First Homebrew: Success!

[Chris Thornton]

First homebrew was bottled a little over two weeks ago and I couldn't resist cracking one open. Crappy cell phone image doesn't do it justice.

The pale ale, from a modified partial extract recipe I grabbed from online, was a medium amber (12-13 Lovibond)--lots cloudier than filtered and pastuerized beers, of course--and had a nice head. Amarillo and US Goldings hops gave it just the aroma I was looking for: somewhat floral, mild to moderate citrus and resins.

The texture was a bit heavier than I wanted and the hops left it slightly harsh, but not by American Pale Ale standards (Stone, HopDevil, Avery). The malt held its own and you got just enough sweet biscuit and honey to keep it interesting. I was pretty worried by some of the yeast's antics over the course of this one, and think I'm less likely to panic--and, say, rack the beer to secondary and abandoning an inch of yeast cake before primary fermentation is complete like I did this time!--than before.

I was pretty satisfied, considering it was my first try. I already know what I'll do with the next pale ale.

Meanwhile, I'm waiting on the brown ale in primary (I'm on Day 11 for the second batch, I've only freaked out once so far, down from three times) before it's time to take advantage of the heat and brew up a Saison. I've got my yeast packets and my Belgian beet sugar ready to roll for the first batch of two different variations of these!