Since I’ve aggravated a (likely very old) back injury once again and can’t train or work out nearly as much as I used to until it’s healed, I have decided to try my hand at making beer….and wine (or is it cider?)….and mead….

I’ve gone a little overboard.

I’ve bottled my first batch, an English Brown ale, and after bottle conditioning for about 2 weeks it’s actually pretty darned good. Nice and clear, not cloudy like I would have expected. I got a little anxious waiting for the beer so I threw together a spiced orange mead based on the recipe Ancient Orange Cinnamon & Clove Mead.

Cut to 3 weeks later….I now have a Vanilla Porter, a batch of Apfelwein and a 1 Gallon batch of Cherry Grape Mead.

I can’t wait to try the porter, it should be great. The apfelwein I’ll likely give away most of unless Rebecca likes it since I don’t really drink wine or cider (plus I have 5 gallons of it!).

I’m very excited about the mead. I’ve really only had mead once and I enjoyed the flavor very much.

I’ve found some really good resources for brewing, too. How to brew (site and book) has everything any beginning (or experienced) brewer would ever want to know. The message board Home Brew Talk also has a wealth of very knowledgeable and friendly folks over there. I’ve found that site to be indispensable so far.
It’s a fun hobby. I find myself spending a lot of time at night reading recipes and techniques then itching to try them out…