Welcome Back, Mr. Beer!

Several years ago, Mike Walczak gave me a Mr. Beer homebrew kit as a gift. Lindsay and I used it soon after receiving it, making a pretty tasty ginger beer. We tried again not too long after that, but our second batch, a doppleback, did not taste so good. Because of that failure, we had not used Mr. Beer since....

... Until this past Wednesday, that is. On Wednesday night, we dusted off Mr. Beer and started a batch of Sticky Wicket Oatmeal Stout.
That's pretty much the kit - a fermenter, a spoon, the measuring glass, and a pot. The first step, and one of the most important, is sterilizing everything.

Once everything has been sterilized, it is very important not to allow the sterilized objects to come in contact with objects that are not sterilized. Otherwise, you can spoil the batch of beer.

As you can see, we had our brewing hats on!

Here, Lindsay is preparing the wort, which is the unfermented beer. At this point, it smelled like molasses.

The wort is then put in the fermenter, where it will sit for two to three weeks. After that, we will bottle the brew and let it carbonate for the next two weeks or so. At that point, we will try some of our beer, but most of it will be put in the refrigerator where it will age and become more flavorful. Updates to come in the future.