[Phil_M]

My first batch tasted like bananas. No, I wasn't disappointed, I expected my first couple batches to be a major learning curve. I think it was a midwest big ben pale ale kit.

Second batch was much better...till it got kegged. My keg had a patch of rust in the dip tube, made the entire batch taste like bad pennies.

Things improved after that though.

[curtdogg]

My first home brew was a 1 gallon batch of all grain.
Twas a "black ipa" i saw on the cellar dwellars website.  I converted the recipe from grams to oz, used four different hops, boil and dry hop. I used S05, I let it ferment in my closet at about 70f and i had no way of checking gravity. I just waited til it "stopped bubbling" primed with table sugar and put it into bottles.
Before this i had never tasted homebrew but i knew it didn't taste as good as the beer style that had inspired it.

Now almost 1 year and 1 month later. I've made a few beers that i think are good, but most importantly i am learning from my mistakes. Perhaps one day i will re visit that first brew and try it again. For now i will be focusing on one maybe 2 styles until i feel i have perfected them.

[Lazy Ant Brewing]

My first brew was a Mr. Beer kit. A stout.

Just okay, but still much better than any of the industrialized yellow crud available years ago in the small town where I live. Quickly moved to all grain and then to better fermentation temp control.

Now that craft beer is showing up locally I still buy a six-pack occasionally of something I think I might like or to experience the taste of something different.  Sometimes I think it sets the bar higher than what I'm brewing and other times I like mine better.

[dannyjed]

My first batch over 10 years ago tasted like beer and I've been hooked ever since.

[pete b]

I liked my first batch even though only the last few were really ready. I think I tried the first one 4 days after bottling and considered it ready when it seemed carbed after a week. I probably drank half of it that weekend then when I finished the last few a couple weeks later I realized that it was just really ready.

[HoosierBrew]

Just keep doing it. Not much works the first time, brewing included.

I was pretty jazzed about my first beer. It worked, I drank it, I made more.

Exactly. My first beer was a Munton's ESB 'kit'. Back then ('92/93), a kit often consisted of two can of hopped extract and a packet of 'ale yeast' .  I followed it to the letter and felt like it was great at the time. But when I switched to all grain brewing, there was a definite learning curve. There still is, as I try out new techniques. Just keep learning and enjoying the results. They get better.

[bengelbrau]

You might need to add some minerals to your distilled water to get a better result.

[braufessor]

 I started back around 1995 or so....I thought my first batches of beer were great....... I shouldn't have thought that, but I did. 

They were mediocre to bad.  From time to time I had a good batch of beer I made.  But nothing special.  Honestly, I would say that the first 10-15 years my beer was this way when I look back on it.  I would say somewhere around 2010 I kind of reinvested myself in brewing.  I read A LOT, tried to learn from others, used sources on the web, learned new things or expanded on what I knew (water, sanitation procedures, fermentation, yeast starters, etc).... that is when I feel like I consistently started to make good beer.

Lots of good advice above.  If I had to give one piece of advice for getting better at brewing...... Make sure you pick one beer to brew frequently - over and  over.  Find a tried and true recipe or kit to start with - good source of ingredients.  It does not have to be every batch, but you should brew it every 2-3 times.  I found repetition and tweaking small aspects of the beer (Procedure, temperature, ingredients, water, etc) to be a key element in improving.

[Laminarman]

You folks are all awesome. Thanks for the advice.  Braufessor, I like that approach.  I don't think I'd learn much jumping style to style.  My two biggest beers that I enjoy are IPA's (of course) and Belgian Ale's.  The IPA's for when I need a hop fix, and Belgian Ales (or Belgian PA's) when I want a more laid back, smooth, malty biscuity drink. 

[deadpoetic0077]

I loved my first few batches. They were swill, but they were my swill that I made.

now Im making decent beer. I like to think its amazing, but that's just my bias coming thru. I know they aren't that great. I learn a lot from my mistakes and that's what matter.


I know you said you are using distilled water. That water doesn't have any minerals or salts in it so flavor can suffer from that. I used to use spring water until I got into learning about water chemistry (which believe me, its not as hard as it seems when you first start reading about it... use Bru'nWater! its a great resource.) So basically I would use spring water until you want to learn about water chemistry.

[Frankenbrew]

Hell no! It was 23 years ago, and I was hooked from the start. It was a ordinary bitter in a can, add water, boil, ferment and voila, I had beer. I can still remember drinking the last bottle thinking how good it was. Was it? I don't really know, but I thought so at the time.

[Slowbrew]

Same story as most when it comes to my first beer.  I made it 19 years ago and only vaguely remember anything about it.  I jumped right in with an "Advanced Extract Kit".     Which basically meant it included some crystal malt that was steeped for 30 minutes before boiling and liquid yeast.

It was good enough to get me to brew a second batch.  It took a few years to be willing to share my beer with people outside the house.  Many of the first batches were awful but they got better.  I think my all-grain batches must be decent now because I hear from people who tell me some mutual friend was raving about this or that beer.  That kind of thing can keep you going awhile.   

To be completely truthful here, I still bomb a batch now and then.  I kegged a Farmhouse Saison (new to me recipe) last night that will take some convincing to make me believe it's any good.  .  Who knows?  Someone may like it.

Welcome back to the obsession!

Paul
Paul

[braufessor]

You folks are all awesome. Thanks for the advice.  Braufessor, I like that approach.  I don't think I'd learn much jumping style to style.  My two biggest beers that I enjoy are IPA's (of course) and Belgian Ale's.  The IPA's for when I need a hop fix, and Belgian Ales (or Belgian PA's) when I want a more laid back, smooth, malty biscuity drink.

Yeah -  I think every new home brewer likes to brew a different beer every time, and brew beers with all kinds of complex ingredients and unique additions.  However, once you get a little of that out of your system, there is just no substitute for picking a particular style/recipe and brewing it 10-20 times (or more).  Make it something that does not take a lot of time to turn around, something that is not super expensive to brew, something without a mountain of over powering ingredients, personally - I preferred low ABV type beers for this. And, it has to be something you and friends are eager to drink up..... Some of the styles I used for this type of thing - Dark Mild, British Ordinary Bitter, Blonde, APA, IPA, Porter, Dortmunder Lager, Helles.....  I just picked one at a time and brewed it over and over and over until I got it where I felt like I really had it nailed down.

[udubdawg]

I mixed the priming sugar unevenly, and the carbonation varied throughout the bottles, with most of them quite low.  So, yes.  But I have very high standards; most people thought it was fantastic.

[Stevie]

Looking back I wish I hadn't shared as many bottles from my earlier batches. I'm sure I turned a lot of people off of brewing.