Danielsan
New Member
Boy do I feel late to THIS party. Why?
Well, it was about 4-5 weeks ago, I was watching a brilliant series on U.K. television with Oz Clark and James May and their adventures in drinking (mostly beer) across the Britain. One brewery they visited had the various pieces of equipment I'd more or less seen in before in smaller brew pubs in various places and I knew (vaguely) that hops and barley and yeast and water were involved. Granted, I didn't know what a "hop" was (apart from the verb) and there were a thousand little details that eluded me...
It suddenly dawned on me... that after (*mumbles*) years of drinking beer, I didn't exactly know how the stuff was made. Given my "robust appreciation" of it, it felt like being married to someone for 23 years and not knowing anything about their family or upbringing.
I'd known (or known of) various people who had brewed their own beer in the past (some with dubious results which may have been a deterrent), but I think always suspected I'd do it sooner or later, but there was no "deadline". Well, I gave myself one.
I have a "full-boil" system I guess it would be and, unlike most folks, I'm using an induction cooktop to heat the wort. (I've seen a forum thread about this which I intend to contribute too ASAP.) It means I can do everything in a closed garage without risk of suffocation or setting anything on fire.
Started things off with an Oktoberfest style, then did a tamer "American Ale", and just boiled up a batch of Kölsch last night. I gotta say, waiting is the hardest part.
Anxious to learn more and maybe even write about it on my (these-days-neglected) blog - www.foodandwhining.com
Cheers!
--Daniel
Well, it was about 4-5 weeks ago, I was watching a brilliant series on U.K. television with Oz Clark and James May and their adventures in drinking (mostly beer) across the Britain. One brewery they visited had the various pieces of equipment I'd more or less seen in before in smaller brew pubs in various places and I knew (vaguely) that hops and barley and yeast and water were involved. Granted, I didn't know what a "hop" was (apart from the verb) and there were a thousand little details that eluded me...
It suddenly dawned on me... that after (*mumbles*) years of drinking beer, I didn't exactly know how the stuff was made. Given my "robust appreciation" of it, it felt like being married to someone for 23 years and not knowing anything about their family or upbringing.
I'd known (or known of) various people who had brewed their own beer in the past (some with dubious results which may have been a deterrent), but I think always suspected I'd do it sooner or later, but there was no "deadline". Well, I gave myself one.
I have a "full-boil" system I guess it would be and, unlike most folks, I'm using an induction cooktop to heat the wort. (I've seen a forum thread about this which I intend to contribute too ASAP.) It means I can do everything in a closed garage without risk of suffocation or setting anything on fire.
Started things off with an Oktoberfest style, then did a tamer "American Ale", and just boiled up a batch of Kölsch last night. I gotta say, waiting is the hardest part.
Anxious to learn more and maybe even write about it on my (these-days-neglected) blog - www.foodandwhining.com
Cheers!
--Daniel
