Angel Over My Shoulder IPA

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I had a brewing buddy stop by today. It had been a while . He stops in every once in a while when I need his strength. Today, he helped me brew up an IPA. Thanks brother, I've missed you. 17 years tonight was when our world turned upside down. You've been gone for as long as we had time with you.


This is the first time I am trying to adjust my water before I brew. I've brewed malty beers and they taste fine but the bitter beers have a flat taste to them. I found out that my bare water needed a little bit of help. So using a spreadsheet, I found what I needed to add. Chalk (2 gm), Gypsum (1gm), Calcium Chloride (2gm), and Epsom Salts (3 gm) will do the trick.





As you can see, we have a lot of snow still.









It wasn't all that cold.








But it did get dark quick.











Hey there little brother.

Addition by Subtraction

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Priorities are the next name of the game for my brewing. Brewing-the topic is vast; there is much to learn. Every brew session can be something new and years in you will still find yourself learning. I've come to the conclusion that in the interests of not exploding my head, that it is time to prioritize my hobby. We're not talking about cutting back on brewing. We're talking about cutting back on the learning topics. Here are the things I am interested in expanding my experience in:
  • Temperature control-I have a free freezer, now I just need a controller.
  • Water Chemistry-I have the salts and a plan. I hope to see a difference in the next IPA I brew since my bare water is more suited for malty beers.
  • Lagers-I'd like to try my hand at a lager with the ultimate goal of producing a doppelbock-my favorite beer so far.
  • Session beer-I want to find my "go to" beer, a light, enjoyable beer that others will enjoy too.
  • Dry Stout-I'd like to get a good dry stout recipe in my stable-ala Guinness.
  • Yeast washing-the majority of my beers can be brewed with dry yeast. But for those special beers requiring liquid yeasts, I'd like to perfect yeast washing to help economize things.
  • My own recipe-I want to come up with a completely from scratch recipe called a "Wareham Common" I've got a number of ideas/directions to go, I need to whittle it down and pick one.
  • A beer for Sarah-I'd like to brew something up that I can enjoy with Sarah or she can enjoy while I enjoy my own. I've been leaning towards a pale ale with rose water.
  • Mead-I'd like to try making one.
  • Pyment-I'd like to try making one.
As you can see, my interests are wide so I have to limit the excess noise and focus on these above all other topics.
Do you ever find yourself going in too many directions at once in your hobbies? (And I haven't even started on gardening...that's for a later post.)

Fame, I'm gonna live forever

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Fifteen minutes of fame? Maybe. My homebrew club was on Basic Brewing Radio for our collaborative mash effort in November. Here is the link: Basic Brewing Radio
It is the "Partigyles Gone Wild" podcast.

Carrots

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Carrots have always been my Eleanor. I finally got carrots to grow this year. I live in an area with all sand so my soil has to be built for carrots. I experimented with a sawdust, loam, and sand mix. Not a great crop, but progress finally. Any have advice? I really love carrots and want to grow them in quantity.
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