JamesBrau: Part Dubbel

Since first writing about my initial homebrew experiment, I have been deluged with request to follow up with some results. I can’t walk down the street without people shouting at me, “Hey, why don’t you use the sidewalk… to walk home and post a blog about how your beer turned out.” Well, total stranger on the street and my five loyal readers, I have heard your plaintive pleas. I have indeed sampled my beer, and I am here to share with you my reactions.

First, I’ll quickly fill you in on the remaining steps of the beer making process. When we last left my beer in the pages of this blog, it was nestled in its little plastic fermenting keg next to my microwave in the kitchen. This seemed like the ideal placement for fermentation; at least, as ideal a location as my apartment affords. My kitchen tends to maintain the most constant temperature and there are no windows. Sunlight is the enemy of fermentation. I took the extra step of putting a brown paper bag over the keg (which is semi-transparent) to ward off any other possible light. It looked like I gave my beer a little blanket. Every night I would tuck it in nice and snug. I also read it bedtime stories and played smooth jazz for the beer. I don’t know if any of that helped, but I figure it couldn’t hurt.

After about three weeks, the liquid was no longer cloudy. I sampled a small amount of the beer from the tap. Although it had a sweet, almost cider-y odor, the beer did not have a sweet taste. My beer was ready to bottle. In the home brewing process I used, bottling is an important step. The final fermentation and carbonation is achieved through bottle conditioning. Bottling was simple enough. I once again had to sterilize all of my equipment, which consisted mainly of the plastic bottles and caps that came with the kit. A small amount of priming sugar – simple white granulated sugar – was added to each bottle. The priming sugar ferments in the bottle and provides most of the carbonation. This step proved difficult for me. The book called for about 2 teaspoons of sugar per bottle, and for some reason (I’m an idiot) I don’t own any measuring spoons. This led to a little guesswork. I had to be careful because too much sugar could lead to over-carbonation and bottle ‘splosions. None of my bottles exploded, so I assume I did ok.

Bottle conditioning can last anywhere from seven days to five months. The final aging adds additional flavors and – as I noted previously – carbonation. The bottles are aged at room temperature for at least a week. Since I was still worried about the excessive amount of honey I added to the mix, I knew I wanted to age my beer more than the minimum. After seven days I split my eight bottles into two groups of four. I kept half at room temperature and half in the fridge. I want to see the different between regular conditioning and cold conditioning also called ‘lagering’ (aren’t you impressed with my command of beer making terms? I got it from the manual.) By Valentines Day I noticed the bottles had become rock hard, which is a sign that the final fermentation is complete. Yes, I made many dirty ‘Rock Hard’ jokes… mainly to myself. And I think I’m hilarious.

On Valentines Day I gave Marissa, my vivacious fiancé, the gift every woman wants: crappy beer. Since the brewing kit was a gift from Marissa, technically it was crappy beer she paid for. What can I say? I’m romantic like that. I pulled a bottle that had been lovingly kept in the fridge for a couple of weeks. With a flourish I pulled the cap off and poured the amber beverage into two tumblers. My hear sank. There was no head. No bubbles. No carbonation at all. The beer still had the strong, sweet cider smell. With great trepidation we both took a sip. It wasn’t exactly a fine Belgian Quad or anything, but it was recognizably beer. Success. It had a weak flavor most likely a result of spilling some of the wort before I could add it to the keg. There was a slight sweetness – too much honey, I reckon. My rapier wit working lightning fast I quipped: “It’s kind of like the last girl in school to go through puberty: flat but kinda sweet.” I thought I was hilarious. Marissa less so. I used the joke again to describe it to some friends. They also didn’t laugh. Final judgment: I’m not funny.

The beer while not a roaring success, was still quite passable. It was unmistakably beer, which is all I hoped for. I decided to age the rest of the beer further to see if the sweetness would subside and be replaced with a stronger beer flavor. I also hoped some carbonation would creep into the equation.

This past Monday – March 2 – I decide to give the beer another chance. I selected the most rock hard (hold on, I’m suppressing a giggle) bottle from the fridge and took it to Cellar Dweller rehearsal. As soon as I opened the bottle, I was once again hit with the sweet, cider smell. One Cellar Dweller noted it smelled almost skunked. My spirits flagged. Still, I poured the beer into small cups. Wait, what is this? There was FOAM forming on the top of the beer. My beer had head. I had achieved carbonation. There was a glimmer of hope.

The Cellar Dwellers drank.

It was OK. My beer was OK. I was ecstatic. The response was overwhelmingly positive. No one said they would rush out to by a bottle of JamesBrau, but no one spit it in my face. The general consensus was that it was kind of refreshing. It had a decent carbonation, but the flavor was not very strong. There was a general sweetness to the flavor, and almost no after-taste. One Cellar Dweller called it a beer spritzer. Another noted, “If I couldn’t decide between having a Coke or a beer. I would order this.” Some people actually asked for a little more. I was pleased.

Over all, I would label my initial beer a success. There is certainly room for improvement. I would like to generate a little more flavor, although I think this can be achieved simply by not spilling the ingredients all over my stove before I add it to the keg. I really think my current batch would be improved with just a little hops bite. Maybe I’ll choose a hopsier style for my next batch. As for this batch, I was greatly cheered by the improvements a mere two extra weeks of aging had on my beer. I will continue to sample the beer at different points in its aging. I haven’t even touched the bottles that are being conditioned at room temperature. I hold out hope for better beer out of this batch. And next time I’ll do even better.

The experiment continues.

Shalom