“Relax.  Have a homebrew.  Worrying is kind of like paying interest on a debt that wasn’t owed.”

One of my favorite quotes from Charlie Papazian.  Any homebrewer should recognize that name as he wrote the original home brewing bibles before micro breweries gained any popularity.  I made one of his recipes over the weekend.  I prefer its original name of Tumultuous Porter as opposed to the new name of Goat Scrotum Ale.  I find more people are willing to drink the former and turn their nose at the later name.  The cool thing about the recipe is that you throw just about anything you have in it.  Each time it tastes a little different than the last, but it always seems to finish up with a very well balanced flavor.

I love homebrewing.  There is nothing quite like that hot summer afternoon and you reach for a cold brew that was custom made to your taste.  Or that cold winter night, and you sit down with a warm bowl of chili and a full bodied stout.  I’m getting thirsty just thinking about it.

It was the first time in 10 months that I got enough time set aside to brew some beer so I was very excited.  I let you know how it tastes when its done fermenting, but it has quite a malty flavor with a mild hoppy aftertaste.  Plus, if the original potential readings are accurate, I should get about 5-6% alcohol out of it which will affect the flavor as well.  I’ll bottle it in about 2 weeks, so look for an update on the taste.