Homebrewing Again

Lest you think all I do is post videos, I give you: a post of substance!!! Well, at least original content!

As previously mentioned, on Monday, I brewed batch number two. This time, I actually followed a recipe: "'The Sun Has Left Us On Time' Steam Beer" from Charlie Papazian's The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. The name is taken from a quote from Thomas Edison's diary. He wrote, " The sun has left us on time, am going to read from the Encyclopaedia Britannica to steady my nerves and go to bed early. I will shut my eyes and imagine a terraced abyss, each terrace occupied by a beautiful maiden. To the first I will deliver my mind and they will pass it down, down to the uttermost depths of silence and oblivion." I loved the quote when I read it (last May,) and so set to collecting the supplies to brew a batch. However,

between the natural disorder of my life, and fear of my own inexperience, I procrastinated the actual brewing until a week ago.

Surprisingly, the boiling of the wort went off without a hitch. I was most impressed. And because the husband was awake as well, I had a

photographer! As you can see, this time, I actually used real malts (not just extract,) and real hops (well, hop pellets, which I am led to believe are a good approximation.) I am aware that I could have bought my malts pre-crushed, but I wasn't sure how quickly I would be using them, so I opted to crush them myself, and be able to store them longer. At this stage, all I can really say is that the boiling wort certainly smelled more appetizing. It will be weeks yet before I taste it, but the smell

has me optimistic.

I should probably also mention that I used a yeast starter. That is to say, I started my yeast before pitching it properly. (I think that's how you say what I did. Being self-taught, and a little shy, I'm still getting a hang of the lingo.) It seemed like the right thing to do since I was using live yeast instead of the dehydrated packet like I used in α1. The yeast started beautifully, and though I thought I had enough room for the inevitable initial fermentation foam in my six-gallon bucket, it bubbled through the fermentation lock on the first day. I think it'll be okay though. The fermentation lock was sanitized (I take no chances,) and as soon as I saw the mess, I attached a hose.

At present, it is calmly bubbling in the laundry room, where it will sit for the next few weeks. I am anticipating it will be drinkable around Christmas, which is fantastic. The family will be out of town for the holidays, and I, for the first time in... well, ever, will be able to relax with a fresh homebrew over Christmas. Oh yeah. :)

Oh, and just for the sake of clarity, a note on the naming of beers. The first batch didn't have a proper name, and so was called α1. The most obvious thing to call this batch would be its proper name, but that is rather long, so I imagine I will be calling it β1. Not α2, as you might have expected, because I used a vastly different process from what I did to produce α1. So when I start throwing random Geek letters at you, you'll all immediately understand what I'm talking about, right?