Brew Day

     Nearly 10 years ago, eldest son, who is currently visiting and doing some work for us, began experimenting with fermenting vegetables and homebrewing.  Having attended or hosted several events where his homebrewed beer, mead, or rootbeer were served, I can attest to his ability.
    Three years ago, we had 2 of our children marry within 3 months and eldest son and our daughter by love as their wedding gift, made 15 gallons of  varieties of beer for each of the celebrations and it was very well received.
     In August, we will be celebrating the baptism of two of our grandchildren and the 90th birthday of my father on consecutive days at the location that my cousins, siblings, father and stepmom and friends vacation each summer.  He wanted to take 15 gallons of beer for this celebration fest as well.  I have never been present for the entire process.  I have visited them when the carboys were burbling on a shelf.  I have helped decant from one carboy to the second for the second ferment.  And I have been there for clean up session and to decant it into a keg to pressurize and finish.   
     I have expressed an interest in learning the process and as all of his brew equipment is stored at our farm and he has made his brews here for the past several times, today is the day for me to take an active part in the process.  The idea was for me to help him with the first five gallon batch.  Him to watch me do the second five gallon batch.   And for me to do the third five gallon batch, basically unsupervised except to have him lift the huge stainless steel pot on and off the stove and to pour it from the pot in the sparging phases, while he worked in the garage building a chicken ark to move the rest of the meat birds into and to house the fall crop of meat birds in August.
     It hasn't quite worked out that way.  We worked together to measure, mix and divide the malt and to clean the equipment.  Once we got underway, he felt that I was following the procedure and recipe directions well enough to skip me to the third batch first.
     We are in the later phases of cooking a very dark stout that smells wonderful.  The chickens thought the malt grain that we cooked for the wort were a great treat.  I am a bit concerned that we will only get 2 of the five gallon batches made and as he is leaving tomorrow, I will either have to do the third while he finishes the last dormer staining before I take him home, or I will be tasked with trying to do this on my own next week and I am not sure I can physically handle the big pot with all the hot liquid in it.  Maybe we will end up with only 10 gallons this time and supplies in the freezer for another batch another visit.

Bags of measured malts.

Insulated box that hold the kettle to keep it at the right temperature without fiddling with the control knob on the stove constantly.

Clean carboys awaiting the brew for the first ferment.

Checking the temperature of the cooking grains before sparging for the wort.

The monster kettle.
 

First batch into carboy for first ferment.  One batch down, 2 to go.

     The chicken tractor/ark is well under way while batch 2 is begun.  A good day.