"It's Not Awful..."

Those were Lindsay's first words after trying her Pilothouse Pilsner. A little worried to try it myself after this assessment, I asked if it was any better than "not awful," and she said that in fact it was pretty good. I tried it and said it tasted more like a wheat beer than a hoppy pilsner, and Lindsay agreed.
Looking at the beer, it is cloudy and darker than a pilsner, and actually looks more like a wheat to me. Regardless, it's pretty darn good. Time to start a couple of new batches!

A Pleasant Surprise

Friday night, Lindsay and I tried our Sticky Wicket Oatmeal Stout.
While I expected that our pilsner would turn out fine, I was a bit worried about this darker beer. However, I was pleasantly surprised that it in fact tased very good. I expect that it will only improve in flavor as it continues to age.

Bottling Complete

If you've been following our blog, you will know exactly what this post is about just by seeing the photo above.

Tonight, Lindsay and I donned our beer-brewing hats as we performed the last step for our Sticky Wicket Oatmeal Stout and moved one step closer to completing our Pilothouse Pilsner. Three weeks ago, we put our Sticky Wicket Oatmeal Stout in a warm, dark room for carbonation to take place. Today, we put this beer in the refrigerator to bottle condition. It should be ready to drink at any time. Updates soon...

Also three weeks ago, we started making Pilothouse Pilsner. Tonight, it was time to bottle this batch. The first step was to sterilize the bottles...

Then, Lindsay added sugar to the bottles...

... and I filled the bottles.

Finally, we labeled and boxed the bottles.

These bottles will now be placed in a warm, dark room for approximately three weeks, at which time they will be put in the refrigerator for bottle conditioning.

Mr. Beer Update

As you may recall, three weeks ago, Lindsay and I began making Sticky Wicket Oatmeal Stout. Tonight, it was time to bottle the brew. We started by sterilizing the bottles.
Once the bottles were prepared, we added sugar to carbonate the beer.

Next, the beer is poored from the fermenter into the bottles...

... and the bottles are inverted several times to mix in the sugar.

The final step is to label the bottles!

Now the beer will be stored in a warm, dark room for three weeks. After that, it goes into the refrigerator for conditioning. We should be able to try our first bottle in a month or so!

We also started a batch of Pilothouse Pilsner, a hoppy beer, tonight.

In two or three weeks, we will bottle this batch.

Watch for updates!

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.