This my friends is what makes me happy to pass this along to you!

An exciting note. I happened to inhale as I opened the bucket and it actually smells like beer! Not like wort!

Excitement has reached level 2.

Yesterday February 7th 2008 I started my first home brew using the brewing and wort kits that I received for Christmas.

There wasn’t much to it really. The part that took the longest was sterilizing everything so that the beer wouldn’t develope a nasty taste. That took about an hour. Partially cause I kept forgetting things that needed to be sterilized so I had to keep waiting an extra 20min for the sani-brew to do it’s bit over and over. Live and learn though.

Here’s some pictures of me sanitizing in the bathtub (which is also now germ and bacteria free as well):

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I didn’t get a lot of pictures (read: any) of actually combining the wort and the yeast in the primary fermenter because my photographer was acting as an assistant at the time. I’ve chosen a two step fermentation process as is recommended in How to Brew by John J. Palmer and by the instructions that came with the pre prepaired wort.

 Click the pics for larger views

Over night the beer fermented like crazy. The head has risen to about 5 inches. During this time I’m keeping the bucket out on a counter and covered in a blackout sheet. I decided to do this because it will need to be racked in to the carboy for secondary fermentation in a few days and it will be much easier to do from that height instead of trying to lift it up at the time (the bucket is a little flimsy).

 Click the pics for larger views

This fermentation should take 3 to 5 days.

My excitement is building!

Let’s start with the beer gifts.

I got so many beer related gifts for Christmas! It was great! I kept opening more and more beer and bar stuff. Here’s just a few things (I’m sure I’ll miss one or two of them).

• First off I got a home brewing kit from Mrs.Thirstymates. it’s just a beginners kit but I’m really looking forward to brewing some of my own stuff.
• A pilsner Brew kit from The Brew House
• Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels
• How to Brew by John J. Palmer
• New Brewing Lager Beer by Gregory J. Noonan
• Beers Of The Word by David Kenning

On top of all this I got so many nice things for my bar at home. Including bottles of Crown Royal, Tanqueray, and Sheridan’s Liquor (I can’t seem to find a website for them).

I also received bar paraphernalia like six beautiful lead crystal glasses from my brother and his girlfriend along with some wine stoppers that match our decor beautifully. A silver platter and Scotch bottle hanger from my mother and father and an LCBO Canadian whiskey glass from Santa in my stocking.

All in all a good booze related haul for Christmas!

But my birthday is just around the corner (April’s not that far away is it?) Let’s see if the fam can top this Christmas booty.

The John St. roundhouse was built in 1929 and was previously the home of the Canadian Pacific Railway’s steam engine repair and cleaning facility. It operated from 1929 to May 13th 1988 and is currently owned by the city of Toronto due to it’s historic status. Steam Whistle operates out of bays 1-14. The roundhouse is located just a short walk from Union Station, The Rogers Centre and The Air Canada Centre.

Steam Whistle is also very very GREEN!

• In winter 2008 they installed brand new state of the art equipment that cuts their energy consumption by almost 33% compared to their old brewhouse.
• During the summer months since 2008 Steam Whistle has used Enwave’s Deep Lake Water Cooling system to cool the air in their factory and conference rooms. Deep water pipes draw icy cold water from lake Ontario in order to cool the air. Reducing energy use and CFC’s.
• Even off site they’re green! Using biodegradable cups made of cornstarch resin that is completely compostable within 50 days! (That’s faster than it takes the city to clean up some of the garbage form the Toronto Grand Prix!)
• Keeping with the out of office theme Steamy (as some of the ThirstyMates call it) uses B20 Bio Fuel in their delivery trucks. The fuel contains Soya oils and recycled restaurant grease.
• You may have noticed after finishing a bottle or two of their delicious brew that the bottles are a little heavy. That’s because the glass is 33% thicker than the bottles used by the big boys. This ensures that less bottles get broken or chipped and allows them to be used up to 35 times. That’s about twice as much as a regular beer bottle. Yet another plan by those crafty guys at SW to keep it green is using custom bottles with painted labels they reduce the paper waste headed to the landfill and down the drain.

So next time you sit down to enjoy a box of the good green stuff remember that the company making it is doing its part to keep your world clean.

(As a side note please try to return those special bottles. In the summer of 2006 the crew at Steam Whistle had to slow production due to a lack of returned bottles.)