On the Mic with Mike

My brother Terry and I ventured into home-brewing a little over three years ago. During the first batch, we experienced quite a few issues that we chalked up as "learning". Despite the boil-over and syphoning problems, the end product amazingly resembled and tasted like a "Pale Ale" should. It was not necessarily great, but at least we hit the target. In the fall of 2006, we finally made the time to get a couple more batches going. We had purchased some additional equipment (learned from batch 1) and were both excited to get to work. We devoted a full Saturday to the brewing and we were able to complete two recipes. Unfortunately, both of our kettles had leaks at the handles, so we did have a few problems with the boil again. Everything else seemed to go flawlessly until secondary fermentation, at which point I noticed that both batches appeared to have mold. After a few days of research, Terry and I could not identify a concrete cause. The best that we could figure was that while trying to correct the boiling issues that we may have introduced some bacteria, which is always possible when working in a kitchen. After losing two batches of beer, we greatly increased our attention to equipment sanitation procedures for the next batch. The procedures we follow now are probably far more strict than necessary, but we didn't want to risk wasting another batch. In November of 2007, Terry and I started work on the Batch 4, a dark holiday ale. Armed with a new and much larger kettle, we went to work. It was very evident that we had at least gained valuable experience with the first three batches. With an outstanding coordinated effort, every facet of the brewing process went seamlessly. Within five hours, we had the beer in the primary fermenter and all was looking great. The only problem we had in this batch was that the airlock kept getting clogged in the primary fermenter, eventually causing a breech in the lid. This was identified quickly and was corrected. On Christmas Eve, Terry and I cracked open the first bottle and after a toast, we sampled our end product. Dark, full bodied, a citrus accent and a hint of cinnamon.

Finally.....SUCCESS!

Excited with how Batch 4 turned out, we are anxious to get the next batch going and I'll be sure to post the details.


Edited to correct grammatical typo.
01-27-2008 (MDS)