Al Contemplates the Pros and Cons of Brewing Beer

We've all thought about it. That is a huge generalization that I sincerely want to believe (self high five for spelling sincerely right without spell check). I enjoy tossing myself into new projects and becoming engrossed in them. Exploring passions, hobbies, and creating things is fascinating. It appeals to the human spirit to be creating things. Here I go, getting much too philosophical about beer. Time to get scientific.

One of the things that caught my attention about brewing beer is how challenging it is. How much of a process it is. I enter this process with the full understanding that I will more than likely fail my first batch of home brewed beer. The only consolation I have is that despite how bad my home brewed beer is, I have more than likely drank worse beer. I must never let it escape my head that it is my beer too, for better or worse. Nevertheless, although the eventuality of failure is present in my mind there is also the prospect of fortune lingering like a golden feather caught in a light wind, that I must chase, and grab.

...Shut up.

No fo real, I might actually be able to create a good batch of beer that people will enjoy. By people, I more than likely mean people close to me, friends and family. That would be awesome. I have no thoughts about turning this into a business. Although let's be honest, the market exists. Regardless of economics, people will drink, especially in New England. I would target those folks with a desire to experiment and try new beers. Those with an interested palate, those unwilling to survive on Bud Light.

However I know myself well enough to know that the longer I talk about it, the less likely it is to get done. When too much planning go into something, you wind up only planning, and not doing. Then again you don't want to walk into something completely blind, so it's a happy medium of knowing enough to screw around, but not wasting too much time on the logistics when you should be doing legwork. Even blogging about my desire to brew beer is probably a step in the wrong direction, at the risk of sounding hypocritical.

Here is a brief synopsis of the brewing process a la John Palmer:

1. Malted barley is soaked in hot water to release the malt sugars.
2. The malt sugar solution is boiled with Hops for seasoning.
3. The solution is cooled and yeast is added to begin fermentation.
4. The yeast ferments the sugars, releasing CO2 and ethyl alcohol.
5. When the main fermentation is complete, the beer is bottled with a little bit of added sugar to provide the carbonation.

See how complex that is? I have to reach all the way back to my high school chemistry class to decipher most of that. As I recall, I spent the majority of that class sleeping, while my Asian lab partner did our work. Was it a coincidence that he was both Asian and my lab partner? For you to decide. What was I going to use Chemistry for anyway? If she had said early on in that class, "Hey you may someday need this to brew beer," well I probably still would've slept through most of it.

I would like to believe all it would take for me to brew beer is a "How to brew beer for dummies" book (They better make that!) and capital (i.e. money). It would be nice however to have an inside man. A partner in crime, so to speak.

Enter my friend Dan, uniquely suited for our purposes. While far from a brew master, Dan has concocted several recipes for home brews, some of which I've tried and thoroughly enjoyed. Dan shares my passion for good beer, good food, and quoting movies in everyday conversation. His background in the food industry runs deep, and as such has garnered a healthy know-how that I fear I may lack.

Besides anything that's worth doing, is worth doing with your good buddy, drunk, naked, or all three. Two heads are better than one. And now when we're drinking beer, it's research.

I'll keep you posted on progress.

Foot note: Dan is working on a cookbook targeted at college students exiting college. Quick, good meals with steps that even college kids can follow. He calls it "The Google of cookbooks." When it's published, I'll review the shit out of it.