The first taste!

We met again on Wednesday night, and sampled the fruits of our labor. The results were:
We decided it was a VERY GOOD first batch, and we're already planning our next batch. We're plotting whether or not to serve it at our holiday party this coming weekend, or save it all for ourselves. I think we'll end up with a compromise and offer it to a few beer lovers, and save the rest for ourselves :-)

The Lineup


All bottles had carbonation, 1 of them had too much (it overflowed after opening, and had a "fizzy" taste to it until it was in the glass for a few minutes).
The flavor was very nice - caramel and some hints of coffee flavor, in addition to a nice nut brown color.

Ready to Taste



The first bottles we drank "cold" from the 'fridge, and then we sampled a second round at "cellar temperature". The second was my personal preference, as I like my beer a little warmer than most folks.

Of the 8 we tried Wednesday evening (there were 4 of us BTW), 3 had too little carbonation (a little flat, not too bad), 1 had too much (way too much) and the other 4 were fine. During cleanup, we noticed a lot of white sediment in the bottom of 6 out of the 8 bottles, which required a good rinse with hot water and shaking to remove. We didn't want it to dry on the bottom of the bottles and make the next round a real mess to clean out before we could use them again.

Next up: An IPA, probably after the first of the year. Until then, happy Beermas from DJD Brewers!


Saddest sight

It's bottling time

10 days after brewing we bottled our first batch. First the specs, then the pics.
The temperature of the beer in the primary fermenter was 60 degrees. The FSG was 1.2, we're not sure if that's good or bad, but we checked it anyway :-).

We had a lot of our good friends stop over to watch and help; let's hope they're still our friends after trying the beer LOL

Washing bottles

We dissolved the bottling sugar in 1/2 cup of boiling water, and removed it from the heat. We poured it into a sanitzed bottling bucket, and siphoned the beer from the primary fermenter into the bottling bucket, but did not stir it afterward.

Transferring into the bottling bucket


Siphoning the beer into the bucket

Using the bottle filling tool (that worked wonderfully) we filled 47 12 oz bottles, and they're sitting in cases waiting to be drank.




Antique "cheaters" used by an ATF agent at a local distillery


Capping

Women

Our wives insisted we take a pic of the fermenter covered with a coat and hat to keep it warm. Not really necessary, but since they're kind enough to indulge us in our new habit, we want to keep them happy

BTW, today's report: 60 degrees, and holding steady. No bubbles, but the airlock seems to be clearing out of the sediment that was hanging on the inside of it last week.

It's saturday and nothing is new

Nothing new since yesterday with the project. Temp is still at 66 degrees, even with the space heater turned on. No bubbles, but we're not too concerned anymore. We're planning to put it in the secondary fermenter next weekend and bottle it so I guess we'll find out more then.

Getting warmer?

Well, its around 3:30 now, and the temp is still at 66. The primary fermenter has been moved into the outer room where it *should* be warmer but no rise in temperature yet. However, we checked with our guest expert Dan this morning, and he told us not to worry; move it to a warmer spot, and all should be fine. We have at least a week before we bottle, so a lot can happen during that time.

So the blanket is still in place, and I'll check on it later this evening.

Too Cool for bubbles?

When I checked the progress this morning at 7 am, the temperature had cooled down to 64 degrees, and after 2 minutes of observation, no bubbles appeared in the airlock. I'm trying to raise the temperature in the room now, and have also covered the primary fermentation container with a blanket!. I'll watch throughout the day, and if the temperature goes back up and still no bubbles, I guess the next step will be a google search on "stuck fermentation"...

Blow-by

So at 3:30 today we had our first bit of excitement. While checking on the progess, (and smelling that lovely smell of fermenting grains) I noticed we had froth in the airlock. Being novices, we did our research on the web, and discovered this was not at all uncommon. We quickly swapped out the froth filled airlock with a spare that my grandfather used for making home made wine years ago and all seems to be back to normal, bubbling happily away. There's still a bit of "color" bubbling up into the water in the airlock, but we're told that's nothing unusual.


I do believe the yeast is having a little bit too good of a time in there. The temp in the room is about 64, but the stick on thermometer on the fermenter is reading 70 so maybe after things settle down with the fermentation in about 24 hours, the froth in the airlock will stop.

I'll keep checking every couple of hours till things settle down.

First batch

This is a blog about a group of middle aged guys who decided to take up home brewing of beer as a hobby. Yeah, it'll be boring, but what personal blog isn't?

So we started our first official batch of beer last evening, Nov. 19th. It's a Porter (we picked it over the IPA by a coin flip at Listermann's) . We started at 6:20 (with pizza and beer for dinner of course) and we finished cleanup (Thanks Judy) at 10:15.
All went well for our first time, and it's in it's 6.5 gallon primary fermentation jug, and bubbling away.