All about brewing beer.
My first homebrew. Can of real ale plus
500gm light DME. 17 litres. First month
very bitter. After 2 months good
carbonation and clear in the bottle.
Nice taste. After 3 months no bitter
taste. May need to add some fresh hops
if you want to keep it going for more
than 3 months. Good beginners kit. – Rating:3/5
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My first toucan. Brewcraft Wheat plus a
can of generic lager brand. 21 litres.
OG 1.044 Bottled. First month too
bitter. after 3 months very good
carbonation. Nice creamy head. Very fine
bubbles. Tasted like coopers pale ale.
Best clone I’ve made. – Rating:4/5
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Brewed this one with a partial mash. Kit
plus 2kg pilsner malt + 0.5kg vienna
malt mashed for one hr. yeast WB06. 23
litres. OG 1.034. 3.6%ABV after 5 weeks,
good carbonation. Lite taste. Have it
with a slice of lemon. One of the best
brew to date. If you stir up the yeast
at the bottom of the bottle tasted like
a hoegaarden. – Rating:4/5
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State Sen. John Rafferty, R-Montgomery, joined by the Pennsylvania Convenience Store Council and the Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association, has backed a new bill that they said would “make sweeping and historic changes to the way beer is sold in Pennsylvania.”
Many taverns and restaurants in the state do have “R” licenses allowing them to sell one or two six-packs at a time. Also, a few large supermarkets — which have created sit-down restaurants inside their stores where beer is served for patrons’ consumption on site — can now sell a six-pack or two for takeout.
The measure is destined to meet strong opposition. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has the details.
What is Sierra Nevada 30: A Collaboration of Brewing Pioneers?
This video, featuring the protagonists, includes ruminations on the last 30 years and a hint of what beers to expect in celebration of Sierra Nevada Brewing’s anniversary.
More at the Sierra 30 website.
Used Wyeast 3944 Hoegaarden strain,
ferments fast at higher temps @75F+
helps generate the most Belgian flavors.
Added 750g dry wheat malt, after 7 days
fermentation added tea made from 20g
crushed indian coriander(spicy, lemony
type), then directly added the zest from
one big lemon. Left for 2 more weeks
then bottled, made up to 22L. Took 10
weeks conditioning to turn into a very
nice BrewPub quality wheat beer.
Tip: Wash the 3944 yeast to get numerous
uses out of one packet makes it cheap
and easier to use. If you like the 3944
Belgian flavor it works great in Blonde
ales and compliments any added citrus.
Adds proportionately less Belgian
flavors the lower your fermenting temp,
fairly neutral @68F and lower. – Rating:4/5
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Did
this with a 1.8kg tin of Muntons light
malt extract, and 15g fuggles. OG 1048,
FG 1018 after 7 days (high i would have
thought). a week old now and this is a
top notch drop of ale. Cant wait to see
how this mellows over the next few
weeks. best part, the colour! gorgeous
brown with red hues. love it. Go
Muntons, their kits are the business. – Rating:5/5
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Made
this kit with 1kg coopers brewing sugar
to 23L (as its what comes with the micro
brew kit). After a couple of weeks its a
fair beer, would benefit a huge amount
from a 1/2kg of LDME and hand full of
aroma hops. A good introduction 
– Rating:3/5
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Mardi Gras comes a little later in Burlington, Vermont, than New Orleans, but then so does spring. The 15th annual annual Magic Hat Mardi Gras weekend begins Feb. 26, featuring music, moonpies, parades and community aid. This all-ages extravaganza is a “party with a conscience” to benefit the Women’s Rape Crisis Center of Chittenden County (WRCC), raising over $100,000 over the years.
Festivities start at 9 p.m. Friday with Connecticut-based funk rockers Deep Banana Blackout on stage in the ballroom at Higher Ground. Pre-parade rituals begin at noon Saturday with be Caravan of Thieves, a swingin’ good Gypsy-inspired quartet. At the same time concert poster artist Jim Pollock, who will be signing and selling his specially designed Mardi Gras prints to benefit WRCC. Burlington’s own band of Afro-Brazilian music makers, Sambatucada, follow at 1 p.m. There’s a costume contest at 1:30, with the Magic Hat co-founder Alan Newman crowning the King and Queen of Mardi Gras, who will each win $500 cash!
Thirty floats are expected for the parade along Church Street, beginning at 3 p.m. Per tradition, those on the floats will toss Lake Champlain Chocolates, moon pies and beaded baubles to those lining the bedazzled crowds lining the Church Street Marketplace.
The Mardi Gras Parade Post-Party begins as soon as the last float has been filed away.
The British government has appointed a minister of pubs, who will be in charge of trying to slow the rate at which pubs are closing.
Wentworth MP John Healey, also housing and planning minister, will head a five-minister task force. The morning advertiser reports he is considering tax breaks for pubs and giving tenants the right to buy pubs from landlords if they are threatened with closure.
British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) said the rate of pub closures slowed from 52 a week in the first half of 2009 to 39 a week, but remains a serious problem.
The BBPA hailed the decision as “great news” and a “clear sign” that its campaigns, Axe the Tax and I’m Backing the Pub, had had an impact. “Pubs now have a strategic place in Government and we could not have asked for a better minister than John Healey,” said BBPA director of communications Mark Hastings.
Healey himself said: “Pubs are often at the heart of community life. And they are important meeting places for many people. While we can’t stop every pub from closing it’s right we do everything possible to back them. But they need help now so I am determined to have a deal on the table with a package of practical help in the next few weeks.”
