This is the first homebrew batch that I made. Got the Everyday IPA Brooklyn Brew Shop kit last winter as a Christmas gift, along with some necessary tools such as, a strainer, funnel, bottle capper. All that type of stuff. I thought I was ALL SET.

I had no idea that the one 8 quart stock pot that I had wasn’t going to cut it. Let’s just say, I used several bowls and strained the mash several times during this first brew. Not to mention that the strainer I had was MUCH TOO SMALL. And it only took me 6 hours. SO SIMPLE.

In any event, after all the frustration, the beer eventually got into the carboy with the yeast and did it’s thing.

The came the bottling.

I’ll say that Brooklyn Brew Shop kits are great, but their directions are a little lacking for the first-timer. I guess they’re making you figure it out so you can go in your own direction at some point. Or, they know it’s best to talk to other people who know more about brewing than you and learn from them. (Brooklyn Brew Shop: Bringing introverts out into the world since 2009.) But as someone who NEEDS CLEAR DIRECTIONS and likes to FOLLOW RECIPES EXACTLY, it was kind of stressful to me.

So, the bottling was an adventure. Brooklyn Brew Shop should just put in their directions something like this:

You’re going to FUCK UP the gravity siphoning. So just go out and buy an auto-siphon before you even think about bottling. It’s so much easier than spilling your beer everywhere while using gravity to magically get your beer into bottles.

I’ll admit it. I put my lips on the siphon hose and sucked until the beer came out, spilled some on kitchen floor, and then bottled that mouth-spit-contaminated beer and didn’t tell anyone. SORRY BABY.

The beer tasted great! From what I remember, it was hoppy and crisp and it didn’t make me DROP DEAD.