I like this time at night on HBT

SharonaZamboni said:

My dad claimed to have acquired his taste for beer during WWII. As I remember the story, he was stationed in the Philippines and had to wait in the hot sun to ferry some officers back to his ship. Someone brought a couple of cold ones as a treat, and they really hit the spot.

My father was a machinist by trade, and loved to build things in his basement. He and his cousin worked on a project for the cousin's son's lobster restaurant/store in Maine. My dad built a roller machine that squeezed the meat from the little lobster legs, keeping it intact and useable. This greatly increased the profitability of the business and he'd always get a pound or two of tender lobster leg meat when his cousin came to visit us in MA. What I don't remember is where did all the test lobsters go? Maybe the cousin brought bags of little legs for test purposes.

And back to the original thought! I really wish my dad was here to build me a grain mill. He'd love the project, and I'd have something he made.
The best part is, really, thinking about Everett every time I brew or even look at a grain mill. Just seeing a well-made or novel machine makes me happy.

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I'm lucky to still have my dad around. He is really not that old at late 60's. He has slowed down a lot in the last few years but he is just as ornery as ever.

I never seemed to be able to do anything good enough for my Dad but I learned over the years to know when he was proud even though he has never said it...yet. He always had a habit of suggesting some better way I could have done something. I never had a lot of confidence in myself because of that but I gained a lot of valuable insight.

I would not have written otherwise this but he has been sick lately. For close to a month. He's had all the tests and no problems have been found thankfully. He has just not been around like usual. I miss him and hope he is back pestering me soon.

edit: After I read that back, it really didn't seem to be much of a response to your post. You sparked me with the building thing. My Dad can build/fix anything too if he puts his mind to it. That is the best thing I like to think I have learned from him.

Leadgolem said:

Will do. I just need to get some more skim milk. I'm thinking the presence of the fat in the whole milk I've been using has been inhibiting the formation of the long chain proteins that make mozzarella mozzarella. I'll have to run some experiments, but I think you can simplify the process down to something like this.

Heat skim milk to 145f ish. Add citric acid solution until proteins coagulate to the point where the whey is turning yellow. Heat milk to 165f ish stirring gently. Pour milk and curd through colander. Dump curd into bowl. Add salt. Knead until the liquid pockets have been removed.

It needs some testing. I wasn't using a thermometer when I made the accidental mozzarella, just guessing on the temps based on how hot the whey felt. I was also using vinegar, not citric acid solution like I plan to next. The vinegar left a tang behind that I don't feel is appropriate for mozzarella. Not bad, but not exactly what I want making mozzarella. I also didn't measure the vinegar, just poured it in in little steps and stirred until the whey started turning yellow.

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I may just try this tomorrow. Wifey is off to work anyway and I'm home with the boys. I only have vinegar or lactic acid. I just may have citric in the pantry though. Would lactic not work since it is derived from milk?

BobbiLynn said:

Well, crap, I already interacted them!!! Found this online checking interactions:



Oh crap, now I probably overdosed on my meds!!!! And it wasn't even my liver making me dizzy, hubby says it's my ears. They have been itchy from allergies and hubby says I can't hear ****. We watched a movie together and it had to be full blast for me to hear it, my ears are a little clogged, that would explain the dizziness, even when I turn my head to fast. Well, I hope I don't die from something else now.

Cheers!! Boston is partying tonight!!!

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Oh. Well, I doubt you'll have a problem from doing in once. My mom can't even eat them though. She's on three different medications for blood pressure, and it really could kill her.

SharonaZamboni said:

I'm truly sorry for the single pleasant memory, yet glad there is at least the one.

As I've gotten older, I see that my father spent more time and money on his hobbies than he should have. And this realization made me consider my mom's position; widowed with a crumbling, neglected house and a basement full of items useless to her and troublesome to liquidate. A vision of my future that I just couldn't handle, and one of the reasons I finally initiated divorce proceedings. Another lesson from my dad. I take it as learning from others' experience. Which is really all that a parent can hope for- that our kids will someday avoid our mistakes.

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Yeah, not just the one because he isn't around. More because he's a sack of rotten dingo kidney extract.

lschiavo said:

I may just try this tomorrow. Wifey is off to work anyway and I'm home with the boys. I only have vinegar or lactic acid. I just may have citric in the pantry though. Would lactic not work since it is derived from milk?

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Honestly, I don't know. Probably would though. When you are making ricotta you use less vinegar with soured milk then with fresh.

If your batch doesn't work out, you will just end up with ricotta. That's basically just crumbly rather then stretchy cheese. If your curd isn't getting strandy and sticky, then you will want to put an undyed dishcloth in your colander. Otherwise most of the curd will just pass right through it. I did do that with the accidental mozzarella, but cleaning the cloth was a pita. The cheese stuck to it pretty badly. Ricotta isn't sticky, it will release easily enough. If you use a tea towel that has been dyed, some of the dye will come out into the cheese. Since we don't know if the dye is food safe....

My dad did teach me morse code so I can't say there are not great memories. And he taught me how all the towers worked and we would talk to people all over the world before the Internet was invented. He would let me take a turn typing to his friends in morse code. They always knew who was who by our "typing". Mine was sloowwww.... But I could still understand them when they typed fast so they were impressed. I was like 7-10 then. Got into it for several years with him. Still remember a little, like signing my name. _... ___ _... _... ..
And if we were all stranded on an island together, I could call for help ... ____ ...

Leadgolem said:

Honestly, I don't know. Probably would though. When you are making ricotta you use less vinegar with soured milk then with fresh.

If your batch doesn't work out, you will just end up with ricotta. That's basically just crumbly rather then stretchy cheese. If your curd isn't getting strandy and sticky, then you will want to put an undyed dishcloth in your colander. Otherwise most of the curd will just pass right through it. I did do that with the accidental mozzarella, but cleaning the cloth was a pita. The cheese stuck to it pretty badly. Ricotta isn't sticky, it will release easily enough. If you use a tea towel that has been dyed, some of the dye will come out into the cheese. Since we don't know if the dye is food safe....

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I have some fine mesh bags that I have used a few times for wine. They don't seem like they would be sticky. You think one of those might work?

Ha, here I thought I may have everything to do this and we have no milk...a quick trip to the grocery in the morning will be needed. Holy carp! It's 2am here...at least it's Friday/Saturday.

-... --- -... -... .. / .. ... / .... --- -

Argh, I did my dashes wrong. Dashes, not under_score!!! And the thing(dash? but not a dash, or is it called slash?) to separate them, good idea.


- .... .- -. -.- ... / -.-- --- ..- / .- .-. . / .- .-- . ... --- -- . / -.-- --- ..- .-. ... . .-.. ..-. .-.-.-

/=brief pause, I see... well, less brief than a space but you know...

If I could tell my dad about typing in morse code using more than one key, he would not understand it.

I can only do that with my fancy computer translator (thanks for the complement). My dad was a radio man in Vietnam. He coordinated troops, air strikes - never really told me much about it exactly. I guess he was good at it. He has a box of medals and a nice newspaper clipping with one of his battle maps printed. I wonder how quickly he could pick it up again if necessary?

lschiavo said:

I can only do that with my fancy computer translator (thanks for the complement). My dad was a radio man in Vietnam. He coordinated troops, air strikes - never really told me much about it exactly. I guess he was good at it. He has a box of medals and a nice newspaper clipping with one of his battle maps printed. I wonder how quickly he could pick it up again if necessary?

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Easily, morse code is as easy as learning to write the alphabet, hard to forget.

In the time it takes to type on a QWERTY keyboard, those guys could type it faster using one key, don't have to move your fingers around.

BobbiLynn said:

In the time it takes to type on a QWERTY keyboard, those guys could type it faster using one key, don't have to move your fingers around.

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I bet it was pretty efficient. Sad really how such a good form of communication gets lost in technology. I can type pretty well on a keyboard but it is a real effort on any other device.

My kids amaze me how they can pick up and master just about any electronic device. They are not any smarter than us, our parents or our grandparents were. They are just tuned into it.

Radio waves, antennae, towers and the power to press one key and send out your signals. Send out your message. Electricity didn't matter. Just build your tower, point the antennae in the right direction, tap, tap, tap, you got it. Ham radio operators are going to be in high demand if the Internet does just go out one day.

BobbiLynn said:

Radio waves, antennae, towers and the power to press one key and send out your signals. Send out your message. Electricity didn't matter. Just build your tower, point the antennae in the right direction, tap, tap, tap, you got it. Ham radio operators are going to be in high demand if the Internet does just go out one day.

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We have grown up in an amazing time. I can remember not having a phone(not that they didn't exist). I remember dialing 4 numbers to call my friends (on a rotary phone). I remember getting a color tv, cable tv and our first VCR. I have purchased vinyl, cassette, CD and now digital music. I wrote letters to people and waited a week or more for a response.

I am now talking with you at least 1300 miles away and getting a response almost instantly. Anything at work that I used to look up in a catalog is now so much easier to just search online. Books are becoming unnecessary.

I was not there so I cannot say if anything changed so extremely in such a short time for anyone else in the past. I think the changes I have seen would be hard to top. And it is quite scary to think about it all just being gone.

Leadgolem said:

I may have another method for making mozzarella for you in a couple weeks. My accidental mozzarella has got the gears turning. I think there is a much easier way to make it then the moderately annoying process I've been using.

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Leadgolem said:

Heat skim milk to 145f ish. Add citric acid solution until proteins coagulate to the point where the whey is turning yellow. Heat milk to 165f ish stirring gently. Pour milk and curd through colander. Dump curd into bowl. Add salt. Knead until the liquid pockets have been removed..

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That is basically exactly how I make it, but I do indeed use whole milk. I also use citric acid and rennet. I wondered the same about lactic acid being a milk product, but I have a theory that it won't work for Mozz. I believe the high lactic content of my spoiled milk is what caused my batch to fail the second time. I'm really just guessing, though. The first time I made it the process was insanely easy. It really blew my mind. I've posted this before, but here's a video that shows the process; http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_361_99&products_id=12604

Leadgolem said:

If your batch doesn't work out, you will just end up with ricotta. That's basically just crumbly rather then stretchy cheese. If your curd isn't getting strandy and sticky, then you will want to put an undyed dishcloth in your colander. Otherwise most of the curd will just pass right through it. I did do that with the accidental mozzarella, but cleaning the cloth was a pita. The cheese stuck to it pretty badly. Ricotta isn't sticky, it will release easily enough. If you use a tea towel that has been dyed, some of the dye will come out into the cheese. Since we don't know if the dye is food safe....

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This happened to me the second time I made it, and like you say half of the curd drained right through the cheese cloth. There was no cleaning it afterwards either.

lschiavo said:

I have some fine mesh bags that I have used a few times for wine. They don't seem like they would be sticky. You think one of those might work?.

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Those bags may not be fine enough.

For my experiment today I plan on using voile leftover from my BIAB days. I have a feeling it will work beautifully!

The brewing has started so time for a happy brew day dance.



Anyone else brewing today want to dance with me? I'm going for another gruit, this time apple mint since I've got a ton of it growing that needs to be used. 2-row, corn sugar and apple mint. Probably some of my homemade LME too, which is a mix of 2-row and crystal. About a 2.5 - 3 gallon batch. Gonna ferment it in an extra SS kettle since all my other light weight fermenters are full. Not sure what I am doing yet, just gonna keep tasting and adding things until it seems right. Will add the apple mint in cycles like hops, 1 hour, 30 minutes, 15 minutes and 5 minutes.

I'll be interested to hear how that turns out Bobbi.

I've thought about making my own LME before just for fun.

I'm not brewing today, but I did keg a batch. I'm going to brew a 9 gallon batch of my White Pepper Rye Saison next Saturday. It's one of my most popular brews amongst friends, so I'll keg half and bottle half for sharing.

I made my cheese, and everything worked as I had hoped. I guess letting the whole milk go about 1.5 weeks past the expiration date was the trick. I'm going to make a batch of actual Mozz with fresh milk soon as a control test. The batch I made today had the same texture as last time. Smaller curds. Basically ricotta. I squeeze out the moisture, heat, and repeat until it's very dry, then I added blueberries, a dash of cheese salt, and a dash of sugar. Then I twisted it up in plastic wrap and flattened it out. It's in the fridge cooling now. I'll post a photo later when it has hardened.

Getting close to the end of the boil and apple mint flavor is so strong and overwhelming, bitter like drinking coffee grounds. Once this finishes, I am going to mash another 3 pounds of 2-row, and add more corn sugar to dilute the over-powering apple mint. Go ahead and make it 5 gallons with the top off water. No idea where I will put it. Need to free up one of my 7.9 buckets, will figure something out by the time it finishes. I think for the whole batch of gruit I'll do 7 pounds mashed 2-row, 4 pounds dry corn sugar, a crap load of fresh apple mint with stems, probably 1/2 gallon by volume, not chopped or anything. Guessing maybe 1/4 pound or more. Oh and 2 cups of my homemade extract.

Stauffbier said:

I'm not brewing today, but I did keg a batch. I'm going to brew a 9 gallon batch of my White Pepper Rye Saison next Saturday. It's one of my most popular brews amongst friends, so I'll keg half and bottle half for sharing.

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Got a recipe for the saision? Warm wheather is coming up and I'd like to try good saison recipe.

Whats up everyone? Been gone fishing. Or tryin to. Got hassled by the DNR this trip. One of me and the old man's favorite lakes got partially sold off and is no longer a part of the state lease program. We got caught in what is now a restricted area. They let us go, no harm no foul. But, come to find out, the very back part of it where our best spot sits is still within the leased area. There's no boat ramp back there though. No problem. Have john boat....will travel. Federal tax money is paying for the lease, I'm gonna get back there and fish it.

Hubby witnessed first hand tonight me with my favorite chicken. He(the chicken) likes to sit on my lap and be petted. My dog hates him, absolutely hates him to the point that he wants to eat him. I am assuming it's a rooster because it's growing some huge ugly stuff on his head. Sometimes I get chills thinking about how ugly he is and other times, I like the way he follows me around and cries when I won't pick him up.

Hubby just shook his head, didn't know what to say.

Here's my cheese.
The texture is perfect. Crumbly and mild. It needed to be a little sweeter and could use more blueberries. After I took this photo I decided to crumble it up and re-warm it. I then added a couple tsp of Agave Nectar and more blueberries. I re-worked it and twisted it back up. After it chills I'll see if it's more like what I wanted. Either way I'm happy with the results.

BBL_Brewer said:

Got a recipe for the saision? Warm wheather is coming up and I'd like to try good saison recipe..

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This is written for 9 gallons, but you can scale it down.
Most everyone says it tastes just like a lower abv version of Hennepin, and I tend to agree.
Cheers and enjoy!
=================================
STAUFF'S WHITE PEPPER RYE SAISON (Not to style)
================================================== =========
TOTAL GRAIN BILL = 16lbs
7 lbs American 2-row
5 lbs Maris Otter Malt; Bairds Malt
2 lbs Rye Malt
.5 lbs Crystal Malt 60°L
1.5 lbs Torrified Wheat


.5 oz Cascade (Pellets, 6.4 %AA) boiled 60 min.
1 oz Hallertau (Pellets, 4 %AA) boiled 60 min.
.25 oz Galena (Pellets, 13 %AA) boiled 45 min.
2T Ground White Peppercorn boiled 2 min.
-----------------------------------------------------------
White Labs WLP560 Austin's Classic Saison Blend
1.5L Starter with 1L step-up

-----------------------------------------------------------
OG = 1.049
FG = 1.006
attenuation = 75%
ABV = 5.6%
IBU's = 25.5
SRM = 7.6
-----------------------------------------------------------
Batch Size; 9 gal
Boil time; 60 mins
Volume Boiled; 10.125 gal
Brewhouse Efficiency; 78 %

Mash Temp = 149F
Mash Duration = 90-120 mins
Single infusion batch sparge
----------------------------------------------------------
Pitch yeast at 65F and allow temp to naturally rise to 80F (liquid temp) and hold for 2 weeks. Then package and age. When this is young it has a ton of farmhouse funk. As it ages the farmhouse character mellows nicely and it gains lemon notes. You could likely ferment colder to cut down on the age time, but it will likely change the ester profile thus changing the beer.
----------------------------------------------------------

Stauffbier said:

Here's my cheese.
The texture is perfect. Crumbly and mild. It needed to be a little sweeter and could use more blueberries. After I took this photo I decided to crumble it up and re-warm it. I then added a couple tsp of Agave Nectar and more blueberries. I re-worked it and twisted it back up. After it chills I'll see if it's more like what I wanted. Either way I'm happy with the results.

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I want to eat that. Blueberries, cheese, I want to eat that. Now where is the salivating smilie?

BobbiLynn said:

I want to eat that. Blueberries, cheese, I want to eat that. Now where is the salivating smilie?

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The store bought version is my favorite cheese. It goes amazingly well with a fruity IPA. I'm hoping this comes close, because the stuff from the store is super expensive.

Man I'm beat.. Doing a huge new garden plot this year, it's about 1/3 of an acre. Tilled in 20 yards of compost and 250 lbs of dolomite today. I got totally nuked out there.

bottlebomber said:

Man I'm beat.. Doing a huge new garden plot this year, it's about 1/3 of an acre. Tilled in 20 yards of compost and 250 lbs of dolomite today. I got totally nuked out there.

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That does indeed look like a lot of work. Calls for a few cold ones!

I wish I had that much space. I live in the city, and my entire plot probably isn't 1/3 acre.

I'd just like to tell everyone, I've just started brewing again, but cant wait to tell the liqour store to go screw themselves again

lschiavo said:

I have some fine mesh bags that I have used a few times for wine. They don't seem like they would be sticky. You think one of those might work?

Ha, here I thought I may have everything to do this and we have no milk...a quick trip to the grocery in the morning will be needed. Holy carp! It's 2am here...at least it's Friday/Saturday.

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Yeah, probably not fine enough. Good point about the lactic acid. If you don't mind getting ricotta instead, I'd like to know what happens.

BobbiLynn said:

Getting close to the end of the boil and apple mint flavor is so strong and overwhelming, bitter like drinking coffee grounds. Once this finishes, I am going to mash another 3 pounds of 2-row, and add more corn sugar to dilute the over-powering apple mint. Go ahead and make it 5 gallons with the top off water. No idea where I will put it. Need to free up one of my 7.9 buckets, will figure something out by the time it finishes. I think for the whole batch of gruit I'll do 7 pounds mashed 2-row, 4 pounds dry corn sugar, a crap load of fresh apple mint with stems, probably 1/2 gallon by volume, not chopped or anything. Guessing maybe 1/4 pound or more. Oh and 2 cups of my homemade extract.

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Fresh mint tends to get bitter when it's been boiled. If you dry the mint first, you can then boil the dried mint and it will not get bitter.

gillsrob said:

I'd just like to tell everyone, I've just started brewing again, but cant wait to tell the liqour store to go screw themselves again

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Yeah, that is nice. I do still buy distilled liquor, but not much of that anymore.

Stauffbier said:

That does indeed look like a lot of work. Calls for a few cold ones!

I wish I had that much space. I live in the city, and my entire plot probably isn't 1/3 acre.

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You know it's funny, all I want right now is some corona. Not in the clear bottles, that stuff sucks. The kind in the brown 32's.

bottlebomber said:

You know it's funny, all I want right now is some corona. Not in the clear bottles, that stuff sucks. The kind in the brown 32's.

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I've actually been wanting to try that. It's not the same beer as what's in the clear bottles is it?

I can relate with just wanting a quencher. Sometimes I like throwing back some PBR's. Sometimes I'm not even opposed to chugging down 3 or 4 Bud Lights. It's kind of like chugging water with bubbles and beer flavor. If you're just chugging and not judging flavor it has its place. Works great for quenching thirst on a hot day of working outside without getting tanked. I don't do that very often. Maybe only a few times during the dog days of summer when we're at 105F+.....

Stauffbier said:

I've actually been wanting to try that. It's not the same beer as what's in the clear bottles is it?

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It may be the same beer, but being in a dark bottle makes all the difference. It's not great beer, it's still cheap lager. But it is good tasting cheap lager. My whole body is irradiated. You couldn't pay me to drink a RIS right now.

bottlebomber said:

It may be the same beer, but being in a dark bottle makes all the difference. It's not great beer, it's still cheap lager. But it is good tasting cheap lager. My whole body is irradiated. You couldn't pay me to drink a RIS right now.

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I can relate with how you feel. Crisp, dry, effervescent, and refreshing is all you want after a day in the sun. Heavy, dark, chewy beers just don't appeal.

I'm going to have to buy one of those Corona bombers tomorrow. I've always wondered what a Corona right off of the line would taste like before skunking.

bottlebomber said:

Man I'm beat.. Doing a huge new garden plot this year, it's about 1/3 of an acre. Tilled in 20 yards of compost and 250 lbs of dolomite today. I got totally nuked out there.

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Nice job! What all are you planting in there?

mcbaumannerb said:

Nice job! What all are you planting in there?

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A little of everything, but I'm going for storable calorie crops mainly. Shelling beans(there are some great heirloom shelling beans out there, highly productive and a good pastime for the kids), potatoes(which I just leave in the ground, they store great and you can dig them up all winter), and winter squash. Also tons of tomatoes for canning and a zillion peppers. And I'm going to use my old garden plot for berries. I thought about doing a little plot of barley, but then I thought "hell no". Just read the 100% homegrown thread to see how much work that is, all for a sack of 2-row.

I'm new to this time and just now visiting other forums than the standard brew stuff. But I'm digging it.

Gus_13 said:

I'm new to this time and just now visiting other forums than the standard brew stuff. But I'm digging it.

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Why not buddy? We're cool.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzKu9GmT-gE"]T3RR0R 3RR0R - Rave Inc[/ame]