We are now homebrewers!

I know what you are thinking...Beer?! Homebrewed BEER?! Not wine?!
Well, as you have read, we have been enjoying some great micro-brews lately & since it has been summer, the grape has taken a back seat the grain.  Another reason is that I am extremely impatient & beer is ready in 6 weeks as opposed to 6 months.

We have brewed four batches of homebrew so far since May & all have turned out fantastic.  We are drinking a Summer Ale we brewed with orange peel, corriander & grains of paradise that is drinking great right now, before that it was a brown ale & then a bock before that.  This past weekend we brewed a holiday ale that should be ready for Thanksgiving.

If you are curious as to the goings on in our makeshift brewery (our kitchen/closet/basement) here is a quick visual guide.

 

Ingredients.

 

Grains steeping. 

 

Wort Boiling (after hops & malt extract added).

 

After wort has boiled it is cooled & placed in 6.5 gal carboy for about a week.

 

After a day or so krausen forms & fermentation becomes violent.

 

After primary fermentation stops the beer is then racked for clarity into another, smaller carboy.

 

Our (blury) brewery on racking day.

 

Once in secondary the beer ages for at least 2 more weeks.

 

After 2 weeks or so in secondary it is time to bottle.  The bottles are primed with a little bit of sugar to induce another round of fermentation that will cause carbonation. After 3 weeks the homebrew is ready to enjoy.

PROST!