Starting a new job can be stressful but can also be fun. I can assure you that I have been having fun these past two years even though I haven't brewed beer nearly as often as I have in the past. The pictures in my past posts have all been at my parent's villa where I have a storage shed filled with my brewing equipment. My parents let me keep my stuff there, and in exchange I keep it organized, brew occasionally, and leave the beers hooked up to the kegerator for my dad to drink after a round of golf or some sweaty yardwork. My dad is my biggest fan, I don't think he has ever disliked any beer I made (and he has tried every one).
I can at least do an info-dump of a few projects that I worked on since November of 2012 (my last post) which includes beer, coffee and cooking.
Coffee and Coffee Porter Projects
 |
| Raw Rwanda Dukunde Kawa Musasa coffee beans |
 |
| Roasting session |
 |
| Roasted and fanned |
 |
| Fresh brewed. Cooled after a short steep. |
The coffee project was fun. I was able to make some beans and bring them into work for people to try, I also made a batch for a friend's birthday. But the pictures above (excluding the action shot of a roast) were intended for a Coffee Porter I made from the Jamil's Chocolate Porter recipe I have done before. Here are some of the working shots from that day
 |
| Cleaning the keg |
 |
| The freshly brewed and cooled coffee was added to the sanitized keg. The porter was racked directly on top |
 |
| I get a kick out of sanitary foam displacement! |
MaxfieldMead Bottling Wax
Mead was the first alcohol I learned to brew; it's easy and it used to be cheap. Honey prices have doubled at least since I started my first Mead project in an empty Smirnoff bottle with a hand-squeezed pomegranate and local Arcata blueberry honey. That was in 2005 when I was a dishwasher hoping to get good tips from the waiting staff so I could make more Mead.
In 2015 I have at least 10 bottles of aged meads I have crafted over the years and managed to store safely, in hopes they mellow out in flavor and clear up naturally. It works pretty well as I can always bring out for a special occasion or give one away as a gift.
 |
| Red on the left is real bottle wax from More Beer. The others are crayon-glue mixtures |
 |
| Old meets new. I've given a lot of these away |
 |
| The wax is made from Crayola brand crayons and hot gue sticks from the 99cent store Crayola were the best, they seem to have the most wax like consistency |
 |
| A sticker and a clear label for a simple brand |
Brewing and Building
(Coming Soon)
Here are some randos of exploits in the past year.
No comments:
Post a Comment