A super-small home brewery making super-big beers

Hobbyists love miniatures, like dudes who build little rail systems, or models of famous warships, or tiny furniture, at least when they're trying to get stripper informants to see them as more than just a really incredible short-sleeve silk button-down. For a fun sized hobby that'll get you Wired, check out Synergy Brewing Systems.

From a Eugene dude whose brewing systems have helped joints like Oakshire test recipes, Synergy builds stainless steel "all-grain" home set-ups (allowing far more control over suds by avoiding pre-made malt syrup extract) which're essentially 1/32nd scale microbreweries, meaning falling down the stairs is no longer the only way to get a little Amnesia at home. Synergy suggests beginners start with their two-tiered 15gal jam that includes a 5'x4' tall stand sporting two burners to heat and hold unfinished beer, a boil kettle to add hop goodness, and an elevated mash tun which pulls sugar from grain to create the beer base, all outfitted with thermometers, valves, and unique high-heat silicon tubing that's medical-grade, something anyone who's devoting their free time to making beer probably didn't get. For porter pros and lager legends, Synergy offers upgrades like another burner for added control over the beer's sugar quantity, a pump and counterflow wort chiller to cool the brew down quickly so the yeast can chow and make alcohol, and even fermentors retrofitted from standard beer kegs, which allow for harvesting of yeast so you can develop your own strain, and prove you're an innovative and funghi.

Because you need a place to put your beer and the flatscreen you'll watch while drinking it, Synergy also custom builds brushed stainless furniture like coffee tables and entertainment centers, which Lester would totally miniaturize if Shardene hadn't already made his joint a dollhouse.