Shiner Bock or How It All Began

It's almost a rite of passage in Texas to drink a Shiner. It also happens to be the gateway beer into craft brews and what we bonded on. Dark and sweet with a slight roasty maltiness. Something you can't get out of a Bud or Coors Light. So naturally, that's what we decided to brew.

We bought a kit from Austin Homebrew Supply. Everything you need besides a boil kettle, water and fermentation chamber. Making it easier on ourselves, we decided to do a "mini mash" which means a mashing step wasn't needed. Instead, all of the sugary goodness was provided in a liquid malty syrup and dry powdery malt extract.

We needed a brew kettle. It was a nice West Texas summer day so boiling on a Banjo propane burner in the yard was a no-brainer. It wasn't the first time we underutilized our brains. I mean we chose to lager on our first brew with no good way to control temperature. It wouldn't be the last time we did something as dumb either. We used an old aluminum turkey fryer because why not? It also came with a thermometer so it seemed perfect for the job. So we filled it up with city water and got it up to temperature.

Remembering back it was all kind of a blur. Maybe it was the excitement and uncertainty. It was probably the celebratory brews we had throughout the day though. It took a really long time to cool the wort down in the summer heat and 80F tap water. A lot of stirring a waiting and measuring and waiting. It was an unexpected mess but we got it done eventually.

The original gravity was spot on! It was almost like we could follow directions. We pitched the yeast, and before long, it was bubbling.

Bottling Day. Finally! The wait was excruciating, yet somehow eclipsed by seemingly unending task of cleaning and sanitizing all of those bottles. There has got to be a better way.

So how was it?
It was everything we hoped for. It was malty, and roasty and sweet and delicious. It had just the right amount of carbonation bite. It was quite boozy as well.

NOT!

It was truly terrible. The taste was off so much it was hard to describe. There was a metallic or maybe a medicinal flavor to it. Was it the aluminum kettle? The city water? The uncontrolled fermentation temperature? Probably all of the above. Whatever it was, it gave us all a buzz within a few sips. Maybe we are not cut out for this homebrew thing.