One thing I like to do is brew a good beer.  Now I got heavily into brewing about 5 years ago.  Bought every tool imaginable, entered a beer into the San Diego Fair. Now this was a social outlet for me and my friends.  We would brew a beer or mead and we would then watch a bad Sci-Fi or Horror movie and then prepare the beer.  We would smoke a cigar or drink a few beers while doing it all.  A good time was always had by all. 

When I was promoted to Manager in my company it became fewer and fewer times I would be able to brew, and as the all the equipment was at my place, we didn’t brew. 

Today I had nothing else pressing (my wife would say otherwise, you should see my office it is a mess) so I decided to invite a friend over to brew and shoot the breeze.  We had a good time and I am brewing an Oceanside Pale Ale.  I took this recipe from the guys over at Hydrobrew.  It is a pretty easy recipe.  They have the recipe posted here.  The differences I made initially is that I removed the dry hopping and added a half pound of Carapils.  For some reason I have in head that if I add a half pound of Carapils it will be smoother.  Whether that is true or not, I like the way my beer comes out with Carapils.  So I add it.  Now, since it has been about a year since I brewed and I am getting over some sort of virus, I also forgot to add the aroma hops and the Irish Moss.  My friend asked me about them, and all I could do is put on a stupid sheepish grin and shrug. 

So I now I have bottling in two weeks to look forward too.  I will see how the batch turns out. I am very interested in see that.  I used local Arrowhead water, not the tap water like we used too.  The city changed the chemicals and they do NOT work well with my brews it seems.

BTW I have to give a good plug to the guys over at Hydrobrew in Oceanside.  They know what they are doing and they can help you with any of your homebrewing needs.