in the beginning there was beer

I figured what better way to start my first blog than with one of my most favorite things in the world....beer. This past Saturday, my friend Jana and I kegged and bottled our very first homebrew with the guidance of our very own Brewmaster, Mark. We made a clone of Westvleteren 12, a Belgian strong ale that has been rated "Best Beer in the World" by RateBeer.com. For our first stint in beer brewing, we were being more than a little ambitious.

Brewing beer proved to be a fairly simple process. Well, simple in technique, but definitely a test in patience. You see, the process of brewing beer is one that involves a lot of sitting and waiting. We initially brewed this batch in June and all that has happened over the last two months, aside from a transfer of the beer from one tank to another, is sitting and waiting. While we waited, the yeast was busy converting the sugar to alcohol. Did I mention that this beer is over 10% alcohol? So, needless to say, the yeast had a mighty tough job ahead of them. After about 2 weeks, we transferred the beer into a new tank in order to remove some of the yeast waste so that new strands could form and continue fermenting the beer.


The beer at the end of the primary fermentation cycle.



Brewmaster Mark transfers the beer into a new carboy with our mascot Dagny there for moral support.





The beer is now ready for 6 more weeks of fermentation.

Fast forward six weeks and it is time for the final step before the beer is ready for consumption, transferring the brew into the keg and bottles. First, we pulled out a sample to get a gravity reading so we could determine the alcohol content of the finished product. It's just shy of 10%....not quite as much as the original, but still a hefty beer. Mark then showed us how to transfer the beer into the keg.



Testing the beer's gravity to determine alcohol content.



The beer is ready to be transferred into the keg and bottles.

Brewmaster Mark transfers the beer into the keg.



Dagny keeps an eye on the beer at all times.



Under normal circumstances, the beer would now be finished and ready to drink, but we wanted to fill some bottles to give to friends and family. The most tedious part of bottling beer is sterilizing the bottles. They must be sterilized thoroughly so that there is no bacteria that could effect the flavor of the final product. Lucky for us, Mark's new place has a dishwasher with a "Sterilize" setting that made this step a cinch. While the bottles were being prepped, we prepared the priming sugar by disolving it in hot water. Since we forgot to get the appropriate sugar from the beer store, we used regular table sugar, which the man from the store ensured us would work fine. Priming sugar is added to the beer for the remaining yeast to feed on after bottling. In addition to alcohol, carbon dioxide is the other bi-product created by the yeast eating the sugars in the beer. This is how the bottle beer gets it's carbonation. We mixed the sugar into the beer and siphoned off 12 bottles from the keg.



Our first bottle.



Me with our first case of beer.

The end?




Well, not quite...we did make sure to take a sample for ourselves to taste for quality assurance. This would be a true test of our success.I was nervous about the result, given we were being quite overambitious in choosing the best beer in the world as our first. But the second the sweetly bitter liquid hit my mouth, all doubt subsided. Even though the sample was warm and flat, it hit well above the mark of my expectations. I would go as far to say that, to even the most experienced beer drinker, this beer is DAMN good! Mission accomplished...success is ours!

Now it's time to plan batch #2. Stay tuned for our next adventure in brewing!

- cas