Hello!

[timdsmith72]

I just joined the community and thought I'd say hi. I'm impatiently waiting for time to crack open the first bottle of my first batch. Sunday's the day...Yay!!!! I'm from the Dallas area and just inherited brewing equipment from a friend who doesn't have time to work with it any more. I thought I'd give it a shot!

 

[DeRoux's Broux]

cool deal and welcome to the forum! what's the inaugural brew and what kind of set up did you inherit?
good luck with it.....

 

[timdsmith72]

The brew was something pretty simple to start with. At least I think maybe it was simple enough I can get away with it. It's a dark amber colored pale ale. I added some extra flavoring hops with 15 minutes left in the boil, and some aroma hops with 1 minute left.
I just inherited the basic equipment I guess. 3 plastic fermenting buckets, a bottling bucket (which I didn't use), a glass carboy, wort cooler, boiling pot, capper, tubing, racking canes...Just about everything I need except a hygrometer.

 

[DeRoux's Broux]

not bad at all (and extra hops is a good thing!).

you don't have to have a hydrometer, but they come in handy if there is a question of the beer being fermented out and ready to bottle. i never use mine unless i'm going to enter a beer into a competition. just a pain and i've usually had a few homebrews at the end of the brew day when i'm SUPPOSED to remember to use it :~)
you'll find out with your subsequent batches that there are other little gadgets and gear you'll want to add and tweak to make the beer and brewing better.

keep us posted and let us know how it goes! btw, i used to live in Dallas (on Monfort and Preston Oaks, north of 635, east of the north tollway). enjoyed it while i was there........

 

[homebrewer_99]

Like any new hobby, there are plenty of new toys to buy.

Welcome to the site. We generally have a lot of good interaction and whatnot going on.

Seems like a good bunch to go out drinking with...!

 

[timdsmith72]

yeah, I've already thought of some things that would be "nice to have". Not necessarily mission critical, but nice.
Thanks for the welcomes guys! Seems like a really nice bunch of guys.
btw, I live North of 635 between the tollway and 35.

I didn't use a kit because some guys I talked to said I'd get better tasting beer if I put together the ingredients myself. They also said that the yeast might not be of the best quality in a kit. I dunno if that's right, but it sounded logical at the time.

Oh, one thing I did think of, on bottling day, I forgot to boil my sugar before adding it to the beer. I just put the sugar in the bucket and racked the beer over on top of it. It seemed to mix well. I used some really fine corn sugar I got at the home brew store. I read somewhere on here that it shouldn't make any difference if any. Maybe some inconsistancy in carbonation.
Any thoughts?
I may not make it to Sunday to pop one open. I'm getting more impatient by the day.

 

[Janx]

What is it with Texas and this forum?!?!

Welcome to the Texas Homebrew Chat Seriously, glad you found us and I hope you stick around

I wholly agree with you about not using a kit. You'll do much better assembling quality ingredients yourself. I'd boild the corn sugar in the future to dissolve it well and for sanitization. But you'll be fine the way you did it I'd wager.

Cheers

 

[timdsmith72]

LOL! Yeah, I've noticed there seems to be a lot from Texas on here. Maybe we're just a bunch of drunks...Not alcoholics...alcoholics go to meetings.

Yeah, I plan on boiling the sugar next time. I just flat forgot to do that this time. Don't know what I was thinking.....

 

[El Pistolero]

LOL! Yeah, I've noticed there seems to be a lot from Texas on here. Maybe we're just a bunch of drunks...Not alcoholics...alcoholics go to meetings.

I thought this was a meeting

Hi, I'm El, and I'm a Home Brewer

Welcome to the madness!

 

[sudsmonkey]

Sounds like you inherited a heck of a kit and you're off to a rolling start . Keep it up. Hope you enjoy yourself here on the Texas Homebrewer's Forum. I'm just glad these guys let the rest of us in . There's some really good, knowledgeable people here, and they're a big help with any problems you might run into.
Welcome,
Sudsmonkey

 

[timdsmith72]

Thanks! Yeah, I inherited a lot of good equipment and it all looks to be in great shape. I hope my first batch turns out at least close to what I was shooting for.
I like a dark "hoppy" beer. So, I used 7 lbs of Amber unhopped malt extract + bittering hops + flavoring hops + aroma hops. Primary ferment 7 days then racked to glass carboy (snuck a taste) and left for another 7 days. Then bottled. (snuck another taste) I'm trying to make it to 14 days before opening one....
I did learn some lessons on efficiency. I only got 40 bottles so I lost quite a bit of volume, and some stages also took quite a bit of time, but that's just because I didn't know quite how to organize stuff. It'll be quicker and I'll get more next time!!

 

[sudsmonkey]

Man! Get yourself a hydrometer ! From the list of ingredients you've put in, if you made a 5 gal. batch, you have some strong beer going. It'll probably walk. You might even be able to teach it simple math and reading skills! Bet you'll not be dissappointed with the ABV of that one.

 

[Sir Sudster]

Timdsmith, Best I can offer at this point is YEEEHAAWW!!!

 

[timdsmith72]

Man! Get yourself a hydrometer ! From the list of ingredients you've put in, if you made a 5 gal. batch, you have some strong beer going. It'll probably walk. You might even be able to teach it simple math and reading skills! Bet you'll not be dissappointed with the ABV of that one.

Yep. It was a 5 gal. batch. I couldn't wait until Sunday. I ended up cracking a couple open Saturday. Maaaaaaan it was good!!! It did walk around a bit but I just couldn't get it to add. It turned out almost exactly like I was shooting for. Slightly darker than Shiner Bock. With a taste somewhere in between Fat Tire and Dog Fish Head 60 minute. I was not dissappointed at all!!!

 

[timdsmith72]

I took some to a get together today and someone else described it as "bass ale without the aftertaste." It was a huge hit.
I dunno what the alcohol content is, but it's pretty darn high...