My first brew is a simple extract recipe from Austin Homebrew. Apocalypso is a Pale Ale featuring Calypso hops.

Brewing (19 January 2013)

Brewing went well. It took 4-5 hours total, mostly due to first-time learning curve. Because of issues listed below, I don’t know either the starting gravity or the exact volume in the primary.

Issues:

• Lack of thief
• No volume markings on 6.5 gallon carboy

Transfer to Secondary (3 February 2013)

Transfer went well. A thief was acquired by this point, so I took a sample and measured a 1.015 gravity. The recipe expected 1.010, but given my volume measurement issues, a slight difference is not surprising. At this point, the beer was darker than expected, but did taste approximately like beer. Volume marks were made on the secondary carboy before transfer – according to these, I put 4.75 gallons of beer into the secondary.

Bottling (9 February 2013)

Bottling took about 4 hours. I purchased 2 cases of bottles, concerned that I might need an extra one or two. This wasn’t necessary, as I finished with 45 bottles. A bottle tree would be a good investment for next time. A bottling bucket is also tempting.

The leftover beer was tasted after bottling - very promising.