Sep
First Batch of Homebrew – an Irish Stout
Yesterday was a very good day, I made my first batch of homebrew. I had an absolute blast doing it and can’t wait to bottle it and taste it. Much to my wife’s chagrin, my 3 year old son even helped me and marched around the house singing “beer, beer, beer, beer”. She actually didn’t mind that he was helping me, I think it was the song that got to her. I predict problems in the future.
For my first batch I used a Brewers Best kit. It included all the ingredients I needed. I just had to provide the equipment. The beer that I made is an Irish Stout and Brewers Best describes the beer on the box as “An Irish style dark ale with full body and flavor and a creamy head of foam from the added Maltodextrin. Dark malts and grains provide for a huge taste”.
The ingredients for this beer were:
- Two 3.3lb Cans of Dark Malt Extract
- 12 oz. of Crushed Crystal Malt
- 4 oz. of Crushed Roasted Barley
- 4 oz. of Black Patent Malt
- 1.5 oz. of Argentine Cascade Flavoring Hops, Alpha Acid 3.2% (pellets)
- 1.25 oz. of Palisade Bittering Hops, Alpha Acid 6.7% (pellets)
- 8 oz. Maltodextrin
- 1 pack of Beer Yeast
I started by gathering my Homebrew Equipment and getting it all clean and sanitized. Here is an image I took of all my equipment as I was getting it together. A lot of people seem to use a Bleach and Water solution to clean their equipment but I opted for a One Step No-Rinse Cleaner by LD Carlson that I picked up at a homebrew store. Hopefully that was a smart decision. I believe it’s an oxygen based cleaner but I am not entirely sure. I know that keeping the equipment clean is one of the most important steps so I hope this stuff did the trick. I started around 11:30 and it took me about a half an hour to get my gear together and get it cleaned and ready to go.
The first step was to put 2 gallons of water into my brew pot and add the grains. I put the Crushed Crystal Malt into one steeping bag and the Roasted Barley and Black Patent Malt into the other bag. I put them into the water before applying any heat. The instructions were to steep the bags in the water, bring it up to 150 – 160 degrees and let steep for 30 minutes. It took about 10 minutes to bring it up to temperature so the grain bags were in there for a total of 40 minutes. The water was pretty close to black by the time I was done with this step.
The next step was to bring it up to a boil and then add the two cans of liquid malt extract. I soaked the two cans of extract in hot water beforehand so it would pour into the brewpot easier. I was surprised at how long it took me to bring it back up to a boil after added the warmed liquid malt extract but the concoction was smelling good so I didn’t mind tending to it. After it was brought back up to a boil, I added the Maltodextrin (which is a type of sugar) and the Cascade hops. At this point it was time to grab a cold beer (Sam Adams Oktoberfest) and let it boil for 55 minutes. I got up to stir it every 5 – 10 minutes. When it reached the 55 minute mark I added the palisade hops and let it boil for another 5 minutes.
While it was finishing it’s boil, I prepared an ice bath that I could stick the brewpot in to cool it down to 70 degrees. Once I got the wort cooled down, I put a funnel with a strainer into my carboy and slowly poured the wort in. I had to stop 4 or 5 times and use a spatula to push the solids away from the strainer to let the liquid flow through. Once I had all of the wort into the carboy I filled it up with clean water. I was supposed to bring it up to the 5 gallon mark. It’s a 6.5 gallon carboy and has no markings to tell you how high 5 gallons should be. I did my best to guesstimate and hope I got it right. I think when this batch is done I will use a sharpie to mark the gallon and half gallon marks.
After the water was added, I poured in the yeast and swirled the wort around inside the carboy to mix it all up. Hopefully I didn’t over agitate it (if that’s even possible, I don’t know). I added my airlock and was proud to have my first batch ready for fermentation.
I don’t have a closet or dark place that I could store it in but I know it needs to be kept in a cool dark place. I cut a hole in the top of a black trash bag just large enough for the top of the carboy and airlock to fit through and keep the rest of it covered. I used a rubber band to keep the black trashbag secured. I am not sure why but it needs to be stored in a dark place, natural and fluorescent light can affect it. I will have to do more research to find out why.
I would love to get some feedback and tips on what I did right or wrong. If you have any suggestions please leave a comment.
Steeping the Grains
Me at the Brewpot
Boiling the Wort
End of Today's Work, Time for Another Beer
September 13th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
[...] carboy so I can make another batch If you are interested in blogged about this first batch at My First Batch of Homebrew Quick question, I woke up this morning to find that fermentation was in full swing, all the free [...]
September 14th, 2009 at 12:08 am
I dont have a chance to do my own homebrew due to time and space constraints but would love to try it one day. I am however documenting my log of favourite World beers here:
http://www.aussietravellersforum.com.au/forums/showthread.php?t=35
September 15th, 2009 at 9:01 am
I dont normally drink beer, but would like to try a home brew.
October 2nd, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Curious how this turned out. Homebrewed Irish stout should be tasty! I read about your overly successful fermentation too!
October 2nd, 2009 at 9:09 pm
I tried it last week and it was pretty tasty, a bit more bitter than I expected but it had only been in the bottle for 6 days. I am going to try some more this weekend and hopefully write a post about it.
May 10th, 2011 at 8:43 pm
You have to keep it in the dark so the light doesn’t “skunk” the beer. The UVA/UVB rays interact with the yeast and cause off flavors. If you’ve ever tasted skunked beer or sour beer you’ll know exactly why this is important. If you haven’t, take a beer (Any will do) pour it into a clear glass and leave it in a warm window sill for a few hours then drink. Despite the warm and flat taste that other taste is “skunked” beer.