I remember when I first started homebrewing. I should since it was only three years ago. If I couldn’t remember, I would rack it up to too much homebrew…but that’s not the case.
On July 4th, 2005, I brewed up a True Brew Amber Ale. I had purchased my equipment kit along with this recipe kit two weeks prior to the brew day. I had brewed with the other brew dude Mike a few times in the past but this was the first time I brewed on my own. I read the simple instructions that came with the recipe kit a few times to make sure I understood everything.
I did my best cleaning and sanitizing all the equipment. My uncle gave me a tip about brewing and suggested I buy spring water. I got 5 gallons of the store brand spring water to make my amber ale.
I got the largest pot that we had and poured a gallon and a half of the spring water into it. I was able to stick the half empty (or is it half full) gallon with the 3 other unopened gallons in the fridge. Getting the rest of the water to refrigerator temperature was key to get the wort cool enough for me to pitch my yeast.
From what I can recall, the boil went fine. I think the kit came with two cans of malt extract, which I added at the start of the boil. Once the hour was up, I put the pot in an ice bath in my kitchen sink. I took the spring water out of the fridge and pour it all into the fermentation bucket. Once that was done, I poured the wort into the bucket. I took a look at the temperature strip on the side of the bucket and saw that I had cooled it down to 70 degrees. It was like magic.
I fermented the brew for a week and then bottled it up. I kept checking the bottles everyday to see what was happening inside of them. I saw the yeast clumping up into big particles by day 7 and I really thought I messed things up. I opened one up to taste how bad it was and was surprised to find it wasn’t undrinkable.
A week later, I brought a 22 oz bomber to some event over at Brian Hammer’s apartment. I opened it up and we all took a swig. Mike gave me a “not bad” look. Certainly wasn’t the best beer in the whole world (no real character) but a good start.
Darren
Ahhh, the early days of brewing. I would assume most every home brewers would have very similar experiences. I bought my first kit in a small town in Northern Vermont. I was still living in my hometown near Pittsburgh, but I traveled quit often just after I graduated college. I think I paid around $40 for a complete kit including a glass carboy, the typical equipment (sans bottles) and the second edition of Charlie Papazaian’s book (I had the first chapter nearly memorized before I made it back home to brew my first batch).
The first few batches were not the most memorable, yet not a drop found its way to the kitchen sink. There were, to my surprise, a few well stocked home brew suppliers in the Pittsburgh area. I learned as I went and there would be periods of time when the equipment would gather a bit of dust, but it still traveled with me when I would relocate to a number of cities. After marriage, a few kids and a number of businesses, the old brewing equipment was brought out of storage. Now there are two dedicated coolers in the garage, a number of self-made devises for ‘growing” yeast and cooling wort as well as plans for a 15 gallon brewing contraption.
For any beginning brewer: a single batch does not a brewer make. And yes, I still partake in a Miller High Life now-and-again; if only to reassure myself that I can make some darned good beer.
Na zdrowie!
Adam @ Beer Bits 2
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