12 Steps

That's how many steps it takes to get my wort down into the basement of our Merced office for summer fermentation. Cooincidence that it's the same number of steps to combat alcoholism? I think not! ;-)

Why take it down there? Well, the ambient temp is between 63-66 degrees and that's just right for fermenting beer in the summer time.

Here's the wort all safely buckled up and ready for the ride to the office. Thank goodness for the carboy carrier/cover. This made it easier to carry to the car and will keep the sunlight off of the wort for the ride. I had the air conditioner in the car set for 60 degrees. That was one cooooooold ride!






Here's the yeast starter riding on the floor. Not a very good view from down there! ;-)







Yep. Those are some steep, narrow steps down to the basement!











The view from the first landing down to the basement.








The basement. The wort's home for the next three weeks while the little yeasties eat, fart, and procreate. What a life!







The Nut Brown Ale will join this Light Ale behind the decorative heater in the corner. Hopefully the kids will keep their hands off!









I'm done brewing for a while. I've got five gallons of English Bitter on tap with five gallons of Light Ale being kegged this Thursday. The Nut Brown will ferment for three weeks and be on the CO2 for two weeks before I even pull a pint.

Why am I done brewing for a while? Well, for one, I've got enough beer for now. With the hot summer days coming up I'm sure it will disappear soon, but I've got gear to buy if I'm going to have more than five gallons on tap. I'll be buying a small chest freezer, temp controller, taps, beer line, etc, etc, etc to build a 4-tap kegerator. It's got to look nice so that I can keep it in the house so I'll be painting it black and putting some wood/stainless steel finishing touches on it. Pics to come soon after I'm done with the purchases. That could take a while though!