Making the Hippy Beer

Arcly.  I read your last post.  Now you have to read mine.  That way we both have one reader.  So, while Arcly is making pretty little ginger bread houses, Elo is making manly beer.  Slash really I am making beer and then putting it in mason jars because I am really more of a hippy than a man, thus I have few beer bottles and lots of mason jars.

Anyways, here's the thing.  I'm not really that into beer.  I don't know anything about it, I don't really appreciate it's subtleties, but I do drink it.  Next to water and coffee it's probably my third most consumed beverage.  And I take it as a personal challenge to a) do anything men can do and b) to do anything I can for myself in my 600sq ft. apartment.  Specifically, I hold to the idea that anything you do for yourself that cuts out a middle man, allows you to directly re-use material, control production and disposal is a better thing for your wallet, the earth, and more often than not your health.  So, long story short I made beer, rather roughly following this instructable (which, incidentally, is probably my favorite website).  I followed the instructions as closely as possible, and found them to be quite good.  A caveat, though, is that I haven't tasted my beer yet (it is still fermenting in the bottles) and so it could be revolting.

To summarize what I did, though:  the ingredients totaled 2L lager malt extract, 1L ale malt extract, 8.5oz crushed crystal malt, 1oz northern brewer bittering hops, 0.5 oz cascades finishing hops, and 0.75 oz Nottingham Ale yeast.  I found a kitchen scale to be a particularly useful item for this undertaking.

The sum total of the improvised ingredient gathering.  

and uhhhh.... I know you will glare at me tomorrow Arcly, but this is as far as I am getting tonight.  LOVE YOU!

Okay, now it is a few days later (or a couple of weeks) and now I will finish.  I MADE BEER!!!  In a pot.

Beer in a pot and splattered on the stove.

Then I put it in a carboy.  These pictures suck so I am losing interest in this post.  Anyways, on the left the beer is in a carboy. Basically I followed the directions and everything worked out really well.  And that's a good thing.