All - This is awesome info!

Agreed. Cleaning and Sanitation are important. I use liquid detergent and water on everything and also bleach on my plastic. That said, yeast has fairly powerful antibiotic properties (as too do alcohol and the resins in the hops). The first antibiotics and many modern ones are derived from fungi and yeast (which are a type of fungi). Throughout history and well before our modern sanitization understanding and practices, and long before Pasteur, people drank beer and wine rather than water because they got sick with the water but not with the beer or wine. Again, this was back when the wort was not rapidly cooled (and probably not even hopped) and yeast was not added, but rather came in naturally from the air. With this method, it may be several days before there is an adequate inoculation with the yeast and over a week before fermentation begins, and yet still no spoilage. This method is still used today for many of the popular Belgian beers, such as lambics. I suspect that US commercial brewing laws require rapid cooling, but the homebrewer is free do do as they please (more or less). In 16 years of brewing, I have not had a spoilage problem using clean equipment and slow cooling. But then again, I'm just too cheap to buy cooling equipment and I got nowhere to store it And zapap, exactly! MTA: while at work I am a scientist, using strict formulae, at home I prefer the more organic traditional methods where I tend to avoid strict recipes, temperature guides and modern equipment except when necessary. I'm weird that way, and many many homebrewers brew because they like the control and the scientific aspects. I love the scientific theory of it (including the microbiological and enzymatic aspects), but prefer to let the beer control itself to some degree.

Wort is the sweet liquid produced either by adding malt extract to water, or by mashing crushed malted barley (or other grains, I guess). It is called wort before the yeast has acted on it to turn it into beer. I'm not sure exactly when the wort becomes beer -- as soon as you pour the yeast in? After fermentation is complete?, but it is wort prior to fermentation, to be sure. Oh and it is pronounced to rhyme with "shirt"

Okay peeps - I've order a basic start up kit (equipment). I had a nice talk with a local brewer/bar place who will sell me grain and has sold me a couple glass carboys for cheap. Looking for a grain mill now. Bottles on order, getting both 12 and 22's. I'd like to try a pale ale. I'm staying away from the extracts. Hops and yeast - which one's do you guys like or would recommend I try. ALso Trent - I can make something like 700 gallons of my own beer without special permits or what not. thanks for leading that tip my way.

Cool, Lou. Do you use a refractometer to measure your specific gravity? I could probably borrow one the lab at work...not sure what's been on it though...maybe I'll just use the anti-freeze type thing that is coming with my kit.

Yep...this'll make a great lab, er I mean, log form for brewing. Thanks!!

Hell, if I make 700 gallons of decent brew...you guys may never hear from me again.