Thursday, February 24, 2011

Bubbling and bottling - Coopers Lager Part 2


Waiting for the beer to ferment reminds me of a child waiting in anticipation for Christmas morning to open his presents. Instead of a tree to go to for the presents I went to the kitchen counter where TheCreativePot graciously allowed us to turn it into the fermentation station. It sounds a lot fancier than it is really - just a bucket with a hole on top for an airlock and a tap at the bottom. But I do like the sense of occasion so fermentation station it is!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Christmas in February - Coopers Lager Part 1


I remember that old Bell’s Christmas TV ad where the dad had given himself a bottle of whiskey: “To Dad, From Dad”. It has been said that you are to give the type of gift to somebody that you yourself would like to receive.

The idea to start brewing our own beer started about 3 weeks ago. I’m not really sure what triggered the idea, but once I started reading up on the subject I got more excited. And so Henley’s was born.

Mike got on board the minute I told him about the idea. Imagine always having beer in the house. Your own custom-made beer – the way you like it! It sounded like a Utopian dream. Very un-Utopian it would require a degree of preparation.

We decided on a Coopers Micro Brew Kit. It includes all/most of the equipment a home micro brewer would need in his endeavours as well as ingredients to make your first lager beer.