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The still did produce a small volume of crudely refined alcohol. The product had a slight blue color to it that I was never able to explain other than it possibly being oxidized copper. The distillate was put into a small plastic container of unknown origin, and the alcohol picked up a soapy aroma shortly after. After a small number of runs, I lost interest in the still because I had made work. I had conquered a project that I wasn’t supposed to be doing using knowledge learned in school. The fact that operating a still was illegal was less interesting than operating it in spite of the fact that I wasn’t even old enough to buy alcohol. The copper, silicone, water pump, tubing, ice baths, bread yeasts, sugars and flavorings had lost their appeal. The final product was even less interesting. It was time to move on. In the same part of town as my home and school was the Bookstop bookstore on Alabama street. The bookstore was housed in the beautifully restored Alabama movie theater, and much of the character of the original design was left intact for the bookstore. Walking down the isle was reminiscent of venturing into a theater to partake of the magic and mystery of a new movie. One day I was walking down the center isle of Bookstop and in the lower left hand corner of my sight, my brain sensed the words “making beer”. I stopped and focused on what I thought I saw. What I saw was a book entitled Making Beer by an author named William Mares. I thumbed through the book and was almost instantly ready to spend the 9 or 10 dollars to purchase it. I bought the book and consumed it within a few days. I was not a strong reader but I plowed through this book easily and continued to reread it often. The Bill Mares book, as I have always referred to it, detailed the author’s journey into home brewing. The book described how he got started in home brewing and spoke of all of the interesting stories along the way of the journey. While not technically a home brewing how-to manual, the text did describe the basics about making beer at home. After reading the book, the big question was where in the world was I going to find home brewing supplies locally? After looking in the yellow pages, the answer was revealed: There was a home brew supply shop about 10 minutes away. It was a sign. Home brewing generally requires a kitchen which provides a stove, sink, pots, pans, and supply of water. Brewing, after all, is basically cooking, and cooking is best done in the kitchen. It would be impossible to brew at home in the kitchen because there was no way I could hide the equipment and the activity. Like distilling, I would have to improvise and assemble an assortment of equipment. That would be easy. The big problem was where the brewing would be done. Hiding a still was easy, but concealing a 3 gallon pot of boiling liquid and a 5 gallon glass jug and 48 beer bottles would be much more difficult. |
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| Thursday, November 20, 2008 |
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