Live post from the Baying Hound Aleworks. Trying the Abbey Ale, an 11% ABV. It’s very smooth, brewed with a touch of honey malt and a small amount of Cascade hops. It’s very good.
Off work today, and went to the thrift store to check out the vinyl. Six dollars later here’s my haul. Don’t judge me on the Leo Sayer; it reminded me of a conversation I had with my father in the car when a song from this album was out and on the radio. Also, a lot of great session musicians (Ray Parker, Chuck Rainey, Steve Gadd, Lee Ritenour, Larry Carlton) that made an impact in the 80’s and 90’s played on it. Lee Ritenour’s “Earth Run” LP is still in my top ten of all time.
I’ve been watching/listening to this video about Nick Drake while working on a web application development schedule at work. It’s a documentary/review of his music, and how his sparse catalog came about. Since this blog is supposed to be about singing with bad music software (it’s morphed into a beer/brewing blog lately) I’ll have to post an auto-tune of either “Northern Sky” or “Pink Moon” soon. I think when I get home tonight I’ll pick up my guitar and play “Northern Sky” though. What a great love song.
Almost two years to the day the Ravens and Patriots met in the playoffs, ending in a great victory for Baltimore. My wife, a true Patriots fan, and I made a bet on the game. I never did collect on the bet. In fairness to Janice, she was correct when she said that the payoff was no different then normal life with the exception of the concierge bell.
I’m not feeling to great about the match up this time. I hope the Ravens can play a perfect game and make it to the Super Bowl.
falling-stone asked: So my fellow brewer, did you know that your local Brew on Premises will likely give you (for FREE) a 20 gallon fermenter? I got mine from Frederick Maryland in a little place called the flying barrel. It is a converted malted barley container. Your local brew store probably has to pay to get rid of them and boy howdy do they make a nice fermenter.
When I was making extract beers I pulled many a bucket of malt from these at the Flying Barrel. Bob is a good guy. I haven’t been to their new location in downtown Frederick yet. I’ve been going to a store in Columbia because it’s a little more convenient, and the prices are a little better.
My stepson had his 27th birthday. He was in high school when I met his mother. I’m very proud of him. He decided to change his career, went back to school, and is going to teach mentally disabled children. He’ll be very good at it because he has empathy.
So I’ve begun thinking about kegging my beers. It’s become something of a necessity these days, mainly due to the fact that I am sick and tired of bottling each and every batch of my beer. Since beginning my all-grain brewing odyssey earlier this fall, the amount of beer leaving my brew kettle has…
Kegging is the way to go!
1) You don’t need to put the keg in a refrigerator, but it will take longer to carbonate and clear if you don’t. You could make a jockey box to serve cold beer from the warm keg.
2) I live in an expensive area of the country, but here is about what I remember spending.
- Refurbished and tested keg: $40
- Regulator: $75
- Ball locks (one for gas and liquid): $12
- Hose clamps: under $3
- Food grade hose and picnic tap: about $6
- 10 lb CO2 tank (from oxygen company): I think it was about $90. About $115 to 120 for the tank (which you will own) and the CO2.
3) Kegging is better. The beer will still age, but there is little chance for oxidation of your beer.
An alternative which will save you some money is to “bottle condition” your keg like you would when you bottle, and buy a Portable CO2 Corny Keg Charger for about $22 for dispensing beer from the keg.
Good luck. It’s worth the investment.
After following The Falling Blog and his mead making I decided to brew a one gallon batch of mead. I had everything in hand from my ale brewing except for the honey. I used champagne yeast that I always keep around in case of a stuck ale fermentation. I checked out The Falling Blog’s Instructable on mead brewing, as well as some other internet resources. I decided to make a simple mead with a half an orange, 12 raisons, and 2 2/3 pounds of honey.
I pasteurized the honey in a 1/2 gallon of water, added the oranges and raisons, topped off the water and added a yeast starter. I then shook it like crazy for 5 minutes. The airlock is bubbling as I type this. Now I just have to rack the mead every month for 3 to 4 months, then drop the yeast and let it age a little. I’ll probably just bottle the whole batch in a jug like my Grandfather used to do when he made wine. I don’t know if I’ll be able to wait 6 months to have it though!
About me
Using Songsmith from Microsoft to sing about daily events.....and to document Songsmith happenings.cigar box uke | hope and change
