Thoughts on games, work, and… well, mostly games

For Christmas, my wonderful wife went all out and bought me a complete set if homebrew equipment from Alabrew here in Birmingham. Today was brew day!

The recipe was an Alabrew variant on “Phil’s Pils”, and it was fun to make. I’ve never homebrewed before and was intimidated by the idea, but having cooked the wort and begun the first round of fermentation, I can say it was easier than I thought. It helped to have some friends over to supervise (i.e. drink beer).

After I transferred the wort into the fermentation bucket, I fear I made three mistakes. First, I added the flavor hops too soon, at the same time I added the buttering hops. Then, I over-topped the bucket at about 5.5 gallons instead of just 5. Not sure what that will do to the final product. Finally, I decided to store the fermeting bucket in our garage, which is about 40-45 degrees. I worried that the cold might retard the yeast’s ability to do it’s work, so I moved it inside the house several hours later, where it will stay for the next week or so prior to moving the mix to a carboy. I don’t think any of these mistakes will ruin the beer, but I have nothing to base that assertion on.

It’s a pretty gratifying hobby so far. The aroma that filled the house today may have been offensive to the wife, but I found it rather pleasant. :)

She wants to have a tasting party for the first batch, but I think I need to make sure it’s at least passable as beer before subjecting others to it. I didn’t realize that a 5-gallon batch can take almost a month to complete; the waiting is indeed the hardest part.