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How to burn your hands with beer

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To make (alchoholic) beer, you need some sort of sugar that yeast will eat and produce alcohol. Barley has a lot of starch content that needs to be broken down into simpl(er) sugars. One of the popular methods to do this is to cook grains in water at a certain temp for a certain time. 

Months ago back in California, I was “cooking” (called mashing) grains in my cooler at 150 degrees. During the mash, I decided to fiddle with the cooler’s spigot- causing the spigot to come off and spill hot grain water all over my kitchen water. 

Good lesson: It doesn’t matter which; Beer or water, at 150 degrees you can’t plug the hole with your finger!

Crazy about kegging

Cornelius Keg and C02 CylinderWell, I think I might do it- begin kegging my beer.

I spend so much time begging for bottles to brew with, have to wait 2 extra weeks for my beer to be done… I think it is time.

It would be exciting to theoretically drink carbonated beer 10-12 days after I brew instead of twice that.

The tough thing would be storing the brew at Andrea (and soon to be my) house. Her apartment is actually really small- perhaps I could hide a small college fridge in the corner? I really don’t drink beer that much that I would need to have instant access to a brew from the couch. I’ve yet to find a recipie that is really really drinkable all the time.

Still, this would be the only option if I didn’t want to wait weeks to enjoy my product after I brew it. I can’t imagine someone opening our normal fridge and seeing a 5 Gallon beer keg sitting there.

The reasons I brew beer (I enjoy learning, cooking, inventing, solving problems, making it cheaper and more personal) are hard to explain to someone who suddenly thinks you are an alchoholic.

Perhaps if I shared how I dove into hobbies I’ve had in the past (Grappling/Jiu-Jitsu, Fixed Gear bicycles, Graffiti Writing, Writing and Producing Hip Hop, Computers)… then maybe they would see this is a pattern and not just related to beer.

Oh well- my main focus in life isn’t to make sure I please ALL the people around me. What is that verse? “As much as it is possible, live in peace with all men” HEB 12:14