Next Brooklyn Brew Shop recipe I brewed was their Bourbon Dubbel. For this, I soaked oak chips for 24 hours like the recipe said, but instead of bourbon I used a rye whiskey because I had that on hand. I don’t remember what brand, though.

So, really, this one was a Rye Dubbel.

Anyway, the brewing went well, this being my third attempt, until I got it into the carboy. It looked brown. Like, not a good brown. Like the type of brown that’s the color of a dying lake. So, I was wary of that.

After 6 weeks of fermenting and bottle conditioning, I tried one. Here’s what I experienced:

• Smelled like a musty forrest.
• Looked like UNCLEAN toilet water.
• Tasted like a dirty lake.

So, not great. I think I tried another one a couple nights later with the same results. They both made me feel like I’d just been camping for a month and needed a shower more than anything. The taste was strong, but also it was just SO FULL of alcohol. NOT GOOD.

So I put the other seven bottles I had down in our unfinished, cold basement and let them sit. My plan was to taste another one after 6 months of aging. So, at the beginning of October I cracked one open. I figured it wouldn’t have changed too much. Here’s what it was like:

• The color was no longer a terrible, cloudy brown, but a really clear brown. Like, you could see right through it. Just really nice looking.
• It no longer smelled really terrible. Now, more like a subtle oak flavor.
• It tasted really fantastic. Not too much alcohol taste, but enough of the rye whiskey flavor. Some of the oaky-woody-forrest, but not in an overbearing way.

I’m not really sure what this was SUPPOSED to taste like, but it’s really good. I’d say the Bourbon Dubbel (or, Lake Dubbel) is probably the best beer I’ve made. Of course, it needed six months to get there, so not a whole lot of immediate satisfaction. And I don’t plan on trying another one for another 6 months. SO HARD TO WAIT.

Next homebrew review coming soon…Spring Lager.

So after I tried out a Brooklyn Brew Shop kit for my first homebrew, I decided to launch myself into their “Beer Making Book.” Since it was mid-February I figured I’d make a beer from their “Spring” section, so that it would be ready right in time for March 21st.

I picked out two recipes (Rose-Cheeked & Blonde ale and Tea & Toast ale) because I figured I’d be ambitious and make two new beers. TWO IS BETTER THAN ONE. Then I headed to Brew ‘n’ Grow to get ingredients and more equipment.

Considering that I’d only made one beer before this and everything I needed for that came in one box with all the ingredients in a bag and all I had to do was dump the bag in a pot, I was SWEATING A LOT when I went to the brew store because I had no idea what to expect. But they were reasonably nice when I asked for help and persuaded me to only do one recipe since I’d have to buy one pound bags of grain for each type that I needed and I didn’t need that much. (They’ve since changed to a “scoop your own grain” system, THANK GOD.) So I went with the Rose-Cheeked & Blonde ale recipe. It called for only three different types of grain, less than the Tea and Toast.

Then I had to weigh the right amount of each grain before milling it. I’m pretty sure I didn’t do that part right and I think I ended up with a little less grain than I actually needed. And I couldn’t find any rose petals. But I figured it’d still be alright.

The brewing went a little more smoothly than my first time and I bought an auto-siphon, so the bottling was a BREEZE. The end result was just okay, I think. I actaully don’t really remember. I know it didn’t really have any kind of rose flavor like it was supposed to. Probably because I only used rose hips instead of also using rose petals.

But this was a good experience. I made some adjustments to what I was doing when I brewed and bottled and then moved on from there. I’ll say that I still don’t think I was exactly having fun when I was brewing, but it was, at least, something new to do. It was just kind of a little too long and laborious and also kind of insanely expensive. I mean, I could go out a buy 6 good beers for $10 instead of spending 4 hours trying to make a “just okay” beer for $30-$40. Or, I could buy 1,000 terrible beers (that I actually love) for $40. That’s what I usually did (and still do).

I did keep going, though. Next up…Bourbon Dubbel.

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.

This homebrew was done back in April 2013.

I don’t remember much about it. Just your run-of-the-mill India Pale Ale with Simcoe hops. It was probably okay, but not special enough to keep me going with the brewing through the summer.

This is probably where I started to notice that spending $30 on brew supplies for a one-gallon batch and ending up with leftover grain was not in my best interests.

So I moved on to other summer projects, such as attempting to get rid of giant, bulbous spiders living on our front stoop railing and back alley gate. Note: trying to flick giant, bulbous spiders off the back alley gate with a flimsy piece of cardboard results in those spiders probably ending up on your arm, then you screaming really loud and spending the rest of the day huddled in your bed believing that the spiders are now BURROWING INSIDE YOU. (It feels like they’re still on me. ARE THEY STILL ON ME?)

Next time, just go straight for the “full stream” setting on the hose. Stand back from your target about 30 feet. Spray.

Well, here’s where I start writing about all the different small-batch homebrews I’ve been making.

Here are the basics about these beers:

• They’re all one gallon batches. This means I only get about nine bottles of beer. Which means, if you get to drink one you should feel LUCKY, because I’m not very good at sharing and I’d rather just drink them all myself.
• I’ve been making my way (somewhat randomly) through the Brooklyn Brew Shop beer making book that my gal gave me a couple years ago. Occasionally I’ll add different ingredients, or use different hops or grains, but I usually stick pretty close to the recipe because I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M DOING and I’m a little afraid that I’ll brew something that will KILL ME.
• I sometimes listen to records while I brew and then write about them.

That’s pretty much it. So, now, on to the first Homebrew Review:

First up is the Grapefruit Honey Ale I brewed back at the end of August. I hadn’t done a homebrew since April, and then I found this Brooklyn Brew Shop ingredient kit at a grocery store and remembered that we had a grapefruit at the house which was about to go bad. So, I thought, “WHAT THE HELL,” bought the kit, and made the beer.

I had bottles to drink by the beginning of October and they turned out pretty good. Nice grapefruit smell and a little bit of a hoppy, bitter finish, but not too much. And a nice clean look to the beer. My only negative about this one was that I didn’t rack to a secondary fermenter, so there was a lot of sediment in the bottles which gave a slightly sour taste at the end if I wasn’t careful pouring the beer.

ANYWAY. I actually don’t care too much about that type of stuff. It tasted good. My gal liked it and she doesn’t usually go for bitter, hoppy beers. And it started me brewing again. So, mark it down as SUCCESSFUL. I’d include a photo of the finished beer, but the last one went down the hatch on Saturday night.