So, the other day there was a groupon for a start-up beer brewing kit. It included all the equipment you need and a kit of ingredients. After clearing it with Tom and getting approval that it was a legit deal Rick signed right up. The package arrived earlier this week and he has just been dying to brew since it showed up. Today he got his friend Plencner to come over and help him with his first batch. Plencner also got a brewing kit for Christmas and tomorrow Rick is going to his house to help brew his batch.
After all the hype by Rick, I thought brewing was going to be super exciting... it wasn't. It really just involves staring at a pot of boiling water for really, really long periods of time. The main part of the brewing was done outside... did I mention Rick bought a turkey fryer to do this in? He did. I'm a little disappointed that it's first use was for beer and not delicious, fried turkey, but I'm holding Rick to frying at least one turkey. Anyway, before they could get going in the turkey fryer they had to boil the grains (I think that's what they were) inside in a smaller pot for like an hour. The grains were gross and smelled like horse.
While they were boiling outside they had a 'boil over'. The instructional video Rick made me watch with him warned of these, "They can be messy and dangerous". When it happened Rick picked up the pot with his bare hand while boiling hot liquid was gushing out of the pot... crazy. Somehow he managed not to burn himself, perhaps because it was -10 degrees out while they were doing this.
After cooling the 'wort' in our bathtub with two bags of ice, it was ready to go in the 'ale pale' and ferment for awhile. Rick tasted the wort, but it still smelled like horse, so I declined.
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