Providing 101

Still plenty of snow up on the mountain where Bill and Shelley live.

Last week at the community operated rope tow practically in their back yard.

So we are still in the process of providing. Had to put in another tough day of winter king fishing.

Bill proclaims that these are the “best kings” he’s ever tasted. But there is more to providing than fish. Moose, Caribou and beer for starters. So we started the beer; Bill makes a nice Porter.

First boil everything, including your fingertips.

Ther coil of copper tubing is for rapid cooling during the process.

Then assemble the manifold for draining off the Mash.

Then add the grains.

A secret blend of raw and roasted grains.

Next pour in 180 degree water and soak for 90 min. This is the mash. Then filter through the manifold into boiling pot.

This is the Wort.

Boil Wort one hour, adding hops at specific intervals. After this boil, remove hops and reduce the temperature to 75 degrees. Drain into fermentation tank, add yeast and set inside for four days, or there abouts. Bill has a slick setup for the cooling. He inserts the copper coil then runs well water through it, dumping the exit water into the 1500 gal cistern which serves as a buffer for the very low volume well.

After fermenting for a few days in the plastic tank, he siphons off the brew into a glass container and the extra goes into containers. That portion will remain flat and get consumed while we wait for the last of the fermentation to take place in the bottle. You gotta do something with the extra!

It has it’s own T shirt blanket.

After he’s sure the fermentation is done, he decants it into the keg. There it is reduced to refrigerator temp and pressurized with CO2.

It holds an honored place on the workbench.

Now, where is that moose?