Brew brew brew Things have kicked into high-gear on the home-brewing front. Today we bottled 38 litres of pilsener, and then while I headed off to the radio station, Dave and Adam brewed another 38 litres. Here's some pictorial highlights from the brewing action, as well as a play-by-play account of how it all works.

First up, the fermenters. You put all the water, malt, hops and sugar in these and then wait for the yeast to do its stuff:



While the yeast does its stuff (turning sugar into alcohol) noxious gases are released, so the gas has to be expelled through the airlock on top of the fermenter:



Once everything is fermented and stabilised, it's time to decant the brew into bottles. Of course first the bottles have to sterilised, which is a pain in the arse:



And then of course, once you've added sugar and beer to all the bottles and sealed them up, you still can't drink 'em - you have to wait about six weeks for secondary fermentation to finish and for the taste to mature a bit.



Still, it's worth all the work when you get to drink your own beer.  ¶ 3:15 PM