Mystery Brew

My boyfriend is an artist, a creator of craft beer.

I'm fairly certain that Michael wakes up thinking about beer. Now, he's not an alcoholic, because he does not drink all day long, but he sure does talk about it a lot. I know for sure that he goes to sleep thinking about it since he began reading about the science of brewing. I've been around during a few of his brew sessions, but have still not caught on to the process completely.


From what I gather as a mere photographer and laywoman, it's a lot of adding ingredients to a big ol' boiling pot of water and allowing it to simmer for a period of time specific to each ingredient, which comes out to about an hour (for a Belgian Wit, similar to Blue Moon or Hoegaarden, malt extract from barley and wheat, wheat, hops, coriander, and orange peels).

Dry Malt Extract

Liquid Malt Extract

Pelleted Hops

Flaked Wheat

Orange Peel

Full Leaf Hops

Hops are my favorite part of the brew process ... and, really, beer, in general. The aroma and taste is so strong and delicious. For those Tom's Deodorant users out there, you may already know that hops is the main ingredient, used as a natural deodorizer. Although, I wouldn't recommend eating your deodorant.

Chill your concoction, add live yeast, ferment in a jug (called a carboy) for a week, and bottle! One should wait at least a week before serving the beer. Michael and I have found that the longer we allow the beer to condition, or continue to ferment, in the bottles, the more complex (and better) it tastes! Mmm.

Carboy

If you haven't caught on, I am a beer enthusiast.

With the boyfriend to thank.


<3