Go beer, go!
Stuart loves beer.
Not as much as he loves me though.
Of course.
Because he loves me, like, SO much. It's ridiculous.
Anywho...in the spirit of our homesteading nature, Stuart has taken to brewing his own beer. That's right people - Homebrew. Bootleggin' beer on the 'ol Elliott Homestead.
For the record, beer making is legal. But makes me feel so rebellious when I call it bootleggin!
Reasons Stuart Homebrews:
1) Stuart is a beer snob. (I mean this in the nicest way possible). But the man likes good beer. He likes good beer = he likes expensive beer. $9.99 for a
2) There isn’t necessarily a comparable beer at the store. Home brewing is much like cooking at home from scratch – he gets to play with the recipes! He gets to tweak them to his liking and mold them until his tastebuds are happy. I get this. The freshness can’t
3) He gets to come up with something completely unique. Whatever kind of beer he can dream up. There are no rules. Except sanitation. That’s a crucial rule. I have heard it said that beer is 5% brewing and 95% sanitation. Clean your equipment, people. No cook likes a dirty kitchen.
4) We already had all the equipment from making our wine, so what the heck man. Go for it. Keep that box of equipment earnin’ its keep around here.
5) He enjoys that “this is the way men used to do it!” Grains. Water. Yeast. The end.
6) As I type this, he is laying on the floor, looking at his batch of beer yelling “Go beer, go!” Literally. He gets very excited when he sees it fermenting. He brews for the love of it
Scroll kinda fast! And please ignore my disgusting dirty window. Thank you.
I can’t blame him for this passion. In fact, I find it quite endearing. He likes to make things himself, frugally, from scratch. He likes the way people used to know how to do things themselves and were able to bring some uniqueness and new ideas to the task at hand. He likes to savor the entire process, start to finish. From picking out the specific grains to bottling in his recycled beer bottles. It’s a journey – and one he thoroughly enjoys
I think it’s cute when he gets excited as he watches the carboy full of brew bubble and bubble away. He knows this means that the yeast has begun to work its magic in converting the sugars to alcohol. He knows that this means that perhaps, just perhaps, he got his measurements right. When he stares at the carboy full of that beautiful amber liquid, he sees the possibility of a noble batch of beer.
Unique. Stout. Flavorful. Homemade.
The current batch brewing: Irish Red Ale
His last batch of beer ended up a wee little too stout. It was 9.5 % alcohol. I believe, if my small knowledge of beer making is correct, this classifies it as a “Barley Wine”. It was a manly beer for only the roughest of noble warriors. Maybe this next one will be a wee bit lighter so the noble warrior’s wife can enjoy it as well.
I tell him whole grains are good for him. I tell him that fermented foods are good for him. So what does he do