Old Bouldere Area Beer

Beverage

THWC01 Nomad Found/13; THWC01 Nomad Found/14

How TH made the first beer in 20 years in the old Boulder area! Made with farmer Pepe Morales.

They had malted the barley a week prior, by taking the grain, adding water, letting it start to germinate, then removing the water and drying the barley. Pepe put a three-gallon pot of water on the fire. They needed to get the water hot, add the malted barley, and stir it together to release the starches from the grains. That process would take one to two hours, then they’d drain that, using the grain bed as the filter. Terry wanted a second sparging, as it was called, to flush as much starch from the mash as he could.

Then they’d boil the drained off liquid to reduce the water in the mixture and bring out the full flavor of what would become beer. Once that was done, they’d pour the mixture into a fermenting tank, where they’d add yeast, a rough concoction that Pepe had been working on for years with the help of his wife. Once the yeast was added, they’d put that vessel in as cool a place as possible for anywhere up to a month. Starting today, beer in a month.

The men played with the fire, keeping the mixture from boiling as they stirred and mixed. Although they were outside, the smell of the boiling wort permeated the greenhouse, completely befouling the air. Maria, Pepe’s wife, went outside more than once to give a hearty what-for to the men. Char could hear her clearly railing on her husband with implications for Terry as well. The men took the tongue-lashing like champions, apologizing profusely, but they couldn’t move the heated wort at that point.

“You know, Pepe, this better be the best fucking beer I’ve ever tasted,” Terry admitted glumly.

With the beer doing what it needed to do in a crock pot vat Terry had acquired, he and Pepe shook hands. Together, they cheered their brewing success, then went back to the real work.