Today me and Jenna started our very first home-brew. It’s supposed to be an American Pale Ale, but considering this is our first time, I’d be happy with a Very Swedish Bastard Ale. The final recipe looked like this:
- Batch size: 10L
- 1.6 kg light dry malt extract
- 0,1 kg crystal malt
- 20 g Cascade (60 min)
- 12 g East Kent Goldings (20 min)
- 8 g Cascade (15 min)
- 5 ml Irish Moss (10 min)
- 12 g Amarillo (5 min)
- 1 pkg American Ale II Yeast
Everything went smooth. Cooling took about 20 minutes in the bathtub. OG was 1065 which is slightly higher than estimated (1059), but we also lost a bit more water so that’s probably expected. In any case, I decided to let it stay at 1065 even though an APA should stay under 1060 (according to beer smith), I like strong beer 
And now I’m patientlywaiting for the bubbles to arrive. And depending on how the yeast comes on I’ll move to the second fermentation in a week or so.
Exciting stuff!
Time to close some tabs, this time on my perhaps greatest intellectual heroes. Daniel C Dennett and Douglas Adams. Starting with Adams:
- “Is there an artificial god?” – Douglas Adams brilliant speech on Digital Biota 2 Cambridge U.K., September 1998. Fabulous stuff in a rambling typical Adamesque way. Including the famous puddle analogy and the ages of sand. Long read, but worth it.
- “Parrots, the universe and everything” – A likewise rambling speech, but this time on video. Hilarious and reflective, just what we loved him for. And do read the book, it is rather nice.
And now Dennett:
- “Free Will” – A lecture from Edinburgh University. This is, if you like, a short version of his book Freedom Evolves. Which you should read (I’m re-reading now).
- “Thank Goodness” – Reflections on his near death experience (from an atheist’s perspective) and a moving thanks to the advancements of science and medicine we tend to take for granted these day. I don’t think I could be as hard on the theists though, but the man has a point.
- “Autobiography, pt I” – And if you need more, here’s some on the man himself.
Enjoy!
I’m thinking of starting my very first attempt to brew some beer. Seriously, how hard could it be? I blame it on the fabulous Gnoff, who introduced me to brewing, sparked my interest and, not the least, cooks some really good stuff. I mean, really, really good!
So what do I need? A huge pot? Ok. Some hops and malt? Ok, but let’s do malt extract for this first one. Hum… *scratches chin* There’s actually quite a list of things I’ll need, but thankfully, must of them can be reused elsewhere.
After much reading at Swedish Home Brewer Association, I’ll try this:
- an american style ale (APA)…
- … but with some english trimmings (hops), lets say Cascade, Goldings and Amarillo
- dry pale malt extract
- small batch, say 10 litres
- liquid yeast
Things to decide later:
- starting the yeast on beforehand?
- hops in order Cascade, Goldings, Amarillo, but how much of each?
- one or two fermentation phases?
- priming method
The very nice Humlegården now has a shopping list saved in my name. I just need to add a bottle filler, fermentation barrel and optionally (probably, being a complete nerd) BeerSmith and I’m set to go. I believe…. Here’s to hope!
So, the blog has had a small hiatus. Again. Well, it will probably happen in the future as well, but for now I’ll try to start it up for a time. Can you hear the motor slowly spinning to life again? The sound of procrastination, lovely!
