Topics

31

General Homebrew Discussion / Mariage proposal

« on: April 08, 2011, 06:45:45 pm »

I dug up a bunch of blue agave sprouts(puppies) and called a buddy to see if he wanted them.  His wife did so they came over with a friend who was drinking a Miller Lite.  Dee and Leslie drink my beer but David never has.  I started him with the oatmeal stout, by far the worst stout I've brewed in years.  Then we went to the rye pale, the belgian strong dark and he was hooked on homebrew.
But hen I gave him a glass of pecan rauchbier he started foaming at the mouth, and after he had a glass of my Gumballhead clonish beer he decided to marry me and donate his whole salary to my brewing.   Should I let him move in or just donate to the cause?

32

Ingredients / You gotta love Hops Direct

« on: March 24, 2011, 02:16:34 pm »

I ordered some rhizomes last week-3 each of Magnum, Cluster and Northern Brewer.  I 3 sets of 3 holes dug so I can keep them separate, filled with steer manure, ready to plant.  They put 4 rhizomes in each bag, all of them big fat ones with lots of shoots starting.  Having to completely rearrange my planting scheme is a small price to pay for 3 extra plants.

33

General Homebrew Discussion / Visiting an old friend

« on: March 06, 2011, 09:55:14 pm »

My first recipe that I created all by myself, after months of research(reading and tasting) was my Belgian strong dark ale affectionately known as the Belgian Ball Buster.  On our first real trip to Belgium back in 1999 I was a beer idiot and had no idea that Belgium was beer paradise.  Fortunately I stumbled across the Haalf Maan Brewery in Brugge and fell in love with their Strong Henry ale.
Since 2000 I've tried to have this beer on tap all the time, and it's been the beer that turned a lot of people onto craft beer and homebrewing.  But about 3 or 4 years ago I quit drinking it on a regular basis as I tried new styles.  I still kept it on tap for friends, it just didn't interest me anymore.
Tonight I poured one for the first time in months and I'm hooked again.  I love this beer.
Who else had gone back to a beer you lost interest in?

34

The Pub / It's springtime in the desert

« on: March 04, 2011, 04:07:47 pm »

I guess it's officially springtime here.  Wandering around the estate today I noticed that the almond trees have started to blossom, and a couple of days ago Cascade shoots started coming up everywhere.  Steam hop shoot salad is on the menu this weekend.

35

All Things Food / Who rattles the pans in your house?

« on: February 27, 2011, 05:49:51 pm »

So who does the cooking at your place?  Everywhere I look it seems men are taking over the cooking duties.
  Here it's mostly me.  My wife is an excellent cook but she gets home from work after I do so I try to have dinner ready.  Also whoever cooks gets to choose the menu so I cook what I feel like eating. On weekends and for company she'll cook up a feast. 
If my kids are around they'll cook us a meal and they are both also great cooks.  My daughter worked a couple of years baking breads so she loves whipping up a batch of yeasty dinner rolls or deserts.  And finally my son is like me-he cooks without recipes and is prone to experimenting

36

Kegging and Bottling / Got my CO2 bottles upgraded

« on: February 18, 2011, 02:56:45 pm »

I went to the welding shop to get a couple of 20 pounders swapped.  After I paid $24, the shop owner traded my bottles for a pair of oddball sized ones-a 40 pounder and a thirty five pounder.  He told me that for the same money they'd last a lot longer.  Can't argue with that logic.

37

Commercial Beer Reviews / Biere de la Muese

« on: February 12, 2011, 05:53:10 pm »

I spent last week in France for my mother in law's funeral  After everybody went home or to bed my wife and I sat in the kitchen talking and of course drinking.  I brought out a  6 pack of Jenlain Ambree I had in the cellar and as we drank it she told me that it reminded her of the "biere de la Meuse"(beer of the Meuse River) that her father drank back in the 60's and 70's.  It came in wooden crates and the bottles had porcelain flip tops.  I suggested to her that it was probably Belgian since the Meuse is one of the most important rivers in Belgium but she was pretty sure it was a French beer.  Has anybody ever heard of this beer?

38

Ingredients / Dry hops for a sticke alt

« on: January 26, 2011, 07:30:09 pm »

My sticke alt has gone from 1.080 to 1.025 so I'm thinking of adding some dry hops to the buckets soon.  It was bittered with Perle and late additions(20, 10, flameout) were strisslespalt. What would be a good hop to use in the buckets?

39

The Pub / Mom, have you seen Dad lately? No, but stay out of the freezer in the garage.

« on: January 26, 2011, 03:14:57 pm »

This is a true story, it just came out in our local paper this morning.  Did nobody ever ask where he went, or look around at all?

UPDATED: Woman stored husband in freezer until her death, investigators learn (1:06 p.m.)
By Matlin Smith
Current-Argus Staff Writer
Posted: 01/26/2011 02:01:06 PM MST

CARLSBAD — Investigators with the Eddy County Sheriff's Office have released bizarre details in the case of the human body found Monday evening in the freezer of a home south of town.
According to information from Capt. Jeff Zuniga, at 7:50 p.m. Monday, the body of a human male was discovered in a chest-type freezer at a residence on the 1200 block of Haston Road by two local residents who were cleaning out the home of a deceased relative.

The pair loaded the freezer into the back of a pickup truck and transported it to the Carlsbad Police Department. After determining that the incident occurred in the county, the CPD turned the investigation over to the ECSO.

"The body located within the freezer may be that of James Sharpe of Carlsbad, who has been unaccounted for since 1997," said Zuniga.

James Sharpe was known to be the husband to the late Barbara Sharpe, who passed away in November 2010 of health complications at the age of 63.

Information gathered during the investigation leans towards the possibility that James Sharpe may have dued due to a terminal health condition in 1997; he would have been in his early 70s then, said investigators.

"Barbara had mentioned to a health care worker prior to her death that she had stored her late husband in a freezer. The health care worker dismissed the statement due to Barbara Sharpe's grave condition," Zuniga stated.

Additionally, documentation allegedly drafted by Barbara Sharpe was found in her personal

property explaining why her husband was in the freezer.
This documentation reportedly indicated that she was remorseful, but couldn't afford to survive without his retirement income.

Prior to discovery, the freezer reportedly was in Barbara Sharpe's bedroom on Haston Road.

"The ECSO Special Investigations Unit will continue to work closely with the Office of the Medical Investigator to confirm the official identity of the decedent as well as the cause and manner of death," said Zuniga.

40

All Grain Brewing / Plugged mesh in kettle

« on: January 21, 2011, 07:37:12 pm »

Everything was going great, a rye pale ale with 25% rye and no stuck sparge, hit the numbers, everything was great.  2 minutes into pumping the wort through the counterflow chiller it slowed to a trickle.  I can blow back through it but it's plugged somehow.  I've tried going straight from the kettle to the fermenter to see if that would work but apparently the pickup tube is plugged.  At this rate I should have the 11 gallons into the buckets in another couple of hours.  Don't need help, just needed to vent, right now I'm Relaxing,Having A HomeBrew

41

The Pub / Homebrew vs homemade wine

« on: December 30, 2010, 11:36:57 am »

I recently offended my wife when a cousin asked me if I also made wine at home and I answered no, it was just not challenging.  An ignorant response since I've never made wine but from what I've read wine making ON THE HOME LEVEL.is not a very complicated task.  She is from a small village in France that produces a distinctively dry light red wine, and since she is extremely picky about her wine I've never even tried to make something she'll drink. 
Is there much to making wine at home, and can truly fine high quality wines be made from kits since I will have no control over the pre-juice aspect of wine: growing, harvesting and processing grapes seems critical to me?

42

Equipment and Software / McMaster part number for keg post o-rings

« on: December 17, 2010, 04:08:54 pm »

I've looked at McMaster's site a dozen times and can't figure out which o-rings go on my kegs.  Does anybody have the part numbers?
Thanks

43

General Homebrew Discussion / My stout is too sweet

« on: December 14, 2010, 10:28:14 pm »

I brewed an oatmeal stout, 10 gallon, and I realized too late that the hops I used for bittering may have been too old-when they came to the surface they were brown instead of green.  Now my stout is very sweet and I can't stand it.  I can get away with calling the first keg a milk stout but I really want to enjoy the other keg.  Can I boil an oz of fresh Challenger in plain water and add to the second keg?  I've always been against trying to "fix' a beer but now need your sympathy and help. I will finish the first keg of overly sweet beer as a self punishment but lease help me with the second one.

44

The Pub / Passsword problems

« on: November 23, 2010, 08:50:50 am »

This is only beer related in that I am having hell with passwords on here, realbeer.com and beeradvocate.  I'm guessing my computers have been hacked, my passwords on these sites along with my gmail and yahoo accounts have to be reset about every hour since Saturday.  I've run my virus scans, Spybot S & D, Lavasoft Adaware, and nothing turns up but I'm getting pretty tired of no access to the sites I visit most often, especially my work email account(gmail).  Any suggestions from you tech savvy people?  My office computer tech is stumped.  The next step is to wipe this computer and my laptop and start from scratch, but I don't know it that will accomplish anything.

45

General Homebrew Discussion / Root BEER

« on: November 03, 2010, 12:39:29 pm »

A guy in town who makes and sells root beer at events gave me 3 bottles of Zatarains root beer extract. Directions call for adding 1 bottle of extract and a packet of beer yeast to 4.5 gallons of water along with some sugar.  This makes me wonder if I can(or would even want to) brew a beer with this stuff.  Maybe 8-10 pounds pilsner malt and no hops.  Any thoughts?