Atomic Nerds

As per state law here in the land of mañana[1], I’m running a tad behind. That said, let’s check out the weather from last Saturday:

….Right. So much for working on the New Hampshire Mexico Home Gym[2]. With things thoroughly limited to indoor activities, there are only a few things to do without venturing through the storm for supplies. After LabRat shot down options one through six[3], I cast about and discovered that we had laid in supplies for a few batches of beer that I hadn’t brewed yet. Fill the house with more tasty alcohol? Why that sounds like amost as good a plan as option #3!

Y’know what a sign of progress is? Way back in late June when I first tried my hand at sticking it to the watery fizzy-yellow man at Bud & Coors, things were somewhat tense. I had half a dozen browser tabs open, the instructions that came with the kit, the DVD player running Alton Brown’s beer-centric episode of “Good Eats” on loop, was pestering LabRat about yeast and such to no end, and generally running about like a chicken with my head cut off. My recipe was detailed by the kit, and I even went so far as to use a kitchen scale to separate the one bag of hops pellets provided into as close to equal quantities as I could for bittering and aroma dosings, then proceded to fret about the .05oz difference between the two doses. My recipe and planning for Saturday? Behold:

[4]

Rather less chaotic, I think. Aside from gaining some confidence about what the farting yeast is going on with all this, we’ve learned a fair bit more about beer than we really expected along the way. Specifically, we learned how to actually taste things. Before, our palates basically went along the lines of “Hey, this is tasty enough and quenches my thirst. Hops? Yeah, I suppose those are in there somewhere, I mean, it’s beer right?” Sure, an IPA tasted different than a can of Guinness, and Arrogant Bastard would knock you a bit of a loop on an empty stomach and had all sorts of flavors rolling around, but things were basically just like/don’t like.

Well, we still can’t quite tell the difference between various strains of hops[5], but we sure as hell can identify what they taste like now. The other night at a local place, I ordered a beer I’d had plenty of times before and caught myself asking “Was this always this malty?” LabRat has reported similar findings as well.

There may have been some missteps along the way[6], but I gotta say this project has been more than worth it just in educational value alone. If the rising price of beer has got you down, find your local brew-shop, invest a quick $40 or so on some gear[7], and grab some malt extract, hops, and yeast and give it a go. If nothing else, if you get good at making the stuff, you might be able to lobby harder for rainy day option #2[8].

[1]I’ll explain tomorrow.
[2]The lucky bastard. Ours doesn’t come pre-split.
[3]Almost convinced her with #4.
[4]For anyone interested, it’s basically Alton Brown’s recipe from the show. 1/2lb 20L crystal malt steeped 30 minutes, 7lbs light liquid malt extract, 1oz cascade hops + 1oz Kent Goldings bittering, 1 oz Kent aroma, 1/2 tsp Irish moss, British ale yeast, 5gal batch.
[5]This will probably change dramatically come next fall, if not before then. New Mexican native hops aren’t terribly popular just yet, but we’re gonna grow some and brew with ‘em anyway.
[6]LabRat called it “ham-beer.” Don’t ask.
[7]Then another $40 on some better stuff, then $60 on that helpful gizmo, and oooh, that thing is cool…
[8]Footnotes are fun!

Posted Booze and Fine Hooch, homestead |