Hey Everyone. Today I want to go off the topic of health, fitness, and running, to the exact opposite . . . beer! A friend of mine gave me a recipe for a Costa Rican Imperial Lager, and I have some pictures of the process to share!

The Process:

Taking Inventory

My friend Jeff always makes fun of me because I always get home from the Brew Store with a slightly altered recipe, despite my best intentions of doing it by the book. This time I actually went back after realizing I bought the wrong type of malt so that if the recipe sucks, it is on him!

Sanitation

Letting everything sit in a STAR SAN solution

Sanitation is key to the brewing process. Making sure you have everything clean, as well as completely sterile, is essential to making a good batch of beer. Wild contaminants can ruin your day really quick.

Steeping the Grain

Steeping the grains

Here is a picture of the Light Caramel Malt 10-degree malt that I am using. This gives the beer some of its flavor, color, and body.

Boiling

Ellie doesn't like this part because it smells like hops

After you steep the grains, you need to bring the pot up to a boil, at which point you cut the heat and add other ingredients before returning it to a boil and letting it develop for about 50 minutes.

Cooling It Down!

Using the sweet wort chiller my parents got me, I can cool it down much more effectively now

It is super important to get the temperature of the wort (the stuff we just made) down low enough to add the yeast. The copper tubing helps chill the wort down quickly by running cold water through the coils while it is submerged in the hot wort.

Fermenting

That's about it! After cooling it down, I throw it in that plastic bucket and let it sit for a couple of weeks before the next step, which I might blog about when I get there! It wont be ready for the April run, but I'll be sure to bring it around to get reviews!

Oh, and the most important part: the brewery needs a mascot!

She gets pretty bored when I brew!

Should be close to a Corona, very excited!