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From: tjsmedley@watmum.UUCP (Trevor J. Smedley)
Newsgroups: net.wines
Subject: My first homebrew
Message-ID: <393@watmum.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 6-Feb-86 13:07:37 EST
Article-I.D.: watmum.393
Posted: Thu Feb  6 13:07:37 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 7-Feb-86 09:58:12 EST
Reply-To: tjsmedley@watmum.UUCP (Trevor J. Smedley)
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 43

Well, I must say that I am quite pleased with the number of responses
to my original article. My first brew is now in bottles, and I can
hardly wait. There seems to be a general consensus that things must be
*clean*. (I even went so far as to sterilise my hands before mixing
things up.) Unfortunately no one told me to carefully figure out how
many cups are in a gallon, and I somehow used less than half the
required amount of water. Upon realising this (at bottling time) I
added the extra water, and prayed. I figure that as long as the
alcohol concentration didn't get high enough to kill the yeast, things
should be ok. Anyone have any ideas as to whether this will work out or
not? (I figure that there was about 2 gallons of liquid where there
was supposed to be 5. These are Imperial gallons, so that's 2.5
American gallons instead of 6.25)

In any case, I am not discouraged. The first batch was made from a can
of malt/hop goo, sugar, and yeast. Next time (which will be soon) I
plan to be a little more adventurous. First I think I will buy a book
on the subject (The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian
was suggested to me by Mike Herbert, and if I can find it I will
probably buy that one. Anyone else have suggestions?). Then I
intend on making a brew with no added sugar (except at bottling time -
I think it's necessary then. Am I wrong?) and that isn't already half
prepared in a can. I've already had one suggestion for a recipe,
anyone have some others? Also, I'm not exactly sure where to buy the
ingredients. Are brewing stores the only source? Or would health food
stores or something like that also have the stuff?

So, after I master the basic art of brewing I hope to attempt my
ultimate goal for this whole business. While I was in Germany I fell
in love with the Weizenbier (wheat beer) that they have there. As
nothing comparable is available on this side of the Atlantic I hope to
duplicate (or at least approximate) this delicious drink. Does anyone
know anything about this beer, or how it is brewed? All I know is that
it uses wheat instead of (or as well as) barley, and that you can get
it like normal beer, or with yeast in the bottle. Any information
would be greatly appreciated. In particular recipes will be welcome (I
already have one which uses both barley and wheat).

Thanks very much, and drink up!!

Trevor J. Smedley                    University of Waterloo

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