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Adventures in Homebrewing Conclusion

Success!

Indeed, I am considering my first foray into homebrewing a success. Two weeks after bottling my porter I’ve cracked one open and it is officially beer.

It’s a little sweet, which is to be expected with the low alcohol content I estimated two weeks ago. My fermentation apparently didn’t get as much of the sugar converted as it should, but I think I know how to fix that next time. I’m going to cool the wort properly, down to 65 degrees as I should have, and probably use a starter instead of pitching the yeast dry. That should give it a better hold and keep the fermentation going stronger.

It also came out a little over-carbonated for a porter, at least for my taste. This can obviously be fixed by adding a little less corn sugar than the 3/4c suggested by the guy at the store when I bottle it.

Those two points aside however, it is still a very drinkable porter. It’s got good flavor.. not too hoppy, but not all malt. It’s nice and dark and has a fuller mouth feel than I expected for an extract-only brew.

I’ve got a long ways to go before I’ll feel confident in what I’m doing here, but this was a good start. I’ll be doing my second batch next weekend, and I’m sure it’ll come out even better than this one.