First Draft Pick.

My vision of a brew room had started long before my kitchen remodel and got it's jump start when I tore my kitchen apart.  The first step to the kitchen project was to move the range into one of the utility rooms in the basement, we rerouted the power so I could us the stove in the interim.  After moving the water softener and cleaning out some things left behind by the previous owners, a coat of
paint on the walls and a few pieces of salvaged linoleum my basement brother got from work, the room was a space clean enough to prepare food in while the kitchen was no longer in a condition to do such things.

At this point I began watching the Auction Master's site looking for the right stainless steel washing sink with a drying rack.  After a few bidding losses I got an idea of exactly what I wanted in a sink and what I was willing to pay.  There the sink was, a thing of beauty.  A deep basin for washing carboys and kettles with a drying rack that drains directly back into the sink. It completed my basement kitchen, well after a series of plumbing projects that totaled as much as the actual sink cost me the kitchen in my basement was complete.

The space was ready for brewing but with the actual kitchen had not been finished and my greenhouse season consumes my schedule through the summer, there was no brewing.  Life seemed to be keeping me from making my first batch. Which is quite alright, sometimes life has a way of filling the days without one actively looking for new projects and adventures.  It's when there is a break in the action or shift in pressures that give us a chance to experience new things.  This October I had that opportunity, the arrival of my first hop harvest was just the incentive I needed.  Finally the perishable crop of Cascade hops, created an urgency to get brewing. 

Cascade Hops from my backyard trellis. 

I recruited a more experienced brewing friend to guide me through the initial process.  Having the equipment and experience of making Mead much of the skills transfer over, though its always nice to have someone around who knows a bit more than you do.   Much like my style in the kitchen, we followed the recipe more like a guideline. With an outline of correct temperatures and timing we played around a little.  Using the supplied grains and malt extract for a Double IPA, we used the hops I grew myself and added a touch of the Farm's honey.

The grains get added.

Using fresh hops, it was hard to know how much to use. 
We went by handfuls, many handfuls.

Adding the malt extract to the wort. 

The new sink and additional plumbing works awesomely for cooling down the batch of beer before pitching the yeast.

I dry hopped during the second fermentation and added another half cup of honey for good measure. 
After the second fermentation I racked the beer with a priming sugar and bottled into recycled brown bottles I'd been saving for years.  Being well aware of my hoarding tendencies, I've been limiting my accumulation of unnecessary things.  I don't want to be one of those old farmer's piles of broken equipment and miscellaneous rubbish about, instead there only be reusable bottles, reclaimed lumber, belt buckles and vinyl records filling my many outbuildings. 

Floating science stick in the tube told me the beer sits at about 8.5%.

Pre- priming sugar samples.

Bottling, from start to finish a three and a half week process for beer. 
Another three weeks of waiting while the priming sugar and yeast find balance.

I ended up with a high alcohol count at 8.5%, a tasty auburn color with a mild carbonation which works really nice with it's sweet honey finish.  The hops came across more mild than initially expected, which can be explained by the young age of the vines they grew from.  Turned out to be a very enjoyable beer, one for casual sipping. Perhaps my next batch would be strictly from a kit to take out the variables from experimentation and to refine my skills, but I am really happy with my first draft pick.