Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Brewery Kickoff

Well, instead of just thinking about it and talking about it, I finally just went ahead and did it. I have begun my first batch of homemade beer.

The long, lame path...
  • Dan and Jill Shaver got me the equipment for my birthday. Carol sent me a microbrewery magazine. That was in February.
  • I went to visit Carol and Dan in OR, where they had a crapload of local microbreweries. That was in March.
  • I purchased the ingredients at the Red Salamander, in nearby Grand Ledge, MI. That was in April.
  • Carol and Dan get inspired, plan, and make their first batch all in one go. That was in July.
  • I finally cooked up my batch and put it in the fermentor. It's August.
  • My hope is that the beer is ready by the time Juneau is... in September.

I put in a ton of hops, which make the beer bitter but kind of smell like pine or citrus. Then I added stuff from our garden. There is some cilantro in there, and some coriander... and some ginger. And some spearmint. Oh and a jalapeno pepper.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

i want to try some

Carol and Dan said...

Way to go!!!Dan tried a beer from his first batch and it was good! When I tasted it I did't believe him that it was his home made stuff and made him show me the open bottle!
Your ingredients sound delicious!...........c.

TAITx3 said...

I wish I liked beer.
Good luck making the beer. ~kt

Erin said...

Caleb's gonna be jealous...maybe that would be a good Christmas gift for him....that is...if we have a job by then to even buy gifts :)

Anonymous said...

I here you can make some wicked potato moonshine. keeps the cost down and gets you there in a hurry.

Anonymous said...

way to go brewmaster! ive got my second batch fermenting in the pantry right now. did you you extract for the mash or did you start with boiling grains? -d