It’s been something like a year and a half or more since I’ve brewed beer. I’ve been thinking about brewing a lot. I’ve talked about brewing a lot, but just haven’t pulled the trigger. Saturday I pulled the trigger.

Lots of beery goodness going on in there.

Wanting to get back to basics, I brewed a recipe that was originally a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone that I found from Brew Your Own magazine, but since I was buying my ingredients online and in set volumes, I decided to alter from the recipe a bit. Here’s the recipe I ended up using:

• 1 lb Malt – Crystal 40L
• 1 lb Malt – Carapils
• 8 lbs Light Malt Extract
• 2 oz Perle Hops @ 10min
• Cascade Hops  (5 ounces so far)
  3 oz @ 45min,
  1 oz @ 55min,
  1 oz for dry hopping (with more to come)
• American Ale Yeast

Thanks to Mario, all of our plants are properly hydrated.

Seeing as brewing has historically been a social activity (women mostly, but in the last century or two men have taken over), I decided to invite some of the guys over. There was beer to brew and beer to drink and I needed help with both. Mario was the first to arrive just as I was cranking up the burner and was a big help. Earl, Ryan and Dilby showed up a little later in the brew day. Even my dad, fresh from the US Open at Pebble Beach, made an appearance.

I got to break out the wort chiller that my brother made for me for Christmas and it worked like a champ. I just wish there was a way to not use up so much water during the cooling down process. Suffice it to say, every single tree, bush and shrub in the front yard was adequately hydrated on brew-day.

All in all, it was a good day. I’m glad I finally got around to brewing. I was able to take a sip of the brew last night as I was dry-hopping with more Cascade hops and moly-moly are we in for a treat. It still needs some time to age, but I think I’m on to something.