Brewmasters

Because nothing brings a family together on a Sunday morning like brewing a batch of red ale. This is our first batch, a test batch, which yielded 16 bottles. I'll let you know in 4 - 5 weeks if we turned out a nectar of the gods or something that tastes like it was mixed in a bucket by a bunch of toddlers in their pajamas. 


First came the necessary evil of washing and sterilizing the bottles. This is where Sam came in especially handy. I'd be lying if I didn't feel a little like Tom Sawyer painting the fence, "C'mon, Sam, you want to wash 30 stinky beer bottles. Look how much fun it is!" 

Here is the unfiltered brew. Notice the beer sludge on the sides of the bucket. Don't worry. Much care was taken to ensure no sludge made it into the final product. 

Pete inspecting the brew...

Evidently, he did not read the warning label...

In order to keep the sludge out of the bottles, the brew is siphoned from the fermenting bucket to the bottling bucket. Hmmm...the beer doesn't appear to be siphoning very well, guys.......

Blek! That's better. Nothing like a mouthful of warm beer sludge at 9:30 in the morning.

Pete was the official bottle cap counter guy.

And Sam held the bottles while Dad bottlecapped. Go Team Hanna! Too bad they won't get to enjoy the fruits of their labors.