Vancouver, WA

I have a knack for making things much more involved than they need to be. But as long as it’s fun, I really don’t mind. I began sailing this past summer and learned that the proper etiquette for sailing on other peoples’ boats is to bring along beer. Since I intended on doing a lot of sailing I needed a way to economically meet the demands of protocol. So I decided to make my own beer. I realize now that there’s some work and waiting involved but it is very rewarding and interesting task. People who run the brewers’ supply stores seem to be universally convivial and enthusiastic for you to start your journey in home-brewery.

I declined buying my own equipment for a home-brewing system and chose to rent a kitchen at Let’s Brew. This was a genius find: a place that is set up to brew five and ten gallon batches of beer with the ingredients for sale on site; staff who can walk you through the process; the equipment to make it easy and a fermentation room where they will store your beer as long as you need before it’s ready to bottle. The biggest advantage of all is that the staff wash all the dishes!

I reserved the kitchen, selected a hefeweisen recipe, purchased my ingredients for a five-gallon batch and began brewing. I should have brought someone along to pass the time with while the hops were steeping and the batch was cooling. Once the ingredients were combined, boiled, steeped and filtered I decanted it all into a glass carboy and stowed it away in the fermentation room for two weeks.

When it came time to bottle I showed up with my two cases of bottles and selected my complimentary bottle caps. Another great reason to rent the kitchen versus setting up your own home brewing system is the giant sanitizer that makes the tedious task of sanitizing four dozen bottles a breeze. Once sanitized, they’re ready for the final step of bottling and capping.

I left with two cases of fresh, fizzy beer manufactured by my own effort. It does take an investment of time: my batch wasn’t drinkable for two months to the day I started. And it’s not insanely cheap: with the rent and the ingredients the cost factored out to about $1 per bottle. But the experience has its perks and the satisfactory feeling of having handcrafted your very own malt beverage.