Ahh…looks like I am getting booked till Christmas. No, it is not that I am being invited for parties but my friends would like me to make beer or apple cider for them.  Too bad, I always wanted to be invited to parties but it seems that I am not that popular. However, the good thing is that my beers and ciders are. I have plans to make 2 batches of beer and 1 batch of Apple Cider (Apfelwein). So to ensure that everything is ready for Christmas, I have to start brewing now. And I am lacking in bottles. I doubt that I can make so many batches of alcoholic beverages without buying addition bottles. Or maybe I should go and steal some glass bottles from my local coffee shops. They have tons of bottles there and they don’t seem to mind that I am grabbing bottles from them. In fact, I think they are very happy that I am getting the used bottles off their hands so that they don’t need to dispose the bottles themselves.

Anyway, I will be making perhaps an Australian Pale Ale (my favourite), a Wheat beer and the Apfelwein. That would be 23×3 litres of fine alcohol! And this means that some people will be very happy on these parties. For the Australian Pale Ale, it would take about 3 weeks. For the Wheat beer, it should take about 2 weeks as Wheats usually don’t need much aging for it to taste good. The longest time to brew is the Apfelwein, which I think would probably take about 2 months to be mature enough for drinking. Well, the thing about strong alcohol is that it requires some time to age and mature. And for this batch, I think I would make some changes to the recipe. I will be adding about 2 Cinnamon sticks to the brew to give it a little more taste. I find it a bit too tart. And I need to find an Apple Juice which don’t taste sour, as the residual sourness will remain and that makes the brew less “appley” too. I think the Harvey Fresh Apple Juice (available at our local supermarkets) should be good enough to ensure some sweetness. I will then be using this as the base of the Apfelwein.

As you know, I have already purchased the ingredients to make the Wheat beer. It will be yet another simple brew. Just the Cooper’s Wheat Beer kit, 1kg of Brew Enhancer 2, some Nottingham yeast and we are all done. Hopefully it will turn out great. I will be doing this last as this Wheat beer doesn’t require much aging. Don’t you just love simple recipes and the result is still great tasting! Life can be good. And the best part, it doesn’t have to be expensive.