It's Pouring Down The Drain Day

Here's the latest in my beer brewing antics.

I have to pour it down the drain. It's just too sour to drink, even when it is thoroughly chilled [which tends to cover up a lot of beer flavor sins. This fact is what allows us Texans to drink Pearl or Lone Star.] Once again, DH will return home from a hard day at the office to experience a faint whiff of eau de frat-house-on-Sunday-afternoon...

However, when I poured some out into a glass yesterday, it did form a foamy head, so the carbonation process worked to some degree. It seems to have worked better in the groelsch swing top bottles than the capped bottles, which probably means I need to be a little more agressive with the bottle capper.

That's lesson number one.

Lesson number two --spend a few extra bucks and get higher quality yeast since the sour flavor probably comes from wild, undomesticated yeasty beasties pillaging the home of well-behaved, upstanding citizen yeasty beasties. [Think Capitol One commercials here.] Spend a few extra bucks for better quality malt extract too. ["What's in yerrr wallet?"]

Lesson number three --make sure to get a full, raging boil with the wort for the full hour of brewing, instead of a minor temper tantrum. This means engaging in the risky practice of putting the lid on the brew pot, but my stove just doesn't have the BTU's necessary to bring 5 gallons of water and other stuff to a full boil.

Lesson number four --when racking the wort from the primary fermenter to the secondary fermenter, be sure and top off the beer to a full five gallons with fresh water.

Lesson number five --follow a recipe. Damn! I've never exactly followed a recipe in my entire life I don't think, even when attempting a dish for the very first time, except perhaps in the cooking unit of home-ec in 8th grade, when getting an "A" depended on it.

So at some point today, I'm off to Really Cool Beer, Wine and Cigar Store for more brewing supplies and possibly to swallow my pride and ask Beer Meister for assistance. I'm told he can diagnose most problems by taste....... but I like the guy and wouldn't want to poison him.