Trying to get a guy into home brewing!

[mcdrier]

So I moved on from using a Mr. Keg home brewing kit to brewing 5 gallons at a time and kegging at home. So I held on to 2 complete sets of Mr. Beer kegs and bottles for over a year. Kept them out of the dust, and kept them in a pretty nice area, just taking up a lot of space.

Recently he finally said he was ready to take them from me! Got everything out and sent to him. He already brewed his first batch this past weekend. Now he has to wait 3 weeks to see if it comes out right. I am nervous for him. He is nervous. Most likely it will turn out fine, but waiting for the first time is tough. Do you remember YOUR first time?

Have you ever dumped an entire batch out b/c of bad off tastes? Was it in bottles, or was it a full 5 gallon keg? I have done neither. I have had brews with off tastes before, but I did not dump it. I drank it and dealt with it. Too much investment for me to dump a batch.

I hope for his sake, it turns out well. Stay tuned!

 

[ripvdub]

My first time I went straight to all grain, never tried extract. The worst part of my first couple batches were the clarity. Lots of excess sediment and just crap from not filtering enough.
I've dumped one batch from over heating the sparge water. Tasted very horribly bad.
Remind your friend it'll only get better.

 

[mcdrier]

Wow, jumped right in going all grain right away? Yikes! But good for you though, you had the nuts to jump right in from the get go.

I thought I would start small, and easy and work my way through it. I like the process and equipment I have now. I also like the recipes I have now too. I think it is just right, not too much equipment and not too little equipment. The best thing I did was to look on Craig's list to find used CO2 containers...that saved me a bunch of money! I also bought two used kegs from a guy.

I think I am in a rut, but it is predictable from my relatively short experience. I think I have been doing it for 2 years now?

Not sure if I am really saving money, but going through less cans I need to bring back to the redemption center for sure! I think I am saving money like crazy, but when I buy equipment, or supplies, it adds up.