Some brewing pics

Yesterday I started brewing my beer.  Like I said earlier it’s really only a 2 1/2 gallon batch so if I screw it up I’m not out quite as much.  It took a little longer than I thought, but I’m sure the next time it will go much quicker.  From start to finish the brewing time will be anywhere from 2-3 weeks.  First it will ferment (7-10 days) then I’ll bottle it and prime (carbonate essentially) the beer (7-10 days).  I’ve had a few requests to hang on to a bottle so they can try it, for all those people I’ll say sure, but I take no responsibility for my first batch.  Below are some pictures I snapped with my phone.  For some reason I can’t get pictures from Karyn’s nice camera to load with wordpress.  Anyone have any suggestions?

Steeping the grains

Adding the malt extract

Trying to get the wort to boil

Rapidly chilling the wort in an ice bath

My Ale Pail

You can’t see it here, but this airlock is bubbling

Brew my own beer

Tomorrow I plan to knock another off of my list.  I’ve always wanted to brew my own beer and I’ve had all the essentials for a little while now.  So tomorrow after church I’m going to give it a shot.  For my 29th birthday my family went in and got me a brewing kit.  I’m glad to be using the kit considering I was planning on using a bucket that I bought at Wal-Mart.  Along with the kit came ingredients to brew 5 gallons of beer.  Tomorrow though I plan on simply brewing 2 1/2 gallons from ingredients that I had bought before. I’m using a step by step guide from Insturctables.com and you can find it here.  I figure my first time through I’d rather mess up 2 1/2 gallons than 5 gallons.  Wish me luck!