So, like, a month ago I told you that I was looking forward to being an amateur zymurgist again, and that I’d managed to find most of my brewing equipment, cleaned it, and had ordered some supplies from Williams Brewing. I promised you a “Part II” when my stuff came in.

This isn’t Part II.

Oh, I got my stuff. It’s just that there has been a conspiracy of circumstances that has kept me from moving forward. In fact, I’d been hoping to be bottling this past weekend, but that obviously hasn’t happened.

While this is probably obvious to those of you more experienced at homebrewing than little ol’ me, I’ll explain it for those of you considering picking up the hobby. You see, while the initial boil of the malt only takes a couple of hours with about another hour of cleanup, you also need to commit the time for the next steps. Bottle too early, for instance, and you can get exploding bottles or, at the very least, very little alcohol; bottle too late and you risk contamination or flat beer.

I’m still a beginner, so I’m still bottle-conditioning, and I also like to use a two-stage fermentation for clarity. While I had a slot in my schedule to brew, I didn’t have one in the right timeframe to transfer or bottle. I’m sure those of you with jobs and families can understand. (There was also stuff I needed to do for Octoberfest.)

So, I’ve got my stuff, and I’m going to get it boiling soon. Very soon. When I do, you’ll be sure to know.