Sunday, February 6, 2011

How To Brew Your Own Beer

I went to a baby shower yesterday.  I knew that my nephew was coming over to brew beer with Mr. G.  I did not however, expect them to still be "brewing" when I got home at 4:00 in the afternoon!!  But they were.  I walked into what looked like a lab experiment!  Here are the two mad scientists.
After I got over the shock of the state of my kitchen....I began to document their fun.  Don, our nephew, has already brewed several batches of beer, so he had all the equipment.  He was nice enough to come out to our house to help Greg brew for the first time.  His wife Kaylen came too, which was fun for me!!

Brewing your own beer is really not for sissies.  It is a loooooong process!   And  you have to know some math!  That leaves me OUT!  Greg and Don are math minded, and smart.  They understand chemistry. You put strange things that look like rabbit pellets into beer.

 Hops, barley and yeast.
Everything has to be sanitized and sterilized.
It has to reach a specific temperature.
Then you have to let it cool to room temperature.  So this is when we went out to dinner.
After Mushroom Cheese Burgers and Kona Pie from Islands, the boys finished their science experiment.
The brew goes into a special sterilized bucket, with an air vent in the top.  The yeast is added, and the bucket is sealed and left to let the yeast do the rest of the work. 



And finally, it goes into a lined trash can, filled with water to keep the temperature as stable as possible.  It will sit in our stil...er...garage for 2 weeks.  At which time, we will bottle, cap and enjoy!  In the mean time, we have to come up with a label, and a name for this batch of beer.  Suggestions?
Cheers!!!
And...GO GREEN BAY!!!

19 comments:

Debbiedoos said...

This looks fun...I am bookmarking this to show to my husband. His dad makes wine...beer is not an easy gig...but oh soooo good. Enjoy the day! X0

Anonymous said...

My dad used to make home brew and ferment his own wine too - until it exploded in my mum's airing cupboard (it was warm in there) and completed messed up all her clean linen as she used to keep it in there. Needless to say he wasn't allowed to do it there anymore! lol

Judi A. said...

And of course they cleaned up your kitchen to exactly how it was when you left! :-)

Bethany said...

My dad makes wine--it sounds like the same kind of process...long and full of chemistry...I'll just have iced tea, thanks, lol...

Stacey said...

Wow, that's quite the process huh!? You'll have to let us know how it tastes :)

Holly said...

That is completely insane! We don't really care for beer but if you get a good recipe for Diet Mountain Dew, please post immediately.

- said...

It does look like quite the process. I've had home brewed beer and loved it.

Megan said...

wow. that is quite a process. best of luck with the results!

Pammy Sue said...

Very interesting! I'll be curious as to how it turns out. You will let us know, right?

Unknown said...

I think there are laws........

Better make sure you pull all the shades down.

Kristi said...

Wow, what a long process! My Uncle brews his own beer and my Mom made him personalized labels for his for Christmas, such a cute idea, I love it!

How about Grover's Ale. G.G. Brew. It looks like fun! Can't wait to hear how it tastes! Oh and if you need official taste testers...you know where I live!

Amy said...

This totally reminds me of some good friends of ours. He did this every single weekend and now owns a brewery in Fullerton...Bootlegger's Brewery and it's quite a big business now. They are even sold in BevMo :)

Anonymous said...

That's so neat!!! How fun! Bummed we missed Don & Kaylen.

Great post! :)

Genn said...

I'm bummed I missed Don & Kaylen too.
That really is a process! Eddie's beer we had last night was REALLY good. Home brewed beer is so much better than store bought beers.

Sara said...

Hmm... Those do look like rabbit pellets. That leaves me out. :)

The Tuscan Home said...

WOW, what a process and thanks for sharing it with us. I'll have to share this with my husband. =)

Thanks for the sweet comment on my living room post! =) XOXO ~Liz

Pam said...

Nice. My husband loves beer and has made a few batches himself.

Maryrose said...

Oh that looks like so much fun. Maybe Greg can come over and give me a few tips now...I can't wait to try a batch. Looks complicated and time consuming though but oh so fun.

annielizabeth said...

Call it Green Bay Beer! Since it was born on a winning day. My bro's made beer a few years ago but I never had any :(

What plants are those growing outside your kitchen window?

Cute pic of you and your DH from 32 yrs ago. Don't you love growing up when we did, Kris? The 70's rock!! The 80's when everything was big including our wombs, big hair and big jewelry?? The one size fits all clothing??? Yeah, right!