Brewing for Oktoberfest

My husband is an avid home-brewer - not me. He has had this "little" hobby for years now. He'd disappear into our large, barn like shop and weeks - sometimes months - later we'd be happily drinking the results of his labor. My main part in this process was to watch the kids and try not to complain too bitterly if my good pots and pans are kidnapped in the process of making a yeast starter.

Recently he has been talking about starting a small production brewery in Prineville, OR. I decided if he's really serious, and I think he is, I should learn a bit about the process.

Being as self-sustaining as possible is a interest of mine. I became much more enthusiastic when I realized that my husband has the attitude about beer that I have around my garden and kitchen... It's lovely to go out to a grocery store and buy stuff, but isn't it better still to know how to create it? Just as I can make homemade bread, can produce and make my own yogurt - he can make his own beer.

So here are my impressions of my first complete brewing experience - from beginning to end.

We started with cleaning all the equipment involved. Cleanliness is very important in good beer, which amazes me because the shop is not what I'd consider "clean". To be honest, the shop houses a collection of spiders and mice. There is no such thing as a dust bunny here - they're all dust rhinos.

After cleaning the kegs we started compiling the main elements of beer: water, grain - in this case barley, yeast and hops. The grain was previously milled at the brew shop and the yeast was started last night. To save money we take a small package of yeast and "grow it" much like a sourdough starter by heating it up and then letting it multiply overnight.

Then we heated water in an old steel keg and poured some off into an ice chest that had been fitted with copper tubing that's drilled with holes and hooked to a spigot to allow water to run out but not grain. Kris poured the grain into this mash-tun while I stirred it until it was the consistency of runny oat meal.

I had to taste the barley before it was put into the mash-tun because I cannot resist trying new foods. It was delicious, but familiar. It took me a few minutes to realize the flavor I was experiencing was sweeter, but similar to a bowl full of Grape-Nuts.

Next we started a decotion process where we removed liquid from the mash-tun and brought it to a boil and put it back to raise the temperature in the mash-tun from 120 to 140 + degrees F.

Thats the point we're at now. As is obvious from my stout stature, I tend to look towards the edible. I heard that you can eat spent grain as a hot cereal and even make bread from it, which I'm eager to try because we usually have a lot of spent grain left over. As I cruised the web for more info I came upon the barley council website. I'm hoping that I can substitute spent grain for the barley in those recipes. I'll post any attempts...Look for part two of this Urban Farmers beer brewing education.