Homebrewing Beer, Episode One, Our First Attempt.

This is the label from our can of extract.

Gees.....I have gone to the "American Home Brewers Association" website,  www,homebrewersassociation.org and watched the brewing films a half dozen times now.  My hope is that what we purchased is at least close to what they are directing!!  Time will surely tell.

The Home Brewing Kit.

We went to the Farm Bureau and purchased everything we should need last Saturday.  A knowledgeable fellow, Al, helped us and is also a home brewer so we felt good about his advice.   We didn't want to start this too soon and run it into having to process some part of it on Thanksgiving day!  We should be OK until at least Wednesday of next week.

The kit contained everything except the extract, sugar, caps, and bottles.

I have first drawn and let sit out overnight 5 gallons of water to loose the awful chlorine.  Then I boiled it all a  good 20 minutes and have left it covered overnight so it is sterile and cooled.  Next when Brian gets home and we have finished supper we will sterilize and get things rolling!!

ZERO HOUR.  First thing, we set about to dip 3 quarts of our prepared water into a stock pot and turn on the heat as it must be brought to a boil.  Next we drew a dishpan of hot water and after removing the label from the can of extract submerged the can in the water to warm it to make it more free flowing.  The next step was to mix 1 T. of the beer equipment disinfectant with 1 gal. of very warm water and disinfect everything that will touch the beer.  (You needn't worry about the water or pans because of the boiling and keeping them covered with their lids.)

We are making a 5 gallon batch rather than the 6 as specified by the kit as Al recommended cutting back the water only for a deeper flavor.  Hay Brian wants big flavor don't you know! 

The extract.

So now the water is boiling, everything should be sterile and we pour the contents from the can of extract into the brewing pail.

Dissolving the extract in the boiling water.

Next add the 3 quarts of boiling water and stir to dissolve.  As soon as it has dissolved Al said we should fill the empty extract can with the brewers sugar he sold us and add it, stirring again to dissolve.  Big B (Brian) is right in there and we re chugging along!

As soon as we complete this task we fill the brewing pail to the 5 gallon line with the room temperature and previously boiled water stirring away as we go.   They have a special lingo that goes along with this and if I recall correctly we now have "wort".  I think that is what they term the mixture before you "throw the yeast".

"Throwing the Yeast."

Next you do add the yeast, the water temperature is to be between 65 and 70 degrees which I find very very odd from my bread making past.   Well anyway, you stir and dissolve then proceed again.

Tucked away in a dark place.

At this point we lock on the lid, fill the air lock half full of water and insert it into the appropriate opening on the lid, and slide it away into a dark place not to be disturbed for a good week or so.  And we shall see what comes of our first attempt.........more to come.