tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48051397562084173662012-02-16T09:47:07.910-05:00An odyssey of commercial and home brewed beer & cheese, home coffee roasting, espresso, chickens, bread baking, and the miscellaneous stuff that crosses my path as I wander the WalMart of life. Some rants, some raves, some utter nonsense. It's my F'ing blog, subscribe to it or don't.. we'll all get along either way. Stick around, however, and maybe you'll learn something.. something fantastic, something worthless, but something, nonetheless.Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.comBlogger2481100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-24175549957211811732011-11-26T13:05:00.000-05:002011-11-26T13:05:01.597-05:00

Yeah, so there's a bit of a time lapse here between this post and last. Still doin' stuff, but that freak blizzard crap.. jeez. I wish I had a picture of the 15" or so we got in one single day in *October* that killed my plants... but suffice it to say, they're all gone now. What we have left is a few cleaned up garden beds and some garlic being the only thing that's gona spend the winter in 'em.

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-55473763480631754972011-09-22T11:56:00.000-04:002011-09-22T11:56:51.879-04:00

Did my first batch of jelly the other day. Used the wild grapes I've found in the neighborhood as well as a few lbs I've found out and about in other parts of the world (top secret locations!). This is 4.8lbs of wild grapes..  It was actually pretty stinkin' easy. In order to do it, I had to buy a new (had to? Well.. that's debatable..) kitchen gadget. But I've found this thing to be pretty 

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-42545856753300664852011-09-19T12:25:00.000-04:002011-09-19T12:25:51.406-04:00

Here's a couple pics f the new-to-me but far from new pottery kiln I just got. It's an old dog, but appears to be in pretty good shape. Looks like it was only fired a couple of time, really.. inside is almost perfect. Got a whole box of standoffs and plates to go inside with it, too. Inide is in good shape..  I have no idea what these do... I know it turns on and generates heat, but I'm not

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-16649271638051065822011-09-19T10:12:00.000-04:002011-09-19T10:12:40.263-04:00

Snap, I thought I'd lost this recipe. I'd been searching for it for days now, and finally located in the "spot I'd never lose it", which I couldn't find for days. Clearly, I should put his here so this never happens again. And no, I haven't made these yet after the sourdough-unfriendly summer temps, but here it is. Bakers Percentages included for those who wish to screw with the batch size. This

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-41181109220513870872011-09-14T09:21:00.000-04:002011-09-14T09:21:13.438-04:00

Got my hands on a legit MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) that the Army guys are eating overseas as we speak. Though it would be interesting to see how they rough it over there, so I dug in to one yesterday for lunch. The object: to follow the directions and eat as much as I could stomach. I say follow the directions because it's a bit of a puzzle to put the thing together. Here's the bag it all comes in

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-57660011637898694922011-09-10T11:03:00.000-04:002011-09-10T11:03:42.761-04:00

Got a few jar of Hot Cherry pepper relish put away and then did up nine 1/2 pint jars of Jalapeno pepper rings the next day. Very industrious! Still haven't cracked open any of the salsa, because they say to wait a couple weeks for all the flavors to meld together well, but we're getting close now and I should have some results to post soon. Here's some of that stuff I mentioned above... Hot

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-21915130410355522352011-09-07T09:16:00.000-04:002011-09-07T09:16:36.465-04:00

Just to keep you in the loop and document the progress, I've been doing some cylinders ont the wheel and then cutting into them to see the cross section and how well I'm keeping things even. Here's what I mean: That one's not so bad. I kept working on the previous one, too, and came up with this: What I'm aspiring to, however, is to imitate the quality of this cup, shown on the left, next to

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-10014422748378123212011-09-02T17:00:00.000-04:002011-09-02T17:00:54.976-04:00

Got a few new additions to the family now. Three replacement chicks, about 5 weeks old when we picked them up. They're all incorporated into the club now with the remaining two big chickens, and no real issues to speak of when getting them acquainted. We got 'em from a friend of a friend, who's now my friend, Shawn, a micro-farmer out in NY state. Got a nice setup with a zillion chickens and a

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-31317423175634561122011-08-26T22:36:00.000-04:002011-08-26T22:36:11.622-04:00

So, just finished reading that book I got on pottery wheel stuff and now hat I've scored some clay, I've given it a whirl on the wheel for the first time. Took my perfectly cleaned up wheel and turned it into a disaster real quick, that's for sure! Here's some first time ever spinning pics.. New box of clay... Gettin' centered on the wheel. My first pull! Disaster!

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-84256971823742510112011-08-25T19:25:00.000-04:002011-08-25T19:25:52.027-04:00

I'm talking to Bryan on the phone as I'm drinking this beer, and so I wasn't really thinking about taking too many notes as I was discussing it, but hey, what the heck.. It's supposed to be a Fat Tire clone beer, but I'll be damned if I know what a Fat Tire tastes like, as it's not really available out here. It's coming from a Grolsh bottle with a truckload of yeast stuck to the bottom, but

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-17786723756733865402011-08-22T09:29:00.000-04:002011-08-22T09:29:53.085-04:00

Just became te new owner of this thing: Potters wheel Upper bearing Lower bearing and pedal apparatus The other side! Model number plate According to the serial tag, it's an Amaco model 4-402 manual wheel. Old school! It's heavy, solid cast iron tub and metal everything else. It's a little spindly looking, but it's actually built like a truck. I'm going to wash it

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-38322568657643651112011-08-20T13:11:00.000-04:002011-08-20T13:11:25.532-04:00

Putting all these tomatos and peppers into good use, been making salsa for the past few days straight. Every day pretty much, I go out back and pick three more pounds of tomatos and grab a dozed Jalapenos and a few of the super hots and swish them into the cook pot. I've found that two Fatalii peppers and one Habanero is a really excellent combination of spicy hot and really flavorful, but not

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-28743800211350978222011-08-17T21:50:00.000-04:002011-08-17T21:50:31.788-04:00

Here's Bryan's latest thing to review of the three he sent my way. In addition to the usual process, I'm joined by fellow beer taster, Commando Jody, who is splitting this thing with me. On the nose, I'm getting a hint of a peach-y sort of thing, but can't put my finger on it. Jody thinks apricot, but this aroma is too strong for that he says.. evasive smell, it is. It definitely has that

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-11606915800906667552011-08-13T22:12:00.000-04:002011-08-13T22:12:27.387-04:00

Here's another of the three that Bryan sent my way, via UPS.. first, a visual: Bryan's Blackberry Wheat I'll be damned if I can find the info sheet Bryan sent my way for these beers, so I'll have to wing this one and not be able to provide the info he sent for the brew like I did for the last one. Anyhow, it pours out with a relatively foamless head, which was a bit surprising from the

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-9978256018977628352011-08-04T17:49:00.000-04:002011-08-04T17:49:53.920-04:00

My pal Bryan, whom I've known for a bazillion years from back in the day, lives out in Arizona. He recently took up brewing and we've been communicating recently about his adventures in the hobby as well as his gearing up for construction on a new home brewery. I'm excited to see what this fellow comes up with, as he's an accomplished fabricator and has his own shop out there. In fact, some of

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-55968429100460335962011-07-30T10:22:00.000-04:002011-07-30T10:22:01.639-04:00

Starting to get some production out of this thing now. Some of the long season stuff, that is. The chili's we've been picking into a bit every ow and then out of the Earthbox pepers, but here's some different stuff now. The potato's that unfortunately got crushed in the storm last month finally gave up the ghost, but when I went digging around in the Smartpot to get the thing cleaned up and put

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-53884118404989957412011-07-13T21:45:00.000-04:002011-07-13T21:45:25.428-04:00

Tis that time of year.. just did my first Fall planting of beets, turnips (yep, gonna try again..) and some more Brussel Sprouts. I've never had one of my own Brussels Sprouts, because the one I put in in the spring haven't popped out any Sprouts yet, but hey, if I love 'em I'd hate to not have planted any news ones. And I've heard the Fall crop tastes even better than the spring ones. Pulled a

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-18525635799004329982011-07-07T12:14:00.000-04:002011-07-07T12:14:03.722-04:00

Just doing some research on the garlic growing stuff I've got and it turns out it's time to harvest some of them. The ones I've got out of the ground right now are happily drying on the back porch out of the direct sun on the mesh table we have. They're awfully small looking things, but I guess that's all I'm gonna get. Looks like a couple got killed off and didn't grow underground and another

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-12601441025481990052011-06-21T14:12:00.000-04:002011-06-21T14:12:42.314-04:00

Just got back from the A.H.A. conference in San Diego, California the other day.. it was quite an event. If you're not familiar, the American Homebrewers Association is *the* biggest and only homebrewers conference of it's kind. Nearly 2,000 people attended this thing this year. Not sure if it out does the GABF festival I'm so fond of, but it was very informative. Here's a few pics from the four

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com2San Diego, CA, USA32.7153292 -117.1572550999999932.4256327 -117.35807359999998 33.0050257 -116.95643659999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-49243003422095442492011-05-27T13:14:00.000-04:002011-05-27T13:14:30.828-04:00

Yep, here she is.. the almighty Earthbox. Stuffed with Jalapeno's, she's doing quite fine. The potato SmartPot also got rolled up a bit more and filled with some more medium.. not quite all the way up, but it's darned full now. The horseradish has taken over the whole right hand side of the herb garden area, and looks healthy enough since I've been pulling slugs off it on a nightly basis.. (

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-29937582467729484952011-05-12T09:25:00.000-04:002011-05-13T16:34:44.460-04:00

Everything is still slowly moving along now.. starting to pick up the pace, but still pretty slow. The cold night time temps is still holdin' us back I think. I think I see some flea beetles out there, but they're not hurting anything so far. Still no slugs, which was what was killing me last year. I'm keepin' an eye out fr them, though. Got the last Global Bucket project finished up finally and

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-41074548626970920362011-05-05T13:16:00.000-04:002011-05-05T13:16:25.615-04:00

Potatoes are starting to come up.. check it: That didn't take long.. sprouted right up once we got some soil onto them. Nice.. the hops plants are both doing well now. I'm constantly untangling them every day to keep them somewhat on the trellis.. Cascades Here's the little Fatalii I put out in the Smart Pot.. a bug did a little damage right there on the left side, but it'll make it. The

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-14094299713429596682011-04-28T10:19:00.000-04:002011-04-28T10:19:01.959-04:00

Took some time yesterday and the day before to fill the Earthbox up with the mix I'll be using this year for all my containers out of the beds. It's called ASB Greenworld Growers Mix, and it's a pretty standard Peat based mix, pH balanced to just slightly acidic and filled up with a bunch of Perlite too. Jalapenos installed. That's gonna be a lot of growth in a small space.. So that's the

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-367119963566802482011-04-17T10:55:00.000-04:002011-04-17T10:55:14.809-04:00

Been a while since I've written.. things are still growing, no real setbacks. The potato project is actually coming along faster than I figured it would.. I got some organic potatoes to grow in the Smart Pots I got, and just left a few out.. and I'll be darned, they sprout really fast. Like, in just a few days fast. "Normal" sprayed potatoes would have looked god and stayed un-sprouted for

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-85048064773088090922011-04-07T11:55:00.000-04:002011-04-07T11:55:43.118-04:00

Here's the new-to-me dehydrator my momma handed down to me.. it had some stuff that came with it, new in the bag.. from *1981* purchase date. Righteous! There in the last photo I took some apples and ran 'em through the blender real quick on the puree setting and let it rip for a bit till it turned into a paste.. you slap it on the teflon pages that come with this thing and leave it there til

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-48891117739274042702011-03-30T11:33:00.000-04:002011-03-30T11:33:18.122-04:00

I had an extra Jalapeno that was taking up too much room and was also partially injured due to a previous accident here.. that, and a basil plant that was kicking around as well that wasn't getting any bigger in it's Dixie cup. Decided to see how 'hardy' those guys could be in the hoop house overnight. The answer: Not hardy enough. Both looked pretty much dead this morning when I took a glance at

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-79906336808615209722011-03-24T11:06:00.000-04:002011-03-24T11:06:09.731-04:00

Just had a bit of a snow dusting last night. they were calling for 3-7" of it, so I threw some plastic sheeting over the top of the bed that doesn't have a hoop covering it and held it down with some bricks. As it turns out, all unnecessary.. merely an inch of snow at best landed out there, and it's mostly already gone as of this morning. In other news, the onion "sets" I'm trying to grow are

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-87986697351653805882011-03-20T19:03:00.000-04:002011-03-20T19:03:50.222-04:00

The onions are coming up.. I'm growing, I think, 36 of 'em in these tofu containers I drilled some holes in the bottom of. I'm gonna grow 'em up to about the size of a dime in these and then transplant 'em into the raised beds to finish them off.  I just need a few to do the project that this garden is designed for, which is mostly small green salads, and a few jars of salsa, with everything

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-1920223625879881632011-03-19T12:25:00.000-04:002011-03-19T12:25:56.193-04:00

A funny thing happened on the way to Borders the other day.. I saw this, and needed to own it! Next to the Europiccola to show scale..  That right there is my new temporary coffee grinder. It's a Ditting model KR1203. It's a bean grinder designed to operate in a retail shop like a Starbucks or similar, that goes through 25-60lbs of beans a day. It weights *88* pounds. It makes my Faema MPN

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-53810504031336320402011-03-15T13:16:00.000-04:002011-03-15T13:16:46.446-04:00

My new Fatalii seeds sprouted the other day, but I'm a bit of a slacker in getting the pics up and posted. I put six in the propagator, but so far only two have come up, and one of 'em had a bit of a problem getting it's seed coat off.. and she's a bit deformed right now as a result. In either case, here they are: Yeah, you can't really even see 'em there. Right in front of that label, it's

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-37533340017050834982011-03-10T15:51:00.000-05:002011-03-10T15:51:17.664-05:00

Went to the dump the other day and found a set of kegs off to the side, that apparently had been owned by a homebrewer before me, because they had the tops cut out already and one of them even had a ball valve and, get this, a stainless steel false bottom installed in it. What the! I grabbed that thing in about 3 seconds flat and it was in my car, paid for, and we were out of there in no time.

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-205165733884873802011-03-08T11:31:00.000-05:002011-03-08T11:31:01.755-05:00

Made a big change to the operation today. My Jalapeno's are coming up all leggy, stretching for the lamps.. knew I had to get 'em higher up to the lamps quick, but with the other big plants under there, something had to go. So, with that in mind.. I went out and found the ol' chicken heat lamp setup in the garage and figured I'd give that a whirl. I hooked up this lamp to the same timer as the T5

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-3774210257894044742011-03-07T09:54:00.000-05:002011-03-07T09:54:43.672-05:00

So here's the overall view of the stuff so far. Still all peppers so far.. hot peppers, that is. I'll be putting some bell peppers in a propagator later today, but they're not in here yet.  You can maybe see I still didn't have the heart to toss those Jalapenos, and in fact potted them up into HUGE pots (well, comparably..) they're like, 5 inch diameter pots, I think they call 'em 1 gallons.. not

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-89945680051825733052011-03-03T14:58:00.000-05:002011-03-03T14:58:01.860-05:00

I am seeing a total ammount of nothing from the Habanero seeds I put into the propagator back on the 14th of February.. I know these can take some time, and of the six I put in of the first batch, I got only one.. but really, I put like eighteen seeds in this prop, and I got nothing showing right now. That's sorta sad. On the bright side, I have half of the Hot Cherries sprouting now in a cup

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-35507312316794625802011-03-01T17:09:00.000-05:002011-03-01T17:09:22.686-05:00

This is the competitor: Hard to tell from the photo alone, but that's a Northern English Brown, so says Savvas.. let's see about that.  ;) Appearance: Initial appearance shows a dark brown liquid that canot be seen through at normal room lighting conditions. When jacklighted with my trusty maglight, it shows a crystal clear mahogany color thats awesome to see. Style guide wants to see dark

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-26526765420154551752011-02-27T13:40:00.000-05:002011-02-27T13:40:49.798-05:00

Got some peppers in the propagators now for real.. no fooling around this time! My original test subject Jalapenos are geting way too big to fit under the lights now, along with the rest of the tiny baby plants. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with those buggers.. except my sole habanero.. that's still growing, but very slowly. Here's a pic of the setup now: Today, I put in some extra Hot

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-83309061831022991562011-02-23T18:50:00.000-05:002011-02-23T18:50:45.658-05:00

Just a quick pic of the hoop house that I recovered today... figured I'd throw some plastic on it and set 'er back out on the bed and see what kind of heating action I could get out of the thing. I'd like to see some snow melt-age out there and start to dry up the soil a bit so I can get some early plants into the ground.. but gotta get through that 2 feet of snow stuck to the things.. bummer.

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-79188103955014111792011-02-19T12:50:00.000-05:002011-02-19T12:50:21.914-05:00

 Just a couple pics to document progress.. not sure what I'm doing with these guys still, but still just nursing them along as space under the lights in and in the propagator allows.  The only seeds in there really truly destined for the big garden are the un-sprouted Habaneros in the propagator up front. And, probably that Hab in the clay pot there. That's become a pet now.. The whole shebang

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-68324570075804054012011-02-18T10:25:00.000-05:002011-02-18T10:25:16.979-05:00

So, Jody came up the other day and we brewed up a Porter in the garage. Inspired by James Spencer and the current science experiment he's got going on over on Basic Brewing Radio (podcast..) we decided to measure a few things while doing up our brew. First, we measured the specific gravity in Brix at several points during the mash, to see how the O.G. went up, down or stayed the same. Of course

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-40842196337553348362011-02-10T12:06:00.000-05:002011-02-10T12:06:43.299-05:00

So, me and the Boss headed off to NYC for a concert. Went out to see Chromeo at Terminal 5. Heck of a show, and had a great time there. This is the only decent pic I got of them, as the light show was driving the camera nuts, making it had to get a shot.. most came out black. We also visited the USS Intrepid while there, and saw a few neat things. This is gonna be the new controller for my

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-69013137554542525852011-02-03T12:42:00.000-05:002011-02-03T12:42:47.337-05:00

Decided today, one month exactly since I planted the stuff in the little pots downstairs, was the day to do some pruning of the garden.. I seriously meant to chuck them all out the window and clean everything up for the real deal starting at the end of this month.. but I didn't have the heart to do them all in. I know the tomatos aren't going to do me any good now, cause they're getting so big so

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-87860299771960630632011-01-31T16:47:00.000-05:002011-01-31T16:47:25.165-05:00

Did some brewing with Savvas and Geoff down and Savvas' parents place.. had to go there so we had some shelter from the cold in their garage. Heck, we froze up one hose during the brew session as it was.. a bit chilly, yep. Turns out it was Sav's first 'solo' all grain brew day.. I had no idea until he said so after the beer was all finished up and in the fermentor. He looked like a champ out

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-18851338464417774382011-01-27T09:51:00.000-05:002011-01-27T09:51:42.977-05:00

Making out quite well with seedlings these days.. I think this test is about to come to a close now though. The whole point was to see if I could improve upon last years 100% FAILURE rate and come up with some living, breathing, surviving seedlings that would be suitable to transplant into my spring garden, and I think I've done that. This is day #24 of the test.. check out these pics of the

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-26837916044331168762011-01-18T11:37:00.000-05:002011-01-18T11:37:44.025-05:00

Did some house cleaning today. Removed the Roma seedlings that were still in the propagator, as they were looking downright sad today.. they were turning a pretty good purple color due to lack of nutrient's in the soil-less mix.. so, that part of the experiment is over with. Here's a pic of them just before I pulled them out of service: Sad Roma seedlings that didn't make the cut.. Those guys

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-9001483581781330572011-01-15T14:29:00.000-05:002011-01-15T14:29:39.947-05:00

Just a quick post to show the status of the plants after the transplant yesterday.. Here's a shot of the Roma's after the overnight in the six pak, and as you can see they're apparently doing fine.. I was watching them occasionally after the transplant yesterday and I didn't even see them so much as droop over, so I guess that transplant action was pretty trauma free for them. Yay for me!

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-61978834370521813822011-01-14T17:11:00.000-05:002011-01-14T17:11:01.711-05:00

Greetz.. Been a few days since the seedlings popped up and figured I should give an update, esp. since I've had some really nice results with the propagator and new growing light setup. So far, everything has popped up and is doing well, with the exception of the Habanero peppers. The Jalapeno's have all sprouted, with 100% germination with last years seeds (the same ones I FAILED to grow at all

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-80682326015834458452011-01-08T11:21:00.000-05:002011-01-08T11:21:41.180-05:00

OK, I got a new card reader, so now I've got some more pics to share. Good thing, too.. some testing in action and wanted to document it all. As you know, I got a self watering seed propagator late last year that I didn't get to use for last years garden, but I'm set up with it now. The Super Seven propagator, set up and running a few days ago.. As a test, I put some Roma Tomato seeds, some

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-15051335285629614962011-01-05T12:56:00.000-05:002011-01-05T12:56:47.668-05:00

Still no camera card reader.. .. where did that damn thing go? As a result, no pics to show ya'..  On the 3rd of this month, I lost control of myself and pulled out the Super 7 seedling propagator thingy I got last fall and set it up with some Roma tomato, Jalapeno, Habanero and Sweet Basil seeds in it.. I know, it's too early.. but I just wanna see if the damn things works as advertised... if I

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-52891752630110081112010-12-16T11:58:00.000-05:002010-12-16T11:58:40.415-05:00

Man, the card reader got lost somewhere along the way a couple weeks ago, as I think I've remarked before.. and it's just downright sad that I can't post pictures now. Unless I take 'em with the iSight cam in the Mac, I'm out of luck. Take this as the best I can do: That is the best tasting loaf of bread I've ever made, and this picture won't do it justice! I finally got around to trying a

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-82579073897703432422010-12-05T17:29:00.000-05:002010-12-05T17:29:14.710-05:00

This was, of course, going to be a Brutal Truth on Jody's Octoberfest, as stated above.. but this bottle was presented to me in a plastic bottle with a carbonator cap attached to the top.. and when I poured it into the glass I have in fornt of me, it was mostly flat. There's a couple of bubbles in here, but not much. It's not really a fair game like this.. so, I'll give it a quick run through,

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-85223746222557815252010-12-03T11:43:00.000-05:002010-12-03T11:43:37.942-05:00

I think I pretty much failed to capture any of it in photos, but me and Jeremiah took the eHLT for a spin last Friday and brewed up a batch of stout with the new eHLT in action. It performed flawlessly and I love the conversion. I am, so far, highly recommending this procedure. The new stout uses 12% roast barley, up 2% from the last batch, and I dropped the chocolate malt 1% as well.. we'll see

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-76067197062245975992010-11-24T13:21:00.000-05:002010-11-24T13:21:00.996-05:00

The Amaryllis has, partly, bloomed.. Neat!

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-58493561835513842992010-11-18T21:13:00.000-05:002010-11-18T21:13:36.108-05:00

Quick note to indicate the status of the garden.. just documenting how long a kitchen type garden can be kept going this year, and wanna keep the pics going as long as I can, tedious though it is on some days, so I can look back next year and actually *see* and not just think.. "well, I think it was OK tup to November-ish.." you know what I mean? So, bear with me.. we've gotta be in the home

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-82123865915110619682010-11-16T09:22:00.000-05:002010-11-16T09:22:52.357-05:00

The Amaryllis is coming along pretty well.. on the verge of popping out and actually looking like a flower any day now. Check it out: It's about 2' tall now.. Otherwise, here's some pics of the grounding ring idea I came up with, with a bit of help from my engineering team ;), to ground the electric element to the keg and thus the ground. Also, a pic or two of the JB Weld attachment of the

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-24178769975621769142010-11-12T10:25:00.000-05:002010-11-12T10:25:24.438-05:00

Pulled up the horseradish yesterday.. this is what I got: Sort of an ugly bugger. I thought it was gonna be more like carrots, with each root sorta more carrot shaped with a tuber going straight down.. but it's more hop rhizome like than that, with just a big tangled mass of roots all over the place. There's also going to be no problem with next years crop, because this thing pretty much

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-36968419496147407922010-11-10T12:02:00.000-05:002010-11-10T12:02:06.728-05:00

Got me a chicken that's a moltin'.. there's feathers all over the yard. One of the Barred Rocks, the bigger one, is sheddin' all over the place and she really looks like hell now. The kids think it's kinda funny though, and they're collectin' the big feathers from around the yard and keepin' them in a jar.. presumably to re-create the whole bird eventually? I can't imagine why else they'd do that

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-36550122836896074032010-11-09T12:35:00.000-05:002010-11-09T12:35:02.281-05:00

Just wanted to share a few pics of the Big Brew we had at Don's Dad's place, sponsored of course, by Don's Dad & Mom as well as Don himself. Great time was had by all. This event also marked the debut of two brand spankin' new brewing rigs, Don and Geoff's metallic monster and Jeremiah's half electric, half propane Frankenbrewery. Here's a few pics of the event and attendees to document the fact

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-65497500107930513182010-11-04T20:43:00.000-04:002010-11-04T20:43:37.664-04:00

Did something funny today and jury-rigged up my HLT.. no switch, no safety covers, just plugged it straight into the wall and let it rip. Talk about yer' reckless! Did this with a mostly typical strike water sized volume of water.. 10 gallons. Actually, most strike water volumes for the beers I brew are more like 8.0 to 9.5 gallons for the initial batch of strike water.. and somewhere generally

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-90865176048986415362010-10-31T16:05:00.000-04:002010-10-31T16:05:52.787-04:00

Just got back from the welder shop where I picked up my newly modified kettle that now has the big stainless steel nut welded into the side for the electric element to attach on to. Check the pics for some detail. Interior view of the element coming into the keg.. Nice welding job, done by Accurate Welding of Barkhamsted.  The next step is to gather up the appropriate parts to make the

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-6645110861072989722010-10-27T16:51:00.000-04:002010-10-27T16:51:41.367-04:00

Hmm.. a bit of a slow time recently. Got some SPinach growing slow but sure out in the hoop house. Check it: Spinach This was taken a couple days ago, so it's a bit bigger than this now, but still small. The Arugula is almost near the zone where I'd consider almost calling it 'Baby Arugula" and eating every last leaf of it in a baby Arugula salad.. but it would literally be entirely gone if I

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-43444766588292187252010-10-22T12:04:00.000-04:002010-10-22T12:04:03.962-04:00

So there was a bit of a frost last night. Took some pics of the bed with the hoops on it to show, and also an update on the Garlic planting that I did the other day. Check the garlic first: Gonna be planted in the upper bed, in the four squares right next to the end-most ones.. Holes dug for garlic bulbs, and garlic jammed in.. Those three at the top are actually Organic Elephant Garlic

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-81850870121973233562010-10-21T10:49:00.000-04:002010-10-21T10:49:01.008-04:00

Me and Timmay whipped up a single hop IPA the other day (code named 'Quebec'!) all IBU'd up with just 12.3% AA Citra hops for the duration. Here's a couple of pics of the operation in action, including a mash paddle solo by Tim, the throttling of the growler of yeast to give up the goods and the finished product in the bottle, pre-ferment. Check it: Mash paddle solo.. Yeast wrangler, or

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-92027553490101705152010-10-15T15:26:00.000-04:002010-10-15T15:26:35.272-04:00

My horseradish is *still* getting murdered by these damn cabbage worms.. *sigh*. It's even sadder now, since this photo was taken a few days ago. Those things are ferocious out there.. The hops are also keeled over now, but that's just the normal course of business for them for this time of year. Check 'em out: Everything else is doing much better. Stuff in the hoop house is still growing..

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-87321721318541882010-10-14T21:11:00.000-04:002010-10-14T21:11:31.937-04:00

I think that's how you spell it, anyway. It's a huge bulb my dad gave me the other day, and he told me to plant it in this teeny tiny little weird looking pot. But the pot is so cool, I had to take a couple shots of it to show.. check it out: It's got a completely glazed lower section, and a half glazed upper section, so the inner pot sits inside the outer pot, which you fill with water, and

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-18597862612855459782010-10-12T10:12:00.000-04:002010-10-12T10:12:57.176-04:00

Those turnips I photo'd and posted last time? A big one and a little one. The others? Well.. they didn't blow up.. they just bored straight down and looked more like skinny carrots. Dunno what happened there, but these were the two that were useable. So.. I chopped 'em.. Sauté'd 'em in just a bit of olive oil.. ..and then slapped 'em with some butter and ate 'em. They were actually

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-24104542209730217492010-10-05T12:25:00.000-04:002010-10-05T12:25:03.206-04:00

I totally forgot about this one till just now, and I'll tell you why. Here's some pics of the garden as it stands now. i planted a bunch of cold weather stuff, and it's sitting under the hoop house covering now. Then, I went to check on the horseradish on my way back to the house and it's *covered* with caterpillars. Different ones than those who were attacking my radishes earlier this year..

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-41412263942386945212010-10-05T11:24:00.000-04:002010-10-05T11:24:45.665-04:00

Because it's so nasty chilly, wet and windy out.. I figured I'd just cover the hoop house and see how it went. After seeing how thin this plastic stuff is that I had here, I'm glad I did, because I'm gona have to find something different to use, as this is gona get all torn up in rapid fashion I  think. It's really flimsy stuff. IT started to tear up right away from the staples, so I used some

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-17200494654442090662010-10-04T09:35:00.000-04:002010-10-04T09:35:53.273-04:00

So, we took a tiny trip into NY City this weekend.. Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, in fact. Something to do with a 10th anniversary of something or another. Spent a couple nights in a fancy hotel and saw some sights. This post is a bit picture heavy, so I'm going to clump some of them together for sake of brevity, but our trip was great. I'm not going to post about everything, but we did do

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-33537635375288962682010-09-30T09:29:00.000-04:002010-09-30T09:29:18.326-04:00

SFG = Square Foot Gardening. Here's a pic of the twine I put up where I have my squares marked off into 1ft sections. You'll see there's a bunch of stuff (Turnips, some older lettuce (both red and green) and a handful of peas..) I still have in here on the other, far end of the bed, but the near side has the squares all strung up and you'll also see theres three lettuce in the bed in the lower

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-21172386475095186982010-09-29T13:32:00.000-04:002010-09-29T13:32:26.608-04:00

Took a pH test of my upper and lower beds the other day.. this is the upper bed: And this is the lower bed: They're a little different, but then again, one uses a different soil than the other one. I wonder if that had anything to do with the success of the peppers in the upper bed? I'll have to look into that. It's a good time of year to take a pH reading.. gives the amendments you may make

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-24338126015029248572010-09-28T10:21:00.000-04:002010-09-28T10:21:12.621-04:00

That's what they call one of these things, anyway.. I'm most of the way through a book called "The Four Season Harvest" by Elliot Coleman.. husband of Barbara Damrosch, author of "The Garden Primer" one of my favorite gardening books. Pretty good husband/wife team, right there. Both books recommended to me by a pal of mine, who is also a bit of a cold season farmer himself (Hi Kevin!). I had

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-69878688996446045612010-09-26T22:50:00.000-04:002010-09-26T22:50:10.986-04:00

Better be sitting down, cause this one is a bit weird. Check this out.. hybrid electric propane brewery with a CRANK UP, ADJUSTABLE HEIGHT BOIL KETTLE! What the! Here's an overview of the thing.. note how low it is to the ground. He did it like this because his ceiling height is lower than my garage is, for example.. so, he made the boil kettle sit low to the ground while boiling, and then

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-65644377230605621522010-09-26T10:32:00.000-04:002010-09-26T10:32:48.560-04:00

Hey Savvas, here's that update you were askin' about for the planter on the deck.. the one I realized I hadn't taken any pics f since I pretty much planted the thing? It's my most productive component right now. Sorta embarrassing.. Check these silly Radishes: There's actually some lettuce in there, too.. a couple of Simpsons and a could of Red Ridinghoods as well.. we also planted some

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-78166040858731918452010-09-22T12:26:00.000-04:002010-09-22T12:26:07.755-04:00

Well, was with much anxiety that I pulled up all but one of the tomato plants in the lower raised bed. So sad! :) There's one left with a few more cherry tomato's on it, but that'll probably get pulled in the next couple of days or so.. I gotta get to the meat of this book "Four Season Harvest" by Elliot Coleman, so I can figure out the best type of cold frame for me to build there. I'm still

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-79475269329290270632010-09-17T19:37:00.000-04:002010-09-17T19:37:16.808-04:00

Here's a couple pics of me hanging out in the mashtun and boil kettle and stuff after joining my pal Timmay for a day of big boy brewing in a commercial environment. Timmay works at Cambridge Brew House, if you're not in the know, as the head brewer. He recently took over this joint from the last brewer and is already turning things around there. He took further steps to assure greatness in the

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-6405635971365417462010-09-13T10:43:00.000-04:002010-09-13T10:43:39.009-04:00

Cool stuff this time around.. first, I did my first canning  operation at home here, with the help of my pal Crystal. She's a highly experienced canner, and really made pro work of the whole project. Well, except she stuck her hand in boiling water once.. oh, and goofed around with seriously hot peppers and wasn't wearing gloves which caused her to cry most of the night because of burning fingers

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-42190829697768016422010-09-08T12:25:00.000-04:002010-09-08T12:25:20.123-04:00

Here's the big potato harvest of 2010. Dig it.. Impressive, no? And heck, not even all of them are edible.. not counting the tiny ones, there's a few of the medium size'ers there that have a bug hole in 'em. Fortunately, the biggest of the bunch seems to be in good condition, and might be able to have a go 'round with my belly. ;-) Still contemplating that right now.. In addition, there was a

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-82247321901096103172010-09-03T10:55:00.000-04:002010-09-03T10:55:25.400-04:00

Here we have a sample of Don's Wheat Stout, which has Wheat in it as a supposedly major part of it's grain bill. I'm not sure how to classify this beer, but he's telling me it's a Stout, and the closest thing I see in the book is the American Stout guidelines. So, against that we'll throw it, and see what sticks after it goes through the meat-grinder of The Brutal Truth! Appearance: "Jet Black"

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-15896064473354688502010-09-01T12:43:00.000-04:002010-09-01T12:43:51.705-04:00

A few pics from the planter box thingy I planted with a few lettuce and radishes.. wherever there's a piece of straw poking up, there's a lettuce or basil plant. The two basil's are on the ends and the red and green lettuce are towards the middle a bit more. There's radish everywhere there was a space inch of room. I guess I can pull that straw out of there, since all of the plants are now

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-51782773134993415352010-08-31T11:15:00.001-04:002010-09-01T12:29:04.741-04:00

Brewed with Commando's Kapros and Rockhill yesterday. Jody brought up his newfangled Top Tier brewing rig and it seemed to work like a charm. Me and Savvas worked our magic on an American Amber style with all of the aroma hops (2 minutes before flameout) handpicked off my vines just before being thrown into the pot. Everything went fairly well until we got a hop lodged into a line somewhere.. it

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-29266468112647373572010-08-25T09:49:00.000-04:002010-08-25T09:49:47.714-04:00

Whipped up a new stout with Comando Savvas a couple days ago. We did an American Stout with a hint of chocolate malt and a smidgen of oats. The next morning, I found what we *really* should have put in this thing.. cocao nibs! Damn. Next time, for sure! Anyway, I think he used an Irish mack pack from Wyeast to kick his off, while I deviated from the norm and went with a re-pitch of the lacto/

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-80977330015750376142010-08-17T11:42:00.000-04:002010-08-17T11:42:31.004-04:00

Just got back from vacation.. 7 days, end to end, but felt like a month. That's what happens when you spend a lot of time on the beach.. things just slow to a crawl. We ate well, and I put on 3 lbs as a result. Sweet. This is what I did, mostly, during the week: Read. Went through 4 books.. well, 3.5, but I got well into the 4th, so I'll call it OK. As you can see, I'm sportin' my brew gear

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-46721344503950384862010-08-05T16:43:00.000-04:002010-08-05T16:43:55.014-04:00

But for the love of Dog, leave my lettuce alone! Again. Yep, again. I put up that chicken wire fencing thing over top of the youg seedlings to protect 'em, but yet again, two nights later, the rest of my plants are gone. There's, literally, two lettuce plants, and a few turnips remaining. Whatever this thing is, it doesn't like turnips. But jeez, it eats everything else right up. Check this out:

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-73622028501793808312010-08-04T11:19:00.000-04:002010-08-04T11:19:38.412-04:00

Took a beating this week. I failed to post an update last week, when I had this fabulous setup just emerging.. the green you see is the radishes and the turnips and  even some lettuce just poking up.. And since then, just a couple days, if that, later.. something snuck in overnight and decimated the joint. I suspect deer, cause it just ate the tops of everything and there were no tracks inside

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-52222194399917696342010-07-31T23:47:00.000-04:002010-07-31T23:47:57.177-04:00

This is a fairly commonly known about thing on the internet now, but pretty unknown to me up until I got my Earthbox and started reading up on sub-irrigated planters. The idea is, you have a container that holds a soil-less mixture to root your plant that sits on top of another container that holds a reservoir of water to supply a constant feed of water to the first bucket. This idea keeps a

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-11330310634660964182010-07-30T14:12:00.000-04:002010-07-30T14:12:42.531-04:00

Heh heh... yet again, another one on the chopping block. Comando Don brings us one of his babies in the form of Saison. A* vintage* Saison. To the tune of about 18months old, he tells me. Yikes! But isn't this one of those beers you're supposed to drink young, fresh.. like, right NOW after brewing? Sure, typically. But you know Don.. he's always been a bit slow, and thus his delivery took the

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-29005102340022332692010-07-26T11:35:00.002-04:002010-07-26T11:35:27.810-04:00

The Krausen Commandos invaded New York the other day for a trip to Captain Lawrence brewery, and met with Scott Vaccaro there, the owner and head brewer of the joint. A few of the boys listened to him on the Brewing Network's podcast a while back and felt like we already knew the guy.. nice fellow. He gave us a personal tour of the place and answered any questions we had.. which weren't that many

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-68960745287777652182010-07-21T13:57:00.000-04:002010-07-21T13:57:55.323-04:00

Ahh.. another day, another garden update. Tis' the season, after all. But before that, I should mention that the 4th tap was killed, cleaned, and is now home to the Avalon Pale Ale.. err.. one of them, anyway. There's two for this year going to the beach. Well, three, really.. but one is staying here. Two are heading to the shore. OK, now that we got that straight.. On standby is the Berliner,

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-25236769452613268792010-07-15T11:16:00.000-04:002010-07-15T11:16:55.065-04:00

Some updates to the garden.. Check this thing! Melons and Cucumbers and one watermelon of the the left side, still growing. We're going to regret planting this soon enough, but it's still funny to watch it grow.. My new Mint plant. Thanks Crystal! I got a tiny little rootlet that was creeping out of it's boundaries from my pal Crystal, and got it potted up there. We'll see how it's doing as

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-40911151956831105402010-07-13T21:56:00.000-04:002010-07-13T21:56:12.243-04:00

Here it is, another installment, guaranteed to break hearts of home-brewers everywhere. Dig this: Our latest victim, Timmay's Belgian inspired Imperial IPA, which he told me to disregard the Belgian part of. Something about it not turning out quite Belgian'y or something? I forget. Whatever! Let's begin. Aroma: A mild fruitiness, some notes of peach, and a very faint sweet smell.. per 

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-68891142836515234172010-07-11T13:43:00.001-04:002010-07-13T09:35:31.101-04:00

Seems like forever since I've posted here.. but.. only 5-6 days, I guess. In any case, brewed a 12+ gallon batch of Avalon Pale Ale the other day.. this is the beer that goes with me to Avalon, NJ each year to quench the thirsts of the beachgoers on our big family vacation. Last year, one keg wasn't enough, so I made another one.. granted, one is a mini-keg, but still, there's two of 'em. Right

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-21207875912085148042010-07-06T14:26:00.000-04:002010-07-06T14:26:36.136-04:00

Behold, the latest poor bastard up for a go-round in, The Brutal Truth: Let's do this thing. Because he's not sure what this is, I'm gonna put it in Belgian Pale Ale for him. The only stats we know are that it's in the neighborhood of 6% abv and was built as a kit from somewhere that he got for a gift. Aroma: Mild banana and custard-ish aroma. Nearly heaven, in fact. It's very light, but

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-39883657300873272332010-07-05T10:29:00.000-04:002010-07-05T10:29:59.526-04:00

Just a bunch of regular and a few macro (with a crappy camera) photo's of the garden and how things are growing in early July. Here's the very first flowers from the Earthbox Habanero's on the deck. The ones in the beds out back aren't popping just yet, but they seem like they're *just* behind the Earthbox units.. so far, I'm happy with the results the Earthbox has given me. It's an interesting

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-37785303081657775802010-07-03T10:43:00.000-04:002010-07-03T10:43:25.415-04:00

This is a little out of date, cause this was a week and change ago.. but I went to the Dorsky Museum with the Boss for an opening she had/has going out there. The Ladies Auxiliary was actually the thing, not just the Boss. They seem to be popping up everywhere these days.. Here's a partial shot of the install.. there was more to it than just this, so you'll have to make the trip to see the rest.

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-73849237542921467362010-07-02T13:18:00.000-04:002010-07-02T13:18:20.052-04:00

Just a quite update here about a couple of things. Good news, in fact. First, I had a virtual beer with Geoff the other night, over a pint of '1809' Berliner Weisse from some legit German brewery. Supposedly a no-boil, mash-hopped thing of legitimate per-style brewings. In fact, it was quite awesome. Here's me and virtual Geoff drinking this beer: Slick, eh? Same beer, same glass, same beer

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-44507093297370813882010-06-27T22:25:00.000-04:002010-06-27T22:25:12.607-04:00

Brewed up a beer of some sort with Frank the other weekend.. Think it's a pale ale of some variety, but the details escape me right now. It's for  one shot party at Uncle Mike's at the lake, and it ain't probably gonna last long. Nice guys bring a couple six packs to share with their friends.. *heroes* bring a keg. Remember that. In any case, this is how Frank rolls when he brews. Very

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-38415377480075484452010-06-27T00:33:00.000-04:002010-06-27T00:33:26.878-04:00

Just a quick note to mark the passing of a good Red Chicken, as of yesterday.. err, maybe late the evening before. No idea which one this was, be it a Rhode Island Red, or the one Golden Comet that I originally started out with. This is the first death of a chicken we've experienced here, and it was a little rough on the kids at first, but they seem to understand it all now and how things work.

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-31865915381099558262010-06-22T11:47:00.000-04:002010-06-22T11:47:52.153-04:00

So we had the first ever Krausen Comando's meeting June 13th, 2010. It was *epic*. Had a few brews of home-made persuasion that were pretty good, and tasted the first (I think) Hefe from Cambridge, which the owner (Steve) was kind enough to bring up for us, gratis. Nice fellow, that Steve! Our sorta official home base is, of course, the Cambridge House on Main in Torrington.. and they treated us

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-7446120878787793742010-06-16T09:37:00.000-04:002010-06-16T09:37:23.130-04:00

Update. Without pictures. Still can't locate my stinkin' camera that I lost the other day.. drats. When last I typed, I had just scored a heat-lamp from Deb A. next door and jumped the whole fermenter up on there. No dice! Nothing happened into the next day. At that point, I got scared I was gonna lose the batch to some other bugs, so I pitched my neutral strain and left for work. I did take a

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805139756208417366.post-21458370290821028562010-06-13T11:35:00.000-04:002010-06-13T11:35:46.636-04:00

OK, here's some pics and an update on how things are progressing on the Berliner Weisse. This is a shot of the starters for the lactobacillus strain from WYeast in the foreground, and the raw grains experiment to grow some wild lacto (that was later ditched) in the background. After the brew day was complete, which was a bit of a departure from the norm, what with a *15* minute boil duration,

Mike E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17761694555516561602noreply@blogger.com0