Archive for the ‘Time Shift Draft’ Category

I let the first bottle of beer chill for about three days, then popped it open. The first taste was splendid. It had a very good flavor, not robust, but subtle. The beer paired nicely with the sweet and sour beef that my wife made for my birthday. It will be interesting to compare the taste at the end of this week. Then finally I’ll chill the whole batch and share with some friends!

The carbonation phase is nearly complete, I’ve managed to keep my hands off of the beer this long, so you’d think I’d be able to let it condition for a couple of weeks longer. No. There is a very scientific point here that must be observed. 

The question is what, exactly, the conditioning does for the beer. In order to answer this question, I will start chilling one bottle tomorrow. After it has chilled the recommended two days, I will collect data on the taste and quality of my beer. In the same manner, I will collect data after the first and second weeks of conditioning. 

Following the second week of conditioning I will do a lot of data collection!

Thanks to all those who have voted for my next batch of beer. The stout currently holds a strong lead! I will leave the voting up for another week. Go to the interact page to place your vote!

With the beer in the bottles, sitting on the shelf, I find myself pondering the deep, hard questions . . . like ‘What will I brew next?’ I don’t want to be selfish, so I created a poll! Go to the interact page to voice your opinion on this weighty subject.

I will bottle the beer tomorrow! I can’t wait. Too bad it needs another two weeks for carbonation and then another two weeks for conditioning. Oh well, maybe that will give me some time to make these cool carriers:

check out the original pics here – Thanks to www.homebrewtalk.com

As you can see, the beer is much clearer now. Just a little foam left on top and a layer of sediment on the bottom. Check back tomorrow to find out how the taste test went!

I decided to take a quick peek at my beer before work this morning. As I was backing out, I hit my head on the stairs. So this is Friday the 13th? We will see how the rest of the day goes. At least the beer appears to be doing what it is supposed to do. I’ll just keep my head down and try to get through the day.

Born the night of March 7, as we leapt forward into spring, Time Shift Draft started it’s journey towards that fermented wonderfulness known as beer. Two things had delayed the start of my first batch of beer. One was concern over the difficulty of the process. However, the Mr. Beer kit made it incredibly easy. I used their Wort, a  style called Candian Draft, added in the booster (some extra fructose for the yeast, to boost alcohol content) and water. Very simple.

The other delay was indecision about what water to use. We have well water at the house. I couldn’t decide wether to use straight well water or to use filtered water. Being unable to locate my Pur Water filter pitcher, I resolved to attempt the brewing process with tap water. We shall see if this produces an adequate product