The brew flows through copper pipes into a kettle that allows the starch to turn to fermentable sugar.
John Pepin grows a small crop of chinook hops that he sometimes uses. His home beer brewing hobby is a community effort for Pepin and his neighbors.
Linda Cowles reaches into a large cooler for a cold glass and helps herself to one of the many selections of home-brewed beer in John Pepin's garage. During a recent brewing evening, neighbors stopped by to test some of the latest beers.
The menu board of beer selections above John Pepin's beer cooler.
A specially designed cabinet in John Pepin's garage holds carboys that are allowed to ferment brewed beer under darkness and in a temperature-controlled environment.
Neighbor Larry Palmquist sniffs a sample of an American Pale Ale freshly pulled from the carboy.
An American Pale Ale fresh from the carboy where it had been fermenting. The home beer brewing hobby is a community effort for John Pepin and his neighbors.
Notes are kept on every brew that John Pepin makes in order to go back and make subtle changes or just to repeat another fine mixture.
Columbus bittering hops are measured out on a scale before added to the evening brew mixture.
The brewing structure holds three large kettles that can easily transfer the mixed brew from one kettle to another. It is designed to hook to a portable propane tank that creates the heat needed for the water. On a recent evening, neighbors Larry Palmquist, left, and David Conway helped John Pepin, right, with a batch in the garage.
John Pepin pours in the bittering hops to another batch of beer. A personal goal of his is to get others to appreciate beer as much as he does. “I love that challenge when people tell me that they don’t like beer,” he says.
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