Computer front and center? We obviously had our layout incorrect.
Our neighbor, How Do You Brew, recently held a “Learn to Brew” class, and that got me thinking about the first beer I brewed at home. Starting any new thing is difficult, but starting to home brew is especially difficult because you have to put together the components of a tiny brewery and learn a new process.
Luckily, when I started, I had a willing and knowledgeable partner to help put together the system and learn the process (all without consulting Google I might add). If you don’t have that partner, taking the class is a good way to short cut some of the early learning and get to brewing good beer faster.
Prior to starting your first brew, you will feel an enormous obligation to produce a high quality beer, and this is due to the myriad of amazing and cheap beers just down the street at the retail liquor store. You may ask yourself, “Can I brew a unique and high quality beer for <$70 (vol= 5 gallon keg, or 2 cases)?”
In most instances, the answer to that is an emphatic yes, albeit with no “labor” costs included. So basically, like with any hobby, don’t do it to “save a buck”.
So what did we make? Well, my brother left the style of our first beer completely up to me. IPA? Saison? Stout? Nope.
We went with the somewhat obscure but definitely delicious “Winter Warmer”. At the time, I was enamored with Lancaster Brewing’s Winter Warmer, and as winter was just beginning and we all needed to stay warm, it made sense.
The brew day was a complete mess, and my patio basically looked like the aftermath of a hobo rodeo. But we didn’t care, good beer was both created and consumed.
Here is the recipe of our first brew:
5 Gallon Batch Size
We ended up calling it a porter when this badass label went to “print”.
Grain
8lbs Pale Malt
2lbs Maris Otter
1lbs Black Malt
1lbs Crystal Malt 80L
1lbs Chocolate Malt
0.5lbs Chocolate Rye Malt
0.5lbs Chocolate Wheat Malt
1.0lbs Molasses
Hops
1oz Fuggle @ 60min
1oz Fuggle @ 15min
Yeast
English Ale Yeast (WLP002)
Recipe
Single Infusion Mash - 150F, 75min
Boil - 60 min
Target OG - 1.067
Brewhouse Efficiency - 65%
Full disclosure - the beer turned out okay. Not great, not terrible. But like all respectable home brews, it was consumed with pleasure. In hindsight, we could simplify the grain bill and adjust some process knobs to yield a more flavorful beer, but we’re saving that for a potential future Autumn Arch beer release.