Jackhammer Brews Beer !!

Yes, it's true! Jackhammer brews beer!

This is Part 1 of a three-part series. Part 1 will discuss Brewing Day, Part 2 will discuss Bottling Day, and Part 3 will feature pictures of Jackhammer chugging the finished product with a beer bong until he has passed out on the lawn.

 Let's start with the most important thing... make sure everything is absolutely clean.  I cannot stress the importance of this if you want good tasting beer.  This photograph is an old one... Jackhammer no longer uses soap to clean his gear because the residue affects carbonation.  Who knew?  Now Jackhammer only uses Oxy-Clean to scrub the hell out of everything, followed by a good soak in a food-grade sanitizer called Star San.

 After making double-sure everything is sterilized, it is time to measure the water and start the boil.  For this recipe, Jackhammer has chosen a liquid malt extract (LME).  Boiling the LME turns the water into wort.  More recently, Jackhammer has graduated to crushing his own grains with a barley mill and making his own grain extract.  When the time is right, add the hops for flavor.  Adding hops sometimes occurs in multiple stages during the boil, and everything must be measured and timed carefully. 

 
Cooling the wort quickly is important... the goal is to reduce the temperature to 70 degrees as quickly as possible.  In this picture Jackhammer is attempting to get the job done with 20 pounds of ice and his kitchen sink.  More recently, he has been using a coiled copper wort chiller and a garden hose - with excellent results.

 
Drain the chilled wort into a santitized primary fermentation unit, otherwise known as a five gallon bucket.

Clean water is added to bring the wort to approximately five gallons. 

 
Stir carefully and check the Original Gravity (OG).  When the wort has reached the proper volume and OG, the alcohol level can be calculated.  Jackhammer aims for maximum alcohol content, just like he did when he used to make illegal hooch in his prison cell.

 
Pitch the yeast!  Yeah, baby!  Now it's time to let the yeast feed on the sugars extracted from the grains, making alcohol as a by-product.  The wort will bubble like crazy for about a week... and will be ready to bottle in about three weeks.  Stay tuned for Part 2!