My First Homebrew
Posted on February 3, 2008
Filed Under Brews and Breweries |
I made beer! Let me say that again. I made beer!
My little three week science experiment came to its pinnacle today. I got a beginner’s brewing kit from my parents this past Christmas. The fine folks over at Brew at Home hooked them up with one of their Standard Homebrewing Kits that included a recipe for an Amber Ale.
I jumped right into the process three weeks ago. I had no idea what wort was. What malt extract was. So on and so forth. Good thing there was some instructions included with the kit or I would have just ended up with some flavored water at this point. One of the valuable lessons I learned is to have a better way to cool down the wort after the boil. I followed the instructions Brew at Home provided about pouring the wort into approximately three gallons of cold water in my bottling bucket before transferring to the fermenter, but the wort was still too hot. It took for way too long for the wort to cool down so I could “pitch the yeast”. Next time, I will be prepared with some sort of ice-bath to cool the stock pot down before I add it to the bottling bucket or fermenter. I will also go buy some sort of filter for transferring the wort as well. Although it didn’t come into play as much on this batch, I have a feeling it will if I advance in styles or difficulty.
One other thing I will forever remember is to utilize the bottle filler and hydrometer. I know. I know. I wasn’t thinking the process through. I was honestly too hyped up during the process that I didn’t realize I had the equipment to bottle better than the instruction provided and I didn’t take readings with the hydrometer, so I have no idea what the alcohol content is. Again, I had beginner instructions, so I think they just wanted me to get through the major steps in the process first.
So that leads up to the big day of reckoning. Tasting. After two weeks of letting my brew “bottle condition”, I tasted some. My wife wanted me to try first just in case it was not 
safe for consumption. I’m glad I took one for the team. This batch was definitely drinkable. The bottles I tried poured with a small head. They were lightly aromatic and had a dark copper color. The beer wasn’t very hoppy and was pretty sweet. The good news is that I didn’t drop dead after drinking it. At least initially anyway…
So what’s next? For one thing, I have to drink a lot of beer. Approximately 45 bottles left. I’m not sure if I want to pass around this batch, but may force my parents and sister to try some. I will probably go for another beginner kit beer just to try to get the handle on the process one or two more times and then I may try a little more advanced recipe. I need to get a few batches under my belt before I take on my brother in-law, Kevin, in a homebrew showdown!
Cheers.
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