The Brewing Begins

I’ve finally got all the bits and pieces that I need to kick off my first batch of home brew:

• A 25L brewing barrel
• A hydrometer
• A can of Coopers Ale Home Brew ‘stuff’
• A thermometer (from a pet shop!)
• Some sterilizing tablets
• Several empty 1.25L PET bottles

There’s probably other stuff that I’ve got that I haven’t mentioned here but that’s the gist of it. I spent a fair bit of time traipsing around town over the last week getting the various bits and pieces – and the hardest bit of all was the brew barrel. I started with a cheap $7 bucket which I tried to drill a large hole into, but in my exuberance I managed to crack the bucket. I then got a proper barrel figuring that if I’m going to do this I should do it right.

Yesterday I ended up dismantelling part of my hot water cupboard to fit the brewing barrel into it. The next step is actually mixing the ingredients which all going well I should be able to manage tomorrow night. Once the brew is on I can then get to work designing a label (all brewing attempts should have a label!) and coming up with an appropriate name.

Here’s a pic of me and the happy barrel.

2 Comments

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  By Paul Simmonds, December 6, 2006 @ 6:07 am

  haha, happy brewing! maybe you can call it “jake the snake”

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  By Anonymous, December 10, 2006 @ 3:50 pm

  If it turns out good, you could call it “Bob’s Beautiful Brew”, if it does not turn out good, just call it “Ramrod” [you could probably sell it to the Duke of Wellington - ask David if he remembers!]

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