First time home brewing from Intro thread..

Will Probably be towards the end of the month when I start getting items together.

 

Taking a few beers down to a micro brewery where the head brew-master is a judge for the southwest beer comps. I am not sure which, I was there yesterday and talked with the bar tender and he said to stop by. I'm curious to see what he thinks of it.

 

So went down to the micro brewery, the head brewmaster wasn't there today, but the other 2 beer makers and the owner was there. The over all consensus was "it's a gold medal first batch". The only 2 things they talked about, which I kinda knew going into it, was they said I had the fermenter get a touch too warm during primary fermentation for a very short period and that the carbonation was a bit high, but they stressed that the heat was barely noticeable because it was a Belgian Pale Ale, in fact they said it's still far better then any commercial pale ale's you can buy at a store. They said It had nice color, clarity and flavors, all the makings of a good brew.
The primary fermentation was being managed during a heat wave of 90-100+°f, with a bucket of water and ice bottles, so it would have been a lot worse. The next batch will have the refrigerator with a proper temp meter working, live and learn. They also said that during the primary fermentation process to set the temp a few degrees lower then the actual temp your aiming for as fermentation generates it's own heat, but adjust it as primary fermentation comes to an end, just check it daily.
As per the carbonation/bottling, I asked around for advice on wither or not I should add more yeast after cold crashing some said yes some said no, turns out that this is unnecessary. What happens is that the yeast become more dormant if anything when the temps get to low. As long as you don't freeze your beer, like turn it to slush, the yeast will pretty much survive for weeks long into the bottling period. It's only when you run out of food for them and a few weeks past that they die off. The balance is that the colder you go the quicker the cold crash will happen, but the more dormant the yeast will be and the longer the carbonation will take place. So next time, I won't be adding more yeast during bottling.
The owner of the brewery came over and said "you have a long and amazing beer making career ahead of you!" which was pretty cool and unexpected. I left a few bottles down there with my name and number so the head beer master could try some and give me a call, they seemed genuinely interested in my brew so this was pretty cool.

So I think the consensus between these guys and my neighbors is that this was a success. I really cant wait for my next batch I'm very excited.

 

BTW, If I haven't said this yet, you guys rock! thanks for all the advice and knowledge. A successful forum is absolutely necessary for beer making, especially for beginners to ask questions. So thanks to the elders for answering what can seem repetitive questions for the beginners, very much appreciated and I couldn't have done this without you guys!

*cheers!*