First 5 gallon batch

[l0nni3]

I started on the Mr. beer kit and finally gathered enough equipment to brew a five gallon batch. I brewed the extract breakfast stout from northern brewer. Watching the wort breath was fucking cool. I also used a lot of the techniques that I learned from the brewing network to improve the chances of my beer not sucking. I just wanted to share my excitement with others who know the feeling.

[Cody]

Congratulations! Thanks for sharing. Definitely let us know how it turns out.

[BarefootLion]

Congrats enjoy the hobby.

[brewinhard]

Very cool. There are tons of great ideas here at the BN both on podcasts and on the forum. Why reinvent the wheel when it has already been done before? Congratulations, now go brew up another batch before this one is finished!

Cheers-
Brewinhard

[Bugeater]

Congrats on your first 5 gallon batch! I also advise you to get another batch going asap. You don't want to run out of one beer before the next one is ready. Also, if the first beer sucks, the second is likely to be better and that will convince you to keep brewing.

Wayne

[l0nni3]

Thanks for the kind words. I am trying to decide on my next batch now actually. Also I have an idea for a strawberry stout. I know I would add the strawberries in the fermenter but I am not sure how much i should add, any ideas? I am also worried that instead of tasting sweet it would be very tart like when I add strawberry flavoring to a coffee. I do not want the strawberry stout to be tart I want the sweetness of the strawberries to come out, how do I go about that?

[Bugeater]

The sugar in the strawberries will ferment out leaving the tartness like you feared. To get the sweetness you want you will have to do that before the boil. This can be done by adding Carapils (dextrine malt) or crystal malt. These will need to be steeped. These will add non fermentable sugars to keep the sweetness up there. Lactose will also do the same thing without having to steep anything. To keep things simple, I would suggest starting with a milk stout kit. This is a sweet stout that would meet your requirements.

I've no clue how much strawberry to add so you are on your own there. I would advise you to add them after fermentation has died down a little. If you add them at the beginning of fermentation, much of the flavor and aroma will be scrubbed out by the CO2.

Hope this helps a little.

Wayne

[Cody]

If I remember correctly, strawberries are one of the lighter flavored fruits, so you would need to add a much larger amount than if you were using raspberries or cherries. Something to consider.