Brewing with Cap’n

On a recent Saturday, I spent the day observing my good friend Richard from Travels with Cap’n  try his hand at homebrewing for the first time.  I say observe because I do not have brewing skills and did not want to muck anything up.  Also because another seasoned Brooklyn Kit homebrewer, Jennie was in attendance to handle the advice needs.

Observe in the camera sense as well.  Here are some photos from the day….

Everything went smoothly if slowly.  If there is one thing I have learned from the few home brews that I have witnessed, it is that you can’t have enough big pots and you can’t have enough ice to cool the wort down.  And that was probably the only issue with this brew.  A World Cup game fit easily into the time that the brewing took but being a first time that time will surely drop as Rich becomes more comfortable with brewing.

I was glad that he chose the Everyday IPA recipe because that is probably a pretty foolproof recipe.  Hops should cover up any small error. Speaking of, I think that the hop addition wasn’t according to schedule and a little too heavy at the start so the aroma may be a bit muted but aside from that, I can’t wait to see how this beer turns out.  Though I was a little peeved that no major spill occurred because that would have made for a much better photoshoot. Aside from some ugly hop residue at the bottom of the pot after the transfer to the carboy.