Hey all!
Starting from the begining...
I have a client who is a home brewer. Makes excellent brew. Mentioned this to my wife 2 years ago. So...she bought me a gift certificate to a company called Deja Brew, located in MA. Great company. Essentially, you go in, you choose your recipe, and the guy walks you through the whole process. I know now that it is all extract. They take care of the cleaning and the racking. You just come back 2-4 weeks later and bottle your beer. You have to bring or buy your bottles.
Was a fantastic experience. Wife and I did it. Problem was, I chose a 'big beer'. And was clueless. But either they didn't explain well enough or they thought I might already know, they negelcted to mention that my 'big beer' would need many weeks, if not months, to carb. (I know that now). Beer obviously wasn't all that carbed after just 1 week at 70 degrees. So, I wasn't happy, even though the beer tasted good, just flat.
Anyway, for the last year I had these 3 cases of 22 ounce bottles sitting in my basement, and I mentioned to the wife that maybe we should go back and try again. Since, hey, we already have the bottles. Maybe try a lighter easier beer.
My wife, and this is why I married her, is awesome. Instead, she orders a starter kit from Northern Brewer. Goes and does her own research, unbenownst to me,orders the delux starter kit, plus an extra 2 carboys. Then she also buys 3 kits. Carribou Slobber, Dead Ringer and American Wheat ale.
When it arrived, I felt like a 10 year old at Christmas!
Ran out to look for a 7.5 or 10 gallon pot. Found a turkey fryer at Homedepot witha gas burner stand. Ooops! All out. So, I got the floor model for 10% off. Sweet!
Ran down to the local Home brew store to get a yeast starter kit. asked a few questions about fermenting. Guy told me I need to be fermenting at 70 degree room temp. (yeah, not gonna happen, not after reading everything here)
Did the American Wheat ale first. Just extract and hops. All went well. Full boil and everything.
Did the Carribou slobber the other day. Had a hops boil over with the first addition. But, being full boil, and hop utilization, figure losing some was probably ok. Still won't be perfect, but should be ok.
Saturday, the dead ringer is scheduled to get brewed.
Wife does have an ulterior motive. Wants me to brew mead from our bees and Port from our blueberries, and wine from our rasberries. I better get my brewings skills up soon!
So, now wife wants the beer soon, for the superbowl when the Patriots will get to demolish the Giants and avenge the loss from a few years ago, so may green light me to get a corny and a co2 tube.
Anyway, I can see a promising future for this hobby.
Oh and when everyone says RDWHAHB to a newbie, like me, I think you're forgetting, we have no homebrews yet! We're stuck with commercial crap!
Starting from the begining...
I have a client who is a home brewer. Makes excellent brew. Mentioned this to my wife 2 years ago. So...she bought me a gift certificate to a company called Deja Brew, located in MA. Great company. Essentially, you go in, you choose your recipe, and the guy walks you through the whole process. I know now that it is all extract. They take care of the cleaning and the racking. You just come back 2-4 weeks later and bottle your beer. You have to bring or buy your bottles.
Was a fantastic experience. Wife and I did it. Problem was, I chose a 'big beer'. And was clueless. But either they didn't explain well enough or they thought I might already know, they negelcted to mention that my 'big beer' would need many weeks, if not months, to carb. (I know that now). Beer obviously wasn't all that carbed after just 1 week at 70 degrees. So, I wasn't happy, even though the beer tasted good, just flat.
Anyway, for the last year I had these 3 cases of 22 ounce bottles sitting in my basement, and I mentioned to the wife that maybe we should go back and try again. Since, hey, we already have the bottles. Maybe try a lighter easier beer.
My wife, and this is why I married her, is awesome. Instead, she orders a starter kit from Northern Brewer. Goes and does her own research, unbenownst to me,orders the delux starter kit, plus an extra 2 carboys. Then she also buys 3 kits. Carribou Slobber, Dead Ringer and American Wheat ale.
When it arrived, I felt like a 10 year old at Christmas!
Ran out to look for a 7.5 or 10 gallon pot. Found a turkey fryer at Homedepot witha gas burner stand. Ooops! All out. So, I got the floor model for 10% off. Sweet!
Ran down to the local Home brew store to get a yeast starter kit. asked a few questions about fermenting. Guy told me I need to be fermenting at 70 degree room temp. (yeah, not gonna happen, not after reading everything here)
Did the American Wheat ale first. Just extract and hops. All went well. Full boil and everything.
Did the Carribou slobber the other day. Had a hops boil over with the first addition. But, being full boil, and hop utilization, figure losing some was probably ok. Still won't be perfect, but should be ok.
Saturday, the dead ringer is scheduled to get brewed.
Wife does have an ulterior motive. Wants me to brew mead from our bees and Port from our blueberries, and wine from our rasberries. I better get my brewings skills up soon!
So, now wife wants the beer soon, for the superbowl when the Patriots will get to demolish the Giants and avenge the loss from a few years ago, so may green light me to get a corny and a co2 tube.
Anyway, I can see a promising future for this hobby.
Oh and when everyone says RDWHAHB to a newbie, like me, I think you're forgetting, we have no homebrews yet! We're stuck with commercial crap!
