Sunday, April 13, 2008

41 bottles of beer in my closet, 41 bottles of beer . . . .

Tonight I bottled my first batch of English Brown Ale.  It smelled good, so I'm hopeful that in 2 weeks (or optimally, 21 days) I will have good tasting beer as well.  I'm still not sure how to get a siphon to work well, but I managed.  I had beer all over my kitchen floor, counter tops, sinks, stove.  It was worth it.  Sitting in the closet of my spare bedroom are 7 six packs minus one bottle.  I was supposed to get approximately 53 bottles, but I due to extended boiling time and that darned siphoning, I ended up with 41.  

I think it's about time to start my next batch.

P.S. One may also spell siphon, syphon.

6 comments:

  1. Let me know how that turns out.

    I know Ben is also trying his hand at the home brewing, which has prompted my dad to dig his kit out of storage... I'll be the only Welstead in our family who's not brewing. I'm trying not to let the pressure get to me. :-)

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  2. The beer stuff is cool and all, but I'm really impressed with your math skills. (6*7)-1=41. Where was Bianca during all of this? Licking the floor in the kitchen?

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  3. She was totally licking the floor!

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  4. We had a tough time with the siphoning as well, but got a good handle on it.
    1. Place the fermenting bucket below where your kettle is. If your kettle is on the stove/in the sink, placing the bucket on a chair next to the counter works well.
    2. Fill the entire tube with water (making sure there are no air bubbles)
    3. Close off each end with your thumbs
    4. Dip one end of the tube into the Wort, while holding the other hand over the sink.
    5. Release both ends of the tube and let the water drain out of the tube into the sink.
    6. Once the water is gone just do a little switch-a-roo into your bucket and siphon away!

    Hope that helps.

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  5. must be fun to live at that house of yours!! whatcha gonna do with it when you leave?

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