I made my second batch of home brewed beer tonight, which is an espresso stout. I still don’t have a large enough brew pot to make my own wort so I had to use a concentrated Stout by Cooper’s.

The process was basically the same as last time except the directions said to add both the sugar and wort to boiling water prior to topping off the fermenter. I think last time I had to let it cool before adding in the sugar. I also added about 10oz of freshly brewed espresso using a blend of beans from a small roasterie in Kansas City.

BEERmom brought me my second to last bottle of nut brown ale to enjoy while I was adding water and giving everything a good stir. Adding the espresso was my idea, but several coffee beer recipes I read said doing so with a concentrate will still turn out pretty good beer.

The stout now is sitting on our bar downstairs for the next week or so before bottling time. Hopefully I will hear tiny bubbles sometime tomorrow or early Tuesday. More on how it turned out in a few weeks. For now, I’ve added pictures of the previous brew to the other posts. Below are some from tonight.

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When leaving your local home brew store it is probably a good idea to ask for a shopping bag…

Yesterday I stocked up on ingredients for my second brew and had the privilege of walking around Downtown Wichita with a 4lb zip-lock full of a powdery white substance. I received plenty of dirty looks and was probably the only person that knew it was corn sugar.

I thoroughly tested the quality of my beer this week by giving bottles to the connoisseurs in my family, and received feedback such as “wow that’s good” and “holy cow that’s amazing”. Several others said it was the best beer they ever tasted.

I think they were a little worried about what they were about to drink, then surprised. Some of them probably exaggerated a bit too.

One recipient stated it was a lot better than Bud Light (which is understandable since it’s an entirely different style of beer), while another warned a family member who owns a brewery of his impending demise.

Consensus: It was pretty damn good.

I appreciate the compliments on my beer, but thought I would share that for a number of reasons I do not believe there is such thing as a “best beer in the world”.

The most important reason should be apparent to anyone who considers themselves a connoisseur of something. That reason being – if there is such thing as a best ______ in the world then you would only eat/drink/consume that and would not be actually be a connoisseur. Crazy beer nuts.

I think the best thing about all consumable things I love (such as beer or coffee or music) is that there are so many excellent options to choose from that I never really have to try the same thing twice. That’s how I feel about beer as well.

I have 6 bottles left from my first batch of beer, and once I finish them I will probably never make that recipe again (unless of course I forget I already tried it). I am going to start my next batch – an espresso stout – this weekend, so I am researching different recipes.

If you have successfully made coffee beer then I could use some tips, if not then wish me luck. I will be back this weekend with baby details and pictures from my second brew.

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As a new homebrewer I was pretty worried my first batch would turn out bad and convince me never to try again. Luckily though that didn’t happen.

A friend turned me on to a small store in Wichita named What’s Brewin’, which is where I purchased my supplies. My first batch was Munton’s Nut Brown Ale. The ingredients yielded about 5.5 gallons of fermentable goodness, and took about a week for the yeast to do its thing.

I went back to the store the next weekend and purchased a capper and two cases of refurbished brown bottles, and went to work bottling my brew the next night.

For some reason (I think it was the Imperial measurements) I thought my 48 bottles plus 4 I saved would be enough for 5+ gallons of beer. About 3 hours, 52 glass bottles, 2 wine bottles, 1 Juicy Juice container, and 4 water bottles later I learned otherwise.

After another 2 – 2½ weeks of warm and cool storage I was able to try my first sip. Despite ruining a small portion of the batch with plastic bottles, the ale turned out wonderful.

It pours a dark translucent brown with a thick, foamy head. There is a faint nutty aroma, and the taste is amazing. I have always enjoyed trying new premium beers (which is why I never share mine at parties), and would have to say this is among the best I’ve had.

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