Bottling is my least favorite part of the homebrewing process. Last week, Cheryl helped me bottle the Cherry Wheat I started in June. It took us about 3 hours to clean, sanitize, fill and cap the 50 bottles, and then clean and stow the equipment. It's time consuming and a lot of work. Fortunately, there's an alternative: kegging.

In order to get the most out of kegging, I'll need a kegerator. I was considering a compact refrigerator conversion project (like this), but I'm hesitant to drill big holes in a brand new appliance. While doing some research, I came across a better [for me, at least] plan: the chest freezer kegerator. It's simple, practical, and completely reversible.

After shopping around a bit, I settled on an 8.9 cubic foot Whirlpool freezer (EHL090FXRQ). It's the perfect size for 5 cornelius kegs and a 5 pound CO2 tank (on the compressor hump). It weighs about 90 pounds, and has a fairly small footprint. I'm planning on putting it on casters so I can roll it around the basement.

Yesterday I acquired the freezer, a thermostat, kegerator conversion kit and a pair of corny kegs. Today, I'm heading back to Lowe's for some lumber and miscellaneous hardware, stain and some roundover bits for my new router.

I'll post pictures as the project progresses.

(photo: stevem_nyvi)

Well I came to cask ale the same way I came to Gatsby.  Somewhat reluctantly.  I thought the first few pints were too warm.  I thought the next few were under carbonated.  It didn't make sense to me,  I thought it was an outdated, nonsensical, and gimmicky way of serving beer, meant only for the likes of people like the late great Michael Jackson and Charlie Papazian.  I thought it was boring.  But then it happened.  My Gatsby for cask ale was a pint of Avery Brewing Company's IPA, served on cask, through a beer engine.  It was a life altering experience.  Hop aromas presented themselves in a way they never had before.  Malt flavors lingered just a little bit longer.  The drink-ability was amazing (i realized this during my third pint).  It took an American IPA, heavily hopped, bursting with citrusy American hop aromas, to turn me towards this traditional method of conditioning and serving beer.  (Historically, the majority of cask ale would be found in England, and the beer pouring from the engine or faucet would be an English ale of some sort).    I was hooked on Real Ale. 

Coming up in the next post, Cask Ale Part II:  What Exactly is Cask Ale and Where is it Going in America?

Pada rangkaian ini mengunakan transistor low noise BC549 dan pada kaki emitor di beri filter berupa kondensator elektrolit selain itu mempunyai umpan balik yang berasal dari kaki emiter Transistor yg ke dua menuju basis pada Transistor yang pertama sehingga akan dihasilkan suara yang tidak cacat/distorsi. Adapun tanggap gain vs frekuensi serta fase vs frekuensi dapat dilihat gambar dibawah ini

pada kurva gain vs frekuensi terlihat adanya penguatan yg tetap pada pergeseran rekuensi dari 10 Hz s/d 100 Khz, artinya fungsi umpan balik berjalan dengan baik dan respon frekuensi terhadap gain dapat disimpulkan bahwa dengan naiknya frekuensi tidak mempengaruhi gain yang dihasilkan.

Pada grafik Frekuensi Vs Noise terlihat puncak noise hanya pada frekuensi 100 Khz artinya pada frekuensi suara kita noise sangat rendah.

Selamat Mencoba,..!!

]]> http://pramonojgj.wordpress.com/?p=70 Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:18:40 +0000 pramonojgj http://pramonojgj.wordpress.com/?p=70 Buat teman2x pecinta audio processing,...mungkin rangkaian ini adalah sebuah rangkaian asesoris tambahan yang dapat membuat kualitas suara seperti mengombak. Kebetulan saya mendapatkan rangkaian ini dari sebuah situs di internet.

Pada rangkaian diatas dapat kita lihat adanya mixing audio dengan sinyal yang dihasilkan oleh oscilator, sehinga diharapkan suara yang di masukkan ke dalam rangkaian ini mengikusi gelombang sinus yang dihasilkan oleh oscilator. Kecepatan waktu sapu dan tingginya amplitudo (Intinya mengatur frek. osilasi) dapat diatur sesuai dengan kebutuhan

Pada rangkaian ini oscilator yang tadinya menggunakan transistor diubah menjadi rangkaian IC 555, yang pada dasarnya juga sebagai pembangkit osilasi. Untuk membuat modul pasangan  LED - LDR dapat dilihat gambar dibawah ini

Dapat kita gunakan shrink cable untuk membungkus keduanya, atau coba digantikan/dieksperimenkan menggunakan optocoupler

Mudah2xan bermanfaat buat teman2x semua

Wassalam

I'll post some pictures soon of my new 5-gallon batches (the photos in the earlier post are of my 3-gallon system). About the tip, I'm not sure why, but I still got dough-balls using your method. I ended up having to very slowly pour in the grist, while constantly stirring, to prevent them. Perhaps I have a finer grind, and the substantial amounts of flour make dough-balls an inevitability. On balance, I think this was easier than adding the water to the grist though, so I will continue to do it this way.

Changing gears, I want to quickly describe an experience I've gone through home-brewing, hopefully it will add to the general level of knowledge about homebrewing (i.e. others avoid my mistakes!).

I live in Toronto, and rather bizzarely for a large city with an active beer culture, there are no home-brew shops. There are one or two brew-on-premises places that sometimes sell a bit of extra grain or hops, and maybe a place way out in the hinterlands of Brampton (not an great option for the car-less, or car owners for that matter - it is a substantial trip of unproven utility). But otherwise homebrewers are limited to mail-order, or banding together to buy wholesale via a very helpful local microbrewery.

In short, getting malt is a real hassle. To stretch my malt, I use whole wheat flour as an adjunct - usually equal in wieght to about 1/3 of my base malt. As well, I found an Italian coffee substitute called Orzo that is simply roasted barley (kind of like black patent?), and a Korean 'tea' made from lightly roasted barley grain (SRM of around 65?). Unfortunately, I ran out of Orzo, and kept forgetting to go up to Corso Italia on St. Clair Ave to buy some more - realizing this only after I had already started a brew session. So in a pinch I just used ground coffee. Yup, just dumped about 100 g of it into my mash.

The results? Well, regular roast coffee has less darkening power than I would have thought - maybe around 250 or 300. And I believe it adds an acrid taste to the finished beer. Perhaps if I had added brewed coffee, rather than the actual grounds, I could have avoided this - but that would have involve a bunch of new variables, so I never did that (not realizing that it would end up tasting weird). The other unknown is the flavour effect of the Korean tea barley. I made a little trial batch with a bit of pale malt and the tea barley - didn't taste great, but I did end up boiling off most of the water, and had to keep adding more to maintain a boil.

In the end, I was able to get a selection of malts including Carafa from Justin. So in my last batch I did not use either coffee or the tea barley - I may never know which the acrid taste actually came from.

MAWSTOOLBOX.COM

There's also a LearnHub "course": Jumpstart Your Online Teaching Career.

Some notes, on my own thinking about monetization of expertise. Still draft-like, but RERO is my battle cry.

Some obstacles to my selling expertise:

• My "oral personality."
• The position on open/free knowledge in academia and elsewhere.
• My emphasis on friendship and personal rapport.
• My abilities as an employee instead of a "boss."
• Difficulty in assessing the value of my expertise.
• The fact that other people have the same expertise that I think I have.
• High stakes (though this can be decreased, in some contexts).
• My distaste for competition/competitiveness.
• Difficulty at selling and advertising myself (despite my social capital).
• Being a creative generalist instead of a specialist.

Despite all these obstacles, I have been thinking about selling my services online.

One reason is that I really do enjoy teaching. As I keep saying, teaching is my hobby (when I get paid, it's to learn how to interact with other learners and to set up learning contexts).

In fact, I enjoy almost everything in teaching (the major exception being grading/evaluating). From holding office hours and lecturing to facilitating discussions and answering questions through email. Teaching, for me, is deeply satisfying and I think that learning situations which imply the role of a teacher still make a lot of sense. I also like more informal learning situations and I even try to make my courses more similar to informal teaching. But I still find specific value in a "teaching and learning" system.

Some people seem to assume that teaching a course is the same thing as "selling expertise." My perspective on learning revolves to a large extent on the difference between teaching and "selling expertise." One part is that I find a difference between selling a product or process and getting paid in a broader transaction which does involve exchange about knowledge but which isn't restricted to that exchange. Another part is that I don't see teachers as specialists imparting their wisdom to eager masses. I see knowledge as being constructed in diverse situations, including formal and informal learning. Expertise is often an obstacle in the kind of teaching I'm interested in!

Funnily enough, I don't tend to think of expertise as something that is easily measurable or transmissible. Those who study expertise have ways to assess something which is related to "being an expert," especially in the case of observable skills (many of those are about "playing," actually: chess, baseball, piano...). My personal perspective on expertise tends to be broader, more fluid. Similar to experience, but with more of a conscious approach to learning.

There also seems to be a major difference between "breadth of expertise" and "topics you can teach." You don't necessarily need to be very efficient at some task to help someone learn to do it. In fact, in some cases, being proficient in a domain is an obstacle to teaching in that domain, since expertise is so ingrained as to be very difficult to retrieve consciously.

This is close to "do what I say, not what I do." I even think that it can be quite effective to actually instruct people without direct experience of these instructions. Similar to consulting, actually. Some people easily disagree with this point and some people tease teachers about "doing vs. teaching." But we teachers do have a number of ways to respond, some of them snarkier than others. And though I disagree with several parts of his attitude, I quite like this short monologue by Taylor Mali about What Teachers Make.

Another reason I might "sell my expertise" is that I genuinely enjoy sharing my expertise. I usually provide it for free, but I can possibly relate to the value argument. I don't feel so tied to social systems based on market economy (socialist, capitalist, communist...) but I have to make do.

Another link to "selling expertise" is more disciplinary. As an ethnographer, I enjoy being a "cultural translator." of sorts. And, in some cases, my expertise in some domains is more of a translation from specialized speech into laypeople's terms. I'm actually not very efficient at translating utterances from one language to another. But my habit of navigating between different "worlds" makes it possible for me to bridge gaps, cross bridges, serve as mediator, explain something fairly "esoteric" to an outsider. Close to popularization.

So, I've been thinking about what can be paid in such contexts which give prominence to expertise. Tutoring, homework help, consulting, coaching, advice, recommendation, writing, communicating, producing content...

And, finally, I've been thinking about my domains of expertise. As a "Jack of All Trades," I can list a lot of those. My level of expertise varies greatly between them and I'm clearly a "Master of None." In fact, some of them are merely from personal experience or even anecdotal evidence. Some are skills I've been told I have. But I'd still feel comfortable helping others with all of them.

I'm funny that way.

Domains of  Expertise

French

• Conversation
• Reading
• Writing
• Culture
• Literature
• Regional diversity
• Chanson appreciation

Bamanan (Bambara)

• Greetings
• Conversation

Social sciences

• Ethnographic disciplines
• Ethnographic field research
• Cultural anthropology
• Linguistic anthropology
• Symbolic anthropology
• Ethnomusicology
• Folkloristics

Semiotics

Language studies

• Language description
• Social dimensions of language
• Language change
• Field methods

Education

• Critical thinking
• Lifelong learning
• Higher education
• Graduate school
• Graduate advising
• Academia
• Humanities
• Social sciences
• Engaging students
• Getting students to talk
• Online teaching
• Online tools for teaching

Course Management Systems (Learning Management Systems)

• Oncourse
• Sakai
• WebCT
• Blackboard
• Moodle

Social networks

• Network ethnography
• Network analysis
• Influence management

Web platforms

• Facebook
• MySpace
• Ning
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Jaiku
• YouTube
• Flickr

Music

• Cultural dimensions of music
• Social dimensions of music
• Musicking
• Musical diversity
• Musical exploration
• Classical saxophone
• Basic music theory
• Musical acoustics
• Globalisation
• Business models for music
• Sound analysis
• Sound recording

Beer

• Homebrewing
• Brewing techniques
• Recipe formulation
• Finding ingredients
• Appreciation
• Craft beer culture
• Brewing trends
• Beer styles
• Brewing software

Coffee

• Homeroasting
• Moka pot brewing
• Espresso appreciation
• Coffee fundamentals
• Global coffee trade

Social media

Blogging

• Diverse uses of blogging
• Writing tricks
• Workflow
• Blogging platforms

Podcasts

• Advantages of podcasts
• Podcasts in teaching
• Filming
• Finding podcasts
• Embedding content

Technology

• Trends
• Geek culture
• Equipment
• Beta testing
• Troubleshooting Mac OS X

Online Life

Communities

• Mailing-lists
• Generating discussions
• Entering communities
• Building a sense of community
• Diverse types of communities
• Community dynamics
• Online communities

Food

• Enjoying food
• Cooking
• Baking
• Vinaigrette
• Pizza dough
• Bread

Places

• Montreal, Qc
• Lausanne, VD
• Bamako, ML
• Bloomington, IN
• Moncton, NB
• Austin, TX
• South Bend, IN
• Fredericton, NB
• Northampton, MA

Pedestrianism

• Carfree living
• Public transportation
• Pedestrian-friendly places

Tools I Use

• PDAs
• iPod
• iTunes
• WordPress.com
• Skype
• Del.icio.us
• Diigo
• Blogger (Blogspot)
• Mac OS X
• Firefox
• Flock
• Internet Explorer
• Safari
• Gmail
• Google Calendar
• Google Maps
• Zotero
• Endnote
• RefWorks
• Zoho Show
• Wikipedia
• iPod touch
• SMS
• Outlining
• PowerPoint
• Slideshare
• Praat
• Audacity
• Nero Express
• Productivity software

Effective Web searches

Socialization

• Social capital
• Entering the field
• Creating rapport
• Event participation
• Event hosting

Computer Use

• Note-taking
• Working with RSS feeds
• Basic programing concepts
• Data manipulations

Research Methods

• Open-ended interviewing
• Qualitative data analysis

Personal

• Hedonism
• Public speaking
• GERD
• Strabismus
• Moving
• Cultural awareness

In response to the following passage from the beerandnothingness blog:

I was ready to punch him in the fuckin’ throat. At the very least, I thought I was destined to make a scene at the house of my long time family friends. I could see myself saying something along the lines of: “are you an absolute fucking idiot?

Bob Skilnik wrote:

When’s your 10th birthday?

It’s only beer, for Christ sake.

I actually think Bob was right about the sophmoric and juevinile phrase about punching my family friend in the throat.  I was merely trying to express my frustration at a beer loving chef's innability to see beer as a viable participant at the dinner table.  And I missed the mark.  I've edited the post in response. 

But I do disagree with Bob on the only other thing he said.  "It's only beer, for Christ sake."   I stand by my tendency in all my posts to take beer seriously.  I don't think I even need to justify myself here.  Obviously, I'd never hurt anyone over beer, but I do think it's an extremely important part of many people's lives (particularly those who derive their lively hood from it). 

In the end, what I'm most confused about is the fact that Bob has written at least 2 books about beer, written articles about beer, been interviewed about beer countless times, yet still can say something like "It's only beer, for Christ sake."  (I'm assuming he picked up on the fact that I didn't really want to punch my friend in the throat, call him an idiot, and then box his ears, but rather was making a point about my frustration (rather unsuccessfully, as I've already admitted to above)).   I'm assuming he meant that I should get over my frustration that a majority of the professional culinary world doesn't want to see beer paired with good food on any sort of regular basis.  That's probably not going to happen regardless of what Bob says.

So here it is, the updated post.  The edited part makes up the enirety of the second paragraph.  And i know "it's just beer, for Christ sake," but i did feel like boxing his ears, so I left that part in. 

A couple of years ago I was back in the town I grew up in, visiting with some old family friends.  We were drinking.  Heavily.  Mostly beer.  And mostly good beer.  They were well aware that I worked at craft brewery and in fact, actually liked good beer themselves, so they made sure their fridge was full of local craft beer.  There was a bunch of beer from the Great Lakes Brewing Company, a brewery that's been making great beer in the Midwest for years.  One the sons of this family had graduated from culinary school a year ago, and was now working as a chef.  He seemed to be the most passionate about the beers we were drinking, even commenting on flavor profiles and aromas.  This was exciting for me.  Here was a trained chef who truly appreciated quality beer.  It seemed that he even took it seriously.  In other words, he didn't just drink beer because it was his preferred method of inebriation.  It seemed as though he drank craft beer because he appreciated the work and attention that went into making that beer.  It appeared as though he found depth and beauty in the aromas and flavors that can be found in well made beer.  For all I know, maybe he did.  But I stopped paying attention to him shortly thereafter.  What could possibly cause this change of attitude in me?  I'll tell you what.  I asked him if he ever thought about doing beer dinners at the restaurant he was currently working at, and he actually laughed at the suggestion.  His reply was something along the lines of "no, no. I like beer.  But good food should be paired with wine." 

I was upset.  I thought I was destined to make a scene at the house of my long time family friends.  I could see myself saying something along the lines of: "Seriously?  How, after tasting all the beer that you have, could you totally disregard the possibility of beer complimenting good food, or more importantly, good food complementing good beer"?   After I quelled my desire to box his ears, I replied with a casual "Well, to each their own."  I couldn't cause a scene here.  Plus, I knew this guy, and i knew he wouldn't last long in any particular career.  He wouldn't be around long enough to spread his nonsensical disregard for the wonderful marriage of food and beer. 

One of my biggest pet peeves is the fact that alot of people who are really into food (aka foodies and chefs), do not take beer seriously.  It's not that they won't drink it, or they don't appreciate it, but many of them would never think about pairing it with their favorite meal.  They've acquired and come to embrace an archaic and naive culinary ideology which prevents them from even considering beer as a pairing option with anything other than buffalo wings and burgers.  In my opinion, it's purely ideological. 

I can only hope that eventually, someone influential in the culinary world will realize how versitile and compatible beer is when it comes to pairing it with food.

You know the feeling: acute pain, agonizing disappointment, and sudden loss followed by excitement, elation and a smile stretched from ear to ear.

It's triggered by that pssshhhh sound of a keg that's just kicked. Aaarrrggghh!!! That beer is gone. The sweat of my brow measured finite. History recorded. Poo!

But then...Yipeee! I've got a new keg ready to go! Out with the porter; in with the dubbel! How exciting! I've been dying to get this beer on! My brow sweated for this one, as well.

You know you've felt it, and there are worse afflictions to have than Bi-polar Brewer. It happens with draft system owners more than bottlers. When you have bottles running low, you know when you get to the last one. You've seen it coming. You know it when you pick up the last. Popping the cap doesn't cause a cry of pain, just a matter-of-fact well, here's the last one.

Even though you can lift that keg to gauge your stock, and you know it's low, it's still a surprise when that keg kicks. Sorta like when a loved one dies after battling an illness. You know it's coming, but still, when they pass, the reality of it is shocking. Now, I don't mean to say that a keg running dry is akin to the death of a friend or family member. Just take the flippin' metaphor for what it is.

There is, of course, a time for everything. And we're now talking a time for change: I've been driving through my Bramling Cross Porter for quite some time, and now it's time for my Ceremony Abbey Ale. I don't think I've every really talked about this porter, so in remembrance, I should mention that this was not my Number One Porter recipe. I stumbled across some Bramling Cross hops a while back, and snatched them up knowing that I'd wanted to try them since reading a description that mentioned lemony and black currant notes. Though I'd looked variously over the years, I didn't find them easy to track down.

So I hopped this porter (which is what I was thirsty for, and was scheduled to brew) more than I normally do to push the hop profile enough to peak through this otherwise roast-leaning beer. I can't say as I noticed black currant, but I could see a lemony character peaking through, an interesting nuance to this beer. But not the porter I want to drink every day.

Kinda like when you have an employee that's a good worker, but a pain in the ass to deal with. Maybe they talk too much or don't shower everyday. But they're really good at their job. And finally, they move on. You know you have to replace them, but you're glad about it. That's the reality of how I feel about this dead soldier.

Will I use these hops again? Yes, in a different beer.

For now, rest in peace, Bramling Cross Porter. I need your keg for my Jennings Farm Mild a little later today. While I sip on Ceremony.

If you're never visitied Beer Advocate or Rate Beer, you should check them out.  I don't have time to list all of the benefits of the two sites right now, but with the countless beer reviews and ratings, educational articles, and forums, you're bound to find something worth while if you're into beer at all.

Why all emphatic, Wilson? Pfiff!, this month's host, speaks to me on this one. To me.

This just happens to be Dark Beer Summer. I decided a few months back that I simply wasn't going to drink lighter beers just because it was hot. Just because you're supposed to. I love a good light beer, but this year, I just decided to stick with the Dark Side.

Now, Wilson, aren't you being a little like those one-dimensional hopheads? you might be thinking. No. Stylistically, I'll be all over the place.

The "rules" basically have me drinking darkish beer. Brewing dark beer. Condoning dark beer. I've already broken the first rule. So I had to consider more rules. My brother Joe showed up with a sixer of Franziskaner Weissbier the other day, and I drank some. I caveat myself on this one on the fact that I didn't buy it.

Rules are made to be broken, after all. Like the one I'm breaking by doing this Dark Beer Summer Project.

So like the "Joe bought it" situation, I'm sure there'll some light stuff creep into my system. Can I pass up a double wit if I stumble across one at a festival? Hell, no. That one will be in the I Drank It At A Festival Category of excuses.

I refuse to be obnoxious about it. If I were, I'd be setting some kind of SRM barrier. If I were to draw a line in the sand, where would it be? I'd accept your comments on the matter. What is light? What is dark? What is the meaning of Life? Before I launched this Project, I'd been planning on brewing my Merckx Belgian Pale Ale, and possibly a saison. Then I thought, oh, they're too light, and maybe they should be the lines in the sand. I haven't brewed them yet, and I haven't ruled them out. Good old Kyle brewed a saison; am I allowed to drink it? I think yes, under the Kyle Brewed It Clause. Thank goodness, because I already have.

So, what do I have planned? I've got a porter on tap, along with a Belgian dubbel, half of which I "doubled-barrelled" with oak soaked in Cabernet Sauvignon and Southern Comfort . I just bottled my much-anticipated Sanctuary, my first go at a Flanders Red. I just brewed a dark mild, which I can't wait to try. The fact is a little time will pass before I brew again, so when will the old ale, wee heavy, Baltic porter and Russian Imperial stout and milk stout arrive? I do not know.

It is possible that by that time, autumn will be approaching, and I'll be ready to get back to the rule following of the Days of Cooler Weather (i.e: dark beers!). However, I won't be following the subset of rules about pumpkin beers. I'm not a very good sheep.

The long and short of it is this: I'll mostly be drinking dark beer this summer. Join me, won't you?

__________

Big thanks to Rob at Pfiff! for hosting.

Ingredients:
6 lbs Munton's Extra Light Malt

3 lbs Munton's Light Malt

1 lbs Crystal Grain 20L

0.5 lbs Crystal Grain 60L

0.5 lbs Vienna Grain

1 oz German Perle Hops

1 oz Tatthanger Hops

8 oz Malto Dextrin

1 tsp Irish Moss

German Ale/Kolsh Yeast


Phase 1: Steeping Grains & Boiling Wort

One pound of American Crystal 20L, a half pound of American Crystal 60L and a half pound of German Vienna were added to a hop bag and allowed to steep in three gallons of water that was between 154-160 degrees F for 20-30 minutes. This produced a nice slightly dark wort. Brought the 3 gallons to a boil (which took a long time on the stove top) and added Extra Light Malt, Light Malt and Malto Dextrin. Also added the German Perle hops (7.0% AA) to the beginning of the boil. Allowed the wort to boil for an hour. Added 1 tsp of Irish Moss with 15 minutes left in boil. Added 1 oz Tettnanger hops (4.7% AA) with five minutes left in the boil to add aroma. These hops smelled fantastic and they were whole hops instead of hop pellets which I normally use.


Phase 2: Primary Fermentation

Strained wort (because of the whole hops) into the primary fermentor bucket. Added about 10 lbs of ice and 1 gallon of cold water to the bucket to chill the wort down and bring total gallons to about 5.5 gallons. Original gravity of wort was 1.083 @ 70 degrees F. Bitterness should be around 27 IBU. Will ferment beer in primary for at least two weeks before moving to a secondary fermentor. We are already five days into the primary fermentation and yeast activity is still quite lively with the air lock bubbling once every couple seconds.


Phase 3: Secondary Fermentation

Transferred brew from primary fermentor bucket to secondary fermentor glass carboy after 13 days. Bubbling had slowed done to once every 30 seconds or so. Will continue to ferment in secondary for an additional 2-4 weeks. Mostly will bottle first or second week in August so that it can be enjoyed mid-September.

Recipe (makes 1 imperial gallon):

• ~10oz light dry malt extract
• 8oz British Crystal malt (steeped)
• 0.5oz Chocolate malt
• 10grams Fuggles hops (30mins)
• 5grams Fuggles hops (5 mins)

Grain was steeped as the water was heated, then removed as boiling point approached. DME was then added and boiling begins. Hops were added at the time intervals mentioned (total boil time was 60 mins).

The wort was then cooled to about 30 degrees C, and then poured into the glass demi-john. When it was cool enough (~ 20 deg. C) the yeast was added (Windsor dry). I had a blow-off hose on the fermenter at first as the activity was vigorous for the first 24 hours or so. I have now replaced this with a standard airlock. Check out the photos of the fermentation action below.

Now a close up of the lovely, yeasty bubbles...

I'll bottle this at the weekend. Now, I must order some more ingredients.

Cheers ;-)

And to the left was today's dinner.  In the past, we have gone out to dinner on Fridays, but several rarities this week (friend's b'day dinner, dinner at bowling alley) left me wanting to stay in for once.  To make sure we didn't give in and just go out, though, I had to make it good.  So, here we have Thai Chicken Soup and Goat Cheese Spring Rolls with Asian Pear Salsa, which was served with our newest homebrew, Zing! Copper Wheat.  (Also notice the Cooking Light in the background-- they should pay me for this!)  A few alterations to the above recipes-- no shrimp in the soup cause we're having shrimp later this week.  Also, for the Asian Pear Salsa-  that's supposed to be a salad, but I recommend food processing down to a salsa, and adding extra maple syrup and salt to taste.  Additionally, this was my first foray into egg rolls (I thought they wouldn't be good without frying), and something I'll definitely be doing again.  The delightful browning is the result of cooking spray and a hot oven.  Voila!

As per our nightly bedtime ritual, a Simpsons episode for me (I know...how spohisticated!) and some type of do-it-yourself book for Jon, this is his current text.  Beer Captured.  Generally we don't really communicate during this 15 to 30 minutes.  It is our unwind moment of the day.  But...just the other night Jon broke the silence and pushed his beer book in my face.  I could not believe what I was reading!  For every recipe there are a few smaller sections i.e. mini-mash method, all-grain method, helpful hints, and serving suggestions.  This particular beer Jon wanted to share was the Ommegang.  Please note the serving suggestions:

"Serve Ommegang in a gold rimmed chalice at 50 degrees F (10 degrees C) with Tunisian fish and pumpkin couscous, preserved lemon infused swiss chard, and garnished with toasted Pumpkin seeds."

FYI.  We will not be making this beer.  Jon broke our very last gold rimmed chalice Monday.  Bummer :)

My last post got me thinking about ways to get started without a trip to the homebrew supply shop. I came up with a recipe that uses readily-available ingredients and common household items. I'm still quite the novice, so if someone with more experience happens to read this, please share your comments.

MacGyver Mead (melomel, actually)

Procedure after the jump.

(It should go without saying that this recipe is for responsible use by persons of legal drinking age.)

First, drill a hole through one of the bottle caps. It should be barely big enough for your plastic tubing, which you'll feed through about 1/2 inch. This cap goes on the 2-liter bottle (our ferment chamber). It will need a tight seal (I added duct tape later).

Next, clean and sanitize everything that will come into contact with the must: the 2-liter bottle, both caps, the tubing and funnel. I used Star San, but household bleach (2 tsp per 1 gallon) is fine. This step is important. We want our bread yeast, not bacteria, to eat the honey.

Boil 1 pound of honey in 1 liter of water for 15 minutes, skimming off and discarding the foam. When you remove it from the heat, add 12 ounces of pineapple juice (I used pineapple-orange), and a few chopped raisins. (The raisins provide important nutrients for the yeast. Be sure to chop or otherwise break them open.)

Next, move the pot to an ice bath, and stir gently to cool to lukewarm (80 deg F or so). Be careful to avoid contamination. This is where your must is most vulnerable to infection.

Once it has cooled, use your funnel to transfer the must (raisins and all) to the 2-liter bottle. Top off the bottle to about 7/8ths with cool tap water. Screw on the un-drilled cap and shake vigorously for a few minutes. This adds oxygen, which is important for fermentation.

Next, add a teaspoon or two of bread yeast to 1/2 cup of lukewarm water, stir, and let it sit for 10-15 minutes to rehydrate. Then, add it to your 2-liter bottle. Congratulations. Your must is inoculated. (There's no need to mix in the yeast. Just let it do its thing.)

Finally, fill the 20 oz bottle half way with water, and strap it to the 2-liter with some rubber bands. Put the tube cap on the 2-liter bottle, and run the tube into the 20 oz bottle. You want the end to be well below the water line. This is your fermentation lock.

Now we wait.

It's best to keep it at 70 degrees, or perhaps a bit warmer. You'll probably want to put the whole thing in a bucket for the first few days, in case there's some blowoff overflow. After fermentation has begun, try not to disturb it too much. When transferring, siphon instead of pouring.

Mine was bubbling vigorously within an hour. In about a week, I'll siphon the mead into another sanitized bottle, where it will rest for a few months. Then I'll put it in glass beer bottles and hide it away for a few more months before tasting. I'll try to remember to report the results this winter.

(No more mead posts for awhile, I promise!)

On Sunday, I made my first foray into honey wine with a 1-gallon batch of Pineapple Melomel. I scaled down Papazian's Traditional Mead recipe and added an entire fresh pineapple (sliced). In hindsight, I probably should have left out the acid blend, since I was adding an acidic fruit. The pineapple was very sweet, though, so there's plenty of room for hope.

Up next is a 5-gallon batch of sparkling raspberry ginger mead.

Are you going to the National Homebrewers Conference? Me too! Seven Bridges is sponsoring the conference so I'll be staffing the booth most of the time - please stop on by and say hello. We'll have special deals on organic homebrew supplies, I'll be signing books, and we'll be taking registrations for the second annual National Organic Homebrew Challenge - the biggest organic homebrew contest in the world! Plus, we'll have a fresh home-roasted Fair Trade, organic coffee on tap.

Hope to see some Beer Activists there!

Well today is my first official Father's Day even though Missy and I did celebrate last year when Violet was still just a little bump in Missy's tummy.  As it turns out, babies are excellent alarm clocks--we wake up to ours almost every single day.  Today was no exception; if only I could find the snooze button...  Father's day is a pretty cool holiday.  So far I'm digging it, everyone treats you special and you don't get 'requested' to do nearly as many things throughout the day.  So far the only thing that I've been asked to do is take out the trash--not bad.  I did volunteer however to run to the store to buy milk so that M and I could eat our generic Captian Crunch -- with berries.  I also treated myself to some chocolate syrup for a nice, tall, cold glass of chocolate milk.  A fantastic breakfast.

Today we're planning to visit the Brockmann clan and spread the Fathers' Day spirit to that side of the family.  The fathers include my brothers Bobby and Slade and my Dad.  Bobby has a beautiful little girl, Sara that he takes excellent care of--he recently took her trout fishing and Sara was nicknamed "Sara the trout Slayer".  Between the two of them, its rumored, that there are no trout left in all of Rabun County.  Slade joined our family recently when he married my sister Sandy.  Slade's proved himself a very capable father and has made a tremendous mark on his family; Sandy's boys Tyler and Sam, have truly changed since Slade entered their lives.  Finally my dad celebrates Father's day again today.  Although he's had a bunch of them, 37 I think,  I hope that today is his best yet.  Dad's always there for his kids when they need him, and he never makes them feel guilty for asking for help--in fact, I'm not sure that he's ever told anyone that he's every helped me financially, though he certainly has.  I hope that when Violet's old enough to communicate in something other than Violetese that she'll feel that I'm as caring, compassionate, thoughtful, and kind as my dad is. 

This post would be sorely lacking if I neglected to write a bit about Doug and Dad Flanders.  Doug has been a dad now for about 5 years and takes great care of his little girl.  The two of them have been though quite a bit in the last several years, but they're still as close as ever.  On to Dad Flanders--though he has a bit of a gruff exterior and can be a bit grumpy at times, he's a great dad and has never made me uncomfortable  about being a part of his family.  He accepted me into his family with open arms and and has been more generous and kind that he has any reason to be.  When I needed a job, he gave me one.  When I told him I was interested in brewing my own beer, he let me sample some of his and then gave me all of his old brewing supplies.  When we told him that we were having a baby, though we were prepared for the worst, he seemed excited although I'm not sure that he was at first--you couldn't tell it now (just ask him about the "Purple Tree".

I hope that when all of the various Dads read this post, they smile and realize that they're all great dads.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DADS! 

I <3 Beer!
Originally uploaded by mrpbody33

I (and Hakeber) brewed some beer this weekend. More info on this later.

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The "Lo Five," which I left in the basement, is also showing clear signs of fermentation. Thick kräusen, frequent bubbles, yeast smell... As it's the first batch in which I use US-05 yeast, I didn't know what to expect. The smell is actually fairly similar to the S-04 but less assertive. The fact that I'm using this yeast for the first time is also a reason I couldn't attest to its fault tolerance. Judging from the smell, at least, I'd say that it's as "robust" as S-04 and Ringwood but that it might still make for a cleaner profile which doesn't hide small flaws really well.

My intention is to "drop" the fermenting beer away from the yeast pretty quickly on the "So Far" to intensify diacetyl. Can't find the reference, but some British brewery is still doing this, with special equipment. Maybe it's called "dumping" or "crashing." Racking the beer early, the yeast isn't able to "chew up" the diacetyl so more of it is left in the finished beer. Yeah, I know. Diacetyl isn't typical of mild ales. But I tend to like some level of diacetyl in British-style beers. In this case, if the beer is complex enough despite its low ABV, a bit of diacetyl could round off the finished beer.

As is often the case in homebrewing, I'm already thinking about other batches I might want to do. One could be a doubled-up version of "So Far" (twice the grainbill, maybe twice the hops). Another would be a light weizen, brewed with Lallemand's Munich strain.

It's too much fun.

So...

Generated a recipe for a Mild (11A) using BeerTools and posted it in their recipe library.

So Far (So Good)/Lo Five

That generated recipe is serving as the basis for two recipes I'm mashing right now (June 8, 2008). One, "So Far (So Good)," close to this generated one, is a single-step (infusion) mash with a simple grainbill, to be fermented with S-04 (so it's "British style"). The other ("Lo Five") is a multi-step mash with a more complex grainbill (added Carastan, Caramel 80, and chocolate). "Lo Five" is to be fermented with SS-05 (so it's something of an "American style").

I've copied the main details of this generated recipe in the standalone BeerTools Pro desktop application (version 1.5.9 beta, WinXP; also available on Mac OS X). I then tweaked that generated recipe a tiny bit to suit my needs for the "So Far."

Here's the version I used, before I started brewing:

I then cloned that recipe and tweaked it a bit more to get my "Lo Five" recipe. Here's the recipe I used before I started brewing:

On a whim (and because I just found out I had some), I switched the hops on the Lo Five to Crystal at 4.9% A.A. One half-ounce plug as first wort hopping, and another half-ounce pellet for the full boil. According to BeerTools Pro, t brings my bitterness level either below BJCP-sanctioned 10-25 IBUs for a Mild (11A) if I don't add the boil time (FWH isn't supposed to contribute much bitterness), or at two-thirds of the bitterness range if I add the full boil time.

The "brown malt" is actually some 6-row I roasted in a corn popper. The one in the "Lo Five" is darker (roasted longer) than the one in the "So Far."

I've been having a hard time with the temperature for the "So Far." I ended up doing a pseudo-decoction and adding some hot water to raise the temperature to something closer to even the low end of the optimal range for saccharification. This is the first batch I mash in a mashtun I got from friends in Austin. I used the strike temperature from the BeerTools Pro software (174F) but I hadn't set the "heat capacity" and "heat transfer coefficient." As I usually mash in my Bruheat, I rarely think about heat loss.

On the other hand, I largely overshot the strike temperature on the Lo Five. Two main reasons, AFAICT. One, the Bruheat I mashed the Lo Five in also served to preheat some sparge water, so it was still pretty hot. Second, the hot water from the sink was around 140F instead of 130F, as I had expected. In this case, overshooting the strike temperature wasn't very problematic. The idea was to do a kind of protein rest, but that's really not important, with the well-modified malts we all use.

Sparging the Lo Five's mash was a real treat. Very smooth flow from HLT to MT to vessel. Plus, the smell of the Crystal hops in the first runnings was just fabulous. Because I "recirculate" during the mash, with my Bruheat, I didn't have to recirculate, yet the runnings were quite clear. My sparge water was pretty much at the perfect temperature and I had just a bit extra sparge water (that I'm using in the So Far). I poured the liquid beneath the false bottom and it looked really nice. Rather clear and dark. After this, the grain bed was almost completely dry.

I did have to recirculate the So Far quite a bit. A good four litres, maybe even more. Still, it remains cloudier than most batches I've seen, possibly because some starches are remaining. I didn't check conversion but I mashed long enough that I was assuming it was enough. Still, with a very low mash temperature, I may have needed an even longer mash. Actually, the mash is much cloudier than the runnings, which eventually became relatively clear.

May need to heat a bit of sparge water. Stopping the sparge in the meantime. A bit like a late mashout, it may help convert some of the remaining starch.

Oops! Was waiting for the Lo Five to boil. Thought it was taking a long time. Usually, the Bruheat gets to boiling pretty quickly. Eventually noticed that the element wasn't running. The thermostat was still working (clicking sound when I reach the wort's temperature) but I wasn't hearing the sound of the element heating the wort. Unplugged the Bruheat, pressed the reset button, etc. Still wasn't working. Was getting ready to try the clothes dryer to see if there was electricity coming through when I noticed it was in fact the dryer that I had plugged back, not the Bruheat.

Ah, well...

Ok...

One thing I found interesting is that when the wort was cooling off instead of heating up, the hop aroma wasn't as pleasant as before. As the wort heated up, the pleasant profile from the Crystal came back as it was.

These are actually old hops, kept in a vacuum-sealed package. This specific package was a bit loose, as if the vacuum-seal hadn't worked. I expected the hops to smell old. But they smelled really nice and fresh. Their colour is a bit off, but I trust their smell more than their colour.

Eventually got a rolling boil. Because of FWH, I didn't skim the break material from the wort, which makes for a very different boil. In fact, when I added some of the runnings I had left on the side (to avoid a boilover), the effect was quite interesting.

Added back the rest of the runnings, waited to get a rolling boil again, then added the hops. Had to be careful not to get a boilover as the hops in the unskimmed wort created a lot of foam.

At the same time, I'm heating some sparge water for the So Far. Yes, once again. Guess I really under-evaluated how much sparge water I needed for this one. Strange.

It should be hot enough, now.

This time, I had let the top of the grain bed dry up a bit. This might not be so good. So I added enough water to cover the grain bed and I'll wait a bit before I resume running off.

Overall, I've been much less careful with the "So Far" than with the "Lo Five." My reasoning has to do with the fact that I perceive S-04 (Whitbread; PDF) to be a "stronger" yeast than the US-05 (PDF; aka US-56; the Sierra Nevada strain, apparently). For one thing, the optimal temperature range for the S-04 is somewhat higher than for the US-05: although Fermentis rates both at 15C to 24C, S-04 is known to sustain higher fermentation temperatures than most other strains (apart from some Belgian strains like Chouffe's yeast). The flavour profile from S-04 also tends to be more estery than for the US-05, so it can increase the complexity of the finished beer and even cover up some small flaws. Plus, "Mighty S-04" is one of those strains which can be (and has been) used in open fermentation and continually repitched. A bit like "famously robust" Ringwood yeast. So, unlike a lager strain, this is not a yeast strain that Peter McAuslan would likely call "wimpy." The "strength" of this strength is obvious in the fact that it ferments very vigorously and quickly.

Besides, I have a slurry of S-04 (graciously donated by a friend) and only a rehydrated pack of US-05. With more yeast comes a certain safety.

Another whim: I added a plug of Crystal to the "Lo Five" about two minutes before the end of boil. Shouldn't get any bitterness from this, may get some flavour and, quite likely, some nice hop aroma.

So I was somewhat careless with the "So Far." Conversely, I was rather careful with the "Lo Five." Not more than for the typical homebrew batch, but more than with the "So Far." At every step, I started with the "Lo Five" and let the "So Far" wait for its turn, when I wasn't too busy with the "Lo Five." For instance, I only started boiling the "So Far" when the "Lo Five" had been pitched. I didn't even rinse the Bruheat after transfering the "Lo Five," so the "So Far" started heating up with some hops from the "Lo Five."

What I expect as a difference between the two is that the "Lo Five" will be rather clean and crisp while the "So Far" will be a chewier and grainier beer with some fruit notes.

More specifically, I'd like the "Lo Five" to have a clearly delineated malt profile and a perceivable hoppiness. in both nose and flavour. Though I wasn't very specific about trying to emulate it, I guess my inspiration for that one was Three Floyds' Mild, as brewed for Legends of Notre Dame. That one was one of my favourite beers, from one of my favourite breweries, served at one of my favourites places. I don't think "Lo Five" will be anywhere as tasty as that beer, but I was probably aiming for that kind of profile.

Tasting the "Lo Five" wort once it was cool, I thought it was decidedly bitter. Given the fact that this beer may finish rather low, it might be unbalanced. Typically, unfermented wort is sweeter than the finished beer so I'm assuming the bitterness might intensify. What's somewhat sad is that a Mild can't really age so it's not like I'll be able to wait for the bitterness to smoothen out.

Ah, well... We'll see.

On the other hand, I seem to have overshot my OG. Not by much, and I probably had a reading error. Given how well the sparge went, it'd make sense that I overshot my efficiency (I usually get 75%-78%). But BeerTools Pro is giving me an efficiency of 92% which is pretty much not possible on a homebrew scale without pulverizing the grain (and leeching lots of tannins). At any rate, if the actual OG is higher than expected, it might balance the beer a bit.

...

Yes, clearly there's a problem with my thermometer.

Just finished cleaning up (2:36, June 9, 2008). When I took the OG on the "So Far," the wort was barely lukewarm yet the thermometer was indicating 120F. Using this temperature for hydrometer correction, the OG for the "So Far" would be exactly the same as that for the "Lo Five" (which seemed cooler). That would mean an efficiency of 83% which is not impossible but kind of high. In fact, the volume in the primary seems to be more than 5 gallons so the efficiency would go through the roof.

I did skip the Strisselspalt but the "So Far" was run through the hops from the "Lo Five" at knock-off. It was boiled about an hour, instead of 90 minutes.

My second 5-gallon batch is under way. I started with Things Beer's Williamston Wheat recipe, and added 7 pounds of frozen tart cherries following Papazian's procedure from his "Cherries in the Snow" recipe (p.216).

I broke my hydrometer tonight. I was a little careless while cleaning it, and the glass shattered in my hand. Oops.