Months and months ago I snagged a Mr. Beer home brewing kit at a great price on one of those “daily deals” sites. I received the kit a while ago but for one reason or another (like a wedding) I never got around to giving it a shot. Luckily it was not forgotten and with a bit of extra time about a month ago, my wife and I decided it was time to home brew a batch of west coast pale ale.
After a bit of patience and lots of stirring our beer was ready to ferment. It was a “hurry up and wait” situation. It’d be 7–14 days (we opted for the 14 to be sure) before we’d get to tap the keg and fill some bottles.
For the next two weeks this little keg sat in our living room, just taunting us. Who knew the hardest part of making your own beer was just waiting for it to be ready?
Bottling day had finally arrived. I read through the instructions again and started filling up my bottles. Then it was time for, yup, you guessed it, wait some more!
These guys got to hang out in our dry, dark linen closet for another two weeks. So much waiting!
After an extra two-day stay in our refrigerator, we finally cracked open a beer. It felt quite rewarding to finally take a sip of something we created at home. It wasn’t half bad either. I’m happy with the way my first attempt turned out and I’m looking forward to trying it again soon.
Next time I’m hoping to give it my own special touch and change the recipes a bit. I might even upgrade to a more “professional” brew kit. It turned out to be a lot of fun and could easily become a new hobby.