Batch #1: A first taste...

I have made beer, and it is... not bad.

After a week to the day in the bottles, I decided that it was worth taking a taste. So I chilled one down (though not to cold... I wasn't that patient... just being honest...), and poured it out.

I was excited to hear the hiss as I pulled off the cap... it meant it WORKED. This whole time I've been fairly convinced that some part of it was going to go wrong and the batch wouldn't turn out. Apparently not. And this makes me happy.

So initial thoughts:

* on the look - definitely a nice, dark looking brown. Not dark enough to be completely opaque though. It isn't too clear either, has a nice visible texture, though no real sediment to speak of. No real head to speak of either, though what head is there is very light colored and thin.

* on the nose - honestly sort of odd... fairly mild. Sort of sour... I can definitely smell the hops, which is odd for a brown (particularly an all malt brown), although since it sat in the hops for two weeks, it's not too surprising. I don't pick too much up beyond this, but then, I'm pretty amateur when it comes to this part (well... all parts... but this in particular).

* on the initial taste - the carbonation has a nice bite to it. There's a malty sweetness to the very first split second, that is quickly overtaken by a mild sour flavor that lays on top of hops. Again, a hoppy brown is kind of interesting to me - I'm used to sweet, almost syrupy browns, this is not one of those.

* on the aftertaste - the sour lingers a bit, but fades to a great hoppy bitterness. It's kind of dry on the palate, and leaves a little hint of malty sweetness underneath the hops in the finish.

OK - that's what I got. I'm no good at this, really, and may have made half of that up. I really don't know. Anyway, we shall see. Two weeks I'll compare to this review and see if there are any changes.

I'm still kind of thrown by the sour, but since it's far from overpowering, I'm not really worried about it. Maybe some kind of wild yeast got into the mix? No idea. We shall see.

Cheers!

Batch #1: Bottling

OK, so admittedly, I'm just not all that good at getting on posting right away. Bottling day was last Friday evening. The kids went to bed, and my buddy Charles came by to assist and to give me a "tour" of his own homemade brews (which, admittedly, in spite of seeing him often, I hadn't tried until then, but more on the tour later).

I spent much of the earlier part of the day delabeling and cleaning some empty bottles prior to Charles's arrival. Some things I learned - some labels are MUCH easier to remove than others. I soak the bottles in warm water to loosen up the labels, and it seems that some beers use some sort of at least semi-water soluble glue, so the labels peel right off, and the remaining glue comes off with just a bit of scrubbing. Others, not so much (note to self, don't bother with Sapporo bottles again). Anyway, I peeled and cleaned 49 12oz bottles and one 22oz bottle for the evening. I figured that should be enough, as 5 gallon recipes usually net 48 12oz bottles.

The gear was cleaned up just as Charles got there, and I was otherwise ready to roll. Last thing needed was to get the priming sugar ready in some boiling water. I was itching to use brown sugar to spruce this thing up a bit, but again, I wanted to play by the books for this one. So we used the priming sugar that it came with. With his suggestion and my own learning experience, for simplifying the siphoning process (from the carboy into the bottling bucket) I pulled the carboy out of the cabinet and very carefully (in order to avoid sloshing and thus stirring up the settled sediment) placed it on the table. We put the bottling bucket on the floor beneath it so that gravity could assist the siphon. We poured the cooled priming sugar solution into the bottom of the bucket and got the siphon going. Thanks to gravity, this siphoning process went MUCH quicker.

However, there was an oops. I guess it was inevitable.

When we started moving the beer over into the bottling bucket (on top of the priming sugar solution), we realized a little too late that we left the spigot opened... and about maybe 8 oz. poured out onto the floor... I think there was a fair amount of priming sugar in there too... We didn't add any more, and hopefully that won't end up being TOO big of a problem.

But, past that hiccup, we got it all into the bucket, which we then moved up to the counter. Charles attached the hose and bottling wand (or whatever it's called) hooked up, and we started bottling.

BEEEEEEER!!!!

This was an interesting process... the wand thing is a pretty simple but smart tool. There's a little trigger stopper on the bottom so that when you push it into the bottom of a bottle, it opens and fills the bottle. When it gets to the top of the bottle, when you pull it up and out to stop it, the wand itself displaces just the right amount of liquid so that there's the right amount of airspace at the top of the bottle (for the carbonation process). Very cool. Charles did a couple and I capped them, and then we switched off and I filled the majority of the bottles while he capped. It would have taken FOREVER to do so alone; we both agreed that in the future, on either of our bottling days, we are having the other over to help with the process.

All told, we wound up with 47 12oz bottles and 1 22oz bottle, all filled and capped.

It's... beautiful...

There was enough left in the bucket/one half filled bottle for the both of us to taste a little. Charles hit the nail on the head by noting that it tasted a bit like Newcastle Brown... I think that's what I'll end up with.

BUT: it wasn't skunked or ruined. Hooray! Beer.

Hooray! Beer.

Three weeks in the bottle for conditioning and carbonation, and we're a go! I'll be cracking one open to test this coming weekend, I'll come back to add a note then. I'll do a quick review of Charles's beers then too, I think. Enough for now.

Cheers!

Batch #1 - Secondary Fermenter

So once again, naturally, this post is coming late. This time it's unintentional though - we're having issues with our DSL and I'm having to post this from a free hotspot. Meh.

After an entire week of second guessing my abilities to keep things sterile and reading plenty online to back up my reasoning (by seeking it out, of course), and ultimately deciding that I was just going to leave my batch in the primary fermenter until bottling in order to not introduce more potential for bacteria, I did not move the brew over after the end of week one as planned.

Then, after a discussion with a home brewing friend of mine - Charles - my mind was changed and I was convinced to just go ahead and move it from the first to the second after week two. I'd then leave it in the secondary for one week and then bottle. His logic was sound: after having poured the wort from the kettle into the fermenter (instead of either siphoning or using a screened funnel (which I don't have)), there was likely plenty of leftover hops sitting in there, further steeping during fermentation. This isn't a bad thing (for one, hops are antiseptic... this might have actually helped save the batch from bacteria), especially because I like a good hoppy beer. But a hoppy brown that was originally intended to be sweet? Intriguing...

Anyway, that wouldn't make a difference because it was in there either way. However, because of the extra junk in there, it would be a fairly wise idea to let it clarify for a week in the secondary, since it's probably mostly done fermenting by now anyway. Plus, with the amount of sediment that sits at the bottom of the primary, he told me, it's worth getting the beer off of it for, again, clarity. So I was convinced.

So on Saturday, I found and took the time to move the beer from primary to secondary fermenter. I really needed to do homework... however, as noted, our DSL is down (taking classes online and the internet is required for my homework), and since my wife wasn't feeling well and I had the kids (read: "audience"; see also: "those who in part gave me brewing stuff as a gift for Christmas" and "parties interested in watching new and interesting things"), I figured, it's perfect timing.

After spending too much time cleaning the equipment I'd need (siphon, hose, and carboy), I pried the lid off the primary.

Hmm... floaters... Note to self: get a screened funnel.

So... yea. Hops float. Good to know. I put the siphon and hose in and got it moving over to the carboy, careful not to do any sloshing around of the primary (so I didn't make the sediment start swirling and floating around in there... don't want it in there for later)

The process... is... really... really... slooooooow...

It took a while... I don't really remember how long. Long enough that the kids got bored. Had some problems with keeping the siphon going - had to pump it a number of times just to keep it moving. I eventually got it all moved over though.

Looks like... beer!

And so in here it will sit until this upcoming weekend, when I will begin bottling. Should be about as alcoholic as it's going to get right now, which really isn't much. I'll take the final gravity when I move it prior to bottling to confirm, but I'm expecting in the 4%-5% ABV range.

The proverbial "bottom of the barrel"

OK, Charles wasn't kidding. There was a LOT of hops in there still, and a BOATLOAD of sediment. Not visible in the pic through the half inch or so of beer, but it's there. Looks kinda like somewhere between wet clay and really fine sand. Pretty gross.

But yea... I tasted it. What tiny bit I could siphon after getting to the bottom went into the bottom of a glass. Not even a full swallow... Just a tiny taste. So thoughts? Given the fact that it was at the bottom, I don't put too much faith into how it compares to what it will actually taste like. That said, it was actually kind of weak in flavor... not very sweet. But the hops were definitely noticeable - a bit of bitterness to it, which I'm actually kind of intrigued by. Obviously it isn't carbonated yet, as that won't happen until after the first week in the bottle, but I expected that.

My hopes are still high, because if it had a bacterial problem so far, I would have smelled or tasted it already. With luck, I'll have managed to avoid it in the secondary as well, and we can get this batch done RIGHT.

Cheers.

Batch #1: The Brewing of a Brown Ale

After much hesitation and some prodding by my wife, I finally sat down Friday to actually get to brewing. I'm not kidding when I say the level of absurd cleanliness and sterility of environment that just about everywhere says is required for brewing is truly daunting, especially for a way-less-than-anal-retentive guy. So I used the no-rinse cleaning solution that came with my kit to clean up the equipment that I'd need for the first day - essentially the stuff to get it from the brewpot to the primary fermenter. Most of me is still nervous that something wasn't quite clean enough. I'd hate to ruin it...

So after bringing about a gallon and a half of water to a boil, with the stirring assistance of my wife I poured in the malts and hops, and got the brew going.

Just look at that foamy, caramelly darkness!

It took only a few minutes for the wort (pronounced "wert" to those who don't know... that's what beer's called at this stage prior to fermentation) to go back to a boil.

Drooool... it kinda looks like liquid chocolate... so sweet...

To say this brew is sweet smelling is WAAAAAAAAAAY understating. Seriously, the boiling wort smelled like caramel-molasses sticky sweet goo TIMES A BILLION. Actually, it was almost sickeningly sweet... No that's not true... it WAS sickeningly sweet. With the distant scent of beer (from the little bit of hops involved). Which means it's got some good potential for a mighty tasty brown. And seems to have potential for high alcohol content... because:

yeast + sugar = alcohol (+ CO2)

:D

I'm not at all going to lie that I struggled with sticking to the recipe from the kit... I am a tinker by nature and wanted SOOOO bad to start adding and experimenting with flavors on this batch, in spite of the fact that I promised myself that I would go by the book, if only for this first one, to get a proper feel for brewing beer correctly. I got over myself and didn't fudge with it during the brewing, so that's a big step. But I still struggle with not fooling around with it in the future...

Anyway, next step after the 30 minute boil is cooling the wort as quickly as possible. Since I don't have a fancy wort cooler, I used an ice bath in the sink. It's actually impressive at the heat it has for how long and how much ice and water it takes to actually cool it to the requisite 80 degrees.

Cooling malty goodness.

From there it was transferred into the primary fermenter. I probably should have used the auto-siphon I have to transfer it, but I figured I could go ahead and pour. The reasoning is the hops that by now have settled to the bottom of the brewpot - better to not transfer them into the fermenter, but probably no real harm done. Particularly because I'm going to use the siphon to move it from the primary to the secondary fermenter, and I'll be sure to avoid the hops then. Anyway, I'll probably siphon from brewpot to primary next time, but I think for now this went just fine.

So at this point purified water is added to true the brew up to 5 gallons in the fermenter, and then the goal is to get the yeast in and get the fermenter closed and sealed up ASAP so as to avoid any contamination getting into the brew. See, now that it's been boiled, and since it's all wet and sugary and going to be stored at room temperature for weeks, it's the PRIME sort of environment for bacteria to prosper, which can ruin the batch entirely. This is why purified water is used... tap water is probably not pure enough, if only because the faucet itself isn't quite de-microbed. All that beer having to be dumped out... what a terrible thing.

The problem is... I'm an idiot and a n00b. The yeast needs to be primed in warm water before it's ready to be poured in. This takes about 15 minutes.

And I hadn't done it yet.

So I tried to cover up the brew best I could and prepped the yeast (which annoyingly, at this point, requires purified water and has to be done in a cleansed cup... which I hadn't done when I cleaned all the rest of the equipment). The process took an extra half hour with the wort unsealed (though generally well covered... ish...), but it got done.

Next, once fully sealed, I had to put the airlock on the lid of the fermenter. I used vodka in the airlock instead of water, in the event that some slips into the brew (once again, purity, and alcohol being antiseptic, etc.). Well, in the process, I'm pretty sure some vodka got into the wort. About a quarter ounce.

So we'll see what that does. :)

Not that a quarter ounce in 5 gallons makes much of a difference. Meh.

Naturally, about an hour after getting it all squared away, the airlock popped out like a wee little rocket in the cabinet where I'm keeping it. I got it reset and fixed up though, so a week in the primary, and we will be on to step two.

I didn't take any pictures of the wort in the fermenter yet, but I'll try to include one next time. In the mean time, little yeast beasties: get makin alcohol! I noticed bubbles in the air lock the next evening, meaning alcohol was being made. :D

I have high hopes for this being a tasty brew...

...but doubtful wort has its doubts...


Recipe details:
True Brew (brand) All Malt Brown Ale -
3.3 lb can unhopped liquid dark malt extract
2 lbs dark powdered malt extract
8 oz malto-dextrin
1 oz UK First Gold hop pellets
1 pack brewing yeast
~1/4 oz Smirnoff vodka (on accident)

30 minute boil; starting gravity 1.041

The gift of the brew

I meant to start posting last week, but didn't... so there you have it.

For Christmas I was given the gift of a new hobby, I've been quite excited about getting it rolling! My new beginner brewer's kit consists of:
* 6.5 gallon primary fermenter
* 6.5 gallon bottling bucket w/ spigot
* lids w/ grommets for both
* 5 gallon glass carboy w/ bung
* a twin lever bottle capper
* no-rinse cleanser
* hydrometer
* siphon hose and shut-off clamp
* thermometer
* lab thermometer (like a flat one you put on a wall)
* brew paddle
* airlock
* auto siphon
* bottle filler
* bottle brush
* carboy brush

All that to say - just about everything I needed. I was also given a 16 quart stainless steel pot for brewing, which is plenty big for now; and a beer kit - an all malt brown ale.

Thanks to my own love of beer as well as some friends who were thoughtful and generous enough to drink beer of their own and donate empties, I now have (or will have via promise) upwards of 100 empty 12 oz brown non-twist-off longneck beer bottles ready to be, post cleaning, filled with delicious homemade beer. Considering a normal 5 gallon batch makes about 48-50 bottles, the math is easy enough to say a second batch should soon follow the first...

It took me a couple weeks of reading up and panicking about the potential of ruining a batch through the inadvertent introduction of bacteria somewhere along the way before being willing to actually try it out... but I finally did. I'll do that in a separate post on my brewing of the kit gift while I look for the camera with the couple pictures of the process that I took.

(Future) cheers!