Something's Brewing in Our Laundry Room

Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. 
– Benjamin Franklin

Back in December Maggie and Ed hatched a plan to brew beer here at Farm Dover. They met at My Old Kentucky Homebrew, on Story Avenue in Butchertown and came away with a truckload of beer brewing paraphernalia. I think their plan centered on Ed buying the equipment and helping drink the final product. I'm not sure it included him actually learning how to brew the beer.

So, over the Christmas holidays, Maggie, with help from friend Nate, set about a 17-step process with instructions that began:

Buy some ice, drink some beer and sanitize everything...

Check. Check. Check. They then proceeded to bring a big pot of water to boil, seep a tea of grain malts, add malt extract, drink some beer (per instructions), add some hops, cool it all down in an ice bath, and pitch (?) the yeast.  It all looked like a mad-scientist experiment to me. At the end of the evening, the pail full of ale was placed in the laundry room. The door was closed and the beer began its primary fermentation.

A week later, Maggie was back to check the gravity and prepare the brew for its secondary fermentation in a glass carboy (see photo below). 

We've got another week or so to go before the beer is ready to be bottled. And then the bottles need to sit for about a week to carbonate. So, by my calculations, Farm Dover beer should be ready for consumption on or about my birthday. Won't you come celebrate with us?