Batch 3 is in the House!

Well, here I am, back again. I brewed my third batch today. It is in the corner of the closet, and in less than an hour, it is already fermenting. The bubbles are already blowing through the airlock. I would chalk that up to the yeast, because I used the same variety of yeast in the first batch, and it came alive right away, too. The second batch, you may remember, was slow in starting, and I was worried that I would have to do it again or throw it out.

Speaking of the second batch, I cleaned fifty bottles, and filled them with brown ale. They are in the corner waiting for a couple of weeks to go by before I can taste them. The very first batch, the amber ale, is expected to be ready to drink next weekend. It is in bottles in the other corner. Friday night, I plan to chill the first eight bottles to test on Valentine's Day.

To recap today's action, I boiled one and one-half gallons of water, and steeped a bag of grain for half an hour. Then, I added the malt syrup, and stirred it in. I added enough water to make six gallons, and heated it it boiling. Once the boiling started, I added one and a half ounces of hops. Forty-five minutes later, I added another half-ounce of hops, and some Irish moss.

Fifteen more minutes of boiling, and I tuned off the fire and cooled it down to 65 degrees. I moved the liquid to a carboy, and added the yeast. After some shaking, I relocated the carboy to the closet, and there it sits. It is supposed to take two weeks or so to ferment, then another week to settle. Then, it needs three weeks in the bottle before it can be drank.

The next time I check in, I will have a taste test of the Amber Ale. Success will be measured mostly by the taste, but also by the alcohol content. There is no use in it tasting good if there is no alcohol.