Yet Another Beer Geek.

After some comments, and the votes coming in with a 3 way tie… I decided on calling my homebrewing

drumroll, please…

“Sobenvalt Brewing”

I decided on this on (instead of the other two leaders; Hopvault and End of the World) partly because it’s only me, and while I think it’d be fun to name my individual beers too, that is definitely not an objective of mine at this stage of the “game”. Considering Sobenvalt (abbreviated Soben most of the time) is my nickname, my online entity, it’s the best fit to represent homebrew created by me.

Should I decide to expand upon this homebrew business at a later date, I will certainly be considering some of the other names I had listed in the poll. Especially one that symbolizes the region I live in, and where I might want to take it from there.

Thanks for your help!

… now to come up with a logo to put on my bottles!

So, I have been playing with the idea of naming my home brew a company, being fun and lighthearted… Heck, I would love to get a bunch of friends together and brew and share ideas (I have a lot of friends in the Tampa area interested in homebrewing and some even have kits they haven’t opened yet).

[name] Home Brew Group, or something? Or if it’s just me; [name] Brewing.

I really like the idea of beer names being themed, Norb and I were tossing company names back and forth. I love the whole Dune universe (written by Frank Herbert) and it would be a blast if I could name a bunch of beers after various points in the books, but we don’t doubt that I’d instantly be caught under multiple cease-and-desist orders.

At the very least, I want a brewing “name” to make fake labels for having on my beer bottles, just for amusement.

Some insight before you vote

• “Mahdi” is a muslim word, it is used in the Dune universe, and it’s essentially a word to describe the one that is coming to save us. Definition from google: “A spiritual and temporal leader who will rule before the end of the world and restore religion and justice.” – It really would be a nice brewing “company” name to tie in a bunch of themed beers related to the Dune universe. It can also be perceived (if I ever did more than just home brew) as me thinking I’m here to save everyone from crappy beer
• “Sobenvalt” is just a longer version of my internet name. It’s existed for years, and over time, people just called me the shorter, easier “Soben”
• “Hopvault” is the name of my beer tracking app, and using this name would be a way to tie together everything that I have done beer related thus far.
• “Dune” is another name to tie together a Dune universe themed list of beers, but it can also be used to represent the region we’re in, with sand dunes on the beaches.
• “Oldsmar” and “Suncoast” would probably go better with a “brewing group” and only more so if I planned to take this out of homebrewing and into a larger scene. Certainly a more “professional” name for my brewing (look at how many brewing companies are named after the region they’re in)
• “End of the World” was an idea Norb and I thought of, naming beers after apocalyptic scenarios and related people (2012, Rapture, Jim Jones, Mayans, iChing, etc)

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I didn’t screw up my beer!

haha… I opened up two bottles on Saturday to share with my step dad and a friend, and we all thought it was tasty. It’s definitely an “everyday” IPA, as the name of it is. It’s bitter, but not too bitter, and very light tasting to drink. I’m looking forward to trying more of it later this week. I gave the half-filled bottle to my buddy Norb to try as well. He took a sip yesterday and thought it was great, and will be drinking the rest of his tonight with dinner.

I’m putting the Chocolate Maple Porter that I brewed on Saturday into storage tonight. Can’t wait to try that one out.

Some pictures are coming. I have them on my other computer currently.

My first batch will be ready for me to try this weekend! I’m really looking forward to it. My step dad will be coming up here Saturday, so I’ll likely put the beers in the fridge tomorrow evening, and try one of them with him.

I’m also likely going to start my second batch on Saturday. Decided that I’ll make the Chocolate Maple Porter first.

At what point is it really considered “ready” when you’re in the bottled stage? Sunday is technically the 2 week mark since the beers have been bottled, and I certainly won’t be drinking all of them this weekend (I mean, come on…. all that work for 4.5 beers, I might as well spread them out a little!), but they’ll be okay to drink on Saturday, right?

When is it “okay” to move them from a “cool dry place” to the fridge?

I couldn’t help it. I just went to the Brooklyn Brew Shop website (which is where my roommate bought my kit), and purchased a couple more brew mixes for my next two batches.

Now, sure, this Everyday IPA that I just made will certainly be tasty, and I’ll likely want to make it again. But for the time being, I’m ok with trying some other brews first.

These first few batches of beer are to get the hang of timing and preparation, and understanding when is a good time to add stuff to the process. Then I’ll certainly take matters into my own hands.

So, what new beers will I be brewing next? Well, I’m glad you asked:

Chocolate Maple Porter – Ever since I first contemplating doing home brew, “Maple Porter” has been a beer that I have been dying to make. I LOVE maple. Every time I end up in Vermont or Canada, I immediately try to get their pure maple syrup, or the maple sugar candies from the region. I will very likely be brewing this one again from scratch in the future.

Mustard Brown Ale – Among my top favorite beers are Browns, Ambers, Pale Ales, and IPAs: Those are the ones I tend to grab first when I see a new beer at a bar or store, that I haven’t had before. So when I visited their website for the next brew to make, my eye caught this one second.

Heh… so, it’s finally time to bottle my first batch of beer. I knew that I didn’t have a full gallon of beer in my carboy… it also looked like I had an awful lot of sediment in it too… and I guess I was right…

I tried a small sample of the beer that’s in the carboy… and it was certainly tasty, but far from carbonated… is that happening in the second stage of bottling, or is this a failed batch?

It tasted good, and I’m looking forward to the final result… However, I certainly won’t be able to try much of it…

I prepared for the best case scenario

I filled an ENTIRE 4 1/2 bottles of beer (the kit says it makes ~10 bottles)… so what did I do wrong? I’ll admit the instructions were vague at a few moments (“don’t have a full gallon in the pot? no problem, you can compensate for it in the next step” and then never tells me how to compensate for it)

Regardless, it was a good first experience. Hoping for the best!

All 5 Bottles used (one in middle is half full)

I’m anxious to try another batch, but I feel like I should try to get some grasp on what I did wrong in the first batch. Any ideas? I’m guessing it was too high of a boil in the boil-stage, or perhaps simply not putting enough water through the mash.

We’ll have to see on my second try!

I still have another whole week to wait until I can even BOTTLE the beer! AHHH! You know, I haven’t even looked at the beer since I put it under my stairwell… maybe I should do that this weekend.

Man, beer takes a long time to make. I think it ended up being around 4 hours total of waiting around and preparing the mash, the boil… preparing the fermentation… yeeeeeeesh.