Brewing Today!

What does one blog about when the garden is fallow?

Home Brewing - another one of my culinary pursuits.

So, today I brewed a beer in honor of my buddy's upcoming 50th birthday. The recipe says it is supposed to be like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.  We will see. It will be ready in time for the Party on 3/2.

I started home brewing in 1992 and brewed until 1999 and then stopped until November 2012 when I started again. I found an unopened beer from that last batch from 1999 - 13 years old. The tradition is that you save at least one bottle to drink as you brew and/or bottle the next batch. I cracked it open on Thanksgiving Day as I was brewing - and it was delicious! It had been kept in a dark box with empty bottles and thus not exposed to light.  On Thanksgiving, I brewed a Bitter in honor of my old brewing buddy who now lives in Colorado. I brewed a beer he and I had brewed many times - "Boys in the Hood Bitter" - still a good recipe after many years. Next, I brewed a Christmas Red for the Holiday season. Both were very tasty according to my co-workers Felix and "Pasghetti."

So this will ferment for 7-10 days (likely just 7 because of time constraints), then 2 weeks in the bottle to bottle condition (carbonate) and then it will be ready for consumption.  I have found that each beer has improved with more time in the bottle.  Additionally, this batch I will keep inside during the bottle conditioning because the cold temperatures of the Albuquerque winter in the garage actually impede carbonation - something I did not realize after brewing the "Boys in the Hood Bitter." this past November.  I just need to insure that I keep it out of the way of everyone else in the house, including the cat.    



It is a wonderful sight to see once it starts fermenting and bubbling.  One of my family members thought I should call this brew "Forever Young" and therefore it will be titled as such.