brewing update
I'm not sure how this is an update, since it's my first post... Here's a summary of our brewing activities to date:
I don't have any of the specific gravities or alcohol content in this post. I'll gather them and make another post eventually. Also, thanks to everyone who has contributed to the bottle fund and has helped with different steps along the way.
English Brown Ale: A Brewer's Best kit beer from MDHB. Our first attempt at a beer, so there was the spectre of "are we doing this right?" hanging around. The mash did boil over prior to adding the hops. Also, the wort did not seem to gurgle as much as we would have liked. In the end, the beer turned out fine. No rave reviews, but good.
Status: Less than half a case left.
Weizenbier: Another Brewer's Best kit beer. We should have known better, but we were expecting an American Wheat Beer, not a German Wheat Beer. We solved our boil-over problem from the first batch with new equipment, a 20 quart pot. We also did a better job of activating the yeast, so the wort gurgled right away. We also racked the beer into a carboy for secondary fermentation to help with sediment-control.
Status: About a case left.
Oktoberfest: Recipe from MDHB. This is by far our best beer. I'd attribute that to the fresh ingredients (grains ground that day), the recipe, and our experience. This beer also went through a secondary fermentation and aged in the bottles longer than our previous beers. The beer finished by late September, just in time for Oktoberfest and a couple homebrew events we attended.
Status: About a case left.
NDH (Non-Denominational Holiday) Ale: The Brewer's Best Holiday Ale kit. This beer isn't done yet. It smells great, so we're looking forward to the end of November when it should be ready. Also, I have a feeling that it'll get better with age. We also learned that small pieces of orange peel and siphoning tubing do not mix well.
Status: In secondary fermentation.
Future brewing plans... for today:
Pumpkin Ale: Recipe from the Internet with modifications. We're going to use canned, instead of fresh, pumpkin, and possibly switch up the spices a bit. I guess that makes this our first experimental beer.
Dunkelweizen: Another Brewer's Best kit beer. We couldn't resist this kit the last time we were at MDHB.
We may even try to brew outside on the burner from my turkey deep-fryer.
We probably could use another case or two of bottles too, if you have any lying around. Brown glass, non-screw top, rinsed. Or we should just start drinking all this beer we've brewed.
I don't have any of the specific gravities or alcohol content in this post. I'll gather them and make another post eventually. Also, thanks to everyone who has contributed to the bottle fund and has helped with different steps along the way.
English Brown Ale: A Brewer's Best kit beer from MDHB. Our first attempt at a beer, so there was the spectre of "are we doing this right?" hanging around. The mash did boil over prior to adding the hops. Also, the wort did not seem to gurgle as much as we would have liked. In the end, the beer turned out fine. No rave reviews, but good.
Status: Less than half a case left.
Weizenbier: Another Brewer's Best kit beer. We should have known better, but we were expecting an American Wheat Beer, not a German Wheat Beer. We solved our boil-over problem from the first batch with new equipment, a 20 quart pot. We also did a better job of activating the yeast, so the wort gurgled right away. We also racked the beer into a carboy for secondary fermentation to help with sediment-control.
Status: About a case left.
Oktoberfest: Recipe from MDHB. This is by far our best beer. I'd attribute that to the fresh ingredients (grains ground that day), the recipe, and our experience. This beer also went through a secondary fermentation and aged in the bottles longer than our previous beers. The beer finished by late September, just in time for Oktoberfest and a couple homebrew events we attended.
Status: About a case left.
NDH (Non-Denominational Holiday) Ale: The Brewer's Best Holiday Ale kit. This beer isn't done yet. It smells great, so we're looking forward to the end of November when it should be ready. Also, I have a feeling that it'll get better with age. We also learned that small pieces of orange peel and siphoning tubing do not mix well.
Status: In secondary fermentation.
Future brewing plans... for today:
Pumpkin Ale: Recipe from the Internet with modifications. We're going to use canned, instead of fresh, pumpkin, and possibly switch up the spices a bit. I guess that makes this our first experimental beer.
Dunkelweizen: Another Brewer's Best kit beer. We couldn't resist this kit the last time we were at MDHB.
We may even try to brew outside on the burner from my turkey deep-fryer.
We probably could use another case or two of bottles too, if you have any lying around. Brown glass, non-screw top, rinsed. Or we should just start drinking all this beer we've brewed.