Today is Brew Day!

Fellow shavers, I figured I'd share my adventures for today.

The source of all the excitement is a Brewer's Best brew kit for English Bitter.



So we have some malt extract and grains.



I'm waiting on things to get up to 150° F so I can steep the specialty grains in the kit.



Bruce, the assistant brew master. He's still kind of wiped out from a full 8 hours of play yesterday.

There's more to follow as the brewing progresses.

Nice! I really miss brewing. You are making me want to start up again. Enablers are everywhere!!!!

Some progress has been made.



Mmmm, nice and dark now that the grains are done steeping.



So we've got the malt extract all stirred in now.

Now I just need to wait for it to come up to a boil and add the hops in at the proscribed times and throw a dash of whirlfloc, a clarifying agent, in at the last 15 minutes.

Today's final installment will be pouring all this goodness in to the fermentation bucket.

The real question is bottle it or keg it? I have both options available. The kegerator is in need of some home brew lovin'....

My house now smells like a brewery.

Oops!

Things not to do with your beer:

Substitute ice for the entire balance of your water when doing a 2.5 gallon boil. 20 pounds of ice is overkill, I have now shot way past the pitching temperature for the yeast and have to let things warm back up.

Well, it gets a good stir anyway when you pitch the yeast in. I guess we shall see how a pre fermentation cold crash turns out.

How low did you go? I like pitching my yeast cold, especially in the summer.

Your comment about the house smelling like a brewery took me back to my Grandmother's home. She supplied the family and the neighbors with beer and gin throughout the Great Depression and long after...

Edcculus said:

How low did you go? I like pitching my yeast cold, especially in the summer.

Click to expand...

It ended up cold like an ice cold beer. The cheap thermometer strip on the side of the bucket suggests it may be around 41° F. The fermentation bucket is still chilly four and a half hours later.

I'm thinking this will be some really clear beer.

I guess I'll use no more than 10 pounds of ice next time.

Oh wow, yea that is a little cold!

Hi. I am fan of homemaking bread, yogurt and others. I find that homemade bread can be way better than store and even bakery bread but honestly with yogurt it is more of a pride than quality drive. I know it will change from person to person, but if you see it as a spectrum from mostly quality to mostly pride and satisfaction, where does your brewing fall?

For me, brewing is mostly a pride/satisfaction thing. My beers are pretty darn good now, but I had some real stinkers when starting out. With all of the microbreweries in the US now, its almost impossible to make beer cheaper than they can. They also have better process controls, so it can be hard to make a beer as good as most microbreweries and brewpubs as well.

Hi Edcculus. Thanks for your reply. I too think microbreweries are making a big difference in this country.

I haven't home brewed in about 17 years. I may have to break out the gear. Managing the bottles was the biggest drawback for me.

Kegging is really easy now. Old style soda kegs are cheap and easy to get ahold of. Certain co2 tanks are cheap as well (steel vs a new shiny aluminum one). Then you just need a regulator and fridge.

Living close to some fantastic brew pubs and having friends that homebrew keeps me disenabled. Which is fortunate because the wife would likely have me in chains otherwise.

I'm a big fan of home brewing. I am actually planning an IPA this weekend! Looks like fun. I'm trying to get my kegerator set up at the new house too.

So far so good. Things appear to be fermenting nicely.

I think my kegerator was one of my better investments.

1. I have a place to stash my beer. Sweet Thing was upset with my clogging the household fridge with beer.


2. I can have stuff on tap! As we all know, draft (draught for you folks governed by, or affiliated with a constitutional monarchy) beer is where it's at.

3. I don't have to bottle my home brew. Just dump it in a keg and have at it.

On a side note, my lunchtime project turned out nicely. I had an old B&M shifter handle laying around, it's now my tap handle. I have to resist the urge to make vroom vroom noises while pretending to power shift in to third while pouring myself a beer.