It Is Complete: Pioneer Pale Ale

The first batch of home brewed beer is complete! It has been dubbed "Pioneer Pale Ale." Realistically, it may not deserve that name - it's not quite like any other pale ale I've ever had. First off, it would be a bit of a stretch to declare it pale:

Pictured: five weeks of waiting.

We have bottled!

Last night, Abel and I bottled our lovely carboy of beer. It was a bit of a process, but we ended up with forty-six regular bottles of beer and two larger bombers. I'm pretty impressed with how easy this process has been so far - we've gone from a bunch of ingredients to legitimate beer in only three days of work, totaling about six hours. Abel, hero among men that he is, has been doing a lot of the cleanup since we've been bottling in his apartment. There honestly isn't a ton of stuff to clean, though.

But anyway, bottling! Apologies for the lack of images; none of them came out right. Next time we bottle it'll be better documented.

On Fermentation

Last night, Abel and I transferred all the lovely beer from our primary fermentation vessel to a secondary fermentation vessel. The primary fermentor was a straight up white plastic bucket with an airlock drilled into the lid; the secondary fermentor is a traditional carboy. Most people who make beer or wine use one of these. Our carboy is plastic instead of glass. The general consensus seems to be that plastic carboys are lighter and safer than glass, and that the difference in material doesn't really affect the taste. In honor of this momentous occasion, I wanted to talk a bit about fermentation (with an emphasis on its application to brewing).

The carboy, full of delicious beer.

We Begin! Pale Ale #1 (Bonus: Metapizza)

The delicate and lovely process of brewing beer has begun! My good friend Abel and I are brewing beer together, and we've decided to start out with somewhat standard pale ale. He and I are both what I would consider "beer geeks." We like beer, and we love trying and exploring variants of the basic recipe, but in general we just love beer in all its forms. We recently split the price of some brewing equipment, and tonight we began the actual process of creating our own beer.

Abel and I (right and left respectively) are beered up and ready to get brewing. My new beard looks more red than I expected.

Let the Madness Begin

The time has come. My buddy Abel and I have bought our first set of beer ingredients. Nothing huge, nothing creative - just beer.