Kevin and I have been drinking our first beer that we have brewed without a kit. We did use malt extract as opposed to just buying the grains like one awesome homebrewer that we met does, but using the extract seems to be the norm for even very enthusiastic homebrewers.
This new adventure in brewing meant looking at recipes, sourcing ingredients, being at the stove for hours, and getting to be just a little bit creative. Actually I should scratch out the bit about looking at recipes, sourcing ingredients, and maybe even the creative bit because Kevin's cousin Brandon, of Lord Toffsbury fame, did all that for us. Thanks Brandon! He made a delicious version of the this recipe and of course we knew we wanted to do the same. The recipe is the Imperial Pale Ale from Sam Calagione's Extreme Brewing, a book that we have recently purchased and just love, it seems to be the book for homebrewing. Here is the beer bubbling like crazy, it was really fun to watch and hear!
It tastes delicious! We are extremely happy with it. And super hyped to do more brewing. I am also hoping that this ability to make our own delicious beer will curb some of our LCBO spending. Oh, this batch of beer is of course called Hop, Drop, and Roll. We love the hop puns that are so often used in naming extra hoppy beers.
With the spent grains (we use malt extract plus a little bit of actual grains for improved taste), I made bread. I just kind of improvised a recipe that was half white and half whole wheat flour. It turned out well but had a bit too much taste to really go with any of the things that I usually like my bread with, will be experimenting with other spent grain recipes in the future.
And, because I am all too aware that as interesting as I may think my life is most of my readers are much more interested in Henry's (they are his grandparents and aunts afterall), here are some pictures of him from yestereday.
PS - Happy Canada Day! We will start celebrating as soon as Kevin and Henry get out of bed.
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