CRAZY

Yah. The 2008 legislative session is crazy. CRAZY. Hence the lack of posts. I'm here to tell you that it's crazy. The governor and the legislature are facing off, continually one-upping the other. The legislature got a couple good jabs in with the veto override and the boot to transpo commish Molnau. "Oh yeah?" responded the governor. "Here's a serving of some program cuts AND a tax cut!"

And while that is forefront on the media's radar, lots of other stuff is going on.

Like making beer.

Homebrew update

The first mai bock is quite tasty, but still could use a few more weeks. The chinook mai bock is in the keg, and the third bock is still bubblin' away. All from the same yeast.

We added some molasses to the schwarz bier, and I cracked my first one tonight. Whoa. Want a cookie? This one gets a few more months in the bottle. The porter--from the same yeast--was thick as hell when we transferred it, and in need of some serious age, 6 months at least. Maybe we'll find a bourbon barrel or something. We took the yeast from this one and made a dopplebock, which will sit until next fall as well.

The liberty lager was waaaaay fruity, like an apple, when we bottled it (with our new capper!). Good summer beer I hope.

Speaking of summer, time to start some ales and get the hop rhizomes in the ground.

Fermentin' Away

I think the photo says it all.

We've been re-using the yeast cakes from our beers, meaning that after we transfer one beer out of the primary fermentor to the secondary fermentor, we put a new beer--or wort really--right into the "dirty" fermentor, on top of yeast that's collected at the bottom of the fermentor. Some brewers will clean and rince the yeast and put it into a clean carboy, but so far we haven't had any problems. And we're not selling our beers to the masses. Yet.

It's still lager season. The Mai Bocks share a yeast, as do the the Schwarz and the porter. We should be able to get 6-8 beers out of each yeast packet we buy.

Thanks for the photo, Tony.

Obama for President?

I'm getting pretty close to supporting Barack Obama for president. See, I've been luke warm on the whole situation for a while now. I supported John Edwards 4 year ago, but it seems clear he's not really going anywhere. I think Hillary Clinton would make a damn good president, but her whole "I-voted-for-the-war-before-I- realized-that-wasn't-popular" thing feels like de ja vu. And Obama just seems young.

But that seems like it's to his advantage now.

I took a look at Facebook, a rapidly expanding social networking site highly popular with college kids, and how many supporters the candidates have:

Edwards: 33,463

Clinton: 61,892

Obama: 208,551

Criminy! Granted it's clearly not a scientific method, but it seems like Obama is damn popular and will be the eventual nominee. I mean, a Black candidate winning in mostly white Iowa? And my dad like him.

Where do I sign up?

Homebrew Update

Lagers and more lagers. We have two lagers in bottles now--a Pilsner Urquell clone and an Austrailian one using Ringworm--er wood--hops. We also brewed our 20th batch--that's 100 gallons--of beer since we started brewing together this summer. Batch 20 is a maibock, and will be ready around--you guessed it--April.

Lost in beer

Indulge me for a moment: Did you see "Lost" tonight? What. The. Fuck. Brilliant answers and even better questions. Ya love Julliet and then you don't--she just wants to get home!! I hate the Jack--Sayid tension. The end is in sight!

Ok, enough of that.

So I opened a Harp tonight, ready to get on CB and the blast the hell out of it. "Why do people drink Harp?" I was going to write. "What a horrible beer." I actually did write it. But half way into this post, I took a sip, and it was a different beer. Light, balanced, a little nutty aftertaste. Unoffensive and welcoming. And then it hit me, that's what wrong with it. I prefer some character. Some adventure. Malted barley. Fresh hops. Ya ever heard of 'em?

Ahh, TV and beer. TV and beer.