Monday, January 10, 2005
Finding My Way to Brewing (Part One)
I completed my first batch which was bottled on 1/3/94. I am posting this on 1/10/05 so it is just over eleven years ago that I started. This beginning was while I was stationed at West Point, NY arriving there in July ’92 and leaving in July ’95. It was an all malt extract Brown Ale/dried yeast recipe from Miller’s “The Complete Handbook of Home Brewing”. I followed his beginner section scrupulously and it came out OK. I remember that it was a little under carbonated for my taste but that was the way the style was supposed to be so I hit the mark on that point. I used thin walled non-returnable bottles. None of them broke from over carbonation but I cracked a few while capping. I never used them again, switching at that time to Miller Genuine Draft returnables. Needless to say I was pretty satisfied with my first batch as it all got drunk and quite quickly.
How did I get to that point? Well, it began back when I was stationed in the Netherlands. This was my second overseas tour lasting from January ’89 until May ’91. And so it was in the Netherlands that I took my first foray into home made alcoholic beverage making which turned out to be apple wine making.
One reason I stepped off in that direction was the presence of about a dozen old apple trees on the grounds of the home I had rented. During the first year of my tour there, I watched hundreds of pounds of apples fall off those trees and rot in my yard. I also ended up cleaning a lot of them up. Very sweet pungent smell, those rotting apples. I imagined that a number of them were in some stage of fermentation while I was hauling them off to the compost pile. How to exploit this to my advantage, I wondered?
In casual conversation with a Dutch gentleman at my work, I mentioned my apple wastage situation and he remarked that he knew a little about wine making and suggested I give it a try. This gentleman, whose name I do not recall, advised me on the rudiments of how he was in the habit of making apple wine. Apples were quite plentiful in this area of Holland and this was a hobby that he and some of friends had enjoyed over the years. He also took me to a small wine making shop and loaned me some of his equipment. End of part one.
How did I get to that point? Well, it began back when I was stationed in the Netherlands. This was my second overseas tour lasting from January ’89 until May ’91. And so it was in the Netherlands that I took my first foray into home made alcoholic beverage making which turned out to be apple wine making.
One reason I stepped off in that direction was the presence of about a dozen old apple trees on the grounds of the home I had rented. During the first year of my tour there, I watched hundreds of pounds of apples fall off those trees and rot in my yard. I also ended up cleaning a lot of them up. Very sweet pungent smell, those rotting apples. I imagined that a number of them were in some stage of fermentation while I was hauling them off to the compost pile. How to exploit this to my advantage, I wondered?
In casual conversation with a Dutch gentleman at my work, I mentioned my apple wastage situation and he remarked that he knew a little about wine making and suggested I give it a try. This gentleman, whose name I do not recall, advised me on the rudiments of how he was in the habit of making apple wine. Apples were quite plentiful in this area of Holland and this was a hobby that he and some of friends had enjoyed over the years. He also took me to a small wine making shop and loaned me some of his equipment. End of part one.
# posted by CrankyFrankie @ 1:13 PM 
