My First Brew Ever! ...and a few questions

[gwcr]

That's what I'm talkin about! Nice pic! Ready for St. Patty's day and you don't even need green food coloring!

[Wings_Fan_In_KC]

Caps82, you're on your way!

I started out with MrBeer straight outta the can and then for my third brew, added hops, my 5th brew added DME and my 6th brew added steeping grains.

Most of what I do is still extract using steeped speciality grains like Crystal 40 or 60 or Caravienna and then adding at least 1.5 pounds of DME to the mix as well as hop boils. I've even done a hop burst a couple times and started doing mini hop stands while the wort is coolig down in the sink/water/ice bath.

I'm still using the S-33 (rehydrating every time) that comes with the HME's but eventually I'm going to start experimenting with yeasts tied to styles. I understand that the various yeasts give you much better overall results than the generic yeasts like S-33 or MrB/Coopers "Downunda".

Brewing is a journey. RDWHAHB.

[FedoraDave]

Nice pic, Caps! You're well on your way.

And Wings is right about different yeast making a difference in your beer. If you want your mind blown, visit White Labs website and check out all the different and very specific strains of yeast they've developed.

All of this stuff can be overwhelming and intimidating at first, but you'll soon find yourself appreciating the subtleties that make a big difference in the final product. Little things like the type of yeast, the fermenting temperature, the conditioning time. Some guys even engineer the composition of their water to best fit a certain style!

But that's the great thing about brewing your own beer. You can get as involved as you want, and there's still more to learn and experience.

Enjoy your first batch, man. And start looking forward to your next one!