My First Beer!

Buzzard Brew, Batch I, West Coast Pale Ale. This was made from the stock Mr Beer starter kit. I was pleasantly surprised by it's NON mediocre taste! Sure, it resembles a domestic BMC (Bud-Miller-Coors) but it is bubbly and tasty! Looking forward to how the other 7 quarts will taste as they continue to cold condition. Overall a 7/10.

And as soon as I finish dinner, I'm off to the Man Cave to bottle Batch II - the Englishman's Nut Brown Ale. This is also a stock Mr Beer kit, but this one includes Unhopped Malt Extract instead of the powered "Booster". Should be a completely different experience.

Follow-up:

I will not be able to begin Batch III any time soon. Not enough empty bottles.... but when I get ready I'll have to decide what to make - Canadian Draft, Vienna Lager, Irish Stout, a Wheat (Weizenbier), or another Pale Ale. Gonna be a fun spring/summer!

Happy Buzzard Day

Now that they've been bottled for 12 days, I moved all eight quarts of West Coast Pale Ale from the cool dark basement closet into the mini-fridge. This should begin the final cold conditioning phase - the longer the beer stays there the better. I plan to open a bottle on Sunday to see how I did, but the rest will stay refrigerated for several weeks to let the hop and malt flavors come to the foreground. Sunday will also be bottling day for the 2nd batch - the Nut Brown Ale that folks claim tastes a little like Newcastle.

2nd Batch Made

With the 2 gallons of West Coast Pale Ale I set back 2 weekends ago brewed, P helped me today with the bottling. 2 more weeks to fully-carbonate, then a couple of days of conditioning, and I should have my first batch of brewskis on March 20th (give or take). I began brewing my second batch - a Nut-Brown Ale advertised to be a poor man's Newcastle. Should be drinkable sometime in early April.