Sunday, December 2, 2007

Beers We Have Made So Far

Our brewing career began with a kit from Beer and Wine Hobby (kudos to them for being awesome with their service so far). It was an amber ale that came with all the equipment. It came out decent, we made some mistakes. In the end it tasted like beer. A tip for all newcomers to homebrewing: When using a plastic fermentation bucket, apply the airlock to the lid before placing the lid on the bucket. The grommet easily falls in your beer if you push too hard, then you have to have Bujer sanitize his arm and stick it in wort to fish it out.
Our second batch was using a Coopers IPA kit. The extract comes pre-hopped so all you have to do is boil. Not difficult at all. Here's another tip: When using the IPA kit, don't use 2 cans. Use 1 can of the IPA, 1 can light malt extract. 2 cans make for extremely bitter beer. After about 4 months we still have 1 bottle left, it might have mellowed out by now.
Our third batch was our own recipe for an India Pale Ale. We believe it came out fairly awesome, good balance between hops and malt. We were quite pleased with it, so we don't have any tips.
The next batch was a Belgian Witbier. Great flavor, balance, too dark. Definitely the best one and most popular to date according to all of our friends. A tip: When using White Labs WLP400 yeast, keep the temperature between 75-85 degrees when fermenting. Our yeast went dormant in the basement because the temperature was 65-68 degrees. Took an extra week or two to finish fermenting.
Stick around for our current beer that was started yesterday...

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