Brew Day

Nothing artistic about the picture today; pure reporting.

My brewing buddy, Rob, at work this morning brewing a Red Rye Ale--it should have medium body and have strong bitterness and aromas from hops.

The picture shows the mashing stage, where the barley and rye are soaked for 90 minutes at about 153 degrees, which converts the starches in the grains into sugars, some that can be converted by the yeast to alcohol, others of which give the ale body. We do it in a large mesh bag, which you can see on the pot. Rob is stirring the grains.

The pot is heated by an element normally used in a hot water heater. There's a small thermometer on the lower left of the pot, which runs to the control panel on the left by the freezer. That panel powers and regulates the heat of the water. It also powers a pump (lower left, just below the pot, attached to the concrete, that circulates the liquid wort. Overhead is a fan, to remove steam when we boil the beer for an hour. (We got tired of brewing outside, in the heat of summer and freezing cold of winter, using a smaller pot and a turkey fryer burner.)

When all that's done, we chill the liquid to about 68 degrees, add the yeast, shake for five minutes to aerate, and then put it in the freezer (to the left), which is actually cooled to about 64 degrees (by the blue control panel on the far left, just about the freezer. Bottle in about three to four weeks. Drink in about 6-8 weeks.

The third beer we brewed this month. About 25 beers and a couple of batches of hard cider over the past year.