Our first attempt at beer. We made several mistakes, but we learned from them and the beer is quite decent despite them. Below we have our brewing information, pictures, and a couple of videos.
| Date of Brewing: | August 8, 2003 |
|---|---|
| Batch: | 001 |
| Name: | Baby Brittan |
| Style: | Dark Amber Ale |
| Volume: | 5 gallons |
| Recipe Source: | Made up on the spot, in a hurry, while drunk. |
| Ingredients: |
|
| Time of boil: | 30 minutes |
| Hops: | Boiling hops added at start of boil along with malt syrup. No flavoring or aroma hops used. |
| Temperature of wort then yeast pitched: | Unknown, most likely over 110° Fahrenheit. |
| Beginning specific gravity: | Unknown |
| Date of transfer to brightening tank: | August 25, 2003 |
| Date of bottling: | September 12, 2003 |
| Bottling agent: | 3/4 cups corn sugar (dextrose/glucose) |
| Specific gravity at bottling time: | Unknown |
| Date of first taste: | September 22, 2003 |
| Taste Evaluation: | The beer is a decent dark amber English bitter. It is a very deep, pure red - I have never seen a beer this red before. It is amazing to gaze through. The nugget hops are powerful, and it is very malty as well. There was a slight buttery flavor initially, but over a couple of weeks aging the beer mellowed and the buttery flavor disappeared. |
| Notes: |
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We didn't get any images of the initial brewing because there were only two of us and we had our hands full. We did get pictures of Batch 002 though.
The beer has been fermenting for 2 days at this point.
See all that lovely krausen (foam) forming.
This is a 6 gallon carboy with 5 gallons of beer.
It is bubbling quite rapidly.
.
The water-lock on top keeps bacteria and fungus out while letting out the carbon dioxide.
Mmm... beer...
After a couple of weeks it is ready to be transferred to the brightening tank. Notice how much it has darkened.
The plans was to use the bottling bucket as the tank. But it leaked.
The purpose of the brightening tank is to allow for longer fermentation by moving the beer to a new tank away from the dead yeast cells, which will decompose and give the beer an off flavor.
Here we go. Slow siphon to avoid aerating the beer. At this point oxygen will only oxidize the beer.
Almost done.
You can see the small leak filling up the pan at the bottom.
Carboy with a lot of scum and a little beer.
Those are dead or dormant yeast cells, like Mississippi mud.
The beer is transferred back to the newly cleaned and sanitized carboy.
This would have been a lot easier if the bucket had not leaked...
Filling up slowly.
The beer happily sits in its freshly cleaned home.
A few weeks later, when Rob is back from Kentucky, we are ready to bottle. Sanitizing the bucket with bleach and water.
Bottling sanitized and cleaned.
Siphoning the beer into the bucket with the corn sugar. Andrew munches in the background. Notice the beer bottle.
Rob, Melissa, Steve, and Andrew wait for the beer.
Rob fills the first bottle.
Bottle Number 1.
Can he drink it all?
Ready for Bottle Number 3.
Now I can't tell which is which.
Ryan washes the bottles.
The R&R Barton Street Brewery, hard at work.
Like pumping gas.
3/4 of the way done.
Melissa gets tired just watching us.
Andrew assists with the bottle washing.
And Melissa with the last bit of the beer.
Capping the bottles.
Much easier than I though it would be.
We have Beer! Mwa ha ha ha ha!
I am way too excited...
Oh yeah.
Sexy.
The empty carboy.
Rob won't waste a drop.
10 days later, Rob and I open two well chilled bottles. One for the Irishman and the other for the Scotsman.
I prepare to make my taste.
Mwa ha ha! Beer! I have become a raving homebrew maniac!
Behold. Unfortunately you can't see the beers amazing red color in this picture.
Rob is mesmerized. We approve.
Steve sits at the table eating his fancy cheese. Damn Frenchman!
Andrew enjoys a frosty mug of our brew.
(High resolution versions can be found here.)
Videos in raw AVI format. Approximately 1MB each. Should work on mplayer, xanim, QuickTime, and Windows Media Player.