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Brew-Day1.jpg

Brewing my own beer

March 28, 2013 by Colleen Hofmann in Personal

Finally. A free weekend. No racing home to see family. No driving down to Philly for a weekend with friends. Family, friends, it's not you, it's me. This weekend it was just me, my cozy apartment and a list of nothing to do. That and a snotty, evil cold. I holed myself up in my room with a tissue box and watched episodes of The Wire for the majority of the weekend. I'm still reeling from discovering they killed Stringer. Seriously?! But Saturday afternoon, I mustered up enough motivation to finally brew beer!

After brewing my first batch of beer (an IPA!), I was surprised to find how easy it was. I always imagined beer making as such a daunting project. But Brooklyn Brew Shop crafted a one-gallon formula perfect for my small apartment.

I don't know what impressed me more, the cardboard packaging the kit was shipped in or how engaged Brooklyn Brew Shop is with its customers. The company provides an easily navigable brew timeline detailing how to brew their beer on its website, quick videos for visual learners, voracious engagement onsocialmedia and creative blog posts including spent grain recipes.

Experiencing the process of brewing, made me better appreciate the yeast, water, grain, malted barley and hops that go into my beer. Maybe it sounds funny to you, but going through the brewing motions causes me to love beer more. Now to wait four weeks to see if I actually love the beer I made.

Mashing in
Mashing in
Heating the mash
Heating the mash
Pre-mashing out
Pre-mashing out
Straining hot mash with lauter tun
Straining hot mash with lauter tun
Spent grain
Spent grain
Boiling beer wort
Boiling beer wort
Columbus hop pellets
Columbus hop pellets
Cascade hop pellets
Cascade hop pellets
beer fermenting in dark place
beer fermenting in dark place
March 28, 2013 /Colleen Hofmann
craft beer
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We practiced *place* with all distracts this weekend: two golden dum dums 🐶🐶 and a wild Ryan 🕺 running around in the field
Virginia Bluebells, a blanket of cherry blossom petals & an adorable nosy puppy #virginiabluebells
Wore my winter coat this morning but cherry blossoms say it's spring 🌸
Impromptu hangs with friends on a beautiful spring day🍺🌞
fRiEnDsHiP✨ #lylas
The bloodroot I potted up bloomed and is probably gone now. Spring ephemerals are fleeting like that. These vitamin C-rich rose hips were a surprise on last year's Rosa carolina. ☀️

#springephemeral #keystonewildflowers
 

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