Beer Diary...

As is the way with most homebrewers I am constantly trying to perfect my favorite recipes and Dry Stout is definitely one of my favorites. I have to say though, at this point I believe I have achieved perfection with this beer. I've brewed this in the past with flaked barley and a pinch of Carafa II but this version was brewed with simplicity in mind. I was trying to get the roasted grains to provide that coffee/chocolate flavor with a clean dry finish. Here is what I did this time around. Eff. 90% attenuation 80% abv 5.5% Ibu's 35 O.G. 1.050 F.G. 1.010 16 lbs 2-row .5 lbs Cry#40 .75 lbs chocolate .5 lbs roasted .25 lbs blk patent 60min mash with 5.5gal h2o at 154f. Boil for 60 min. with 1 tsp. MoreBeers Burton salts and 1 tsp. gypsum 60 min.  with 1.25 oz. chinook (11% aa) 20 min. with 1.5 oz. Saphir (4% aa) 10 min. with 1 oz. Saphir (4% aa) chill and oxygenate with o2 for 3 mins. Pitch salvaged US05 yeast (3rd generation) Ferment for 7 days at 70f. Kegged, forced car...

From the very first day that I took my initial tentative steps down the homebrewing path I've been cautioned repeatedly about the importance of sanitation. Whether it came from the opening chapters of brew books, leaders in the homebrewing association or from well intentioned homebrewers, the message has always been the same, " be very afraid of infection " . Sure, relax and don't worry except when it comes to sanitation. This fear runs deep in the homebrewing community and definitely deserves serious consideration especially if you're in the habit of producing spoiled beer, but I'm not that concerned about it and because of my take it with a pinch of salt  attitude, I feel that my enjoyment of the hobby is that much more satisfying. For the sake of all those just beginning their personal home brewing journey, I'm here to help take the edge off of your sanitation fears. I have discovered through the course of many years of homebrewing experienc...

Click on the link below to listen to the radio interview I did last week with Your California host Randy White. We discuss the origins of teaching homebrewing at Cabrillo College. He gets to the actual interview about five minutes into the show, be patient. I recommend using the Firefox browser as I couldn't get IE to work with the Quicktime player. Your California Radio Show

I came across this beer in the grocery store awhile back and only bought it because it was three years old (2007) at the time. I saw that it was 10% alcohol by volume and so made the assumption that it was still good and most likely even better with age. I considered saving it to share with good company at the right time but the bottle is only 11.2oz., clearly too small to share, so I poured myself a glass today to selfishly enjoy alone.  Another Belgian Ale  This beer is brewed in woesten-Vleteren, Belgium by DeStruise Brouwers and was originally meant as a tribute and thank you to the Danish beer lovers who supported their products. It is the same as another beer they brew called Pannepot; however, they use cane sugar instead of dark candi sugar along with different yeast strains, and some of the malts are different. It is brown in color, not as dense and uses different spices. So, not really the same at all. A pronounced alcohol presence comes across imm...

growing interest in home steading does that grow into small businesses around craft food and drink cheese, kraut, sausage, bread 2 new stores in s.c. are olive oil (with salt) and tea Mark - find websites for the ben lomond cheese supplies and the olive and tea places I'm making cheese because mark came in with some tasty cheese that wasn't aged

Having a homebrew usually takes the edge off of most of my worries and I've got a lot of worries. But there is one concern I have that is so large that it can't be reduced with a delicious home made malt beverage. I'm talking about the current financial crisis that looms menacingly just beyond the horizon making advancing strides to crush what's left of the American dream. Now, I don't harbor a lot of American dreams, just the right to brew my own beer and I'm getting this horrific feeling that the economy may impede my efforts to have my dream and drink it too. Every day I listen to the news of the economy and my mind jumps from the current fiscal meltdown to the inevitable related consequences which then leads me to fear this will end up limiting my access to homebrewing. For instance, the revolt in Libya leads to oil shortages which leads to increased costs of gas which means higher grain prices be...