Seeing as Rochester On Tap, the craft beer festival, is coming up this Saturday at Mayo Civic Center, it got me thinking about the times we've brewed our own beer.

That's five gallons of 'wort', actively fermenting in our hall closet.
That's what five gallons of 'wort', actively fermenting in our hall closet, loos like.
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One of the reasons I can't wait for Rochester On Tap is the fact that I love beer-- and really love trying all sorts of the many different craft beers available here in Minnesota.

And, my wife and I have even brewed our own beer.  It started when she bought me a very cool starter kit with all the equipment needed to home-brew some great beer as a birthday present a few years ago. Since then, using some beer recipe kits from Northern Brewer in Minneapolis, we’ve tried our hands at brewing a couple different beers.

We started with a version of a brown ale, called Caribou Slobber. It was pretty good — and a pretty good success for our first time brewing our own beer (thankfully, we had some expert advice from a friend, who’s an avid home brewer).

Next, we brewed a version of a double IPA — an imperial pale ale. It turned out okay, but ended up with a little too much carbonation when we bottled it, which resulted in too much foam (like almost three-quarters of the glass) when you went to drink it.

Our most recent beer was a version of an extra pale ale, similar to Summit’s EPA. And when you get to the 'active fermentation stage,' your wort (as it's called at that stage of the process) needs to be stored in a warm, dry place — which is why there once was a glass carboy full of fermenting soon-to-be beer in our hall closet.

 

It's a been awhile since we've brewed up a batch, but the anticipation of all the great beers at Rochester On Tap are making me want to brew our own version at home again soon!

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