...a nice cold beer every now and again. Since I enjoy beer and with the rising prices in today’s market I decided that it would likely be more cost effective to brew my own beer. So I finally broke down and ordered myself a basic brewing kit. Luckily one of my co-workers is also an avid home-brewer and invited me over on a Saturday morning to assist in my first home-brew.
After waking on the before mentioned Saturday morning I gathered my brewing kit together and gave my co-worker a call to confirm that we were still on for the brew day. I left my house around 11am and proceeded to his home. Upon arriving at his house and seeing my first stage fermenting bucket my co-worker decided that we should make an addition to it by adding a spigot to the bottom side. He explained that the spigot will allow it to be drained without disturbing the sediment that will accumulate during the fermentation process. After the bucket surgery was complete he explained to me that the biggest part of brewing beer is sanitation. So we proceeded to clean every piece of equipment that we would need for the day with bleach and water. At this point it is past noon so we decide to have a beer to help us stay cool. It is the middle of summer out here in the desert and in the spirit of not annoying the wives by brewing in the house we have set up in the garage. So now we are ready to start the process of actually brewing the beer. We fill a stainless turkey fryer with 5 gallons of water and get the propane burner started to begin boiling the water.
He explained to me that the sugar that yeast eats to create alcohol comes from the malted grain and has me try a grain so that I can taste the sweetness. We place the loose grain into a muslin bag and let it steep in the water just like you would if you were making a gigantic cup of tea. He explained to me that the bag must be...
