Beer!

While rummaging through boxes a few weeks ago, looking for a blank book, I found a stack of my old journals from high school/early 20's.  In the back cover of the one I wrote in 2001, I put a list of goals.  One list for 2003, one list for 2008 (reunion year), and one for lifetime goals.  I was surprised at how many I have managed to accomplish, and which ones those were.  Here it is;

2003- try surfing- nope
          go on a week long backpacking trek- check, several times over
          make a good friend- check and uncheck, but I did reunite with one
          finish my quilt- nope
          learn to rock climb- check, but in 2005
          swim a mile- check
          wear a size 12- check and uncheck, i got down to an 8 at one point

2008- own a motorcycle- I do now
           go to Mardi Gras- nope, damn you Katrina!
           finish my degree- check, twice
           climb a mountain- nope, I meant 14-er
           pay off my credit cards- check, and my car, which sadly is gone too
           take a NOLS course- check
           visit another country- check

Lifetime- happy marriage- check, so far so good
              financial security- eh...
              good career- check, but I'm having second thoughts
              physically fit- it could be worse
              visit all 50 states- not yet

So as far as my deadlined goals, I did pretty good.  The lifetime ones, I still have some time to work on them.

When I came across this list, I felt there should have been one more thing.  But at 21 I didn't drink beer yet.

We tested our very first home brew last night, and it was surprisingly good.  I can't remember if I mentioned we got a homebrew kit as a wedding present.  I'm sure K mentioned it.  Five weeks ago we stunk up the house with boiling hops, barley and malt, then poured it into a bucket that sat in the basement for 4 weeks.  At first the air lock was bubbling like crazy.  Go yeast!  But after a few days it had stopped.  And we waited.  Last Sunday we bottled.  We decided we didn't need to buy bottles, because we could recycle enough ourselves, but apparently we don't drink 48 beers in 4 weeks.  So K went trick-or-treating at the neighbors houses.  We ended up with 44 bottles.  One broke when we capped it.  It was sad to pour the rest down the drain. "No soldiers left behind."

Yesterday I put 2 in the fridge to chill.  Last night we tasted the fruits of our efforts, and it was good.  Very little sludge left in the bottom.  It may have made us over confident.  We ordered 2 more extract kits and another fermentation bucket.  Now if we can figure out how to get an accurate specific gravity reading, so we can figure out how drunk it'll get us.  I'm thinking at least 5+%, based on how I felt after imbibing.

We haven't decided on a name yet, but I vote for "Dog Drool" in honor of Bayram, who sprawled in the middle of the kitchen floor during the entire process.