After many years of drinking beer on a regular basis, which oddly enough, did nothing to prepare me to make it myself, I took the yeasty plunge in to the aromatic bucket of homebrewing.
Yesterday morning I cracked open my Northern Brewers Starter kit, with their dry Irish Stout extract kit. I lived in England for a couple years and became a Guinness fanatic. If you ever find yourself within 1,000 miles of Dublin and St. James Gate Guinness Brewery, you MUST take a detour.
So after three hours of clanging about in the kitchen, with a minimal number of four-letter expletives escaping in moments of terror, including the near miss of almost dropping a thermometer in a 180F bucket of wort, I managed to pitch my first batch of yeastie beasties in to my newborn booze-bucket.
My wife gets credit for the Quote of the Day with, "Hey, that smells just like Vegemite!" after I opened the White Labs yeast vial. Yes dear, Vegemite is essentially just yeast-paste sold to Aussies in what has to be the Biggest Joke They Have Yet to Get in the History of Civilization. Suckers.
The bucket with the brew went in to the downstairs bathtub that we never use and is always dark and at a constant temp. Of course, the first thing I do this morning is run down and check for bubbles. Sure enough, the microbes have been busy feasting on the sugary malt, partying away in silent joy. (I really should put a disco ball in there and some music to keep them going for the next three weeks.)
I'm Fermenting Baby, Yeah! :rockin:
Yesterday morning I cracked open my Northern Brewers Starter kit, with their dry Irish Stout extract kit. I lived in England for a couple years and became a Guinness fanatic. If you ever find yourself within 1,000 miles of Dublin and St. James Gate Guinness Brewery, you MUST take a detour.
So after three hours of clanging about in the kitchen, with a minimal number of four-letter expletives escaping in moments of terror, including the near miss of almost dropping a thermometer in a 180F bucket of wort, I managed to pitch my first batch of yeastie beasties in to my newborn booze-bucket.
My wife gets credit for the Quote of the Day with, "Hey, that smells just like Vegemite!" after I opened the White Labs yeast vial. Yes dear, Vegemite is essentially just yeast-paste sold to Aussies in what has to be the Biggest Joke They Have Yet to Get in the History of Civilization. Suckers.
The bucket with the brew went in to the downstairs bathtub that we never use and is always dark and at a constant temp. Of course, the first thing I do this morning is run down and check for bubbles. Sure enough, the microbes have been busy feasting on the sugary malt, partying away in silent joy. (I really should put a disco ball in there and some music to keep them going for the next three weeks.)
I'm Fermenting Baby, Yeah! :rockin:
