Making Beer at Life By Chocolate Step 1, the boil

Brother John.

Actually, it's making beer at the Greenville Arms. My amazing brother John, talented musician and now beermeistermeister extraordinaire has gotten into making beer and also selling beer kits and giving classes at his store City Brewshop in Brooklyn. Brew, Drink, Repeat! So, for my birthday, he gave me a beer kit and showed me how to brew beer. I'm on my second batch. The following pictures are from the first batch which I have yet to taste but i know will be terrific. We made the Finger of Hoob (see recipe), a chocolate stout using LBC chocolate and some natural and dutched cocoa powered.

The Manual. RTFM!

First we had to make the wort, basically unfermented beer, and boil it and the various specialty grains, malt and specialty additions, such as chocolate.



Way back when, when I was a younger man and lived in California, my wife Kim got me a present of brewing beer at a special beer brewing school. I then attempted to make Finger of God, a VERY strong ale. This, Finger of Hoob, is a childhood nickname that we have for each other, which in and of itself is a LONG story.

While doing all of this, we had to sanitize the equipment. That is something we do very well here at the Greenville Arms.



After sanitizing and doing everything we had to in prep, we mostly drank beer.Let me just mention I am more of a wine drinker than a beer drinker and when I drink beers, I like dark beers and ales. Finger of Hoob is a very dark chocolate stout. Right up my alley.



I am currently doing a Peat-Smoked Porter. And will end with a very light and fruity ale called Saison d'Été, which means Summer Season (ale).

BTW, in all honesty. I did taste the beer several times while checking the alcoholic content. It reminded me of Rochefort 10, a good sign. But I have yet to taste the finished beer because it is still conditioning.