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First beer! kind of.

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Chevette Girl

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE
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Apr 27, 2010
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Ottawa, ON
Went in to my LHBS to get pH strips... came out instead with one of those two-litre beer kits. I'd had it before and it was on sale for $3.50, I figured what the heck.

Popped the yeast capsule in yesterday and put on their special pressure release cap, by last night it was nice and foamy.

Went into the store again to see about ordering the pH strips (they only had the beer ones), and they were still on sale so I got two more to experiment with.

I think I'm going to add honey to one to make a braggot and see how I like that, and I might add the other to a cyser or something, still haven't decided on the best experimental use for two litres of beer wort :)
 
More info

It's the "Big & Easy Bottle Brew" Mexcan Cerveza kit.

Will let the ongoing one finish then I'll post some tasting notes in the "how do you tell what kind of beer you like?" thread. :)
 
Never seen those kits, but for $3.50 you can't go wrong. Hope you like it once it's done!

What are the kit instructions like? I know a lot of them recommend a very short fermentation, followed by very short bottle conditioning.

Popped the yeast capsule in yesterday.....
Click to expand...

Yeast Capsule?

.....special pressure release cap.....
Click to expand...

Special Pressure Release Cap?

How does the bottling process work with this kit? PET bottles?

I think I'm going to add honey to one to make a braggot and see how I like that, and I might add the other to a cyser or something, still haven't decided on the best experimental use for two litres of beer wort
Click to expand...

Can't go wrong with a Braggot.
 
just did a quick search and it looks like it's basically a 2L bottle with unfermented ?wort? i guess they pre-brew the malt/hops stuff, then seal it. when you buy it, you open it, drop in the yeast and fit a special airlock cap. that should ferment and CO2 the beer.

i think youtube may have some nice videos available.
 
Yep, essentially it's 2 litres of prepared wort in a bottle, looks kinda like iced tea, and they give you a capsule with yeast in it, and a pop bottle lid with a hole drilled in teh plastic part and a pinhole in the exposed rubber part, it holds a fair amount of pressure but will release before the bottle explodes.

Add yeast, put on special cap, store upright out of sunlight for 1 to 2 weeks until beer becomes very clear, refrigerate upright for at least twelve hours and enjoy. Do not attempt to open bottle without chilling :)

I actually do have plans to bottle some of this to see how it ages so I'm going to almost freeze it to retain the carbonation and pour into some frozen beer bottles.
 
Well, he sure seemed to like it. I betcha it'll taste just fine, especially if you're not too "beer snobby" to begin with. Sounds like a real easy way to get your feet wet!

If you do decide to try making more beer, extract kits are quite fun to make. Since you're already familiar with wine/mead making too, it'll be really easy for you. An extract brew day takes me about 3 hours including cleanup time.
 
Mostly what I like about this beer kit is that even if it's not quite what I want, it wasn't expensive nor time-intensive, and I won't be stuck with gallons of stuff I can't stomach to give away to my two friends who actually drink beer... (one of whom was the one who had one of these before, he likes his beer and declared this one "not bad at all"). Low investment is a good start. I'm thinking about extract kits (or starting with them and experimenting, bwahaahaa) once I figure out what I'm aiming for...
 
Yeah, it's even easier than JAO! No measuring, no cutting oranges... Add yeast, change lid, wait 2 weeks.

So it's starting to clear, and there's some lees visible but there are bubbles coming up from the lees so it's still going...
 
I don't like a lot of beers, but I tolerate a few and I really like some. I'm currently going through a fair bit of beer, trying to figure out exactly what it is I like about the ones I like and what I don't about the ones I don't...
 
I don't like beer at all, but if I could get some of these for as cheap as you did, I'd get them for gag Christmas gifts for my brewing son and nephew. :)
 
That's the thing with them, I've been talking to a bunch of people now who've tried them, and nobody thought they were garbage!
 
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