I'm beginning to worry that Russ and I are going to have to single handedly drink five gallons of our own beer. Beer which tastes like the socks I have been wearing for the last week and then soaked in All-Bran. This sterilization business isn't a myth. There's enough sugar in the fermenting tank to feed a small child for a week, and the only thing we want growing in there is Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Speaking of yeast, I was a little disappointed to find out that the White Lab's kit did not contain White Labs yeast. For the time being however, I think we should try and keep one recipe tasting decently.

I did, however, fulfill my long time goal of tasting malting syrup, which has the approximate viscosity of rubber cement on a cold day. What does it taste like, you ask? To find out yourself, go get some All-Bran, grind it into a fine powder in the coffee grinder and then mix it in with Karo. Delish. I did not venture to taste the hopps, or the hopped wort (wort is pronounced wert for those of you not in the know), but I think the smell did both justice.

If nothing explodes in the next five days, come Friday, Russ and I will transfer the fermenting beer from the bucket to the carboy. At this stage, we will add gelatin for some reason as well as the dry hops. The carboy is then plugged with an airlock and sits for another 5-7 days. After that, we bottle, which is an adventure of its own.