Clover

So, I went to NY with the family a week or so ago.. Hit up a Broadway show of Mary Poppins. We were just trying to take a pic of the Mary Poppins marquee when these two scrubs kept getting in the way of the shot.. irritating, but we couldn't get a better angle.


This is a pic of me, out of order in the series now, but a pic of me at Grumpys cafe in NY with my Ethiopian Sidamo in hand. This was brewed on the Clover machine, see below...


..and here it is, below! And me standing in front of it. I was gawking the whole time it was being made, yeah. It was totally awesome. If you're not familiar, look it up online, but essentially, it's a sot of a combo between vacuum pot, press pot, and Aeropress coffee. IT makes one single cup of whatever size you want, in one shot. The process is total immersion in a heated container thingy on top/inside sorta of the machine, and the operator totally controls both the ratio of coffee to water by individually weighing out the amount of grounds to drop in (and just ground, just prior to brewing here, thank goodness!) the water temp is fully digitally controlled as well, which is also really cool. For ~$10k per machine, I guess t better be pretty cool. Clover has a good website with lots of Youtube videos to check as well, which will explain this better if that didn't work for you.

Boy, do I look irritated in this photo! I really wasn't. I was giddy, really. Like a kid in a store. It as awesome stuff in there...


After my Sidamo, which was the finest coffee I've ever drank, I had a parting coffee by way of a Single Origin espresso of a Guatemalan bean that I can't remember the name of.. but in any case, it was also the best espresso I've ever experienced as well.. and I've had a few really good ones. It was like coffee and honey and crack, all mixed up together.. possibly also infused with a million dollars of goodness. I've never had its equal, or anything like it, really. In any case, this bazillion dollar Synesso three group was put to good use by an expert craftsman (craftswoman? It was a girl working the thing at the time...) for my espresso, and I can't imagine going to NY again and not having this coffee. Just sick!

Still no pics of the Will Siss brew day.. cause someone is holding back on photo's still..

Broke the rear hub carrier on my VXL Rustler from a few posts back.. slide of death rounding the tree in the side yard a few days ago, and crashed the thing into the corner of the cement on the house. Goin' out to get a replacement piece this AM. No more R/C news today, kids!

Still pondering my chicken coop. I think the see-thru roof is gonna cost more than it's worth... but still thinking that part over. Will start building soon.. I think.

Otherwise, click that google link before you sign off, you cheapo's, and we'll see ya's in a bit.

Another one down...

And it's down! The Dunkel is down! Survived since December, it passed away last night after a *difficult* fight to the end.. but alas, she's gone. Following in 'er footsteps, a standard American Pale ale, with no sourness at all embedded inside. Some of you will find that refreshing, I'm sure.. (ahem, Sarah!)

Still waiting for some pics to come back so I can do a post on the brew session with Will Siss, where another newbie was thrown into the homebrew fire for the first time. We'll see if he's hard core and sticks around for a bit.. ;)

In other news, not beer related, the Boss picked up an Apple TV the other day at the West Farms store. We've been goofing with it a bit as-is to see how it goes.. but today, I think I'm going to hack it with the Boxee install so I can get Hulu feeds and stff on there. I'll report back on how this things goes (The Boxee install..) as time goes on. The ultimate plan is to completely ax the cable wire in the wall and run cable free. We'll see how that goes...

Rustlers, Devils and Maggie..

That's a fabulous picture of the deviled eggs I threw together the other day and ate for lunch and dinner (there were a lot of them! Spanned a few meals there..). I'm still gearing up for what to do with the eggs form my chicks when that day comes. :-) I never made these things before and wanted to show off my mad egg skillz. ;-]



This here is a photo of the Traxxas Rustler R/C I picked up last weekend and haven't had a chance to write about just yet. It's a VXL model which just means that it uses the newfangled brushless motor technology. Google it, there's lots of info out there on 'em. It's really pretty fast.. 30+ mph, and it's great fun chasing the dog with it. She's never had something that's faster than her chase her around, and it works wonders to tire her out by nipping it on her heels.



On to the real meat of the show! This here is the Oro de Maggie beer you've all been waiting so long to hear about. Check back on some previous posts to get the whole details on this, but suffice it to say, it's gonna be great. I just finished kegging it a couple hours ago, and everything went smooth. It's got a fabulous light golden color to it that doesn't quite come across in this pic as it does in person. There's a good sized maltiness to this beer, and a residual sweetness that I just don't understand, coming from a beer that finished out at 1.005 S.G. 6.3% abv in the end run! When I racked it from primary after about 10 days, it was still up at 1.033 from it's O.G. of 1.054, and during the course of time from January till now, the wild yeast went in on it big time, knocking that down. It's got a distinct sourness to it now, but not a huge, overpowering sourness. So, let's recap: Malty, Sweet and sour? WTF? How did that combo come together? Common brewing sense says this thing should be thin as a dime with an F.G. like that. I don't get it either. Just tellin' ya what I taste here in this warm, flat sample. My gut says it's a winner though, and for a 2.5 month start to finish sour beer, I think I can totally reccomend this Jolly Pumpkin yeast.. really nice stuff there at the bottom of those bottles. And that yeast flocculates like the dickens, too. Both beers I've made from it is clear as a bell rigt from the first beer off the tap. It's gonna be some more time in the keg downstairs till it gets some time in the fridge on the gas, so you'll have to hang tight till some other kegs kick to get the full report on the finished product. As always, I'll let you know when it's done and ya'll can come up for a taste.

Now go click my Google ads!

Coffee Brix? OK..

Been screwing with my Aeropress a lot these past few weeks. I still highly recommend it. I believe it may now be my favorite prep method. Every once in a while I break out my Vac pot to stay in tune, and I notice a definite difference in the taste. Sometimes one coffee preparation method makes a better taste in the mug than the other, but usually they're pretty close. Yesterday I was messing around with my Brix meter again while making a cup of this newfangled Wonko bean that Kevin sent me.. and I measured 1.9 on the meter. This, according to the SCAA, George Howell and Alan Adler (the guy who makes the Aeropress) multiplied by 0.85, roughly translates into the Total Dissolved Solids percent (TDS) of the cup you're measuring. According to SCAA stuff, they're currently thinking a number of 1.25% TDS is right on for brewed coffee. Well, I measured the Aeropress cup I was drinking yesterday and found it to taste like pure heaven.. and as it measured the 1.9 brix I mentioned above, that translates into ~1.6 TDS. A little stronger than SCAA thinks is ideal.

Today, I measured a cup of Yama Vacpot I brewed up using the 7 grams per 5oz water ratio I usually shoot for with vacpot and came up with 1.4 brix, equalling 1.19 TDS. A little short of the SCAA number of perfection. This cup was LACKING. Little body, a touch of astringency, and overall sadness compared to the cup of perfection I'd had the day before. Hmm.. seems I like my coffee on the higher end! I'll try for 1.25 TDS tomorrow and see what that tastes like before I get too carried away with this stuff, but it's an interesting new idea to wrap my head around. Plus, it's a way to meausure and quantify different prep methods and test them with roughly the same TDS numbers for the coffee, with only the brew method being the difference. Sort of levels the playing field that way, between brewers...

What a geek!

Now, go click that Google money link, you cheapskates!

Fire in the Roaster!

So this is Rob's new Grindmaster 1.5lb bagger/grinder. Stick a bag under the chute, set the knob to whatever you want it ground to, and hit the start button. Slick system, nice looking machine. All the grind settings are adjustable and the burrs can be fine tuned with that screw in the center of the dial there. Nice machine!












This thing here is his new "5 lb roaster", who's name I forget now.. but it's a fancy, hot rodded rotisserie thingy, with an added set of heater coils on the bottom, and a fan assisted exhaust vent that you can see there on the left side of the thing. We did some screwing around with it back on Monday and found it to be pretty much in it's element at a 2.5 lb batch size. We're thinking anything over that is gonna take too long and 'bake' the beans rather than roast 'em. This thing makes an impressive cloud of smoke in the room if you don't have your fan thingy going!


Here's a pic of his "old" roaster, a 1lb Behmor, siting atop the new machine. Cute little bugger!



















This here (below) is really the "before" pic, however. This is what happens when you turn your back on an automated roaster for a "couple of minutes" and the beans catch fire. This blackened mess is the remains of the now defunct 1 lb roaster you see above. So sad!

Another one down! Send backup beer!

Dead! Just splattered myself all over with the foam of it's dying, co2 infused breath. You can see the stats yourself in the pic, and this beer was brewed by Don S. and myself way back in November. She lived a long life, for sure. She's survived by the tiny stove-top pale ale I brewed in the kitchen a few weeks ago.. the 18th of February, in fact. So, brewed and tapped in well under a month. Sheesh! Now to see if it tastes like anything worth drinking..

In other news, the place is just about ready for the big brew on Saturday. All ingredients lined up for me and Dan to put together an American Wheat. Yes, you read that right, *Dan*, not *Don S.*, as Don had a last minute colonoscopy scheduled that he just DIDN'T wanna miss, not for beer or anything. So, it's me and Dan picking up the slack. Good luck with that project, Don!

Some more updates to follow tomorrow or so.. interesting news about a roaster fire I recently heard of...

Click that Google link, you cheapskates!

Forgot to mention: kettle pickup change..

So, last time I forgot to mention about the change I made to the kettle. Look back to here for that original post... but I'm referring to the change I made to my boil kettle pickup where I took out the slotted manifold and used a very long 3/8ths tube that ran around the outside of the kettle and picked up wort from the side. It was designed to be used primarily with pellet hops and maybe a few whole hop cones. As it turns out, I did a beer with Jody a week ago and had really good luck with it. No issues with the wort recirculation during cooling, which was one of our problem areas in the past, and no issues with runoff when the chill was done. I'm not sure how it'll fare with a mixture of pellets and whole hops, or whole hops alone.. but if I'm gonna run whole hops only in there, I'll probably just swap out to my slotted manifold, which I know works great in there. The right tool for the job, eh?

In other beer related news, the big brew off with our newspaper correspondent fell through for the 14th, but the big brew is still gonna be on! Turns out I'll be brewing an American Wheat with Don this time around. Should be good times there. I haven't had an Am. Wheat on tap in way too long. I should be doing a regular split batch of 12 gallons with the newspaper guy, Will Siss, on the 28th and later on we're gonna try to get the band back together with everyone and have a re-do of the big brew so we can give Will a proper introduction to home brewing. Hey, he asked, right? :-)

On the chicken front, it should be mentioned that I actually put in my order for them last Thursday, I think it was. Put in for two Plymouth Barred Rocks, two Rhode Island Reds, and one Golden Comet. All supposed to be good egg layers and people friendly birds. We'll see. Gotta really put my mind to the task and figure out what kind of coop I wanna build now. I keep fluctuating on it lately.. can't make up my mind. Anyway, they won't be in until beginning of May, so no hurry there. Pete, you listening? Get your hammer and saw ready!

Went down to Rob's house yesterday to see his new coffee bean roaster. Totally didn't think to take pics. Rob, help a brother out and send some pics to post? Curious device! A big ol' turbo charged rotisserie for chickens, originally, now turned to roasting coffee beans . Vented to the outside too, keeping *most* of the smoke out of the room, especially for the amount of beans we were roasting in that small room. He went from about roasting 1 pound batch sizes at a time, to 2.5-ish lbs at once. Way more than a typical home roaster for just himself needs, certainly. He sent me home with a "South American Blend" that he got from the company who sold him the machine, which I'll review in just a minute. Still heating water for that now...

Rob also has got himself a brandy-new Grindmaster 1.5 lb grinder, which is really nice as an everything-but-espresso coffee grinder. I could totally put that on my coffee cart and use the hell out of that thing for my Aeropress, vac pot and filter coffees. Snap! No pics of that, either.

OK, went with 28 grams for a 10 ounce mug for this South American blend, of which we know nothing other than that. Aeropress was the method. The beans themselves, strangely, smell *exactly* like a bag full of pretzels! Unfortunately, I don't like pretzels... but we'll see how the coffee tastes. It's only day one after the roast, so it's still too young to really be judging, so we'll have to revisit this tomorrow and the next day for sure, but.. It's still too hot to drink, but I'm getting an aroma of /mint/ in this thing. Like, the sort of thing you smell in Andes Candies? Yeah, that. Dunno 'bout how that got in there, but that's what I smell. It's got a 'green' taste to it now, still sorta hay-like.. hard to get around that at the moment. Overpowering right now. I get a bit of a earthy-ness in there, Sumatra like, and that pretzel thing too.. not typical of South American coffees, so I'll have to chalk that up to the new roast still settling in. Let's check back on this one in a day or two, eh?

That's all I got today, kids. Keep clicking that Google Ad there, you cheapskates!