I have many fond memories of drinking beer with Brittany Cole over the past five years. These were tiny moments but they stuck with me. While seemingly everyone else was quaffing cheap, tasteless beer (a practice I still enjoy and encourage) Brittany was unique. To the many concerts and house shows we attended she brought large craft beers. And better yet, she would share! This was around the time that I was developing my own interest in quality alcohol. Still a few years away from my true love of wine and fixed drinks she helped plant a seed in my mind. Quality drinking, and more importantly, doing so to build friendships and to share knowledge has become one of the most rewarding aspects of my life.
Recently I was educated in the process of beer making and again I find myself indebted to the lovely Brittany Cole. After she gifted me a guidebook, a brief brainstorming meeting, and a trip to Vegas Homebrew for supplies and some helpful advice from Steve, we were ready to brew our hop bomb of an IPA!
Here are a few photos that capture a small portion of our beer making process:
Removing the grains from the wort.
Brittany quickly cools the wort in an ice bath, preparing it for the yeast.
Brittany checks the original gravity, giving us a rough guess at final alcohol content. It's high!!!
Wort is added to carboy, then yeast. Jackson mixes it all together!
Fermentation lock in place. Carboy is resting in cool water to control temperature. Now we wait...
For now Brittany and I must endure the near unbearable wait for the crucial beer making process of fermentation! I will have an update in a week or so once the bottling has been completed then a final piece once our IPA is ready for tasting. Until then we must wait…