Sunday, February 7, 2010

Homebrew

A couple of weeks ago, we bottled our latest batch of beer.  We use these for beer.  Being newbies and bearing mind that this is only our second batch of beer, we used a kit - German Hefeweissen.  Now, we were supposed to wait three weeks after bottling to drink it, but Tuesday was the Son-In-Laws birthday so we cracked one open.  Ooooh, that's nice.



Of course, a week before bottling the beer, we bottled our cider.  We use these for cider.This was a new recipe, our third.  The first attempt, a few years ago, was made in a milk bottle using no extra ingredients ... no yeast, no sugar, just juiced apples that had fallen to the ground from the neighbor's tree.  This first batch was delicious but weak.  Subsequent batches have used more "traditional" processes ... store bought yeast, sugar to boost the alcohol content, etc.  The second batch ended up at 14% alcohol through a mistake on my part and the third was 10%, as planned.  Now ... we don't drink much but this stuff doesn't last long because we do tend to share.
If you are interested on making cider, this book has a ton of information although I tend to tweak the recipes.



Maybe in the future, we will lean on a bit more experience and ask our friends from Fleecenik Farm to assist with our first batch of beer without a kit.  Of course, we'll need to ask ... hint, hint.

2 comments:

  1. You're being modest. The beer wasn't just nice. I don't think I've had a better Hefe ... even in Germany, where beer making is an art ;). It is delicious, and I'm looking forward to enjoying the rest of it.

    As for sharing ... um, I might need to try my Jedi mind trick there's no beer here ... :).

    Oh, except for Fleecenik, of course ... :). We gotta have something to drink while we brewing the next batch ... right?

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  2. Congrats, guys! I know a young couple who will be interested in reading about this, I'll pass along your link. Ein Prosit!

    Julie

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