Have You Caught The Brew Flu?

self

HAVE YOU CAUGHT THE brew flu?!

THE BASICS: Cleanliness is the most important rule of home brewing, and the best way to clean your equipment is with plain bleach and water (2 ½ tablespoons per 5 gallons of water). Every piece of brewing equipment should be cleaned with the bleach solution and then rinsed really well. You are sterilizing the equipment to kill bacteria that can sour your beer; however, bleach will kill yeast, too, and yeast is your friend so be cautious and thorough in the cleaning process.

If you’re like many of us, crafting is a popular pastime … but how about crafting your own brew? From pumpkin beer to a dark stout or a sweet, fruity brew, the flavors and fun are endless!

For those who have a taste for a fun project, here are some tips for beginners:

SOME SCIENCE: Beer is made with sugar from malt, which is a grain, and hops which are the flowers of a plant that give beer its bitterness (to offset the sweetness from the malt sugars). This all goes into water and is cooked. For a five gallon batch, cook in about a gallon of water, and then pour it into the fermentation container filled with four more gallons at room temperature. Once the whole thing is at room temperature, you put yeast in it. Yeast are microorganisms that consume sugar and produce two byproducts, alcohol and carbon dioxide. The yeast will metabolize as much sugar as they can, and then they will pass out and fall to the bottom of the container. Once the particulates settle out of the brew and it clears, it can be bottled.

EQUIPMENT: There are cheap kits for someone who wants to just brew a batch or two and then stop, but you can brew a good batch of beer in a five gallon plastic bucket. Other useful equipment includes a bottling tree which is useful for draining and drying bottles after they are cleaned. At a bare minimum, you need a fermentation vessel, a bottling bucket, clear plastic hoses for siphoning and bottling, a bottling wand, a big cook pot, airlock for your fermentation vessel, a long spoon, clean bottles, bottle caps, a capper, and, of course, the ingredients for your beer.

SHELF LIFE: It is also important to know that different beers have different shelf lives, and the flavor of a brew can change over time. Some brews are at their best a few weeks after bottling, while others are better after several months. w

the 8th annual .. LKNmen issue

Many thanks to Lake Norman Patio And Game Rooms for providing the location for this year’s photoshoot. We’ve identified the furniture and accessories featured so you can ask for them by name when you visit the store, located in Mooresville.

The LKN Men featured in this special annual issue have certainly given us plenty to talk about. We hope you’ll enjoy hearing about how they are making their mark on our community with their ideas, energy, and passion as much as we’ve enjoyed sharing what they have to say!

PHOTOGRAPHER CHELSEA BREN