Ketchup

So of course summer has gotten the best of me and I have failed to keep up with the blogging of the brewing. I finally managed to get a hold of the brewing kit. So far I have made 35 Bottles of what I am calling a barleywine from a kit (Woodforde's Headcracker Kit) that came with the brewing supplies. It was a full extract kit and I only did a primary fermentation. It has bottle conditioned for 5(?) weeks now and it has turned out pretty bitter and not very tasty but rather high in alcohol. I also have made 58 bottles of an Irish Red which I did as a partial extract mash. I did a primary and secondary fermentation and it has bottled for 2 weeks now. It is rather good if I do say so myself. Its relatively smooth with some coffee aspects to it. It tastes a bit watery but that might be in part to the almost complete lack of carbonation. I added the needed priming sugar but I might have waited too long on the secondary fermentation. I have also made 52 bottles of an Oatmeal Stout as another partial extract mash. It has gone through its primary and secondary fermentation and has bottle conditioned for 1 week. I tried some last night and it is rather watery and weak. I hope that it bodies up a bit while bottling. I am about to make a full batch of a Raspberry Wheat beer. All of the notes from these brews I will put on in later posts. I also have ventured into hobo-wine brewing (what I gather is a mortal sin among brewers). So far it has produced some deliciousness and I don't see what the fuss is about. Those processes will also be innumerated in following posts.

Phase 2: The Hunt

So I recently washed some bottles left from the last get-together and soaked them in an old 5 gal paint bucket with a cap full of chlorox. As a vet student I highly recommend keeping this out of the reach of animals (small children included in that category) I put mine in the tub and drew the curtain. I could have left it from probably 30 min to an hour but forgot and left it overnight. Needless to say the labels came RIGHT off. So they're all clean and pretty (and the source of the photo that is/was at the top of the blog depending on when you are checking it. (I'll put it at the bottom of this post so that if you missed it you can still feel in the loop). They are currently sitting in a nice neat row in an empty closet (the one I think I'll use for the fermentation process). A side note, if you are following along in your own lives; the bottles must be the pop-off type (one smooth rim) rather than the twist off type (the screw thread-like ridges at the top). The screw off ones wont seal well with the bottle capper and will make your beer go flat as it ages in the bottles. Also brown (and maybe green) glass are the best to store and age your beer in since they keep much of the light out that (as learned from a Samuel Addams commercial) will "Skunk" your beer. Also this cleaning (although I used bleach) will not be sufficient for the bottling process. Since I did it so far ahead the sterilization I did will be undone by the time the beer is ready to bottle. I'll talk about later the importance and differences with cleaning and sanitation. Also, I love Guinness, and their labels are glue-less so other than for cleaning no soaking required, just cut them off with a knife. They also have the little plastic thing that dispenses their carbonation when you open the bottle (the "Widget" as I am told by my Irish Father-In-Law). If you have ever seen or performed the "retrieve a cork from a wine bottle trick" then it will work here to. Rather than explain it I will link you to the instructional YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLMH0NrdfNE&feature=fvw

As a second part to this post I also had been looking online and comparing prices for a brewing setup. As a general rule I would like to buy local but as a starving vet student I typically find the better deals are online. Not in this case. I had found a cheap site online and figures out all the prices. I was expecting my local natural foods store, which also sells beer supplies (as I learned from my good buddy Aaron -->), to be wholly outdone by the big bad interwebs and my morals would be crushed as I opted for the cheaper but local economy unfriendly decision to buy online. But then BAM! they turned out to be SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper! On-top of that the guy behind the desk told me that he will be moving soon and would like to sell his kit on the SUPER-CHEAP! BAM BAM! TAKE THAT FACELESS/SOULLESS INTERNET! I have yet to hear back from the guy, who got my email address, so we shall see (but that is another perk of local; I'm relatively sure that he wasn't a spammer). Anyway, so overall a good start.

Aforementioned Picture:

Phase 1: Knowledge is Power

Starting out I knew nothing of making alcohol or brewing of any kind. I also don't have any grandparent or older brother or friend that I knew of who had ever done it before. So I turned to the fountain of knowledge that is the internet. I have always liked Expert Village (now eHow, which sounds rather Asian to me) because they have a lot of experts in various fields demonstrate their techniques in video series (however the order of the videos in the series is difficult to figure out since they don't number them). I found a video series by a fella named Mark Emiley. He's pretty good and has done a lot of home brewing. His videos are kind of funny in that homemade video kind of way but very informative, and he adds his own tips. The other thing I like about his video series is that he explains the background knowledge about the beer he's demonstrating as well as the idea and reasoning behind each step and why to or not to do various techniques. His videos are also complete, which is just what I was looking for as a beginner. He doesn't assume you understand a process or forget a step simply because he finds it second nature. I started with a series for brewing Blonde Beer, as this seemed likely to be the easiest and least finicky to do as my first batch. If you watch these please not that there is a transcript of the video at the bottom of the page. It took me a while of pausing and rewinding the video to write down crucial steps before I realized this. The videos (in order) are listed below, you can also navigate the videos in this series with the bar underneath of the video.

• Home Brewing Blonde Beer
• Using Malt & Hops For Home Brewing Blonde Beer
• Equipment For Home Brewing Blonde Beer
• Using Yeast, Water & Irish Moss For Home Brewing Blonde Beer
• Upgraded Equipment For Home Brewing Blonde Beer
• Home Brew Beer Styles
• Details About Home Brew Blonde Beer
• Home Brew Blonde Beer Recipe
• Home Brew Blonde Beer Ingredients
• Home Brew Blond Beer Equipment Cleaners
• Home Brew Blonde Beer Equipment Sanitizers
• Preparing Malt & Grains for Home Brew Blonde Beer
• Rinsing Grains for Home Brew Blonde Beer
• Adding Extract for Home Brew Blonde Beer
• Measuring Hops for Home Brew Blonde Beer
• Late Boil Additions for Home Brew Blonde Beer
• Cooling the Wort for Home Brew Blonde Beer
• Rehydrating Yeast for Home Brew Blonde Beer
• Mixing Ingredients for Home Brew Blonde Beer
• Fermenting Home Brew Blonde Beer
• Siphoning Home Brew Blonde Beer
• Preparing Home Brew Beer Bottles
• Preparing to Bottle Home Brew Blonde Beer
• Bottling Home Brew Beer
• Aging & Serving Home Brew Blonde Beer

In the Beginning...

As every Frat-boy and Irishman (and yes the latter parts of those names ARE appropriate) knows in the beginning god made beer (or the other-way-around depending on who you ask). But in this beginning there is no beer, not yet. But that's not the point. The point is that I have always liked to create. I fancy myself as a mediocre artist, an even more mediocre carpenter, and on down through the levels of declining proficiency though bicycle repairman, electrical engineer (yeah right), mechanic, gardener and so on. That may, in fact, be my problem: that I like to create or fix or do...everything I can figure out the basics of HOW to do it. Too many pots on the proverbial stove. Often I get some help, either from the hive-mind of my generation (the internet) or from the time tested and progress approved method of seeking knowledge from my Elders and Betters, and this instance will be no different. I have few in the elders-and-betters category in my direct access so I will be relying more heavily on the "system of tubes" and my closest allies: Trial and Error. If you have come to this in search of knowledge and experience, you will find little here, but hopefully that will change in time; and THAT is what this is about. The slow, tedious and I expect often painfully blundering adventure into the ancient art of beer (and perhaps wine) making. What I do figure & find out I will pass along to whomever reads this and there should be more than a few laughs along the way. So if you are keen follow along in your books as I start down this path, and please ANY advice is welcome.