WIDTW: They call me Mr. Beer!

I bought my brother a beer making kit for Christmas last year.  (He's into beer, I'm into wine, and my Mom is into food...we pretty much have all the bases covered for our family.)  He likes beer and was always into growing crystals when we were kids.  (You know, the chemistry set where you grow your own crystals.  If you haven't had the privileged of growing your own crystals, order one here.)  So I figured that making beer wasn't too much of a far cry from that.  It's all mixing various things together and waiting weeks for it to form into the finished product, right?  Sort of...lol.

 The Deluxe Edition Beer Kit by Mr. Beer.  I spare no expense for my brother.  The regular kit just wouldn't have been enough.  But apparently I didn't care enough to take the price tag off...oops.

After the wine tasting, my brother hung around to ask Greg a few questions about making beer.  He was so excited about the process that when we got home he busted out the beer making kit and roped us all into helping him.  (I'm sure that was his evil plan all along...he's sneaky like that.  Most brothers are I think...lol.)

I can't really tell you the whole process because I was just the photographer and at times the stirrer. 

Also, since it was our first time, we were pretty much guessing as to how things should or should not look or be done.  So hopefully this beer comes out well.  If not we'll be forced to try again because he's already ordered two more flavors online and bought an even bigger distiller and bottle caper from a lady on craigslist.  I guess I picked a pretty good Christmas present.  Who knew?

This is the Mr. Beer Home Brewery "keg".  Check it out folks.  You too could have home brewed beer!

Here's Zac sterilizing everything.  You don't want germs in your beer.  Eww...

Once it's all sterilized you add in water and then more water and then even more water.  I was surprised at how much water went into the beer before you even added any ingredients.

The booster, which is malt sugars, dissolving in...wait for it...water!

La'akea working hard.  He made sure the booster was completely dissolved before we put in the Unhopped Malt Extracts (aka the flavoring).

I helped stir too!  I promise!

Now it all gets poured into the keg and then...

You guessed it.  More water is added!  I guess when you drink beer it really is like drinking water...lol.

This is the face you get when you take too many pictures...hehe.

You give it one last stir, cap it, and place it in a cool dark place for a week or two.  Once it's all fermented, you bottle it and wait another week to drink it. 

So now...we wait.