The First Homebrew!

The brewers

I am excited to report that yesterday, the first home-brew was completed! We purchased a kit from Northern Brewer, and opted to brew a brown ale. See below for some of the pictures with explanations about the various steps. 

Add water-we opted for Poland Springs. To make good beer you need to start with good water!

Steep the grains and bring close to a boil

Add the liquid malt-6 pounds!

Add the dry malt

Stir and bring back to a boil for 60 minutes. Add hops at specified intervals

Transfer to the fermentation tank

"Pitch" the yeast

Seal the lid, insert fermentation lock, and science begins! Bottling in 3 weeks!

Overall it was a very fun experience, and my friends and I did a bottle share while we brewed. We sampled Nebraska's Melange a Trois and a 2012 Goose Island Big John. Both were huge hits and amazing beers. Look for my reviews on those sometime this week! Bottling will occur three weeks from today, and then bottle conditioning for an additional 1-2 weeks. The goal is to sample the first taste on December 1-stay tuned!

Cheers!
Scott