Armed with instructions, we then had to get equipment. Having not long before moved into our house, a trip with a van to collect flat-pack furniture also included a trip to Brouwmarkt in Almere. I remember pushing the trolley round and trying not to giggle too much while we picked up all sorts of unexpected things; kilos and kilos of dried malt extract (DME) and tiny little packets of dried yeast, buckets and hydrometers and airlocks and glucose, mysterious silver vacuum-shrunk packages of hops and a refreshingly prosaic food-grade plastic stirring paddle. It wasn't what you'd call cheap, but as a considered investment in being able to brew our own beer, it felt worth a go.
On account of our differing tastes in beer, we decided we would brew beers in pairs, one for each of us. There's a chapter in Palmer that takes you through the whole process of brewing your first beer, using one of his own recipes, Cincinnati Pale Ale. So we did that. Two weeks later, we brewed the basic porter recipe from the book, Port O'Palmer. And then a few weeks after that, we had a party and drank it all.
(photo by Bram Nijhof)
