Second Brew Day

I had my second brew day today. It went pretty smoothly, which may or may not have been because I refrained from imbibing heavily during the process. In all seriousness, having the right equipment really expedited things. I went and got a hydrometer jar and auto-siphon from MyLHBS, and it was nice to be able to take an actual gravity reading today. I'm sure being able to use the auto-siphon a few days from now to rack today's beer into the bottling bucket will be helpful too.

I guess I should get tasting notes for the first batch, which I'm calling the Bitter Brown, up soon. I have to say I'm very happy with it. Yes I was going for a hoppy red, and instead I got a bitter brown, but it's definitely drinkable. Everyone who has tried it so far has liked it, which is encouraging for a first batch. I've got some things I'd like to correct with it, but that will come in time. I'm going to be giving bottles to coworkers and that kind of thing to see what they think. I want to hear from craft beer folks about it, but I also want to hear from people who drink more mainstream beer, or who don't drink beer often at all. It can only make future batches stronger.

Today's recipe can be found here. This was a kitchen sink batch because it was only 2 gallons and it had ingredients from the Mr. Beer kit that my sister got me last Christmas. It isn't really 2 pounds of amber extract in the recipe, it's really a can of this, and the corn syrup is this. Eh, I know Mr. Beer isn't refined homebrew, but I wasn't going to toss the ingredients. I got some Hallertau and honey malt to add to it. I'm hoping it'll be alright. I really would like it to be more balanced than the Bitter Brown. I missed my OG on it by quite a bit (Hopville said 1.056 to 1.066 and I had 1.052). Not sure exactly why, but it could be because the Booster isn't corn syrup, it's corn syrup solids. Whatever, I'm sure it'll be fine.

Before I sign off tonight, I want to take a moment to talk about something completely different. In the last entry, I neglected to thank my girlfriend for her help with figuring out the siphoning. She was the one who looked up the diagrams and the explanations for us and kept me calm while I was certain that my batch was going to be DOA. In general though, I think it's rare that most craft beer enthusiasts significant others are crazy about beer in the same way they are. What I don't think it's rare is the support, encouragement, and downright tolerance through discussions of different kinds of malt, new releases of beer, etc. that said significant others offer. My girlfriend goes above and beyond the duty with my obses--- hobby, and I'm very grateful for it, even when I forget to mention it in my blog entries. My suggestion for myself and everyone else is to show that gratitude more often, it means a lot to get that support, and it's not always easy (I imagine) to give it.

I'll get tasting notes on the Bitter Brown up this week.

Until next time, happy homebrewing.

First Batch of Homebrew in Bottles

First things first, if you haven't had Bell's Hopslam, run out and get some ASAP. You can get it at Rodman's, D'Vines, Churchkey, and The Black Squirrel, among other places. I've had a lot of IPAs before, but I think this might be my favorite one. Unbelievably delicious grapefruit notes in the aroma which continue into the front pallete. Very bitter, yes, but if you're a hophead, this is your equivalent of crack. It certainly won't be a session beer at 10% ABV and $20 for a 6-pack, but it is well worth the price of admission, believe me.

Anyway, the task at hand is to post about me and Josh bottling our first batch of homebrew this past weekend. This batch was not without its trials and tribulations. For example, we relied on beercalculus.hopville.com for our gravity readings because I didn't have a hydrometer jar and couldn't find anything in my house to approximate one (ideas?). We also couldn't really get the siphon started. I had read a lot in Papazian's book and on the interwebs, but it's kind of one of those reading about riding a bicycle versus riding a bicycle things. Anyway, Molly and Josh eventually figured the siphon thing out (for posterity, you have to fill the siphon hose all the way up with water, then put the end siphoning into the bucket lower than the beer in your fermenter. Or buy an auto-siphon, which is what I plan to do). Once we got the siphon started, we were having issues with keeping the tube straight. So then we rigged a racking cane where we put the tubing inside of a plastic hydrometer case with its bottom cut out. Then we taped a knife to this, sanitized it, and put it in. Then everything went pretty smoothly. Except for Josh putting his arm into the beer a lot. Eh, sanitation is for next time.

We tried some of the beer, and it tasted kind of watery. It also had a very earthy taste, almost like a watered down version of Weyerbacher Double Simcoe. I'm curious about whether that will change in the bottle or not, but I guess we'll see. I'll do tasting notes when we eventually open it.

Some other notes. Both Bell's and Founder's have really been growing on me lately. Founder's Red Rye and Backwoods Bastard and Bell's Two-Hearted (a great session, well, maybe not a session at 7%), Expedition Stout, and Hopslam. I'll have to check them out more.

Pictures from this weekend's bottling:

Rigging the Racking Cane


Racking the Beer


Trying the Beer for the First Time


The Happy Homebrewers

Until next time, cheers.

First Beer in the Fermenter

So my first batch of homebrew is bubbling merrily away in the carboy right now. I'm happy to have finally started my journey toward brewing. Brew Day went smoothly for the most part. My friend Josh and I polished off half of a mini-keg of flat Bell's Two-Hearted. Even flat, this beer is better than a vast number of other beers. Anyway, brew day went smoothly. No boil overs. The only thing I'm concerned about is whether I sanitized everything properly (I guess we'll find out soon enough). I also forgot to take an original gravity measurement, but I used beercalculus.com to figure out what it was approximately.

Speaking of beercalculus, I heartily recommend the site. This is the brew I just made: http://hopville.com/recipe/142099/american-amber-ale-recipes/attempted-hoppy-red

I was going for a very hoppy red in the mold of Green Flash's Hop Head Red. We'll see if I succeeded. I know that the ABV on this beer is going to be very low and subsequently the high IBUs will end up being very high. It may end up being an unbalanced beer, but given that I love hops, I don't think I mind all that much.

Here's my equipment as it stands right now:

- plain stainless steel 20 qt. brew kettle
- one 6g glass carboy
- two brew buckets (one with spigot for bottling)
- assorted airlocks, tubing, etc.

I'll keep this updated when I bottle and include tasting notes for the first beer.

Next up will be a brown ale with maple syrup from Sam Calagione's Extreme Brewing, and after that will be a black IPA kit from Northern Brewer.

Anyway, that's that. Happy brewing to all of you.