I'm a homebrewer. It certainly is a fitting hobby for a Monk. I was in on the original CB discussion, so I thought I'd post my thoughts here too.

I've been brewing for the last 4 years, around the Boston area. My current setup is a couple of 5 gal Cornelius kegs in a fridge in the basement. I do mostly extract and partial mash brews, no all-grain yet.

I make a great Magic Hat #9 clone (w/ apricot extract), a clone of Nutfield Brown Ale (a local beer), and every winter I brew at least one lager (usually pilsner - these require brewing at <55deg F, so I can't pass up the opportunity to use my cold basement in the winter), and a winter warmer style (high alcohol with some seasonal spices).

Perhaps we could all exchange some recipies sometime. I often brew my favorites over and over, but I'm always looking for new recipies. PM probably isn't the place for that though. (Hmmm, unless I write it in perl and post it to poetry...$wort->add_hops("Cascade", "1oz", "35min") ;-) )

Oh - I almost forgot. I got a few hop rhizomes this year, and have 3 very tall Cascade hop plants in my backyard now. I don't expect much from them this year (just started them in the spring), but I hope to get lots of fresh hops next year.

This was a fun discussion to read. Every monk needs a good hobby. Keep brewing all!
~Jon