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: