Okay, this has been a very very late update. Think the euphoria of the beer brewing died down already.
Anyway, the beer brewing was a SUCCESS. And I actually did get to have a mini beer party. The initial plan from my sinister colleagues and friends was to actually finish up ALL my beer. But alas, pizzas and chicken wings caused stomachs to not being able to contain a lot of beer.
So in the end of the party, only managed to drink 9 bottles which is roughly about 6.5 litres of beer? So where are the pictures? Well, I was kinda busy eating and drinking to take any. I believe Darren took some pictures but I didn’t get it from him.
So now today at 22 July 09, I still have 8 bottles of beer remaining. Seeing that it has been 2 months since the beer was ready from drinking and I still have 8 bottles left does show that I’m no alcoholic. I am planning to finish up the beer soon and start to brew my 2nd batch. Will be ordering ingredients soon.
Okay, I can sense some of you complaining that the post is too wordy already. To end it off, a picture of my beer.
Beer...
Oh yeah… I am gonna go Bali tomorrow!. So hope that I’ll be able to take some decent pictures and blog about it!
Okay, today is another milestone in the beer brewing project. BOTTLING.
Now that the fermentation has stopped, it’s time to bottle the beer. So I lay out the necessary items on my dining table.
All items layed out
So I’ll quickly run through few of the important items this round apart from of course… the beer.
Little bottler
Little bottler attached directly to the tap
First up we have this nifty little thing known as the “Little bottler” and it attaches directly to the tap of the main fermenter. We’ll see how it is used in a short while. Continue reading ‘Brewing Log – 21 May 09 – Bottling’
Okay, few days have passed since I started the fermentation process. 5 days to be exact.
Not much activities these few days apart from changing the ice packs daily. Nothing spectacular and I suppose nothing worth photographing.
However today I did do something different. I did a test to see whether the fermentation is complete and the beer can be bottled. This is done by using a hydrometer provided in the brew kit.
Hydrometer
What I did was put the beer into the tube provided and the put in the hydrometer. What happens is that it will sink and then float when stabilized. There’s some sort of measurements on this hydrometer. Basically when fermentation is completed and can be bottled, the hydrometer will actually sink more to the bottom.
If you look carefully at the picture, that point would be just under the red strip above the beer level. So more fermentation time needed. Of course I took a sip at the beer as well. Seems beer like (duh) but now I think it’s still slightly on the “light” side. Let’s see what happens when it’s completed.
I suppose I’ll be doing the test again 2 days later and see if it sinks further. So next blog post will be.. BOTTLING.
Okay, I’ve gotten my brewing kit on 11 May 09. Ever so wanted to start brewing the same day but as mentioned, I had to freeze my Coleman Brite Ice and RTFM first.
Anyway, now that my Brite Ice is frozen and I’ve RTFM as well as view the instruction DVD, I’m ready to go… or am I?
First off, I needed to sanitize the fermenter and any parts that will touch the beer. This is to minimize contamination. This done by pouring boiling water into the fermenter as well as the parts. Well for the parts I just drowned them in hot water.
Sanitizing the fermenter. Poured hot water into it. Don't mind the messy sink.
Sanitizing the parts.
Continue reading ‘Brewing Log – 12 May 09 – The first step’
