Why Does My Beer Have an Internet?

When will I stop using shitty filters? NEVER!

So all over twitter and facebook, (because I follow the beers...) has been buzz about epic orcon. Now granted most of the buzz was due to the free beer being offered at O'carrolls, but this buzz is deserved.

Epic is known for its hoppy beers, hoppy to the point of madness. Take the hop zombie for example. Its like trying to scrape your tongue with a sappy pine branch. Which can be a good thing, but only for a moment. This beer however is more of a session beer, I popped the lid and heavenly sweet hops wafted from the bottle. Good start. Aroma is everything, at least 70% of everything, 50% at the least...er anyway it smelled good. Also sweetness. The website calls it passion fruit, but my odd food pairing (sesame seaweed salad ooops) didn't let me come to that conclusion'straight away. But thanks to the power of suggestion as as the last drops go down, I can say that passionfruit is a fair call. There's a great balance with the malt here. Round smooth, exquisite mouthfeel. Very silky. Full body, not too much bitter after taste, beautiful balance, should have bought two and only $7.99 at Forest Hill Liqourland, which is the BEST craft beer stockist on the shore.

I pour to minimise head, cause I don't like sipping foam that much.

First batch of Home Brew

I know my husband loves me because he pays attention to the things I love and encourages me to pursue my dreams.

Friday afternoon I found myself at the courier depot picking up a surprise parcel! It was a Coppertun home brew starter kit, everything you need (except bottles) to brew a batch of beer. Giddy with excitement I could barely drive home, so I drove to the home brew shop instead and picked up some 750 bottles in anticipation of bottling.

Its still pretty wintery here, so I was a bit concerned about fermentation but the brew shop lady was overflowing with knowledge and rest assured my brew will ferment even if it takes a bit longer than usual.

Is it just me or is the picture on the box somewhat misleading......

First I sterilised everything, even the can opener. No way in hell is my first batch of beer going to be contaminated with rogue micro-organisms only the sweet little brewers yeasties allowed.

Then I mixed up the malt, dextrose/hops mix (smells so good) and filled to make 23L of brown goodness.

Temperature gage indicates around 20C so all good for brewing, now I just have to wait a couple of weeks and I'll be ready to bottle.

11/8/12
Mangrove Jack's Munich Lager
27062-245-26-00 Best Before 28-06-14

Mixed with Coppertun beer essentials German lager.60 Malt, dextrose and hops dry mix.

And Mangrove Jack's supplied yeast sprinkled on top.

21/8/12
Gravity 1.012 (forgot to take initial reading DUH!!!)
28/8/12
Gravity 1.011 (its still bubbling away beer takes ages. the kit instructions LIE!)
10/9/12
Gravity 1.010 (still bubbling, COME ON BEER!!!)
15/9/12
Gravity 1.0075 (still bubbling and using a new hydrometer)
16/9/12
Gravity 1.0070 (seems slightly lower than yesterday, am I imagining things? maybe...maybe.)
17/9/12
Gravity 1.0075 ( I suck at reading hydrometers.)
20/9/12
Gravity 1.006 (definitely lower, and bubbling has slowed way down!)
23/9/12
Bottled! 27 x 750ml bottles.
3/10/12
10 days later and the beer is looking very clear indeed! really starting to mature. I'm think at least another 11 days till I test a bottle.

23L of beery goodness just waiting to happen.