Beer Brewing

This past Christmas I received a mini, 1 gallon beer brewing kit from Serena Martindale (Rowan's mom).  Though for full disclosure, we've done most of the brewing and drinking together.  With incredibly easy steps and fast turnaround, we almost immediately fell in love and brewing is almost a weekly occurrence now.  In fact, I just added it up and combining everything since starting and including beer in progress, we've brewed 32 gallons of beer!  Before anyone does too much math on how much beer we drink though, keep in mind that each 1 gallon batch produces between 9 and 10 bottles of beer (a loss of 1 or 2 bottles off the ideal).

A wonderful part of brewing is the aroma produced during the boil.  Hearty grains, thick malts, and floral hops all combine and impart a lingering headiness that lasts for hours.

After 1 or 2 weeks in the fermentor(s), the beer is bottled and a small bit is sampled.  At this point, it's already usually delicious. While it is also warm and flat, if the beer already tastes good, then you know it's going to be amazing.  Perhaps surprisingly, we've never had a bad/off/skunked batch yet.

One of the great side-effects of brewing, is that most kits include some grains that are steeped while the water is being bought to a boil.  Using these grains we have made some of the best bread we've had the delight to eat.  Also thanks to another gift from Serena, a bread machine.  Each loaf is unique in texture, flavour, and colour.

Borrowing some equipment from Mark and Maria, we were able to brew up a 5 gallon batch of Hefeweizen.  This was awesome because it gave use a default option to enjoy when we low on other beer.  You tend to go through a batch of 9-10 bottles before you know it, but when you have a stash of something else, it really helps prolong the enjoyment.

Brewing has also given us an excellent reason to use a handmade, leather bound note book that we picked up in Italy.  Taking notes to track progress, learn from mistakes, and experiment is part of the brewing fun.

The brewing habit picked up quickly again after we moved to Austin, TX.  Though cooling down the wort (post-boil liquid that will ferment and become beer) is much more difficult when then tap water is tepid instead of cold.

With approval from our cats, we recently expanded our brewing capacity from 3 x 1 gallon batches to 6 x 1 gallon batches.  One day, we might expand to 5 gallon batches, but the 1 gallon size is so easy that we haven't had the desire to yet.