Reflections on my first brewday

[ade1865]

Not sure if this is the right place for this thread, but I'm sure it'll be moved if it isn't

I just thought I'd share my thoughts, as a brewing nublet, on AG brewing after I popped my cherry. First impressions are that it was actually very easy. I know I only went for a basic recipe, and didn't mess around with much in the way of water treatment, that will come later, but the basic process was far easier to do in practice than it appears on paper. Especially batch sparging over fly sparging. I had problems achieving a satisfactory mash temp, but this was down to wrong assumptions and errors on my part, nothing that can't be fixed. It has to be said I also found the process eeaasier than a kit, in that everything pre-boil did not need to be sanitised, the bane of my kit brewdays.

Secondly I have a trememndous sense of achievement, far more than with a kit. To be making beer with raw ingredients is a quite fantastic feeling.

thirdly, I'm hooked. Can I do this as a day job

Already thinking about brews 2 and 3

And cheers for all the help, past, present and future from all on this site. Priceless.

[Jim]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Ade. I think half the battle with all grain brewing is psychological - there's nothing like actually doing one to get your head round the process. Reading about it is much harder than actually doing it!

[adm]

Good work Fella!

Now you just have to wait until you can drink it. That will be the second eye opener for you.....it's fun to brew - but you get even more satisfaction when you drink it in the full knowledge that you made it from raw ingredients.

[Buzz]

Reading about it is much harder than actually doing it!

Ain't that the truth. I bought the Big Book Of Brewing and the mass of pages devoted to water chemistry and the like prevented me going AG for about nine months. It wasn't until I found this site and actually bit the bullet that I realised how straightforward it could be.

The simple process of converting malt, hops and water into beer never ceases to amaze me

[russt1969]

Reading about it is much harder than actually doing it!

Sometimes I recon you can read into brewing far too much and ruin a good fun hobby...

[Duncndisorderly]

Im currently waiting my first AG maturing in the bottle, and i also agree that it was far more satisfying than any extract i ever did and the sense of achievement at the end really was enormous, even more so when i bottled it and got a good taster, mmmmm, lookingh forward to many more brews for the future, and thanks to all who helped

[fertilebert]

I did my first AG last sunday and my second yesterday , and yes , you do feel as if you have actualy created something good !
No turnin' back now

[Dennis King]

Your now hooked

[maxashton]

Congratulations on your first brewday. Hope the fermentation goes well, and the beer is tasty!

[ChrisG]

I'm looking forward to trying AG for the first time.

Built a mash tun yesterday and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to fit some of the pipe together after reading about it.

In the end it was built in 30 mins no problems at all.

Now on to the boiler!

[Horden Hillbilly]

Reading about it is much harder than actually doing it!

Sometimes I recon you can read into brewing far too much and ruin a good fun hobby...

Very true, you can worry unduly about it. No doubt, when you first start toying with the idea of ag brewing it can seem daunting, however when you get stuck in you will learn far more by doing one than reading about it endlessy.

Also, ag brewing can be very forgiving. I will be surprised if ag brewers on here (myself included) have not had a brewday from hell & still ended up with a brew to be proud of.