out for the first 48 hours in the fermenter and then the fun bagan with a ferocious fementation. the 6 gal. Better bottle was rocking and rolling for two days. It's settled dowown quite a bit now and most everything has settled to the bottom. So Iam hopeful that if I follow the rest of the directions better, I still might get beer!

Whether it comes out great or not, I'm hooked

 

[kh54s10]

If that is the worst that happened you did pretty good. You may have a little of a caramelized flavor from the scorching but that should not be a killer.

Your starter was probably fine.

Since this was an extract kit, if you ended up with the proper amount when finished you can assume that your OG was what the recipe called for.

Now be patient. I do my fermentations, primary only for 3 weeks then bottle. Condition the bottles at about 70 degrees for at least 2 weeks but 3 weeks is better. If you do not have good carbonation, wait another week and try again.

 

[jestmaty]

Congrats!

You have no idea how hooked you can get on this brewing thing.....or maybe you do

 

[jbaysurfer]

Your beer will probably be a bit darker then you were going for because of the carmelization. One of my very first batches was supposed to be an EXTRA Pale Ale. In the end it was a dark amber ale, but still tasted good. As KH said, it'll be a bit more caramel flavored as well.

Regarding forgetting your OG, with extract it's not as crucial. You can assume your OG was pretty close to what the recipe called for.

Now's the hardest part. The waiting......

 

[BadBeagleBrew]

Yes the waiting on the first few batches is the real killer, I rushed my first beer. I think I did 4 days primary, 7 days secondary, and 3 or 4 days in the bottle before I started drinking it. Needless to say fermentation had not quite finished and I ended up with something similar to alcoholic malt soda, lucky I didn't get any bottle bombs though. Congrats on your first brew, the fun is just beginning.