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Yesterday was Jeff (threeput) and his wife's anniversary... and they brewed their very first batch of beer. I gave him a few words of encouragement (I hope, anyway) on the phone and he's got his first batch bubbling away in the carboy today.
Woo hoo, congrats on both achievements!
-- Gary F.
Yeah, congratz! I used to homebrew and had a lot of fun with it. I've actually reached a point now, where I'm just not as interested in producing more beer than I care to drink or can properly store. Still love specialty beer, now I just pay for it when I'm in the mood. Besides, lots of folks out there doing it better than me. I I'm actually think of selling my limited gear, which isn't much since I never went all grain.
Congrats TP!
Thanks guys! Gary, your words of encouragement were a big help. RDWHA --Vitamin G helps too. I can't wait until it's ready. I have some more to do this weekend, might rack it off to a 6 gal carboy so I can free up the 6.5 gal carboy for another batch. I know you don't feel it necessary to sencondary an ale, especially a small one like this, but would it be detrimental? I think I need the 6.5 to start an IPA because I don't have a blow-off rig set up yet... Hey I found a local home brew club to get involved with too! Home Brewers Underground. I even like the name.. Maybe I'll convert a few shavers too ;)
Jeff
I wouldn't rack it to a secondary until it's fairly close to being finished. Check your gravity samples first. Good rule of thumb is to shoot for 3/4 attenuation (so if you are brewing a 1.050 beer, for example, you'd expect about a 1.013 final gravity. Don't rack it to a secondary until you're fairly close to those numbers because it will only drop a few points after you take it off the yeast cake. Since you're doing extract, it probably won't get quite as low, so as long as you're around 20 or under you've done well. My cream ale came in at 1.007 FG and it was very dry and tasty, but I also mashed it very low and used a big starter.
I'll avoid getting into it more here, but post over at B3 if you have more questions :)
-- Gary F.
cool man thanks...
Jeff
Jeff,
With proper timing, you can be brewing a special "Anniversary Beer" for next year!
Congratulations.
RT