First Homebrew!

Well the first batch of "beer in progress" is in the fermentor.  I decided to go with a canned malt extract kit, Muntons Nut Brown Ale, for the first time as it was less work and I could ease my way into it.  It was suprisingly very simple.  The hardest part was making sure the equipment was sterilized. For that I used Glosan-NC cleaner.  I was a little worried about cooling the wort quickly enough, I sent Jinger to the store twice for ice, but with the 5 bags of ice that I went though, it cooled down in no time.    

I used the spray hose from the faucet to aerate the mixture after adding the yeast.  I know the tap water isn't sterile as some people swear by, but Corey said that this is the way he has done it and he has had success so far.  The method that Larry from Larry's Brewing Suppy told me to use called for using water straight from the tap as well, but most of the stuff I have read recommends boiling it.  Either way I had steadily bubbling in my air-lock the next morning, so somethings fermenting in there. 

I have the fermentor stored in a closet on a nice cool tile floor.  If I were yeast it seems like a nice place to work.  Hopefully they feel the same way and make us some good beer.  I also got a used Cornelius Keg from Larry's.  I scrubbed it down real good and Jinger was able to get her arm into the opening far enough to scrub the bottom. With the o-rings changed and a little elbow greese it looks like new. 

Now it is just waiting time until I am ready to keg and force carbonate.  With some advice from Corey I decided to skip the whole bottling process and go straight to keg, thanks Corey.  It cost a little bit more than I originally planned but it will save a lot of work in the long run.  If everything goes as planned Jinger and I will be sipping on our own homebrew in a couple of weeks. 

-Josh