It's been one of those weeks where I'm so busy during the day that I can't always find time to make posts. By the time I get home, I'm so tired that I can't muster the energy there either. So, this comes a bit late.

I finally brewed up my second batch of homebrewed beer on Saturday night. It's a hobby that I was introduced to by a friend. My first batch was a nut brown ale that turned out reasonably well. Shelly wasn't much of a fan of nut brown ales so I promised her (and myself) that the next batch would be something she might actually enjoy drinking.



This time around, I chose an APA (American Pale Ale) kit from Midwest Homebrewing and Winemaking Supplies. The nice thing about Midwest is that they're very conveniently located about 5 minutes from my house. (The other homebrewing business in town is Northern Brewer over on Grand Avenue in St. Paul.) The kit I bought is the Amarillo Pale Ale. Though, the one I bought came with the Wyeast Northwest Ale Activator pack instead of dry yeast.

I describe homebrewing as a hobby where you spend more time waiting than doing. So, Saturday night was spent making the wort (first entry at the link), cooling the wort, pouring the wort (and additional water to get to 5 gallons) in to the primary fermenter (a 6.5 gal. glass carboy), pitching the yeast, and then cleaning it all up.

All told, it took me about two and a half hours to do all of this. Most of the time was spent waiting for the whole concoction to boil for about an hour. But, I also had to get a number of items sanitized for use, too. So, I spent some time doing that. Now, it's sitting in a cabinet in our basement while the yeast does its thing (converting the sugars in the wort to alcohol).

The primary fermentation takes about a week. At that point, I'll have to sanitize a 5 gal. carboy that I use for the secondary fermentation along with a siphon, and a wine thief (used to draw out samples for testing). Basically, anything that will touch the beer needs to be sanitized so it doesn't get contaminated. I'll transfer everything into the second carboy and then wait another week or so before bottling the beer. After I bottle the beer, I'll have to wait another 4 weeks or more before it will be ready for drinking.

Like I said, brief bits of activity separated by a lot of waiting. It smelled good. So, I'm anxious to try this one out.