This weekend I bottled the barleywine that I brewed so long ago. Let me give a short review of all that has happened with this beer:
1.) First thing to do was to dry hop with the last of the Cascade hops. I simply tossed the pellets into the fermenter (still primary at this point) and resealed the lid.
2.) After pitching the champagne yeast once the lock stopped bubbling, fermentation stuck at gravity 1.032.
3.) The first thing recommended to me by the LiveJournal homebrewing group was to try adding yeast nutrients and swirling the beer around a bit to oxygenate. No change in gravity.
4.) Several weeks pass with no change in gravity. I attempt to make a starter with a second pack of yeast, but my attempt is foiled when a fruit fly makes its way in and contaminates it! Bah!
5.) A few more weeks pass. I purchase a glass carboy and rack the beer onto to some oak chips within. Still no change in gravity.
6.) Several months pass to this weekend.
Well, I think I left the beer on the oak chips a little too long. Pre-primed tasting is ULTRAOAKY. I'm sure it will improve with some time in the bottle and some fizz. They always do.
Monday, November 30. 2009
Next Beer - Vanilla Bean Stout
Beer & Wine Hobby has a 70 dollar (!!!) bourbon cask vanilla bean stout kit. The most recent newsletter from Modern Homebrewing Emporium has instructions that I can put together on their website for $55. The vanilla beans are another 10 clams from JR Mushrooms and Specialties, but I want to do a vanilla bourbon infusion, too, so I need those beans! I will skip the bourbon soaked oak chips
Here is the plan (modified to suit my tastes and available hops):
- 1 lb crystal malt (90L)
- 1 lb Maris otter malt, since it sounds interesting
- 1/4 lb chocolate malt
- 1/4 lb black patent malt
- 1/8 lb roasted barley
- 6 lbs dark malt extract (dry)
- 1 oz Northern Brewer hops (kettle)
- 1 oz Chinook (aroma)
- White Labs WLP004
Ferment in primary for a week, then rack to secondary on top of four vanilla beans.
Rack to secondary? Uh oh, my brand new carboy is already full of barleywine! On the recommendation of the LiveJournal Homebrewing community, that will be sitting for a few months on some medium toast French oak chips.
CHEAPSKATE TIP: A paper bag from the supermarket is just as good for a 5-gallon carboy cover as it is for a book cover! Just cut a hole in the bottom of the bag for the fermentation lock to poke through.
Here is the plan (modified to suit my tastes and available hops):
- 1 lb crystal malt (90L)
- 1 lb Maris otter malt, since it sounds interesting
- 1/4 lb chocolate malt
- 1/4 lb black patent malt
- 1/8 lb roasted barley
- 6 lbs dark malt extract (dry)
- 1 oz Northern Brewer hops (kettle)
- 1 oz Chinook (aroma)
- White Labs WLP004
Ferment in primary for a week, then rack to secondary on top of four vanilla beans.
Rack to secondary? Uh oh, my brand new carboy is already full of barleywine! On the recommendation of the LiveJournal Homebrewing community, that will be sitting for a few months on some medium toast French oak chips.
CHEAPSKATE TIP: A paper bag from the supermarket is just as good for a 5-gallon carboy cover as it is for a book cover! Just cut a hole in the bottom of the bag for the fermentation lock to poke through.
Sunday, October 18. 2009
Beer and "wine" and tracks
Today was a big beer day. Last Saturday, I had added the second specified spice packet to the pumpkin ale I had brewed. In doing so, I racked it all into the bottling bucket, then got rid of all the yeast trub at the bottom. This made today's bottling experience much easier. No sediment at the bottom of the fermenter means less grit in the bottles! Altogether the yield was about 4.3 gallons into 26 nice big bottles. For the sake of consumer interest, the gravity on this when racking to secondary was 1.016 and just before priming and bottling was 1.014. Temperature corrected ABV is 5.1% and a 12 ounce bottle would have about 184 calories if I bottled in bottles that small.
Once bottling of the pumpkin ale was complete, I started the barleywine brew also mentioned in the above link. I slightly modified my plans to include steeping some bitter orange peel along with the grains. The OG for this is 1.082 at 75 degrees. Once primary fermentation is done, I am to pitch the champagne yeast right into that vessel, and then rack to secondary once THAT fermentation is finished. This brew could get up to 11% alcohol! Yow!
Last Friday I was on the radio. The auto-archiving on WZBC is now working. These links should function until October 30.
Hour 1: http://zbconline.com/wzbc-2009-10-16-22-00.m3u
Hour 2: http://zbconline.com/wzbc-2009-10-16-23-00.m3u
Hour 3: http://zbconline.com/wzbc-2009-10-17-00-00.m3u
Playlist below:
Continue reading "Beer and "wine" and tracks" »
Once bottling of the pumpkin ale was complete, I started the barleywine brew also mentioned in the above link. I slightly modified my plans to include steeping some bitter orange peel along with the grains. The OG for this is 1.082 at 75 degrees. Once primary fermentation is done, I am to pitch the champagne yeast right into that vessel, and then rack to secondary once THAT fermentation is finished. This brew could get up to 11% alcohol! Yow!
Last Friday I was on the radio. The auto-archiving on WZBC is now working. These links should function until October 30.
Hour 1: http://zbconline.com/wzbc-2009-10-16-22-00.m3u
Hour 2: http://zbconline.com/wzbc-2009-10-16-23-00.m3u
Hour 3: http://zbconline.com/wzbc-2009-10-17-00-00.m3u
Playlist below:
Continue reading "Beer and "wine" and tracks" »
Monday, October 5. 2009
Ale and pie
Some production and consumption notes:
Saturday I made a pumpkin ale. I have long wanted to make a clone of Souther Tier's Pumking, but I'm not ready for all-grain brewing yet, so instead I picked up a kit of the on-sale Harvest Feast Pumpkin Ale from Beer and Wine Hobby. This kit consisted of 6.6 pounds of malt extract, with a pound of flaked barley, half a pound of chocolate malt, 2 oz of Hallertau hops for bittering, a can of pumpkin puree for those of us without fresh pumpkin available, two packets of magical 'pumpkin spice', the usual priming sugar, and Irish moss for clarification. I opted for the dry yeast version of the kit as my fridge is full. As usual, I started things off by rehydrating the yeast using a stir plate. (Someday I may actually make a yeast starter the night before brew day.) Brewing was straightforward, but I did try a few new things for this batch! I sparged my grain bag with hot water instead of squeezing it, making the total boil volume just shy of four gallons. I actually strained out the hop and protein residue before adding to the fermenter; hopefully this results in less useless sediment at the bottom and more clear beer to drink! The kit instructions said that the gravity of the wort should have been 1.042. In reality, it was 10 points higher, 1.052 after temperature correction! I can't imagine what may have happened. This brew also calls for racking to secondary and adding a second sachet of pumpkin spices. I don't have a glass carboy, so I will have to rack to my bottling bucket and then back into my primary fermenter just as I did with my chocolate stout.
The brewing store was busy, and I think they may have given me a yeast that was not quite intended for this beer. They handed me a packet of Safbrew T-58 yeast which is what I used for my "Belgian" honey amber ale. This yeast generates spicy and fruity flavors all its own, so this may be a really weird ale!
My next beer project will be a barleywine based on Death by Barleywine. I bought 10 pounds of dried amber malt extract; a pound of crystal malt and half a pound each of chocolate malt and roasted barley; 1 ounce of Nugget hops for bittering and 3 ounces of Cascade: one for aroma, one for flavor, and one for dry-hopping; a packet of Pasteur champagne yeast to take over once the Safale S04 dies off; and French oak chips for aging. The oak chips take about 6 weeks to fully infuse, at which point I will bottle and let that stuff sit until the bleak midwinter. Mmm.
We also roasted a chicken Saturday night. It was a kosher chicken and that made a serious difference. Moist and juicy! I attempted to make a nice chicken gravy with the drippings, but we were too hungry to wait for it to boil down!
Sunday I attempted to make a Steak and Ale pie with the last of my Park Ave Porter Plus . It was tasty, but the crust didn't puff up as puff pastry is supposed to! It just got warm and stayed mushy. Bummer :(
Oh, and today while on a stop at the liquor store to get a single bottle of wine, I picked up Sam Adams Imperial Series Stout and Double Bock, a bottle of Troegenator, a Stone Vertical Epic 09.09.09, and a Red Hook Tripel. I hate having a semi-decent beer store right on my walk home from the train.
Saturday I made a pumpkin ale. I have long wanted to make a clone of Souther Tier's Pumking, but I'm not ready for all-grain brewing yet, so instead I picked up a kit of the on-sale Harvest Feast Pumpkin Ale from Beer and Wine Hobby. This kit consisted of 6.6 pounds of malt extract, with a pound of flaked barley, half a pound of chocolate malt, 2 oz of Hallertau hops for bittering, a can of pumpkin puree for those of us without fresh pumpkin available, two packets of magical 'pumpkin spice', the usual priming sugar, and Irish moss for clarification. I opted for the dry yeast version of the kit as my fridge is full. As usual, I started things off by rehydrating the yeast using a stir plate. (Someday I may actually make a yeast starter the night before brew day.) Brewing was straightforward, but I did try a few new things for this batch! I sparged my grain bag with hot water instead of squeezing it, making the total boil volume just shy of four gallons. I actually strained out the hop and protein residue before adding to the fermenter; hopefully this results in less useless sediment at the bottom and more clear beer to drink! The kit instructions said that the gravity of the wort should have been 1.042. In reality, it was 10 points higher, 1.052 after temperature correction! I can't imagine what may have happened. This brew also calls for racking to secondary and adding a second sachet of pumpkin spices. I don't have a glass carboy, so I will have to rack to my bottling bucket and then back into my primary fermenter just as I did with my chocolate stout.
The brewing store was busy, and I think they may have given me a yeast that was not quite intended for this beer. They handed me a packet of Safbrew T-58 yeast which is what I used for my "Belgian" honey amber ale. This yeast generates spicy and fruity flavors all its own, so this may be a really weird ale!
My next beer project will be a barleywine based on Death by Barleywine. I bought 10 pounds of dried amber malt extract; a pound of crystal malt and half a pound each of chocolate malt and roasted barley; 1 ounce of Nugget hops for bittering and 3 ounces of Cascade: one for aroma, one for flavor, and one for dry-hopping; a packet of Pasteur champagne yeast to take over once the Safale S04 dies off; and French oak chips for aging. The oak chips take about 6 weeks to fully infuse, at which point I will bottle and let that stuff sit until the bleak midwinter. Mmm.
We also roasted a chicken Saturday night. It was a kosher chicken and that made a serious difference. Moist and juicy! I attempted to make a nice chicken gravy with the drippings, but we were too hungry to wait for it to boil down!
Sunday I attempted to make a Steak and Ale pie with the last of my Park Ave Porter Plus . It was tasty, but the crust didn't puff up as puff pastry is supposed to! It just got warm and stayed mushy. Bummer :(
Oh, and today while on a stop at the liquor store to get a single bottle of wine, I picked up Sam Adams Imperial Series Stout and Double Bock, a bottle of Troegenator, a Stone Vertical Epic 09.09.09, and a Red Hook Tripel. I hate having a semi-decent beer store right on my walk home from the train.
Friday, September 4. 2009
Project Progress
fs1rgen
I have mostly completed the XML document that describes the FS1r data model, at least enough to start writing code to parse it. Because spending 30 minutes at a time reading Xerces-C is almost useless, I have abstracted away the XML parser so that I can write a Xerces-C driver later and a RapidXML driver now. Since the RapidXML driver was, well, rapid, I am now onto writing a very basic test XML so I can build the genetic algorithm component using GALib. A lot of my ideas about the data model have had to change to adapt to the GALib environment; I'm awfully glad I started reading the manual before I wrote all that code.
For fs1rgen I am using git. I made a public repository on github for it, but since I'm always in a hurry to get off the train when I check stuff in, and I haven't really figured out git anyway, there's not much there.
LoopCollector
I have abandoned the C++ command-line version and I am now thinking of writing a third prototype in Perl before implementing the VST version. I have started the VST version but the VST scaffolding is a little tough to figure out a half hour at a time. I may implement a prototype in ChucK, Pd, or CSound, whichever I can figure out the quickest.
eyeCalendar
I have taken eyeCalendar off my sidebar here after some performance problems. It's a low priority now that I'm not actively tracking Boston music events since the whole baby thing keeps me craving sleep more often!
Blogging
I have been offered a spot as a contributor at Way of the Spatula. In addition, I am spinning any non-DJ type musical content into a separate blog: The Republic of Nynex. There's no content there, yet. I need to finish my software projects first!
If anyone has a suggestion on a Linux RSS reader that can handle HTTP authentication or cookies, let me know. I would like to stop using LiveJournal as my feed reader. I tried RSSOwl but I do not like it.
Saturday, August 8. 2009
A Memphis Rib Story
The words of C. B. Stubblefield adorn every bottle of Stubb's barbecue products: "First of all, you have to have the taste and the time."
Well, I didn't have the time today, so I had to buy a bottle of someone else's sauce.
Today was my extended family's July and August birthday party and was the first chance for most of them to meet our new baby. Always on the lookout for a barbecue excuse, I offered to make ribs at my dad's house where the party was being held. He and I have the exact same smoker configuration. For some reason, even though I only bought my kit after he did (and made some really awesome ribs) he thinks I have some magic power that he doesn't, so he told me that he would pick up the charcoal and he would watch me do everything.
Anyway, since the party was on a Saturday, I wouldn't have time to make my ribs the day before since I would be at work. Food was to be served at 1:00 P.M., so my options were limited. I decided to try my hand at Memphis dry ribs since this style only requires 1-2 hours to cook.
Friday night, I made some brief preparations. I put together a half-batch of my old standby, Mike Mills' Magic Dust. While not strictly Memphis style, it is somewhat similar to the spicy version of this Memphis rub which I will try in the future. Notice that the Memphis Dust does not include ANY cayenne or chili powder by default!
What makes dry ribs dry is the lack of a sauce basted at the end of the smoke. You still can use a mop. I would recommend it for any barbecue, honestly. I improvised since I couldn't find the recipe I used last time: 1 cup olive oil, ½ cup apple cider vinegar, ½ cup Worcestershire sauce, a can of Miller Lite, and a few spoons of Phat Mike's mysterious rub that appears to be equal portions paprika and espresso grinds.
This got packed up with a my actual mop and a few foil pans. I asked my dad to get a few oak logs handy.
This morning, I stopped at McKinnon's, hoping to get some full slabs of the baby back ribs on sale starting Friday. They had three half slabs and when I asked at the counter they were otherwise out! Instead, I picked up two slabs of spare ribs. They were cut super thick: ten pounds each! I also picked up a bottle of Charlie Beigg's Maine Apple barbecue sauce, and some ice for the trip. Upon arriving at my parents', my dad presented me with yet another rack of ribs (baby backs!). To start the fire, he usually uses small pieces of pine wood that have been covered in wax. This is basically a homemade version of those fire log contraptions you get from the grocery store. It worked well enough. The cooker got up to temp pretty quickly. My dad went to run some errands, and told me to wait on the baby back ribs so he could watch the whole process.
Turns out that half a batch of Magic Dust is exactly enough for two slabs of untrimmed spare ribs (the meat flaps on the backs were mostly fat and the knife was getting slippery) and one side of baby backs. After scraping and oiling the cooking grates, I loaded the spares into the cooker, and waited for my father's return.
Once he got back, I spiced the baby backs, and I placed that rack on the warming rack.
Now, the other thing about dry ribs is that they are smoked really hot for barbecue. I was shooting for a temperature of 350°F, so I actually started the fire in the main cooking chamber, not in the firebox. Guess what? Some of the spare ribs got a little burnt! Oh well.
After about two hours and much pestering by the family, I took the ribs to be sliced. I actually trimmed off the brisket bone and all the cartilage-y bits but served them anyway, warning people about the difference. Nobody seemed to mind. There were leftovers, but honestly, three racks of ribs for 15 people who were also eating dynamites is a little overkill. One comment made by my brother makes me want to explore some of the standard Char-Griller modifications to reduce the right-side hotspot, but that will be a long time from now, I'm sure.
Well, I didn't have the time today, so I had to buy a bottle of someone else's sauce.
Today was my extended family's July and August birthday party and was the first chance for most of them to meet our new baby. Always on the lookout for a barbecue excuse, I offered to make ribs at my dad's house where the party was being held. He and I have the exact same smoker configuration. For some reason, even though I only bought my kit after he did (and made some really awesome ribs) he thinks I have some magic power that he doesn't, so he told me that he would pick up the charcoal and he would watch me do everything.
Anyway, since the party was on a Saturday, I wouldn't have time to make my ribs the day before since I would be at work. Food was to be served at 1:00 P.M., so my options were limited. I decided to try my hand at Memphis dry ribs since this style only requires 1-2 hours to cook.
Friday night, I made some brief preparations. I put together a half-batch of my old standby, Mike Mills' Magic Dust. While not strictly Memphis style, it is somewhat similar to the spicy version of this Memphis rub which I will try in the future. Notice that the Memphis Dust does not include ANY cayenne or chili powder by default!
What makes dry ribs dry is the lack of a sauce basted at the end of the smoke. You still can use a mop. I would recommend it for any barbecue, honestly. I improvised since I couldn't find the recipe I used last time: 1 cup olive oil, ½ cup apple cider vinegar, ½ cup Worcestershire sauce, a can of Miller Lite, and a few spoons of Phat Mike's mysterious rub that appears to be equal portions paprika and espresso grinds.
This got packed up with a my actual mop and a few foil pans. I asked my dad to get a few oak logs handy.
This morning, I stopped at McKinnon's, hoping to get some full slabs of the baby back ribs on sale starting Friday. They had three half slabs and when I asked at the counter they were otherwise out! Instead, I picked up two slabs of spare ribs. They were cut super thick: ten pounds each! I also picked up a bottle of Charlie Beigg's Maine Apple barbecue sauce, and some ice for the trip. Upon arriving at my parents', my dad presented me with yet another rack of ribs (baby backs!). To start the fire, he usually uses small pieces of pine wood that have been covered in wax. This is basically a homemade version of those fire log contraptions you get from the grocery store. It worked well enough. The cooker got up to temp pretty quickly. My dad went to run some errands, and told me to wait on the baby back ribs so he could watch the whole process.
Turns out that half a batch of Magic Dust is exactly enough for two slabs of untrimmed spare ribs (the meat flaps on the backs were mostly fat and the knife was getting slippery) and one side of baby backs. After scraping and oiling the cooking grates, I loaded the spares into the cooker, and waited for my father's return.
Once he got back, I spiced the baby backs, and I placed that rack on the warming rack.
Now, the other thing about dry ribs is that they are smoked really hot for barbecue. I was shooting for a temperature of 350°F, so I actually started the fire in the main cooking chamber, not in the firebox. Guess what? Some of the spare ribs got a little burnt! Oh well.
After about two hours and much pestering by the family, I took the ribs to be sliced. I actually trimmed off the brisket bone and all the cartilage-y bits but served them anyway, warning people about the difference. Nobody seemed to mind. There were leftovers, but honestly, three racks of ribs for 15 people who were also eating dynamites is a little overkill. One comment made by my brother makes me want to explore some of the standard Char-Griller modifications to reduce the right-side hotspot, but that will be a long time from now, I'm sure.
Monday, July 20. 2009
Cat Maintenance
Every time I try to write this entry, something else happens.
Last Sunday, while my mother-in-law was visiting, we had let the cats outside to run around. Usually this is not much of a problem; at worst they would bring us back injured mice or birds and let them loose in the house. But this day, my wife noticed that Les, our boy cat, was ferociously cleaning one spot on his belly. When she approached him, he ran away, which is very uncharacteristic. Eventually she got a look at him and saw a huge gash, and came running to get me. I attempted to pick him up which provoked a violent response, but my wife was able to coax him into his carrier with the promise of catnip. I called our usual vet, who was expectedly closed. I didn't listen to the full instructions and ended up calling the local 24/7 emergency vet hospital. They told me to bring Les in, where they cleaned out the wound, gave him antibiotics, gave us three days' of pain medication, and put him in an e-collar.
Unfortunately, the antibiotics did not prevent the stitches from getting infected. Two days later, my wife noticed swelling and redness in the shaved area and thus she brought him to the Feline Hospital in Salem. They reopened the stitches and kept him for 4 days. This past Saturday, we watched the vet bandage the huge, gaping, bloody hole in our cat, then brought him home. He was fine most of the night afterwards, except at one point, when he got spooked by his bandage and flipped out.
This flipping out occurred again the next morning. Les actually managed to pull out a gauze pad from under another layer of gauze AND a layer of Vetrap while jumping and flipping and slamming his head into the footboard of our bed. We called the vet again, this time listening to the entire message and beeping her. When she called us back, she told us to bring him in for rebandaging.
This morning, after I left for work, he once again managed to tear out the pad. He's at the hospital now, and he's staying until they suture him back up tomorrow.
Last Sunday, while my mother-in-law was visiting, we had let the cats outside to run around. Usually this is not much of a problem; at worst they would bring us back injured mice or birds and let them loose in the house. But this day, my wife noticed that Les, our boy cat, was ferociously cleaning one spot on his belly. When she approached him, he ran away, which is very uncharacteristic. Eventually she got a look at him and saw a huge gash, and came running to get me. I attempted to pick him up which provoked a violent response, but my wife was able to coax him into his carrier with the promise of catnip. I called our usual vet, who was expectedly closed. I didn't listen to the full instructions and ended up calling the local 24/7 emergency vet hospital. They told me to bring Les in, where they cleaned out the wound, gave him antibiotics, gave us three days' of pain medication, and put him in an e-collar.
Unfortunately, the antibiotics did not prevent the stitches from getting infected. Two days later, my wife noticed swelling and redness in the shaved area and thus she brought him to the Feline Hospital in Salem. They reopened the stitches and kept him for 4 days. This past Saturday, we watched the vet bandage the huge, gaping, bloody hole in our cat, then brought him home. He was fine most of the night afterwards, except at one point, when he got spooked by his bandage and flipped out.
This flipping out occurred again the next morning. Les actually managed to pull out a gauze pad from under another layer of gauze AND a layer of Vetrap while jumping and flipping and slamming his head into the footboard of our bed. We called the vet again, this time listening to the entire message and beeping her. When she called us back, she told us to bring him in for rebandaging.
This morning, after I left for work, he once again managed to tear out the pad. He's at the hospital now, and he's staying until they suture him back up tomorrow.
Saturday, June 13. 2009
But who are they to judge us simply 'cos our hair is long
Assorted small updates, since it's been a while:
- Picked up some stuff at the Salem Record Exchange: Mr. G, Nitzer Ebb, King Crimson, Stewart Copeland, CTR, David Sylvian and Holger Czukay, SAW, Baby Ford, and DAF. Going through all the records strewn about my office. If I know what it sounds like, it goes back in the boxes, otherwise it gets played. Not all of my records are surviving this process. I will be selling some records on Craigslist soon, and for cheep.
- If you're a WZBC person reading this, I am still looking for people to do Test Pattern this summer. Contact me for more information. You can just leave a comment below if you like.
- Tomorrow is another grand cooking day. I have a 5 pound pork loin that will turn into pork chops and the magnificent apple-sausage stuffed pork loin, possibly on the grill if it doesn't rain. I am also making baked beans from scratch using the recipe from Peace, Love, and BBQ (minus the bacon). Although I would like the rain so I don't have to water the lawn (I won't bore you) I would love to finally get the chance to do some BBQ this summer for the first time since October!
- Baby is coming any day now. We've had a number of false alarms, but no actual baby yet, or there would have been an announcement.
- The next capoeira batizado is the weekend of September 24th.
- Picked up some stuff at the Salem Record Exchange: Mr. G, Nitzer Ebb, King Crimson, Stewart Copeland, CTR, David Sylvian and Holger Czukay, SAW, Baby Ford, and DAF. Going through all the records strewn about my office. If I know what it sounds like, it goes back in the boxes, otherwise it gets played. Not all of my records are surviving this process. I will be selling some records on Craigslist soon, and for cheep.
- If you're a WZBC person reading this, I am still looking for people to do Test Pattern this summer. Contact me for more information. You can just leave a comment below if you like.
- Tomorrow is another grand cooking day. I have a 5 pound pork loin that will turn into pork chops and the magnificent apple-sausage stuffed pork loin, possibly on the grill if it doesn't rain. I am also making baked beans from scratch using the recipe from Peace, Love, and BBQ (minus the bacon). Although I would like the rain so I don't have to water the lawn (I won't bore you) I would love to finally get the chance to do some BBQ this summer for the first time since October!
- Baby is coming any day now. We've had a number of false alarms, but no actual baby yet, or there would have been an announcement.
- The next capoeira batizado is the weekend of September 24th.
Monday, May 25. 2009
Park Ave Porter Plus bottled!
I bottled my porter project yesterday! FG was 1.019, which gives an absurdly low ABV of 2.944%? I don't believe it. Anyway, I tasted the very last bit of gritty stuff at the bottom of the bucket and it was delicious! I just hope I didn't bottle too early!
Thursday, May 21. 2009
Brew Day - Porter Experiment
Last Saturday, I brewed the porter kit my parents bought me for my birthday. I decided once again to tweak it, this time by adding molasses (just shy of 1/4 cup) to the boil right from the start, then a bag of cracked coffee beans for 30 minutes and 1/4 cup of cocoa powder for 5 minutes. OG was just about 1.042. Should be tasty!
Thursday, May 7. 2009
Birthday Capoeira Warning
Yesterday was my birthday. I ended up sleeping poorly Tuesday night and had a long day planned Wednesday. After work was to be the capoeira open house followed by dinner out with my wife and then on to see Dietrich Schonemann and Miro Pajic at the Phoenix Landing in Cambridge.
Apparently it is a Brazilian tradition that on your birthday you have fight everybody. So, after we trained a number of difficult movements for the first time (aù macaco, aù compasso, and queda de rins) Coreba taught us all how to sing Happy Birthday in Portuguese, then we started the roda. I don't think quite everyone played with me, because we had some arrivals for the following class who weren't warmed up, and a few brand new people. I played better than I have in a long time, and I think this is due to the new physical therapy regime I've been following. I don't have the pain I was experiencing after class and I have a lot more stamina as a result. Unfortunately I smacked poor Chinesinha in the nose with my foot!
Dinner was at the East Coast Grill. I would like to say that everything was delicious, but unfortunately I decided to try their "Extremely Hot Crispy Hell Bone." This is a dry-rubbed smoked pork spare rib treated with some brutal ungodly compound. It completely scoured my taste buds and sinuses. I think my brisket sandwich was tasty, but I actually could not taste the baked beans served with it, nor the watermelon! All they had was texture.
The Phoenix was kind of empty, possibly because the Crystal Method was playing last night. (ick) Schoenemann was good. We didn't stay for much of Miro's set because we were too tired and old! It took us an hour to get home because all roads out of Boston close at midnight, apparently, and the clerk at the convenience store decided to take a half hour to harangue the girl in front of us to not accidentally touch his hand while taking her change or something.
Other things that happened on my birthday:
Apparently it is a Brazilian tradition that on your birthday you have fight everybody. So, after we trained a number of difficult movements for the first time (aù macaco, aù compasso, and queda de rins) Coreba taught us all how to sing Happy Birthday in Portuguese, then we started the roda. I don't think quite everyone played with me, because we had some arrivals for the following class who weren't warmed up, and a few brand new people. I played better than I have in a long time, and I think this is due to the new physical therapy regime I've been following. I don't have the pain I was experiencing after class and I have a lot more stamina as a result. Unfortunately I smacked poor Chinesinha in the nose with my foot!
Dinner was at the East Coast Grill. I would like to say that everything was delicious, but unfortunately I decided to try their "Extremely Hot Crispy Hell Bone." This is a dry-rubbed smoked pork spare rib treated with some brutal ungodly compound. It completely scoured my taste buds and sinuses. I think my brisket sandwich was tasty, but I actually could not taste the baked beans served with it, nor the watermelon! All they had was texture.
The Phoenix was kind of empty, possibly because the Crystal Method was playing last night. (ick) Schoenemann was good. We didn't stay for much of Miro's set because we were too tired and old! It took us an hour to get home because all roads out of Boston close at midnight, apparently, and the clerk at the convenience store decided to take a half hour to harangue the girl in front of us to not accidentally touch his hand while taking her change or something.
Other things that happened on my birthday:
- Maine legalizes gay marriage: hurray!
- 3DRealms, developer of the running joke Duke Nukem Forever, goes under: meh
Tuesday, April 21. 2009
It's BBQ Season!
This weekend I finally re-seasoned* the grates on my grill, and so to celebrate, I made the following meal Sunday afternoon.
First off, I thawed a tri-tip roast I had obtained for cheep at Trader Joe's some months ago. The tri-tip is a cut of beef from the bottom sirloin. In the US, it's most popular in California, but it is known in other countries by other names (triangle steak, punta de Solomo, colita de cuadril, etc.)
Later that day, after starting the charcoal, I created more Magic Dust. This comes from a recipe out of Peace, Love, and Barbecue. Unfortunately, I had run out of cayenne without knowing it, so I used crushed red pepper instead.
Next, I coated six potatoes with olive oil and magic dust, and mounted them on my fancy new rib and potato rack. Once the fire was ready, I put these into the grill first as they would take longer than the meat.
As for the fire, I added a log of oak in. This had been sitting in my basement all winter, so I had to hose off all the dust. This became a slight problem later on.
Once the potatoes were cooking, I sprinkled more Magic Dust all over the meat. Transferring the meat to the grill was a little tricky since the roast is actually pretty thin compared to big chunk of a roast. I managed to not drop anything, thankfully.
I had also purchased a bunch of asparagus. These I trimmed and placed in a foil hobo pack with some onion slices, salt, pepper, and butter, which then went on the top rack of the grill.
After about 45 minutes of cooking, the meat was still 25 degrees away from completion, but the fire had nearly gone out. I opened up the vents in hopes that the log would catch, but it only smoldered while the coals burned to ash. The roast actually started losing degrees while I started more charcoal. In an effort to regain lost time, I placed the meat right over the freshly-relit fire, resulting in one side getting charred a bit. Nobody seemed to mind this on the finished product, though.
Last but not least was a warmed-up can of Bush's Grillin' Beans. I have no great ability to bake beans yet, and my father-in-law's recipe is a secret! Also, I don't think we have any beans and I forgot to buy more. Oops.
* Over the winter I put them in the oven on a self-cleaning cycle to remove all the crud that built up over the past two years.
First off, I thawed a tri-tip roast I had obtained for cheep at Trader Joe's some months ago. The tri-tip is a cut of beef from the bottom sirloin. In the US, it's most popular in California, but it is known in other countries by other names (triangle steak, punta de Solomo, colita de cuadril, etc.)
Later that day, after starting the charcoal, I created more Magic Dust. This comes from a recipe out of Peace, Love, and Barbecue. Unfortunately, I had run out of cayenne without knowing it, so I used crushed red pepper instead.
Next, I coated six potatoes with olive oil and magic dust, and mounted them on my fancy new rib and potato rack. Once the fire was ready, I put these into the grill first as they would take longer than the meat.
As for the fire, I added a log of oak in. This had been sitting in my basement all winter, so I had to hose off all the dust. This became a slight problem later on.
Once the potatoes were cooking, I sprinkled more Magic Dust all over the meat. Transferring the meat to the grill was a little tricky since the roast is actually pretty thin compared to big chunk of a roast. I managed to not drop anything, thankfully.
I had also purchased a bunch of asparagus. These I trimmed and placed in a foil hobo pack with some onion slices, salt, pepper, and butter, which then went on the top rack of the grill.
After about 45 minutes of cooking, the meat was still 25 degrees away from completion, but the fire had nearly gone out. I opened up the vents in hopes that the log would catch, but it only smoldered while the coals burned to ash. The roast actually started losing degrees while I started more charcoal. In an effort to regain lost time, I placed the meat right over the freshly-relit fire, resulting in one side getting charred a bit. Nobody seemed to mind this on the finished product, though.
Last but not least was a warmed-up can of Bush's Grillin' Beans. I have no great ability to bake beans yet, and my father-in-law's recipe is a secret! Also, I don't think we have any beans and I forgot to buy more. Oops.
* Over the winter I put them in the oven on a self-cleaning cycle to remove all the crud that built up over the past two years.
Wednesday, April 8. 2009
Megapolis Festival and Other Notes
On the weekend of April 24th-26th, I will be volunteering at the Megapolis Audio Festival, in and around Harvard Square and the Elks Lodge in Central Square in Cambridge. This event features live performances, audio art installations, and workshops on such topics as circuit-bending, making your own contact mic. Weekend passes are $45 ($30 for students) with some workshops requiring RSVPs and/or materials fees. There are also tours of a mysterious nature (!) and an all-night audio slumber party (!!!)
On Friday May 8th, Contra Mestre Marquinho Coreba of Capoeira Gerais, my capoeira instructor will be performing a demonstration along with Instructor Morcego, Coehlo, and Fantama of Capoeira Luanda as part of a late addition to the program of the Voidstar Productions 2009 Multimedia Circus. (click for flyer).
My amber ale is delicious!
My dad gave me most of a cut-up cherry tree and a pile of red oak! IT'S SMOKING SEASON as soon as I re-season the grates on my smoker.
I will post the final Octave One interview soon. I have been in total information chaos since that weekend and the CD with the final version has been in my desk at work for quite some time.
On Friday May 8th, Contra Mestre Marquinho Coreba of Capoeira Gerais, my capoeira instructor will be performing a demonstration along with Instructor Morcego, Coehlo, and Fantama of Capoeira Luanda as part of a late addition to the program of the Voidstar Productions 2009 Multimedia Circus. (click for flyer).
My amber ale is delicious!
My dad gave me most of a cut-up cherry tree and a pile of red oak! IT'S SMOKING SEASON as soon as I re-season the grates on my smoker.
I will post the final Octave One interview soon. I have been in total information chaos since that weekend and the CD with the final version has been in my desk at work for quite some time.
Sunday, March 15. 2009
Amber Bottled
Just for the record: FG: 1.023
Total yield was about 4.25 gallons. Beyond the usual loss to the yeast cake and the stuff left in the bottling bucket, I managed to overfill a couple bottles, and accidentally open the bottling bucket spout and pour some more beer all over the floor.
I actually managed to crack a bottle neck while capping, so I drank it! Verdict: flat beer sucks.
Total yield was about 4.25 gallons. Beyond the usual loss to the yeast cake and the stuff left in the bottling bucket, I managed to overfill a couple bottles, and accidentally open the bottling bucket spout and pour some more beer all over the floor.
I actually managed to crack a bottle neck while capping, so I drank it! Verdict: flat beer sucks.
Sunday, March 1. 2009
Honey Orange Amber Ale
So, this afternoon, I used the beer kit I received as a Christmas gift from my parents. Here are the original kit ingredients:
- 3 pounds Muntons Pale Extract (hopped)
- 2 pounds Muntons Amber Extract
- 1 pound mixed Munich and Wheat Malt
- 1 tsp Irish Moss (boiled 15 mins)
- 1 oz Willamette hops (half for 60mins, half for 10 mins)
- Safale S04 yeast
I added the following ingredients:
- 2 oz bitter orange peel (at 5mins)
- 1 lb honey (partly wildflower, partly mesquite, added at 2nd boil)
- 0.5 lb light candi sugar (at 2nd boil)
- 0.5 lb malto-dextrin (at 2nd boil)
I switched the yeast to Safbrew T-58, which I made into a starter on a stir plate. I'm not sure if that is going to make a difference since I only stirred it for an hour.
OG is 1.065, up from the 1.040 on the kit instructions. Spent grains are currently being baked into a this spent grain bread, and I'll hopefully also make this one and this one later on today!
- 3 pounds Muntons Pale Extract (hopped)
- 2 pounds Muntons Amber Extract
- 1 pound mixed Munich and Wheat Malt
- 1 tsp Irish Moss (boiled 15 mins)
- 1 oz Willamette hops (half for 60mins, half for 10 mins)
- Safale S04 yeast
I added the following ingredients:
- 2 oz bitter orange peel (at 5mins)
- 1 lb honey (partly wildflower, partly mesquite, added at 2nd boil)
- 0.5 lb light candi sugar (at 2nd boil)
- 0.5 lb malto-dextrin (at 2nd boil)
I switched the yeast to Safbrew T-58, which I made into a starter on a stir plate. I'm not sure if that is going to make a difference since I only stirred it for an hour.
OG is 1.065, up from the 1.040 on the kit instructions. Spent grains are currently being baked into a this spent grain bread, and I'll hopefully also make this one and this one later on today!
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