24th October 2021

Today was my first home brew day. It is an all grain kit from Brew 
Bros and seems pretty spot on. The kit contained a grain bag, grain, 
thermometer, hops, yeast, air lock, dextrose, bung and a 5l keg. In 
addition to this, I had to get a mash vessel, funnel, measuring tube, 
hydrometer and a measuring jug. For the mash vessel, I bought some jam 
making thing with a great measuring system. It would be even better if 
there was a way of fitting a tap but... meh. I have a 2 week wait for 
the yeast to do what it does best and turn sugar into alcohol. I might 
have boiled for less than the required time but the wort 
(pre-fermented beer) seems sticky enough. Worst comes to worst is that 
the beer might be less than the intended 4.5%. The kit is for an 
american IPA and was very cloudy. The hop pellets disintegrated in a 
rather bleurgh manner. I spent a fair bit of time filtering using the 
grain bag. Keeping a temperature during the mash was more difficult 
than I would like. I have a gas stove and so there was lots of guess 
work. I think I will get an inductive hob for next time to get the 
temperature control. That or a tea urn. It felt rather simple to do 
time wise. I ended up taking 4 hours which is not bad considering 
there was 70 minutes of mashing and an hour of boiling. We shall see 
if it is worthwhile in a month. There are 2 weeks for the yeast to do 
its thing and 2 weeks for carbonating the beer. If you ever do try 
home brew, do not try drinking the wort sample for taking the original 
gravity reading. It is sweet and bitter with little need to try more 
than a sip. 

While brewing I was listening to the T20 cricket world cup match 
between India and Pakistan. For those who are not aware, cricket 
matches between India and Pakistan are always great. These teams care 
only about beating the other rather than winning the tournament. It is 
still happening with Pakistan needing 117 runs from 15 overs. This is 
rather achievable and it seems India should be panicing. India got 151 
runs for 7 wickets. Pakistan are currently doing 41 runs for 0 
wickets. 

*Update*

Pakistan dominated India! 152 runs for 0 wickets. Absolute dominance. 
Well done Pakistan!