The First Batch

TODAY'S BEER: Dolly Varden IPA from Metolius Brewing Co. (B-)
Not a huge fan of IPA, but saw the bottle at the store and I wanted something a bit different than the Sam Smith Organic Lagers and Ales I've been having lately. Mildly hoppy for an IPA, but smooth and drinkable.

This is my first blog post as a home brewer, so I guess I should back up a bit and tell you my story ...

I made my first batch of home brew in the spring of 1989. I was 17 at the time, and for some reason that I still can't explain, my aunt gave me a gift certificate to a local home brew supply shop. Even more questionable is the fact that my parents let me buy a beginner set-up and allowed me to brew a batch of beer. I won't bore you with the details; I'll summarize and say that the first batch was awful. Let's just say that I simply wanted beer more than I wanted good, properly brewed beer, so what I now know to be necessary steps were sacrificed for the quickest road to opening a bottle. The word "sludge" comes to mind.

Suffice it to say, the spring of 1989 also saw my last batch of home brew until about two weeks ago. I don't know why, but for some reason I got the idea in my head that I wanted to make my own beer again, but this time I'd do it right. I haven't been drinking a lot of beer in the past year or so, maybe a bottle or two on a Friday or Saturday night, but nothing really more. However, I had recently fallen in love with Belgian beers, so my "bottle or two" consisted of at least 22 oz. of high alcohol heaven. Great stuff but expensive, so I think more than anything I figured I could make a good Belgian-style beer for a fraction of the cost (experienced home brewers feel free to laugh at me right about now!).

Okay, so I did my research, I bought a copy of Charlie Papazian's "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing" and read it cover-to-cover, and I decided I was ready to brew ... just not ready to brew a Belgian beer. Went down to the local home brew supply store the next day, bought a mid-range starter package and ingredients and drove home with visions of my own future brew pub dancing in my head!

I thought I'd go somewhat easy with my first batch, so I selected a recipe for an amber ale that's a clone of the "Carlsbad Chronic" from Pizza Port, a local favorite spot. Recipe is:

8 lbs LME
.5 lbs 60L
.5 lbs 80L
.5 oz Black Patent
1 oz Galena (60 minutes)
2 oz E.K. Goldings (10 minutes)
WLP002 English Ale Yeast
O.G. = 1.057 - 1.060
F.G. = 1.012 - 1.014

Seemed simple enough ... famous last words?

I must say first that the available equipment for home brewers today is much better than what was available 20 years ago. Either that or I went completely bargain basement the first time around, but the stuff I got with my intermediate package is fantastic! Very easy to understand and use, and I think that patience and attention to detail this time around will pay off. But I'm sure I made some mistakes ...

First, I don't think I chilled the wort fast enough. Basically, I added the hot wort (2 gallons) to a 6.5 gallon glass carboy with 3 gallons of cool water. After that, I set it in a sink with cool water but no ice. Probably should have cooled the wort before adding to the carboy. Second, I didn't aerate the wort. Why? I didn't know how, and quite honestly, I didn't know it was recommended. Oh well, we'll see. Also, I was so excited to get everything rolling that I forgot to take an initial hydrometer reading. Next time ...

Pitched my yeast at about 78 degrees, attached the fermentation lock, and spent the next 10 days sitting and staring at a big glass bottle with nothing short of total fascination! Seriously, I could just sit there and watch this dark liquid bubble and foam for hours. I didn't, of course, but I did find myself stopping for 5 to 10 minutes at a time just staring. "Staring" or "drooling"? Probably a little of both.

After 8 days, I did get a hydrometer reading of 1.015, which stayed the same for the next 2 days. By the way, a Wine Thief is a fantastic tool! Drank the sample each time, and it was weird. I know it was supposed to be flat and warm, but it was hard to pick out a really good taste. Hopefully that with come with some more aging.

So, three days at 1.015 ... TIME TO BOTTLE!

I had spent the previous 3 weeks or so hoarding Sam Smith bottles. I'd been finding excuses go to the local organic supermarket for family shopping, not so much for the food, but because they sell Sam Smith Organically Produced Ale and Lager really cheap, and both of which I love. So I'd been buying them up and drinking way too much beer in preparation for bottling my first real batch of home brew.

Sterilized all my components, boiled my bottle caps, cleaned my bottles, and got a batch of priming sugar and water ready to go. Oh yeah, I remember addding small amounts of corn sugar to each bottle last time I tried this, and the priming method is WAY better ... love it! Stayed up way too late bottling beer, but I had a blast.

And now the hard part ... waiting. I've got everything capped and sitting in a dark, cool space, and I plan to chill and crack my first bottle next Friday. Plans change, of course, and I might just want to sample something along the way. Sue me :)

So, updates to come. Keep coming back and reading my progress as I hope to go from beginner to experienced home brewer. Feel free to post comments and suggestions, and share recipes! I'll do the same as I go along ... next up is a Belgian Triple that I concocted with the guys at the local home brew supply shop, Hydrobrew in Oceanside (great shop!). Making the yeast starter tomorrow night ... cheers!