Aeration Perfection

I'm anxious to try my first batch so I'm giving my yeast a head start by aerating my wort as I rack it.  This is for a fish aquarium, but has an inline HEPA filter so I don't get any bacteria in my wort.  I'm going to start brewing right after Halloween...  =]

And as always, more pics on my Flickr page

No Turning Back

Went to my local homebrew store and picked up everything I will be needing for my first batch of beer:

More pics on my Flickr page

First Purchase

Actually put my money where my mouth is and bought a chest freezer.  Got this 7.2cu ft Frigidaire on craigslist for $40!  Cleaned it up and it looks brand new.

More Keezer pics on my Flickr page

Planning

After going over my finances for the past year, I realized that a very large portion of my disposable income was going towards nightlife related expenditures. A few months ago, I decided to invest some of that money into a pool table and entertainment center to motivate me to stay in rather than go out.  I'm now spending significantly less on entertainment, and with the money I save by not paying cover/parking/ridiculous drink prices, I have been able to step up the quality of spirits, wines and brews.

The next step was to start buying small kegs of beer and build a kegerator to complete my man-cave.  After about a week of research, I planned out my 5 tap keezer:

More Keezer pics on my Flickr page

Day Zero

Ok, so in a stroke of compulsiveness, I decided to start brewing and kegging my own beer.  For two weeks I lurked the homebrew forums, watched every howto on youtube, and read every post in the homebrewing sub-reddit....I know as much about brewing as anyone can without actually doing it, so I have decided to take the plunge, buy the equipment, and, in true 21st century fashion, blog about my experience.