Mid-Week Brew

With both of our better halves out of town, Brian and I opted to spend our down time brewing.  Now at first, we were both supposed to brew.  Unfortunately, the installation of my new kettle thermometer gave me an unexpected "fail".

The hole I drilled ended up being a hair too low and hit one of the bends of the kettle, destroying my ability to get a good seal.  Hole placement, coupled with washer destruction, awarded me a leaky and unusable kettle.  Swell.  I plan on having a coupling welded on later, but for now, it has sidelined my brewing.

Although I was out of service, Brian was in.  This was his second official batch of homebrew.  His first batch, from last February, suffered from an infection issue and was rendered undrinkable.  For us to describe something as undrinkable is saying something.

With his extract kit spread out and ordered, Brian made quick work of his batch and all was seemingly going well.  While he tended to the boil, I went inside to prep the BBQ pork calzones we were having for dinner.  I left my phone in the garage, where Brian shot me a message I obviously didn't get.

Trouble was afoot.  No worries, although these beer kits are great, the number of packets and steps can sometimes seem more complicated than going all-grain.  Some crushed grains weren't steeped, so we steeped them while the kettle boiled, adding in the infused water half way through the boil.

A couple hours in and his holiday ale was ready for the fermenter and 24 hours later it was busily fermenting.  With the amount of cleaning and sanitizing Brian did, this batch will certainly be destined for success.  Not bad for an Ohio State fan.