I don’t know when I first thought about brewing my own beer… I’ve known for a long time that brewing it wasn’t that difficult and that humans had been doing it for thousands of years. The history of brewing is, like all histories, fascinating and worth your time even if you don’t drink. One thing that struck me about its history that struck me though was how domestic the industry was, by that I mean people brewed their own beer for their own consumption. Perhaps I don’t write about it much here but I’ve been holding an extended discussion with one of my dear friends about self-sufficiency and moving from consumption to production. I think this is a direction that our nation as a whole needs to move in order to get its economic house in order but, right now I can’t do anything to direct national policy what I can do is learn a useful skill and try to pass it on to others, and hope that it inspires them to take action in their own life to consume less and make more.
This isn’t a post about my own philosophy, it’s a post about beer brewing. I purchased the one-gallon brewing kit pictured above from the Brooklyn Brew Shop who also sell five gallon kits, several recipes packs, and other brewing accessories. Obviously, I haven’t had much business with them but its been good so far and they came highly recommended by friends. They have a several mixes and seeing as I’d never tried one I went with the one that sounded most delicious: Apple Crisp Ale.
I’m currently scheduling the actual brew next weekend. I was initially worried that I’d have to muck through this alone, but it turns out that not only is the internet full of resources (google: beer brewing), but my local community has numerous resources: a restaurant that lets you brew your own beer; a local brewery with a its own brewers group that meets monthly to discuss all things brew; and, my Fraternity also has a Zymurgy committee. With all that help at my fingertips I’m hoping my first batch isn’t a dud.
Of course, I’ll be blogging more about this as I move forward, as well as other projects I’m undertaking to shift from consumption to production.