It's been a really long time since I've posted to this blog, and let's be honest, nobody reads this thing. It started as a way for me to keep a record of what I drank. That spun wildly out of hand and I was getting backlogged. Right around the time that I felt like posting to this thing was eerily close to homework, I decided to give it a rest. Actually having legitimate homework was another deterrent. How many different ways can you say, "this is hoppy, malty, medium bodied"... etc. I'm not discounting the art of rating beer, the exercise was a huge part of me learning about craft beer and becoming passionate about the many nuances. Why am I breaking the silence for the 3 people that look at this blog you ask?

My wife let go of her fear of the space limitations that define our apartment and bought me a home brew kit for my birthday! So here's a new rabbit hole to explore. It's mind boggling for sure, but all of that brewery tour lingo is starting to make so much more sense to me now. 

My first batch has been in my high tech drywall mud bucket for about a week now. I have really resisted the urge to mess with it too much in fear of contamination. However, I have opened it on two occasions to give the proverbial man nod of approval as if I have any idea whatsoever if anything is right or wrong. 

Recipe: Basic no frills 60 minute extract boil

3.3lb Northwestern Gold Extract Syrup 

7g Coopers Dry Yest

1oz Columbus Hop Pellets

1oz Simcoe Hop Pellets

60 minute boil with hop additions at 20 min (Columbus) and 40 min (Simcoe). 

I wouldn't dare name this beer without tasting it, but I'm expecting a pretty raw pale ale. 

Below is a picture of a sample of the brew a few days into fermentation. I poured a New Dogtown Pale Ale from Lagunitas to compare the appearance and because I was thirsty...I mostly just wanted a beer and felt like I was doing something by taking this picture. So my non-carbonated beer on the right is cloudy and, well, not carbonated. Other than that, I wasn't disappointing with the appearance; I was expecting a lot more floaters and undesirables in there. I have a hydrometer, but if you give a monkey a scalpel he ain't gonna perform heart surgery. In other words, Homebrew 1.0 will have to a little mysterious. 

Bottling conditioning is next and I plan to post a tasting after one  week (because I know it wont be ready but I wont be able to help myself) and 2 weeks...with the understanding that it may take that 3rd week to really be mellowed out and homogeneous. Haha, it could be straight swill in a bottle, it's 50/50 at this point.

Cheers!