Holy crap...success!

I have no idea why I'm so surprised at this, but the beer turned out awesome. It tastes nothing like homebrews that I've had in the past (with the exception of certain homebrews in Ames, which are in a different category, I think). It's not skunky. It's not watery. It's not face-puckering. It tastes like actual beer. Good, actual beer, actually. With alcohol in it. And carbonation. It all worked!

Brewmeister Santangello (notice the initials...) and I  bottled about a week ago, on a Thursday night. We've been terribly conscious about sanitation with our beer---Star San-ing everything, sealing everything, than using the Star San again. It was no different on bottling night. Everything got dunked and washed: bottles, bottle tree, caps, capper, tubes, siphon, Barker, etc. The whole process, from opening the first beer (you have to drink while you're brewing, says B.S., and how can you argue with that?) to the final clean-up, took about two hours. Not so bad. 

All told, we had about four gallons of beer, or about a case each of 22oz and 12oz bottles. We have a little less than that now, after cracking about six of them last night. Delicious. 

One thing that we realized we need to be more diligent about is keeping a log. We're a little sketchy on the details of this batch---exactly how long it was in the fermenters, at what temperatures, how long it took to carbonate, etc. We'll be better at that for next time. 

Like I said to begin with, I have no idea why I'm so surprised at the result. We followed the recipe and kept everything sanitary. It just feels like magic, kind of. We started with water, and some grain, and some hops...and some other stuff...and ended up with beer. No abra-cadabra, no mystical chanting or dancing, no calling upon the spirits. It can be done, and it's not that hard. Try it.

Next up for us will be a good old American ale, I believe, but that will have to wait. For now, I believe I'll relax, and have a homebrew.