Return of the Curse of the Zombie Homebrewers Ghost

After taking a short course at Jim’s Homebrew Supply here in Spokane, I quickly became an avid homebrewer and thus started my ongoing adventures in zymurgy. For the next two years, my roommate at the time and I spent every last dime we had on ingredients and devoted countless hours to formulating recipes and brewing them carefully to life. We educated ourselves and carefully honed our craft, earning praise from all who sampled the fruits of our labor. More importantly, I felt I was learning much from practical experience and gaining confidence in my application of knowledge. Time progressed, living situations changed and I ended up at my current location that poses certain limitations which brought my homebrewing activities to an abrupt halt.

Sad, I know. But a conversation with my friend Brian a few weeks back brought light to the end of my tunnel: he offered his basement as a makeshift brewing facility in exchange for brewing lessons and half of the output. After nearly two years of only dreaming of the smell of mashing grains and fresh hops, I was going to be back where I belong: making beer.

Last night we convened over some ale and assessed the location. After assembling a spare table, we unloaded my brewing supplies freshly liberated from my storage unit and did some rearranging. Brian has some plumbing skills and he has found a used utility sink in good shape for a really great price. I need to make a trip to Jim’s to round out my kit and then with some manual labor and copious amounts of cleaning; we will be ready to brew. The hardest decision we have left is to determine what kind of beer we will make first. It won’t be ready for consumption until early summer, so I am thinking something light and subtle that is easily quaffable.

Moving forward, our schedules dictate that we will only be able to brew once a month, but I will be sure to record all of our trials and successes here in this blog. I am very excited to be able to further my studies through practical application once again and maybe just a little excited to taste the rewards of our effort.