I got my shit together and completed the first step of my first batch of home-brewed beer. As I mentioned in an earlier post, several of my dearest friends got together and bought me an avalanche of beer brewing equipment. The only missing ingredient was... ingredients. For that, I went to the closest home brewing supply shop, San Francisco Brew Craft. The place was smaller than I expected, and I instantly found myself in front of the hirsute dude working behind the counter. He greeted me with, "hey, what's up?" and before I finished explaining that I needed ingredients he'd already started filling out a hot pink "Beer Recipe and Brewing Instructions" sheet. I told him I was thinking about a pale ale a little less hoppy than Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. He scribbled a couple more things on the sheet and started shoveling ingredients from bulk containers around the shop. This was a pleasant surprise, as I had expected to be handed a dense box of pre-selected ingredients. Instead, I was getting a customized set of ingredients and brewing instructions! I was out of there in under 15 minutes, a mere $42 poorer.
I had prepared for Brew Day by reading SF Brewcraft's brewing instructions and the first chapter of "How To Brew," which came with my brewing supplies. I also watched Homebrew Heaven's awesome "Getting Started Homebrewing" DVD, wherein Chris and Don demonstrate the rudiments of brewing and bottling your own beer. (I watched this video repeatedly, mostly for my fascination of the cheap porn production quality.) Finally, I talked to my good friend and brewing veteran Dave for reinforcement.
Despite all this preparation, the whole process seemed to take all day. It took forever to heat the wort, and then to bring it to a boil after adding the malt extract. Then it took forever to cool it down to "pitching" temperature, which was a little higher than ideal due to my impatience. Consequently, I rehydrated my yeast about an hour too soon, but assured myself that yeast is a hearty little organism and wouldn't mind waiting for all the delicious sugar I was about to feed it. When I pounded the lid on the fermenter and stuck the airlock into its hole I really had no idea if I had succeeded. I had to wait for a couple days to know for sure.
And man, did I succeed! The airlock was bubbling along happily in the second and third days (see the video!), and calmed down toward the end of the week. The beginning of the week enjoyed ridiculously hot weather (high 70s!), so the beer didn't hit ideal fermenting temperatures for a couple days. I left it near an open window with a temperature-activated fan to keep things between 68 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm pretty confident that this is going to turn out well.
A few of my forthcoming blog entries for VeganMoFo 2011 will document my attempt to brew some beer. I've been muttering about brewing beer for several years, but I never seemed to get around to doing it. Many of my beloved friends grew weary of these mutterings and collectively shipped me a home brewery for my birthday this year. It is now time for me to stop muttering and to start brewing.
The first thing I need to do is to figure out what's vegan and what's not. Most beer, in general, is vegan. There are many beers that use animal products in their clarification and filtering processes, but your average home brewer is not going to employ them. (If you're curious about the vegan-friendliness of your favorite mass-produced beers, check out www.barnivore.com.) So far, my home brewery contains two questionable products: BTF Iodophor and Super Grunge Remover (sodium carbonate). My cursory Web research suggests that both of these products are pretty simple chemicals with no obvious animal origin, but I e-mailed the manufacturers for the final word. If they turn out to be non-vegan, I can fall back Five Star Star San. Here's an e-mail exchange I had with the manufacturer:
Hi!
I'm interested in using your Star San product for home brewing. However, I prefer to use products that are:
100% cruelty free (not tested on animals)
100% free of animal by-products (no animal-derived ingredients of any kind)
Can you confirm that this product meets my criteria?
Thank you!
Stephen
To which Jon Herskovits responded via his iPhone:
All the ingredients in star San are on the GRAS (generally recognized as safe) list. This means they don't need bunny testing. You are good to use all five star products.
Jon Herskovits
Sent from my iPhone
"Bunny testing" sounded a little patronizing, so I thought I would press for more information:
Thank you very much, Jon, for your response. Could you also respond explicitly to my other question, about whether your products (Star San specifically) contain animal-derived ingredients? (I intend to share this information with readers of my blog, by the way.)
I really appreciate your time,
Stephen
To which I finally got a satisfactory, if terse, response:
No they are not animal derived.
Sent from my iPhone
Thank you, Jon! I feel bad about pestering him while he's on the go, but it's worth it to move forward with confidence in this long-overdue endeavor.
I can't say that it was easy, but it was a lot less impossible than I imagined. The first two miles made it clear just how long the race was. "I only have to do this six and a half more times," I thought. But one mile bled into the next and eventually I passed the halfway point. I was grateful for the pacer groups, who were clusters of runners with times posted on their backs like "3:00" and "2:45." If you ran with them you would finish close to their posted times. I passed 3:00 pretty early on, but I didn't see 2:45 until the very end. The last three miles were by far the most difficult, as my quads were numb and my heart rate was over 190 bpm. (Is that even possible, by the way? I wonder if my monitor is accurate.)
I'm proud that I raised $740 to combat animal abuse. I'm also proud that I finished my first half marathon. And while I didn't enter the race with any competitive aspirations, I'm proud of my performance:
Finish time: 2:42:23
Placement: 7338 (out of around 12,000)
How does a vegan celebrate finishing his first half marathon? He eats a mushroom, olive, and broccoli stuffed vegan pie from Paxti's, accompanied by some delicious Sierra Nevada Tumbler Ale. And then he takes a 16 hour nap.
Despite all this preparation, the whole process seemed to take all day. It took forever to heat the wort, and then to bring it to a boil after adding the malt extract. Then it took forever to cool it down to "pitching" temperature, which was a little higher than ideal due to my impatience. Consequently, I rehydrated my yeast about an hour too soon, but assured myself that yeast is a hearty little organism and wouldn't mind waiting for all the delicious sugar I was about to feed it. When I pounded the lid on the fermenter and stuck the airlock into its hole I really had no idea if I had succeeded. I had to wait for a couple days to know for sure.
And man, did I succeed! The airlock was bubbling along happily in the second and third days (see the video!), and calmed down toward the end of the week. The beginning of the week enjoyed ridiculously hot weather (high 70s!), so the beer didn't hit ideal fermenting temperatures for a couple days. I left it near an open window with a temperature-activated fan to keep things between 68 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm pretty confident that this is going to turn out well.
