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Blog: Eat Beer

Situation: Rebrew

Posted on April 5, 2011 by Joshua Nathan Doty

Like they say, “You win some, you lose some.” My biggest win since I began brewing again a few months ago was just that, the fact that I started brewing again. The most recent loss, however, was a night a few weeks ago when I opened all the bottles from two entire batches and dumped them down the drain.

Why would I do such a thing? Well, as the most critical of my own work, I just wasn’t happy with the final outcome of these beers. I have only brewed a handful of batches since starting up a few months back, but I had much higher expectations of my abilities as a homebrewer. But when you fall, you must stand back up, dust yourself off and move forward. And that is exactly what I intend to do.

Since then I have been, to borrow a phrase, “winning” with brewing. My first run of my latest beer, Overcast Wheat Ale, a combination of American Wheat and German Hefeweizen turned out quite well and has received great reviews from brew club members, family and friends. And it’s all gone.

I listened intently to all the feedback, compared the beer to many others in the style that I really enjoy (Pyramid Haywire, Paulaner Hefeweizen, Hale’s El Jefe Weizen and others) and I have made a few minor tweaks to the recipe to brew again. Soon.

One of the bonuses of getting this beer to come out exactly how I wanted it is that I now understand the mistakes I made on those batches I poured down the drain. I am adjusting the recipes for those, too, and will get those in the cycle as soon as possible.

Eat Beer!

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