Wednesday, October 27, 2010

First Batch Brewing

So, I bought the kit on Saturday...and didn't touch it. We had other plans for the night, and I didn't know how long it was going to take so I agreed to leave the brewing until Sunday.
I can't believe I slept, I was so dang excited.

SUNDAY! What I like to refer to as BREW DAY!

So, Sunday afternoon gets here and I'm all ready to brew... I think. I'm like a kid at Christmas, I can't concentrate and yet can't wait to start.

I read the instructions. Couldn't concentrate on the instructions with the TV on (nothing new for me), so I read the instructions in the bedroom. With the instructions read, I made my way to the kitchen and... read the instructions again. I thought I knew what to do, but with my excitement I was ready to start step three before step one! My friend enters the kitchen on cue and takes the instructions from me and says he will read them to me one at a time so I can concentrate on each step as it came up.... You have NO idea how important and helpful this was.

Step One... Assembly... This is simply taking the spigot for the Mr Beer kit and placing the gasket on it, then inserting into the whole at the bottom of the front of the keg looking fermenter, and then screwing the nut on from the inside.
Done.

Step two... Sanitize... Mr Beer includes something called One Step, which is a dry crystal powder substance that dissolves in water. The idea is to put your utensils (Spoon, Can opener, Scissors) into the fermenter, pour the One Step into the fermenter and add water, then close the lid. Once the lid is closed, gently swish the solution around in the fermenter and roll the fermenter so that the sanitizing solution comes in contact with all parts of the fermenter as well as anything else that will come in contact with your beer ingredients.
After sloshing the solution around to my own satisfaction, I let it sit for ten minutes. Yes, I set a timer. I'm a little OCD about instructions, so when the instructions said to let the solution sit for ten minutes, I set the timer and waited EXACTLY ten minutes.
After the timer had gone off, I then emptied the solution, through the spigot, into the pot I was going to be mixing my ingredients in, as well as a small amount of solution on to a dinner plate so I would have a sanitized surface for my utensils to sit on. Again, the instructions said to let this sit in the pot for ten minutes, and I set the timer and waited...... the wait was almost painful, I just wanted to brew! But, I knew if the instructions said this was an important step (and from what I've read, it's the MOST important step), then it was worth the wait.
Ten minutes passed... I emptied the pot.

Step three...

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