Adventures in Homebrewing: Episode 2, Brew Day

So I got a homebrew kit for Christmas and so the other day I pulled everything together and started brewing.
I got an English Brown Ale ingredient kit from Brewers Best, and a supply kit from a local homebrew store.  I also have the book How to Brew by John Palmer (I bought the book after reading some of it online), whose instructions I followed in tandem with the instructions in the Brewer's Best kit.  I found that the instructions in the kit were lacking in some places (like they said you didn't have to rehydrate the yeast, even though the yeast packet says you have to), so having the book helped flesh out the confusing/lacking places.  The book is very thorough, so much so that before I started brewing, I found the in depth coverage kind of confusing.

Pulled everything together.  

 I should probably find a bigger pot next time to do this in, but at the moment it was all I could find that was within my budget.  I think having such a small pot (3 gal) lead to some of the problems I had later.

Steeping the grains.

Sanitized stuff.  Under the tin foil are my measuring cup, a couple of
random glasses, a spoon, and my barometer

Malts, both dry and liquid (this stuff is the bane of my existence
as you will see later in the blog)
In the back, in the silver packages, are the hops. 

Steeped grains (saving for spent grain bread!)

I had a boilover when I added the dry malt, which I didn't think was supposed to happen at this stage, but it did.  I had to scrub carmelized malt out of the burner after I finished my brew.  I hope the loss of some of the wort doesn't effect my beer too much.  

And this is why I hate the malt (at least the dry malt)

 Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures after this point, so I don't have anything to show for adding the hops (an hour-long process of watching for boilovers that never happened), or of cooling the wort (note to self: buy more ice next time and use something other than the kitchen sink to cool!).  And I forgot to take a picture of rehydrating the yeast, but that is pretty self explanatory.  In any case, after a lot of time standing around and waiting for the time to be just right to add hops, or pitch the yeast, or whatever, I have beer in the fermenter.  Hopefully it will taste as good as it smells right now.  I know a lot of people don't like the smell of brewing beer (my roommates told me I made the apartment smell "funny"), but I think it smells delicious!

My fermenter in my closet!  I can hear the airlock
bubbling when I go to bed at night!

I must say that this was an experience that I can't wait to do again.  Now I have to wait until I can bottle and then wait some more to drink, but I hope it turns out alright.  I keep seeing exploded airlocks and infected beer pictures on reddit (r/homebrewing), so I'm kind of nervous, but other than the boilover, I did everything according to instructions.

Drinks for the Drinking Nonthusiast: Cigar City Brewing

 The Contestants:
Cigar City Brewing's Jai Alai IPA, Maduro Brown Ale, Hillsborough River Dry Irish Stout, Florida Cracker Belgian Wit, Tocobaga Red Ale, and Hotter Than Helles Lager

All pictures are from their website

The Review:
So this review is going to be a bit different for a few reasons.  I actually visited this brewery when I went home for Thanksgiving (thanks parents for telling me about it!), so the majority of that list is what I tried while at the brewery itself.  The only one I had any large amount of recently is the Maduro because I bought a growler of it to take home.  And, unfortunately, I didn't take notes while I was at the brewery because I am lame like that.  So most of this review will be from memory.

What are you're initial thoughts?

Jai Alai IPA (7.5%):  I honestly don't remember too much about this one...  I know I didn't have more than a small taste of it, but from what I remember it is just a pretty standard IPA...  I'll have to see if I can find any around here, seeing as this is really the only one of their brews that gets shipped out farther than the immediate city.  This is their most well known brew and the only one I had heard of before realizing the brewery even existed, and in my hometown for that matter!

Maduro Brown (5.5%):  Now this is my favorite out of those that I sampled.  Obviously I liked it enough to buy a growler (a full quart filled from their taps at the bar that you take home with you).  It has a rather chocolate-y flavor, that is still bitter with a slight roasted espresso flavor.  I'm not usually one for "flavored" beer, but this is absolutely delicious, especially as a sort of winter/dessert beer (seeing as a opened my growler on one of the first chilly nights this past week), although it is brewed year-round from what I understand.



Hillsborough River Stout (5.5%):  I got a sample of this beer for one reason only: the river for which this is named for is one of my favorite places in my hometown.  I have rather fond memories of hiking around the river and canoeing on the river itself.  So I had to try the beer (which ironically shares the same color as the river)!  If the Maduro had a chocolatey coffee flavor, it was nothing compared to the Hillsborough River.  This brew was overwhelming in its flavors of roasted coffee and cocoa.





Florida Cracker Wit (5%): This was the first beer I sampled at the brewery.  I don't remember too much about it, but I don't think it was my favorite by any means.  I remember the flavor being much stronger than I had anticipated, although I don't really remember much else than that.  According to their website, this beer has citrus-y notes with a hint of coriander and vanilla.






Tocobaga Red (7.2%):  This was my boyfriend's favorite of everything we sampled.  Therefore, I made him (although rather unwillingly haha) write up the mini review of this one.  He says, "It was a strong beer, with a very rich piney taste that may put off people that aren't too big a fan of reds. Personally, I really enjoyed it and wouldn't mind having it again sometime. "  I will have to agree with him on the piney nature of the beer being off-putting.  While I do enjoy reds upon occasion, the piney-ness of this beer was a bit overwhelming in my opinion.




Hotter Than Helles Lager (5%):  This was the favorite of my light-beer-drinking parents.  They initially got this thinking it would be spicy (I think someone told them it had a bite), but is wasn't like that at all.  From what I remember, it was just a nice beer, especially for those who aren't used to the stronger flavors of craft beers,






How's the price?
Well, my parents took my boyfriend and I on the tour of the brewery which was $5 a person and included a beer and a pint glass.  What a deal!   I don't remember the price, but the growlers were rather reasonable as well.

Would you ever buy this again?
Well, next time I am at home I plan on buying another growler of the Maduro Brown and possible a six-pack of the Jai Alai, so I would say yes.  I'm rather sad that I don't have any more of the Maduro!