Home-made beer and Pasta.

So,
I was crossfitting around to burn some of my cooking and I talked to one of my instructors.
A nice guy named Patrick, he was talking about making beer at home and how easy it is.
http://sanfranciscocrossfit.com/staff/patrick-griffin/
I figured I would give it a try as Pat was no chemist and he said it was like baking bread.

So I went with a kit by Brooklyn BrewShop.


The kit is basically like a  bake a cake mix, you just add water.
Well not that easy but the kit comes with the items above.
A glass bottle, siphon, yeast, beer mix, hops, cleaning stuff, air vent, thermostat.
I also bought the Funnel they sell to reach the free shipping


At a later stage I noticed I need something to bottle the beer into.
For that I just drank 2 six packs of Anchor Steam Lager.

and some
Scrimshaw



Then I bought a bottle capper and caps.
For this I used a company called north brewer
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/brewing-equipment/bottling/bottle-cappers
They are bigger and make more products.
You'll need them once you get tired of using the "pre-mix" and want to experiment making beer
from scratch.

Well anyway.
To the beer.
Making beer.

Basically the kit comes with great instructions.
So I won't repeat them.
But in general this is like making oatmeal.
You add water, then watch the temperature.

The key here though is having 2 big pots.
I had one, so I juggled it but two big pots would be great.

Once you are done you leave it to ferment.



after two weeks you add some honey bottle it and cap it.

Two weeks later.
You are all set.
I opened one and it had the nice beer head, it was nice and light like I like it.
{I don't like hoppy beers}


So that was a success. When i finish chugging them.
I'll try a recipe from scratch.
Wish me luck.




For the pasta.
The recipe is called Spinach Codette with sausage and peas.
Basically you make Spinach Pasta dough.
Pick any recipe.
Then you roll out to thin long sticks the pasta and cut it.
The thinner the better, they should be as thin as skinny string beans.
Then you cook that pasta for 40 minutes.

For the rest, simply remove the casing of a sausage, I used sweet breakfast one.
Then I browned that for 5 minutes. Threw in some green snap peas {I didn't have any peas}
added a little tomato sauce {2 tbsp}  and threw in the Codettes.

The recipe is from the glorious pasta of Italy.


Enjoy buying it.
I tried the recipes for two pastas and they were great.
So i might get it too, I got my copy from the public library where there are always random cook books
for your to try without paying upfront.


Anyway,
Ciao and enjoy.