I brewed the other day. Don’t ask what day it was though I couldn’t tell you. Its been an absolute crazy couple of weeks, fraught with a lot of sad times mixed in with some happiness as well.

Onward and upward. I brewed the other day in the garage. After the boil I figured I’d toss the kettle in the snow bank outside the back garage door. Remembering a friend’s difficult time cooling a batch of beer in a snow bank, I visited it every time the girls went down the sledding hill to repack the snow around it.

It actually cooled off fairly quickly. I was surprised. For anyone brewing in snow laden climes, the absolute best way to use it as a wort cooler is to put your kettle in a sink or tub with water and dump snow in. Putting it directly in the snow just results in a nice blanket of insulating air with little cooling going on. Think of the Igloos and quansa huts made of snow. Air surrounded by snow acts as a great insulator!

Happy brewing,

Cheers

My local favorite hop monster creator Surly released their Darkness to the public and drew some heady (punny, Tony, punny) news. From a local media outlet:

“It’s something we never expected when we brewed the beer, but that’s what folks think about it. And because it’s sort of climbed up these Internet rankings, it’s become a really sought after beer,” said Omar Ansari, president of Surly Brewing Company.

I have been and will continue to be a big fan of Surly Brewing, they are an incredible brewery with great beer. If you can find it, try it. Emphasis on if!

Cheers!

As a side note, I will be sporadic at best for a while, life’s inevitability is intruding upon our family. Thank you for reading, I won’t stop posting, but it might be a couple of days between rather than every day.

Post post script, edited to add the link from WCCO, my humble apologies for not giving credit where credit is due!

I’ve been reading questions relating to starting brewing. The best answer I can give someone? Find a local freindly* homebrew shop and start asking questions. All the homebrew shops I’ve been into offer varying start up kits from getting your toes wet at around $70 to full blown start to finish pouring out your kegerator for $300+. The basic start up kits are a decent option. Consider going with a glass carboy for a secondary vessel soon, though.

The other advice I can give is start reading! John Palmer has the complete content of his book online, start there. It comes highly recommended as a great book from beginner to expert.

There are smaller products that can be bought at large retail chains for much less, but your flexibility is sorely pressed with that option. I can’t say more about the actual quality of the resulting brew because I don’t own one and never brewed with it. Besides, why only brew 2.5 gallons when you can brew 5?!?

If its a present for someone else, get the basic starter from your local homebrew shop, and if the recipient doesn’t want to brew, or uses it twice they still have great resale value.

Start by asking questions, reading and just do it!

Cheers!

*(To clarify, I meant finding a friendly brewstore because I have had the unfortunate experience of visiting a couple decidedly unfriends stores. Stores where you walk in and feel like you’ve interrupted a club meeting, or aren’t cool enough to brew. Walk away like I did and find somewhere else that wants your money.)

One of the forums I frequent, completely unrelated to beer, turned up this gem today. After relentless Googling, I failed to find the original author of this borderline blasphemy (I hope its only borderline…) so I will happily attribute it to that great author, Anon.

The Beer Prayer

Our lager,
Which art in barrels,
Hallowed be thy drink.

Thy will be drunk,
(I will be drunk),
At home as in the tavern.

Give us this day our foamy head,
And forgive us our spillages,
As we forgive those who spill
Against us.

And lead us not into incarceration,
But deliver us from hangovers.

For thine is the beer,
The bitter and the lager,
For ever and ever,
Barmen.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and keeps out of trouble!

Cheers!

At least some of it. The Associated Press reports Irish police recovered an undisclosed amount of the swiped kegs from the heist and arrested two men. One of my previous questions is also answered:

 The Garda Siochana police force declined to specify how many kegs have been recovered following the Nov. 29 raid, when a lone man drove a truck into the brewery, hitched up a trailer loaded with 450 kegs and drove straight out through the security gate into rush-hour traffic.

So the man did it in plain sight during rush hour! Bold as brass, but caught none the less.

Do beer drinkers across the pond think Guinness is the everyday domestic and Budweiser the exotic import?!? Just curious, if anyone knows.

Cheers!

This time Guinness suffers the loss of 430 full kegs. Thanks to the AP for bringing this to the forefront.

National police said a lone man drove into the brewery — a Dublin landmark and top tourist attraction — on Wednesday and hitched his truck to a fully loaded trailer awaiting delivery to city pubs.

Wow, this fellow must be taking notes from the beer heist in Canada a couple months ago. He must be relying on the “act like you own the place” mentality. I wonder if the beer was stolen in the middle of the day, bold as brass? Hopefully the bad guy will get found out.

Cheers!

Canada.com has this little gem published Saturday.

“Households in Quebec were more likely to have a beer fridge than other places,” said University of Alberta associate professor Denise Young, who analyzed industry data and the results of a national survey to study the environmental effects of beer fridges for Natural Resources Canada.

This is funny on so many levels! Obviously there are a lot of old beer fridges beating around in basements and garages. One in three houses having a beer fridge is down right awe inspiring. Then there is a national survey to study the environmental effects of the beer fridges! Oooh man, thats good.

Cheers!