We're done!
I am pleased to announce that Arlen and I have officially completed brew batch #001, our first foray into the world of home brewing. The bottling process went well, and sitting right now on my living room floor are 28 22oz. bottles of Hedgehog Pale Ale. Instructions recommend letting the bottles sit at room temperature for 7-10 before chilling and serving. We’ll probably let the brew sit for almost two weeks before chilling it. Home brewing has been an awesome experience, and I can’t wait to start on our second batch. Hopefully in six moths or so we’ll be expert brewers churning our quality beverage.

So, there’s good news and bad news to report. I’ll start with the good.

Our beer tastes pretty good. Before bottling we all tried a small sip and, believe it or not, it tastes like beer. It’s very sweet, due to the alcohol content and the sugars. There is no way to determine it at this point, but I’m pretty sure our beer is at least 7% ABV, or Alcohol By Volume. The nice thing is that ABV will increase, along with tastiness, as the brew sits in the bottles. Because carbonating a beverage is pretty darn expensive, we’ve gone ahead with bottle conditioning. By putting a little yeast in each bottle pressure builds creating carbonating, bubbles and of course foam. The downside is that one must pour out the beer into a cup before consuming it.

Believe it or not, Sierra Nevada actually bottle condition all of their beverages, or at least their Pale Ale. Go take one of their bottles and look for the layer of yeast at the bottom. Do you see it? Nope, not there. When you figure out how they do it, let me know.

The bad news, to put it bluntly, is that our beer is really ugly. While we knew it was impossible to get nice clear ale on our first try, I was hoping at least to be able to see a little bit through the bottle. But no, it’s opaque as the night. Furthermore, a large amount of hops were imported into each bottle. Hops aren’t bad for you, but they certainly aren’t tasty. What this means is that we’ll have to filter each beer before serving it to anyone. I have a lot more respect now for those crappy beer commercials that beam “cold filtered” for your pleasure or what not. Arlen and I will have to figure out a way to filter the beer for future brews. To sum it up, right now, the beer looks like dirty orange juice. Did I mention it tastes good?

There is a (very) small chance that the bottle conditioning process will greatly clarify the beer. I’m not really sure how this would plausibly happen, but perhaps the combination of carbonation and the materials settling to the bottom will improve the clarity and color. Like I said, this is highly unlikely, but I wanted to at least register my deep down wishes online.

What does all this mean? Gross beer party! You are officially invited to the Gross Beer Party, where (provided you come early enough, and are brave enough) you will receive one free 22oz bottle of Hedgehog Pale Ale. The party will be held on March 20th, time and location TBA. Watch the sidebar for further information.

Also, a number of you have been bugging me to upload our instructions and accompanying documents. I promise to upload those before the gross beer party. We’ve also written up a series of questions based on our first run.