Friday, January 13, 2006
Christmas Beer
My fantastic girlfriend got me a Mr. Beer brewing kit for Christmas. I've wanted to try my hand at making beer for a long time. I think this was a nice gentle step in that direction.
I can think of several faster ways to get beer: the grocery store, a bar, a restaurant, a liquor store, or a friend's house. But making it and watching it grow/brew has been kind of fun. We started a batch about a week ago. It is supposed to take about a week for the little yeast'ies to do their work. We still have floaters, and can leave the brew going for up to three weeks before bottling. I think I'll probably wait two or a little over two total.
One of the best kinds of bottles for home brew is a Grolsch flip top bottle because they can be used over and over again. The Mr. Beer makes two gallons of beer and, well, I didn't have 2 gallons worth of Grolsch bottles just sitting around waiting to be used for this purpose. So 16 bottles of Grolsch later, I now have the bottles I need.
Of course, once bottled, you have to wait at least a week before cracking the first one open. I'll likely wait closer to three. So, 2 weeks for brewing, 3 weeks for bottle conditioning, and now we are up to over a month waiting for beer! That's just crazy. I have enjoyed the process, but the anticipation is getting to me. Luckily, we live close to a good liquor store, restaurants, bars, and a downstairs neighbor that keeps hard liquor.
I can think of several faster ways to get beer: the grocery store, a bar, a restaurant, a liquor store, or a friend's house. But making it and watching it grow/brew has been kind of fun. We started a batch about a week ago. It is supposed to take about a week for the little yeast'ies to do their work. We still have floaters, and can leave the brew going for up to three weeks before bottling. I think I'll probably wait two or a little over two total.
One of the best kinds of bottles for home brew is a Grolsch flip top bottle because they can be used over and over again. The Mr. Beer makes two gallons of beer and, well, I didn't have 2 gallons worth of Grolsch bottles just sitting around waiting to be used for this purpose. So 16 bottles of Grolsch later, I now have the bottles I need.
Of course, once bottled, you have to wait at least a week before cracking the first one open. I'll likely wait closer to three. So, 2 weeks for brewing, 3 weeks for bottle conditioning, and now we are up to over a month waiting for beer! That's just crazy. I have enjoyed the process, but the anticipation is getting to me. Luckily, we live close to a good liquor store, restaurants, bars, and a downstairs neighbor that keeps hard liquor.
# posted by chilort @ 12:26 PM 
