Backyard beer

Most lessons are learned the hard way - as it was with the first beer brewed in my backyard. We now know, Rule #1 for home brewing: Don't water the plants before you start brewing. Water is used to cool and rinse things and you're going to want to use it to water the plants after its job in making beer is finished.
First we went and bought the barley and hops at the nearby home brew store. Then a whole lot of boiling and resting and rinsing then boiling again then adding hops and yeast happened. Lots of science involved which suits my brewmaster well as he's a chemist per schooling. Measuring volumes and hitting exact temperatures and calculating ratios for the recipe really made his day. Plus his homemade crossflow cooling hose cuts time off the process (the coiled hose and copper tubing contraption). He was really in heaven. The dog stuck by the warmth of the burner since it was a cold winter day, but after it was over I wrapped her in a blanket to make her cozy and she stayed there all wrapped up until bedtime.

 

 (above is the sanitizing agent that helps make this all clean and safe)