Dented Cap Brewing http://dentedcapbrewing.net/ en-us Nucleus CMS v3.51 � Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://dentedcapbrewing.net//nucleus/nucleus2.gif Dented Cap Brewing http://dentedcapbrewing.net/ <![CDATA[Changes around the bend]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=85
The problem is, like I said, I need a chance to make those tweaks. I'm not going to bore everyone here with what's been going on, since writing about it here would be giving it more attention than it deserves. If you're that curious, most, if not all, of you know how to get a hold of me outside of here. But for now, I'm going to try to catch up on sleep a little - just wanted to drop a quick note in here while I thought of it. Keep your eyes open...]]> General http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=85 Wed, 22 Sep 2010 23:43:41 -0400 <![CDATA[Turning a corner...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=83
I'm normally the kind of person that needs closure for something. I'm going through something in my life where I would normally reach out for closure from the other person, even if I don't get it. I know that, in my head, it's been somewhat resolved. And this one topic has been consuming more of my thoughts, more of my time, than it probably should - to the point where I've been walking down to the mailbox and going over the wording of different parts in my head.

And then it hit me. Why? What is doing all this going to get me? I know my perspective on everything, and I know that my perspective isn't going to matter to the other person. What good is the closure going to do? I've been having trouble walking away for a while now. And somehow, something just switched in me tonight. I don't need the closure anymore. I don't need that finality anymore. What is, is. It doesn't need to be changed, it doesn't need to be wrapped up in a tidy little bow, it doesn't need to have anything else done. So, dogs, feel free to continue to lie and sleep - I'm not about to disturb you.

If you're reading this, which you might be, I have no problems staying friends with you, I think you're a great person. I don't appreciate a couple of the things that happened (as I'm sure you don't), but no one is ever going to be treated perfectly all the time. So like I said, don't be a stranger.

However, if you'll excuse me, I have some cleaning and tech-geekery to attend to. And possibly another beer. I apologize for the somewhat disjointed nature of this post, since I know it feels that way to me, but I think it's more important that I got the thoughts out.]]> life http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=83 Thu, 19 Aug 2010 22:19:34 -0400 <![CDATA[Dead weight and music. And passive aggressiveness.]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=80
I'm in the process of shedding some dead weight from my life. So in a change from my normal... "policy" for this blog, I'm going to refer to different aspects of my personal life. And if you think I'm referring to you here, don't ask. Because I'm not going to tell you if I am or not. :-) There are only very certain people I will explain the meanings of these names to, though...

Pulp - if you're waiting for an apology, you're not going to get one. I didn't do anything wrong, and I'm not going to apologize when I haven't done anything wrong. If anything, I'm the one that's due an apology, but that's a completely different conversation. There's a lot more that I have to/can say here, but I'm not going to bring it up here. This is not the forum for it.

C - if you don't want to be friends with me anymore, the least you could do is be an adult and tell me. However, I'm not exactly hurt at this point about it. Normally I have a problem cut-and-running, but here, somehow, I don't see it being a problem. So, way to be passive aggressive. Based on a conversation I had at one point with a friend of yours, I'd be lying if I said you doing this surprised me. I didn't see it coming, but I'm not surprised that it did happen.

Mustang Sally - I'm not going to go into too much detail here, because it could theoretically give away who you are. But holy shit, you have more drama in your life than anyone I know. And trust me - speaking as a peer, it's a red flag the size of, approximately, Houston. Give or take a suburb. Unfortunately, because of who you are, I can't cut you from my life entirely. However, that doesn't mean I have to listen to what you're saying, even though it's hard not to sometimes.

Janey/Jen (no, not the real Janey/Jen people - however, it has to do with what they have in common) - I have no proof that you did it, but I wouldn't be surprised if you did. It falls right in line with the high class individual that you are.

Ugh. Sorry about that. I know some of you hate when I'm cryptic like this, but think about it - given the situations, I'm sure you can at least appreciate the fact that I was looking for the catharsis of just sounding off about it a bit.

So, while my musical tastes haven't changed THAT much recently, I've gotten into one band that's a little softer than what I normally listen to. The group is called Mumford and Sons, and chances are if you're familiar with anything of theirs, it's a song called Little Lion Man. Just a fun song to drive to and just listen to in general, you know? You don't find those too much anymore...

So I feel like I've had no time to myself recently, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. I mean, I've been busy - don't get me wrong. And a lot of it is good/fun stuff - beer related stuff, or dinners with friends, or things like that. (I actually just got free tickets to a Mets game in a couple of weeks - wonder if my B-i-L is free that night...) But at the same time, I wouldn't mind having time to get to the gym, say, or time to clean the apartment (not a word, Amy, not a word... I can see you smirking from here... *grin*). I could theoretically go to the gym before work, but let's be real - it's just not happening. :-) Either way, I'm still down about 20ish pounds for the year, and that's nothing to complain about, right? Just wish I had that little bit of extra time to myself - haven't ruled out taking a mental health day, sleeping in, and just cleaning until I can't clean anymore. We'll see what happens... maybe... hm. You know what? Maybe I take a personal day for the day I have the Mets tickets and get everything done that way... hopefully, it's not the busy week at work. I'll check on that tomorrow. :-)

So close to Denver this year... so so close... And this year, it's going to be a whole crew of us. I can't wait. :-) So if you're part of my normal Denver crew, and you want the details, let me know...

(also, can anyone suggest blog software that does a good job at spam comment filtering?)]]> life http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=80 Thu, 12 Aug 2010 00:40:33 -0400 <![CDATA[It's only beer...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=78
Trying a different technique tomorrow. It's called mini-mashing - instead of, in effect, making the grain tea I normally make, this time I'm... making grain oatmeal, kind of. It's a little more intensive of a process, since I have to keep an eye on my temperatures, but... it'll be an experiment. A friend of mine is paying for this batch, and he said he doesn't care if it doesn't come out well - so what do I have to lose, right? :-)

And this should come as a surprise to no one, but I miss Belgium. Certain aspects of the trip I miss more than others, but that would lead us into topics that I told myself I would never discuss here. It's just... kind of incredible to me. I still don't believe I did it. And when I was there? I fell in love with the city and the people. I just... felt so at home there. I can't even really describe what it was about the place that I liked so much - I just was able to immerse myself in it totally and completely. I'm going back at some point, hopefully next year if I can save up the money for it, and I might even be able to get a hold of some of the people I met there this year (hopefully one in particular) so we can paint the city fantastic all over again. I'll try to plan things out a bit better, though - hit some more breweries while I'm there, and get to one bar I wanted to get to this year. I didn't get there, though, because of timing. By the time the bar would've been opening, I was on the wrong side of Antwerp, I was closer to the train station than anything else, and I wanted to get back to Brussels so I could get online somewhere and find out what was going on with my flights and the volcano. So next time, Kulminator. Definitely. (And maybe a couple more old glasses from that flea market in Antwerp, if I can find it again...)

Alright - it's 2 in the morning. I'm going to collapse. Here's hoping tomorrow's brew session goes well and I get a message I'm waiting for. :-)]]> life http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=78 Mon, 31 May 2010 01:55:04 -0400 <![CDATA[Time enough (to write) at last...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=76
This time? Not so much. And little did I know how important that fact would end up being. You know, that whole exploding volcano trapping me there for most of another week thing and all. :-)

So I think I was first able to relax a little when I got past security and was at the gate. I couldn’t believe I was actually going – all the wheels had started turning, I was kind of at the point of no return. We start boarding and I’m on the plane – and once we took off, a little more relaxation. Or maybe it was just the shock of oh-holy-crap-you’re-actually-doing-this setting in, I’m not quite sure. But once I touched down in Brussels? I think then, and only then, did it become real. I was on vacation in Belgium. I had done it, I was there. So after finding my hotel, a 10 minute walk from the train station (and a 5 minute walk from the exit I SHOULD have taken at the train station), I decide to go out and start exploring. That was fun – trying a real, authentic Belgian waffle for the first time (and let me tell you, those things are like crack), drinking Belgian beers in Belgium, finding the bars and sights I had heard about – I lasted about… 4-5 hours or so. I was getting a little tired, so I decided to go back to the room and take a quick nap.


…6 hours later, I wake up. But at least I felt better, you know? So I go back out and go back to one of the bars I was at that afternoon – nice place, but the upstairs is REALLY nice. I’m enjoying myself, making friends with the bartender and a couple of other people I meet, and decide, finally, that I’m getting tired and am going to head back to the room and crash.

For another 11 hours.

Of my first 24ish hours in Belgium, I spent about two-thirds of them sleeping. Yay vacation! :-)

On a more serious level, though, this vacation was really what I needed. I’m still young and single, and I’m at the stage in my life where I can, fortunately, afford to do something like this. Every now and again, I just need to get away – like I think we all do. I decided to take this chance to follow one of my passions, and in doing so, I learned more about myself. I don’t know how to put parts of it into words, but what I do know is that I’m not the same person now that I was when I left. I’m much calmer now, and I feel a bit more… grown-up, if that makes sense. I’ve never been sure how to handle my emotions – for a lot of my life, they were kind of there and I was afraid to let them out. I’ve finally gotten to the point where I rule my emotions, they don’t rule me anymore. And in the grand scheme of things, the way I see it, there’s really not much worth getting overly worked up about. Perfect example – I was in the car with a friend of mine, and if memory serves, I was cut off by this person – I think she was on her cell phone while she was driving and not paying attention to the road or the other drivers. My friend saw me tense up for literally a second, then breathe out and let it go. I told her about how I’m not going to let myself get worked up over things, and I think she told me she was jealous – and that she’ll get worked up enough for the both of us. :-)

I can look at little things around my apartment that I brought home with me – the Mea Culpa glass (do yourself a favor and Google image search for “mea culpa glass” – this thing is BEAUTIFUL), the few euros I didn’t convert back to dollars, the tshirt, the Cantillon hoodie, the beers I brought home – each one of them represents something different to me. A different part of the trip. And they’re all things I wouldn’t trade for the world, if for no other reason than the memories that they all hold. I can look at the Cantillon glass and see Lauren, Matt, and Pat. I can look at the big bottles of beer I bought from the bar and see Natalija, the kids from Denmark, and the Chartreuse 1605 I’m going to have to find when I go back. Because, so help me, I AM going back.

I want to do more traveling – that much I know for sure. Where, however, is another story. But like I said before, I’m at the stage in my life where I can do it. All my bills are getting paid and I can still save another few cents here and there. I’m not taking care of a family, I’m not taking care of a house, it’s just me and whatever costs I choose to incur. So why not spend a little extra on myself here and there? Perfect example – there’s nothing wrong with my digital camera. It’s just old. (I mean, I’m a techie, and there are cell phones coming out with “better” digital cameras than mine.) I couldn’t find a good enough reason to justify my getting one, though, since I didn’t really need it. Then, I’m laptop shopping at Best Buy, and I see a camera that looks pretty nice for $120. I’m talking to the salesman and he tells me it’s a good camera – and if I want, they have a package deal on it. How much is the package – the camera, memory card, and case? $120. Yes, for some reason, I could either buy the camera or the camera, card, and case all for the same price. Did I need it? Like I said, no. But the value was there, and honestly, I wanted it. It’s not like I’m spoiling myself rotten – I’ve always just been very conservative with my purchases and I’m realizing I don’t quite have to be anymore. There’s nothing wrong with the occasional present.

Getting back to traveling – I’ve always enjoyed it, even if I don’t get to do too much of it. I’m going to South Carolina for the wedding of one of my best friends in July, and I’m driving down there. And I CAN’T WAIT to go. Both for the voyage and the destination. :-) But now I’m wondering – where else could I go? Where else do I want to go? I’m going back out to Denver this year, and I want to go back to Brussels/Europe, obviously. But where else? Maybe go somewhere to follow another one of my passions – go somewhere for the food. If it’s somewhere overseas, what would it be like if I didn’t speak ANY of the language? At least in Brussels, I could get by on 10 year old broken French (I’m looking at you, Mme. Reiner). But what if I know NOTHING of the language? Or what if I went to visit a friend of mine in a place where I didn’t speak the language? Same concept – I could always go to Belgrade and find out. ;-) In the states, I could always go somewhere for the beer (and depending on where I am, the food. Maybe go through NC and find out the differences between western NC and eastern NC barbecue first hand or something like that). I like the idea of going somewhere where I don’t speak the language, though – I might just have to do that. Go just to go. Go just to see. As long as they’re foreigner-friendly, why not go to Madrid? Or Lisbon? Or Naples? Or if I’m going to do it, why not go all out and go somewhere like Beijing? I love Chinese food – why not experience it first hand? The only two things I need to do it are the funds and the fortitude. And once I find the place, and book the place, the fortitude will come in time. But anyway, back to Brussels…

There’s something about that place that I just connected with. Maybe it’s the beer, maybe it’s the food, maybe it’s something else entirely. I’m not exactly sure, nor do I think it matters. All I know is that… you know what? It doesn’t matter what I know. It doesn’t really matter what I’ve learned, if you think about it. If you really want to know, reach out to me and ask, but otherwise… look at me. Learn what I’ve learned by seeing who I am. Look at who I was last month, last year, the last time you saw me – if that was 5 years ago or 15 years ago. And look at me now. I know I’m not the same person I was before this trip. That first day I woke up in my bed was kind of like the first day of the rest of my life. I’m leaving parts of me behind and doing my best to take all the good parts forward. If some of the bad parts come with me too, so be it – I’m human. But I’m not the same person anymore.


And I’m really looking forward to finding out who this person I am now is.
]]> life http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=76 Mon, 17 May 2010 22:59:50 -0400 <![CDATA[Thoughts over a glass of Harpoon Triticus]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=75

This, however, is not that entry. :-) I'm still working on that one and have it on my netbook, and I just haven't had any time to work on it recently... so, sometimes, it sucks to be me. :-)

This week seemed to be harder to get through than normal. It seemed like I was getting attacked from every angle at certain times, and at other times, I just wanted to hide and leave the world behind. I feel like I've conquered it somehow, though - remember, people, you can't wrap your arms around the world. You have to break things down into parts that you can handle. If you don't do that, you're not helping anyone and CERTAINLY not helping yourself, you know? So I've been trying to handle things from a different angle. If I can do that, then maybe I can conquer the rest of it. But for right now, I'm working on putting the past in the past and not letting it affect me anymore. There's two things from my past that I'm working on in particular, but that's a story for another time. If it wasn't for my (some of) my family and my friends (including a few in particular), I don't think I'd be where I am right now - as happy in my life as I am. Yeah, I go through these times where it seems like having my own car/apartment/etc isn't really all that impressive, but to be honest? The more I think about it, it is. And so what if I'm losing a bit of money? Without going into much detail, my raise last year didn't cover my increased bills. It just took me about... 9 months to realize that fact, and now that I have, I realize why I'm down a bit this year. But I can still cover my bills every month, just need to tighten the belt a little further.

And speaking of belt tightening, in case anyone's not aware, I've been working on losing weight ever since the beginning of the year. I started the year at 220.5, and as of last Monday, I'm at 197.5 - 23 pounds down for the year so far. I'm hoping to drop another 7 pounds by my trip to Belgium in a couple of weeks (holy crap, I'm going to Belgium in a couple of weeks), but if I don't, well... I don't. All it would mean is that I'm not down 30 pounds by the time I go to Belgium. :-) The way I've been going so far, I'm just trying to figure out how to go back to the life I used to live - at least, somewhat - but still keep the weight off. I miss grabbing whatever I want for lunch, you know? I've definitely gotten a lot better about portions and the like, but there's other things I miss - something simple like my "hot dog soup". I know it's not very good for me, but dammit, I miss it. Such a good, simple, hearty soup. Good in the summer because it's a different take on a barbecue, and good in the winter because it's too cold to barbecue. There are certain things I've learned to go without and/or retime, such as my nighttime beer. Dead calories from having a beer and then immediately going to bed isn't helping me in this battle. So if I want to have a beer after work/on the weekend, have it during the evening. Have it a few hours before bed. Even though I'm not necessarily giving myself a chance to burn off the calories, it's better than having them in bed (on occasion, literally). I'm a little surprised how well I've done with all this - but I know it's important to me, it's something I've wanted, so... maybe I shouldn't be so surprised. I'm not sure. But at the end of the day, I like the feeling I'm getting from all this. I know I'm doing something good for myself. I know I'm doing the right thing and changing a LOT of my habits, and to be honest, it feels DAMN good when someone comments on the fact I've lost weight. I just have to figure out where that common ground is between weight-loss CB and weight-maintenance CB.

But now I'm realizing that there's so much more I could be doing for myself to make myself a better person. Every now and again I'll look at that pick that Bob gave me and think about trying again to teach myself to play the guitar. Or I'll look at the stuffed bear that keeps watch over my living room and think about who gave him to me. And I think about how, if that person ever came here again, I would be ashamed to have them over when the apartment looks like this. Maybe I should look into taking a course of some kind. I'm not sure if I'd want to go over to NCCC and take a philosophy class, or if I would be better suited with a one-off cooking class, or... what, exactly.


And at the same time, I think I need to figure out a bit better what I should be spending my money on. As in for myself. There's a way to make a yeast starter that involves a pressure cooker. So I went out and bought myself two pressure cookers - one $10 and one $60. The more expensive one will be much better suited to the task of making yeast starters, believe it or not, but I could probably hack it with the $10 one. So the question then becomes do I go frugal and figure out how to do it with the cheaper one, or do I do it properly with the more expensive one? I never did buy myself a formal birthday present this year like the watch last year, but at the same time, I'm trying to save money, but at the same time, I'm not so hard up that I need to start drinking water and eating saltines for every meal...


Guess I have some stuff to think about.


Now, if you'll excuse me, I need a refill on my beer. :-)]]> life http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=75 Sat, 20 Mar 2010 23:29:11 -0400 <![CDATA[And this time, it's only a month late!]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=73
So ladies and gentlemen, without further adieu (or is it ado?), my year end blog post:




I went to Baltimore for New Year’s a couple of years back, and a friend of mine took me to a party. I got to share in one of her friend’s rituals – take everything you want to forget, write it down on a piece of paper, and burn the paper. Leave the bad stuff behind in the old year and start the new year with a clean slate, so to speak. I’ve done it each year since then, and when I thought about what to write on the paper this year, it hit me almost immediately. So what am I going to write this time? Hold on and I’ll come back to that.

It’s been an up and down year in a couple of different ways – I’ve made friends, I’ve lost friends, I’ve had good times, I’ve had bad times. In a more personal way, this feels like it’s been one of the most rewarding years I’ve had in a while. I think I learned a lot about who I am in this past year, more about what I’m capable of. I know that now, I’m handling certain situations in different ways than I would’ve even just a year ago. Due to some stuff that happened at work, I now see myself as being capable of more than I ever thought I could do. And through it all, my friends have been some of the most important people. Older friends like Chris, Amy, Jenny, Mike, and newer friends like Kim, Sanj, Eliot, Donna, Stacey, Jen V; they’ve all been there at various points to celebrate with me, to laugh with me, to listen to me rant, and I like to think that I’ve been there to do the same for them. Each one of my friends, even the ones not named above (and if you weren’t named, you just weren’t in my stream of consciousness list), has helped make me into who I am today.

My family is still very important to me, too. We added a new member this year, and everyone’s still healthy, happy, and the little ones are growing and making us proud. There’s a lot to be thankful for, you know? Everywhere I turn, good things are happening – you just have to try to keep it in perspective.

But even at that – with everything good that’s happening, there are things that I’m not happy about. It took me a while – a good bit of self reflection – and I realized that these are all things I have to change. But it’s not changing the world around me – I have to change ME. Some of them are things that may have been “wrong” for a while now, others are newer, but they’re still not right. They’re still things that I can correct myself and correct within myself. So this year, enough of the bullshit. Enough of the problems that I don’t work on. There’s no reason why I can’t get back down to 210 pounds. (Note – as of the time I’m posting this, 2/2/10, I’m at a hair over 205…) There’s no reason why I can’t do more traveling, no reason why I can’t become better with my money, no reason why I can’t learn to play the guitar this year. I’m not saying all these things will happen, but instead of looking for the reasons why they can’t happen… if they’re important enough, then find a way to make them happen. Work on the more important stuff first, obviously, but carry it through to as much of my life as possible. In some ways, this is going to be a partial reinvention of myself.

So what am I going to write on the paper?


My name.


]]> life http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=73 Tue, 2 Feb 2010 01:01:05 -0500 <![CDATA[Watch this space.]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=71 General http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=71 Thu, 24 Dec 2009 19:30:24 -0500 <![CDATA[And after further review...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=70
In other news, I finally did it. I booked my vacation for the late spring, to Brussels. Yes, Brussels. It hasn't quite sunk in for me yet, but I think it will once I pay the charge bill for it. :-) I'm heading there in April, and waiting on a copy of a book all about Belgian breweries as we speak. I figure maybe a couple of brewery tours, maybe a couple of day trips... but this is what I've been putting the money on the side for, you know? I don't have a wife, I don't have any kids, right now, I'm still living for myself. This trip, my trip out to Denver in the fall for GABF, all that kind of stuff - if I don't do it now, then when can I do it? :-)

Everything else is going pretty well, that I can think of - I have a brewery coming down to the next beer club meeting to do a tasting for us, and I have a pale ale in the fermenter as we speak. This one's kind of an experiment - a fairly standard pale ale, but I'm going to add in a pound of orange blossom honey tomorrow night, most likely. Wanted to let it get a little further through the fermentation before I added in more sugar. My holiday beer this year isn't too bad, just a little heavy on the cinnamon. Note to self - next year, STAY with the quarter teaspoon - don't up it at all. And I finally realized what I did wrong with my vanilla porter from last year - the wrong kind of vanilla. I used bourbon vanilla beans instead of Madagascar vanilla beans - live and learn.

Alright, that's enough for now - I'm a little tired and am going to turn in a bit early, in hopes of shaking what's left of this cold. Lots of tea FTW. I'm going to try to do more short updates like this, though, instead of the occasional epic update like I had been doing. Makes sense, yes?

-CB]]> beer http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=70 Tue, 8 Dec 2009 23:19:39 -0500 <![CDATA[I can't believe I'm actually going to ask this, but...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=68

Or, more specifically, about forming businesses and possibly about the "hospitality industry"?]]> beer http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=68 Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:51:59 -0400 <![CDATA[A little late...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=66

So I'm on my way back home from the Great American Beer Festival - once again, a DAMN good time. Made some new friends, caught back up with some old - including one couple who I kept seeing last year, then a few times this year, in the airport. I still believe beer people are some of the best people in the world, though - everyone's the same, male or female, young or old, experienced with beer or not experienced with beer.


Unless you go into the restaurant with quite possibly the best beer selection in all of downtown Denver, quite possibly already drunk, and just proceed to piss off both the staff and the patrons, so much so to the point that the patrons start moving to other parts of the bar just to get away from you. And the staff gets pissed off at you because you're asking them about pretty much all of the 60-70 beers they have on tap.


Not that I saw that happen.


Nope.



Didn't move to a different part of the bar, either. :-)



But I digress. I really like what some of the brewers were doing, what they were showing there this year - including this one small brewery from Wisconsin that I've never been disappointed by. It's called New Glarus - they have a pretty well known fruit beer that I LOVE, and when I was waiting on line at their booth, it turns out they had brought a sour beer with them this year. A sour porter. This is the first and only sour porter I've ever seen or heard of, and I have to say, it was pretty nice. I'm not sure if I'd want to try doing something with sour beers after that one, maybe a sour wheat beer or a sour stout or something, but it's put the idea in my head. It was also nice to see some of the "local" breweries winning awards - I think one or two of the ones from down near college won some awards... Allentown/Bethlehem Brew Works won a couple of awards, I think Troegs won an award, and I know that Southampton won an award. Captain Lawrence may have, also, I don't remember offhand. I know I had a list of all the winners, but for the life of me, I don't know what I did with it. Meh, doesn't matter. Also, while I think of it - you know how I just mentioned New Glarus? They took a bronze for their fruit beer. And when I was on my way home from Montreal, I found this little out of the way brewpub in Vermont called The Alchemist. As it turns out, The Alchemist took gold and Bronze for two of their gluten-free beers - go little guy. :-)


I think I'm coming back a bit more balanced, too. I'm only 28 - I'm still learning how to balance work, and life, and home, and family, and everything else. It's not easy, as I'm sure you all know - but I think the little bit of time away has really, really helped. Things aren't perfect, obviously - but if you have a perfect life, where everything happens exactly when it's supposed to and your apartment stays clean by itself and nothing ever goes wrong, I'm calling bull. :-) It doesn't happen - it just doesn't happen. I don't care who you are. :-) I'm really doing my best to not let things get to me as badly as they used to - and, in classic me fashion, I may have gone from letting EVERYTHING get to me to not really getting anything get to me. I'm not sure that either one is necessarily healthy, per se, but I'm not too worried. I'd rather become passive and just try to let everything slide off my back than let it all get to me, you know? Let me pick and choose what gets me worked up - why should I let everything have that effect? So for some people who know me, they still know that little things (like from in the game) will get me worked up here and there. But not everything. It's just not healthy.

And speaking of healthy, doctor's appointment coming up. I need to go in for the blood work this week, and I'm not quite sure what to expect. I know I haven't been eating well this year, my last attempt at joining a gym ended up petering out based on the fact I couldn't justify paying what I was paying and only going maybe once or twice a week. (But I am joining a gym that will be opening near work that will be a third of the cost...) So I'll talk to my doctor and see what he has to say - I'm sure the fact I put on about 10 pounds or so over the course of this past year can't be all that good. I also want to start taking some sort of vitamin, since I know that's one of the problems as well - when I go to the chiropractor and my leg almost cramps when he stretches it, that can't be good. So I know that overall, I'm in good health. I might just need to work on the specifics a bit - and the gym will likely help with my mood. Or at least it's supposed to, anyway.


So I'll get home, break fast with my parents (not that I've been fasting, but they're my ride to/from the airport) for the holiday, then go home and probably spend the rest of the night cleaning, straightening, and putting stuff away. I live an exciting life, I tell you what. :-)


Took some nice pictures, too - I'll either get them up here, or I'll get them up on my facebook, or both - hopefully in the not too far future.
]]> life http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=66 Fri, 2 Oct 2009 19:25:57 -0400 <![CDATA[Ruminations over a bottle of Sui Generis...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=65

Flew out to Denver yesterday - and I've had a great time out here so far. Granted, the Lubavitcher and the guy who spent time in seminary sitting in the row in front of me sitting there and talking religion the whole damn flight just irritated me a little, but at least I didn't have to sit next to them, you know? So I was able to just put my headphones on and ignore them - didn't feel bad about it at all. :-)


Coming out here has been great for me, though. Just a nice, relaxing time - and it's given me time to do some thinking. I've been working on trying to improve various parts of my life, and having SOME success - but some's better than none, I suppose, right? All things considered, though, I'm pretty happy with where my life is right now. Are things perfect? No, they're not by ANY stretch of the imagination. But I'm becoming more and more ok with the stuff that's not how I want it to be. This is all stuff that I can't really do anything about, so I can sit here and work myself up into a lather, or I can be a bit more realistic about things. Can I directly influence this stuff? No, not really. But I can at least try to do something to adapt to it, you know?


I did a lot of reading on the trip out - finished off my copy of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman. There's something in his writing that I just LOVE - the tone, the relaxed nature, something about it.


...and, once again, it's getting a little too loud and too crowded for me to write comfortably here. I'm really not very good with people watching over my back, etc. So, I'll hopefully have the chance to write more at another point during this trip...]]> life http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=65 Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:57:07 -0400 <![CDATA[I'm not dead yet!]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=63



I bought myself a new toy recently - a netbook. I figure I'm making good money at the moment, I'm only taking care of myself, why not buy myself a toy, you know? Something I want - not necessarily something I need, but something that will make me smile. So I've been playing around on there recently, and will likely take it with me when I go on vacation in a couple of weeks (keep reading for more on that). It's a nice little machine - basically, a notebook computer, but an even smaller form factor. I've been installing a couple of programs on it to get it working just how I want it, and I'm almost there - I need to do some more reading about how to configure this one program I installed. Soon enough, though, soon enough - and I won't be limited to where I'll have to worry about packing and using a notebook with a 15 inch screen. This thing isn't much bigger than a fairly large woman's wallet (the wallet is large, not the woman. Just clarifying. *grin*). I even went through and made a custom wallpaper for the netbook - a new logo for my "brewery." Not tonight, but I'll get a copy of it up soon - just want to play around with these configuration files like I mentioned and I'll post a screenshot. :-)


So yeah - I'm going on vacation in a couple of weeks. Back out to Denver for the Great American Beer Festival again. Since I've done it once already, though, I'm making a couple of changes to my trip. (Of course, this is assuming I'm going - there's a slight chance that I might have to cancel it for family reasons, which (given what the reasons are) I wouldn't be too terribly upset... but I'd still like to go in general. If that made any sense.) :-) But I'll be out there Tuesday to Sunday - and Tuesday night, I'm planning on going to a Colorado Rockies game. I don't follow baseball too terribly closely, but I've always liked the Rockies - so why not? And like I said, I have a few extra dollars in my pocket, so it may very well be a box seat at that game. And then, afterwards, I'll walk the half a block or so to the Falling Rock Tap House. Quite possibly one of the greatest bars I've ever been to. Tons of different beers on tap, and considering it's the weekend of the GABF, they'll probably have some rare kegs to tap - they did a killer business last year for the festival and I can't imagine it would be any different this year. I also need to get in touch with Avery Brewing - they had a list of different beers they were tapping over the course of the week in their tasting room ("Only 8 gallons of this beer in existence!"), and... I just looked at their website. Wow. Wow is all I can say. They're tapping some RIDICULOUS beers this time through, and I think I'm going to have to head up there just for the sour beer that they're unveiling on Wednesday. Yes, I'll likely be up there on Friday as well, but still - I WANT a bottle or 6 of this sour beer. There's nothing like a good sour beer, if you ask me. :-)


Personal life is still personal life - some ups and downs, but other than that, nothing horrible to complain about. Like the mother of a dear friend of mine says, if no one's bleeding and no one needs an organ transplant, we can handle the rest of it. (I don't think that's the EXACT quote, but it's the general idea of it.) I'm doing my best to help my friends through their trials and tribulations, and they're helping me through mine. Sometimes I feel like they're doing yeoman's work, and I don't know that I can ever express just how grateful and lucky I am to have friends like them.


(And I'd like to take this chance to specifically tell my favorite world traveler that I hope she's doing ok. I hope you find what you're looking for soon, hon, and I hope you come back stateside once you do.) :-)


So I'm still a brewing fool. :-) Remember that slightly soured pale ale I mentioned a couple of posts back? Well, it's definitely taking on more of a sour character. Not a bad thing, though - I don't know how to explain the taste, but it's nice. I think I need to get through the rest of the bottles, though, before the sourness takes over and dominates the beer - but if one can "spike" a beer, well, I'd say in this case, it worked pretty well. Unfortunately, I'm not sure it's something I'll be able to recreate - but hey, sucks to be me. :-) I've done a couple of german wheat beers this summer, I have a fresh-hop APA (think Sierra Nevada, but with hops right off the vine) in the fermenter as we speak, and next up will likely be my holiday beer for this year - so I have a little while to get it into bottles to age properly - and the Orange Blossom pale ale I mentioned below. I'm still really curious how a beer like that would come out. :-)


So hopefully, things will calm themselves down for me in the near future, and I'll be able to get up more regular updates. Ideally, anyway. :-) I know of a couple of interesting things coming down the pipe, and at least one of them will involve lots of pictures. :-)


But for now, I have a 2 year old bottle of Left Hand Oak Aged Widdershins barleywine to attend to. Be good, guys, and comment up a storm. :-)]]> life http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=63 Sun, 6 Sep 2009 00:29:23 -0400 <![CDATA[quick little placeholder entry]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=61

This weekend, guys - I promise. :-)]]> General http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=61 Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:36:37 -0400 <![CDATA[Random question...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=60 General http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=60 Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:15:19 -0400 <![CDATA[Better late than never, right? :-)]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=57
Probably one of the best things I did for myself recently was go up to Montreal for Mondiale de la Biere. (And yes, I know there are accents that are supposed to go in there, but honestly, do you miss them? I mean, really? *s*) It was a 7 hour drive up to Montreal, and between Albany and the border, you're on one road. This road is called the Adirondack Northway - or just The Northway for short. I now learned that there's nothing on the Northway except for trees and troopers. It may have very well been the most boring drive I've ever made, but once I got over the border into Canada, it was just kind of... surreal. First time I've ever been there. First time I've ever "really" been in a foreign country, day trips to the Dutch Antilles over spring break my senior year of college notwithstanding. I get to the hotel, and once I'm all checked in, ask about how to get to the fest. Turns out I'm within walking distance of a metro station where 3 out of the 4 Montreal metro lines converge - think... Grand Central Station, if you've ever been to Manhattan. Not quite as big and important as Penn Station, but still a sizable station that will get you a lot of the places you want to go. Picked up a 3 day tourist pass (if they still have them, I HIGHLY recommend getting one - $17 for all the metro/bus you can ride), took the metro downtown, and when I got to the fest, I just followed the noise. Came up the stairs at Windsor Station, and once I saw the environment, once I saw all the booths and the people and the beer, I couldn't help but smile. It was a GREAT feeling. I started off at a booth for a brewpub I was familiar with by association - someone I met at GABF in Denver in October told me about it - and was impressed to see a Randall being used. I explained to a couple of people what it is, and made a couple of friends from the area who I ended up walking around the rest of the festival with that day. There's a TON of great little breweries and brewpubs from up in that direction. I'm sure some of you have seen beers from Brasserie Dieu de Ciel!, but they have even more, even better stuff north of the border. One of them was a stout with cocoa and vanilla called L'Aphrodisiaque, one is a Kolsch called Basse Messe, they have a beer brewed with hemp, one with hibiscus, one that was a highly hopped white beer... this kind of stuff is the future of brewing, if you ask me. They didn't lose touch with the traditional styles and definitions, but at the same time, they're not afraid to push those boundaries. They want to keep it interesting, keep it new and different, and I applaud them for that. (The food at their brewpub on Laurier is pretty damn good, too.)

Met up with a couple of my friends up there - M and Z. I know Z from a game I play online, so since I was in their neck of the woods already, they invited me over for dinner. Great people - and afterwards, M and I went to do some karaoke in the gay district of Montreal. In some odd way, I think that was one of the more interesting, yet enjoyable, parts of the whole trip. :-) To meet Z in person was pretty damn cool, though - when you get to know these people from different sides of a computer screen, then you actually get to meet them in person, it adds a completely different dimension to the friendship. I know all these people are real people, just like I know all of you are real people, but for those of you who I haven't met, I hope to soon so I can get a better feeling of who you are. I think what it is is that I'm very big on experience. I've always considered myself an empiricist - I find it easier to garner knowledge from actual situations than from logical extensions. I need the empirical data more than I can act the part of a rationalist and come to the intelligence by reason. I think I've always been that way, but thank you, Dr. Pawelski, for helping me put words to it. I forget which 200-level class it was, but it was called "Rationalism and Empiricism" and when we first went over the Empiricism aspect of it, I just smiled and felt like the class was about me. Might also have something to do with my interest in epistemology, but that's another story entirely. :-)

But I digress. I was able to do a little exploration while in Montreal, and saw some interesting sights - including the city-wide bike network they've deployed, called Bixi. It looks like a PHENOMENAL idea and execution.

And, I'm still brewing. Just bottled my Patersbier the other night, and had the Bottling Run From Hell.® No matter what I did, I couldn't get a good siphon started using the one piece of equipment I was trying, so I ended up (after frustration and irritation that I'm not going to go into here) going to my trusty autosiphon to get the bottling done. What's wrong with that, you ask? Well, the last time I used the autosiphon was with my sour beer. The organisms that are responsible for souring the beer were still on the autosiphon - many brewers will only use one set of equipment with their sour beers, because these organisms are so difficult to kill. So I may end up with a slightly soured Patersbier - and if it turns out that it doesn't come out well, then I'm not out too much money. If something like this happened with, say, my barleywine, I'd be much more upset. Here, since I spent about... 30-40% of the amount I spent on the barleywine, I don't mind if this one doesn't come out well. Not every beer will be good, not every beer needs to be good. Dad needs slug repellent too, you know. :-)

So I entered a couple of beers and a cider into a competition out east here on Long Island. I got my scores back - they said the cider started out perfectly, but ended up way too sour, so I'm hoping time will smooth that one out. The two beers I entered, they said I entered in the wrong categories. So I found another competition not too far from here - outside of Philadelphia - and entered the two beers in there.


One did better, one did worse.


Just goes to show you that sometimes, you should trust your instinct with these beers. The judges don't always know what they're talking about, either. But the fact of the matter still remains this: I make good beer. I may not make good beer from a critical perspective, but I make good beer. I have a LOT of respect for a Norwegian brewery called Nogne O. I decided, on a whim, to pick up a bottle of Nogne O porter and grab a bottle of my porter - do a little makeshift taste test with some friends. The friends who tried my porter were split as to which they liked better - mine or the Nogne O. And since those are more the people who are going to be drinking the beers, that meant a LOT to me to hear them say that. I wasn't expecting anyone to choose my beer. Not to mention my friend, who took a bottle of my wheat beer and a bottle of wheat beer by Weihenstephaner - and liked mine better. Like I said, these are more the kind of people who would be drinking my beer than judges.

I make good beer, just maybe not critically. :-)

So I've been thinking about taking my brewing to the next step and going all grain. From a baking perspective, this is going from buying the Betty Crocker boxes off the shelf to making my own batters. I'm not sure if I'm going to do that quite yet, but what I do know is the beer I'm going to try next. It's going to be an Orange Blossom Pale Ale - just need to work out a recipe for it. And hopefully I'll get to brew it somewhat soon - if the weather stays relatively cool, that is, because I want to have a fighting chance of this coming out the way I want it. And if it doesn't, well, then I'll just have to call into service the project Dad and I are working on right now. "Red Headed Stepchild of Fermentation Chiller" - our own twist on the Son of Fermentation Chiller design. With any luck, if this whole thing works well, I'll be able to set my own fermentation temperature and make pretty much whatever style of beer I want any time of year. Hopefully. :-)

Ok, enough rambling for one night - I doubt any of you even made it this far. So for now, I'll sign off - but I'll be back soon enough to update this post with links where appropriate...]]> life http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=57 Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:32:03 -0400 <![CDATA[I know, I know...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=55
]]> General http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=55 Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:20:57 -0400 <![CDATA[All this is is window dressing, all you are is flimsy curtains...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=54
And, in some sort of irony, that's not even the song I'm listening to right now. The song I'm listening to is Dondante, by My Morning Jacket - a nice, slow-burn kind of song. Kind of reflects my mood at the moment.

Got an email from a friend of mine earlier in the week about a new beer bar that's opening "near" me. I wanted to send the guy an email about it, since he's looking for wait staff, bartenders, and possibly a resident beer geek, and I just never sent it.

Well, guess who I happened to run into at a beer tasting today? So the two of us get to talking, and he seems to be a pretty nice guy - I wrote down his email address in front of him, just to make sure I have it, and emailed him tonight. He said when I was speaking to him that they were in their second round of interviews already - so I tried to sell myself in the email as if it was my initial interview. Could be a good strategy, could be a bad one - but the guy even mentioned to me when I was talking to him that he can see I know my beer stuff. That I love the topic - it comes across in how I talk. So that's a good thing... right?

After talking with some people who know more about this than I do, I've found out that the best way for me to do the beer I have in the fermenter right now is to let it sit and ferment out for a couple of weeks, then move it to the secondary fermenter for the 18 or so months. At least I have the beer to tide me over until then. *looks around* yep. Definitely have the beer to tide me over until then. All sorts of commercial beers, plus the american wheat beer I bottled last week, the vanilla porter I bottled a month or so ago, the "kitchen sink" porter I did a while ago that came out really well, and a few other odds and ends I have laying around. I really need to go through the beer I have here. I need to clean this place, also. I think it gets to me a little, maybe, when the place gets cluttered/dirty/messy. But the problem is, when that happens, I know I also get less inspired to clean it. So it's kind of a double edged sword - I don't want to have a messy apartment, but when it gets messy, I don't want to clean it and pretty much need to force myself to.

I've been sleeping like crap recently. A few different reasons for that, though - some self-imposed, but not all. In some ways, I think I'm like my grandfathers. The personality of the maternal one, the sleep patterns of the paternal one. Apparently, according to Dad, Grandpa used to be fully rested on 4-5 hours of sleep. When I sleep a lot during the week, I get about 6 hours of sleep. I'm sure it takes its toll on me in some ways, maybe some I just don't want to admit to, but... by now, I kind of feel like it's just who I am.

Meh, whatever. :-)

I'm trying to decide if I treat myself well enough or not. Whether I should buy myself more things or not. Example - I built myself a spare computer a few years back - I had the extra money, the extra time, and the knowledge. Bought myself a spare hard drive for it a couple of years ago. It turns out that hard drive has since gone bad, and I'm probably going to buy myself a replacement HD tomorrow. But the issue I find myself having is justifying the purchase to myself - convincing myself that either a) this is something I need or b) screw needing it, this is something I want. Ironically, though, I have no problem doing that with beer. I've been known to spend almost $100 at a distributor when I don't really need anything.

Which reminds me, I should really open that growler of Ommegang Rouge...

So the great culinary experiment is in the slow cooker. Making "Drunken Baked Beans" for the Mother's Day barbecue tomorrow - taking a recipe I found online but tweaking it a little. We'll see how it comes out - maybe I'll even take/post some pictures, if I think of it.

Oh, and before I forget completely - I entered 3 of my recent concoctions into a homebrewing competition. I don't expect to win by any stretch of the imagination, but we'll see how I do - I'm especially curious to see what they think of the hard cider I did. It's still a little on the young side, but it tastes like a slightly apple-y somewhat acidic wine. I'm not a wine person, so I don't know if there's a better way to describe it or if it tastes like a particular style. If you're in the area, let me know and I'll crack one of them open for you. :-)

Alright, time for me to stop rambling here and look over some beer recipes so I can decide if I want to photocopy any of them... as always, leave me a comment - I'm always curious to see who's actually reading this thing - and I'll catch up with all of you soon.

]]> life http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=54 Sun, 10 May 2009 00:40:26 -0400 <![CDATA[Acquired tastes, patience, and the right word at the right time]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=52
It's been a rough few days for a couple of reasons - nothing worth discussing here. But tonight, right now, I'm sitting back with a bottle of Monk's Cafe and just... trying to relax a bit. And sometimes, the beer makes all the difference.

Sour beers are an animal unto themselves - but I happen to love them, and will actually be attempting to brew my first one in the near future. There are a few different types of sour beers, and the one I'll be attempting is known as an Oud Bruin. I figure if I have the opportunity to (since one of the places I get my ingredients from is offering an Oud Bruin kit), then I might as well take advantage of it, right?

So some of my friends have tried sour beers, and have told me they just can't drink them. It took me a few years to be able to drink IPAs, and I've heard sour beers are kind of the same. But to find a beer that's just purely good, nothing hidden in the beer, nothing hidden in the flavor, it's just a wonderful thing. (I'm actually pretty tired as I'm writing this, so parts may sound/flow better in my head than they do in the post...)

The thing is, though, that Oud Bruins take a while. Literally. Like I'll hopefully be brewing this one in the next month or so, and once I move it to the secondary fermenter, I'll be leaving it there until approximately January 2011. I figure that if I do this now, it'll make a nice little 30th birthday present to myself. Of course, who knows where the next couple of years will lead me - but just like a good friend, a good beer is a wonderful thing to have by my side. It will never steer me wrong - which is more than I can say about some people I know.


And before I forget - like I said, it's been a rough few days for me. But, someone said something to me before they left to go on vacation in Lake Placid for the weekend today. I'm not going to say who it is or what they said - this person knows who they are - but two words (the last two words) just made me smile. It's hard to explain why those words made me smile, but they did - so you-know-who, I'm taking your advice. :-) And everyone else, try to extend this to your own life - take a few seconds and let someone know you're thinking about them. Couple of seconds, real quick, you can even do it over email - I bet that the fact someone knows they were in your thoughts for no reason other than you wanted them there will make their day. :-)

]]> life http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=52 Sat, 25 Apr 2009 00:28:13 -0400 <![CDATA[So, with any luck...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=50
However, via a couple of conversations tonight, I think I have an idea for an experimental beer for this year. (Keep your mouth shut, Jean...) ;-)

All I'm going to say is that I need to do a little research in how honey is used in brewing. This one could have the potential to be REAL nice. :-)

So I've also thought about writing a book about beer. I think I need to flesh that idea out a bit more, though. I have the REALLY rough idea of what I'd do, but like I said, it's a rough idea. Something to think about, though...


Bottled my vanilla porter recently - if it comes out well, I'll think about entering it into the BEER competition out east next month. I also think I'll enter the hard cider in there - considering it's so cheap to enter them, it doesn't make any sense for me not to, you know?

...and now, since someone who I don't want to talk to right now is trying to get a hold of me, I'm going to call it a night.]]> life http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=50 Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:42:53 -0400 <![CDATA[Thoughts?]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=48

]]> beer http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=48 Sat, 4 Apr 2009 11:32:04 -0400 <![CDATA[A little beer porn...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=46



Sorry, but it's not often that I pour a beer as nice as this. (And forgive me the clutter in the background of the picture...)


It's a homebrew - my fresh hop American Pale Ale from last fall, so it's been around for a bit, but it's still every bit as hoppy and delicious. The clarity on this beer is incredible, though, and the head is a nice off white, hung around for a while, and is lacing the glass as I drink it. If I have access to the fresh hops every year, I'll make this beer every year... :-) And I can see myself doing my barleywine again - I'm not sure when, but that one came out VERY well. Only problem was that it's undercarbonated, but I'd rather have it undercarbonated than overcarbonated.


And this time, I'll write down the recipe, not just the hop schedule. ;-)]]> beer http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=46 Sat, 14 Mar 2009 22:39:43 -0400 <![CDATA[Enough said. :-)]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=44 Click me, I'm a link to something really cool.]]> beer http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=44 Sat, 14 Mar 2009 12:49:24 -0400 <![CDATA[And one more quick note...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=43
]]> life http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=43 Tue, 3 Mar 2009 21:36:30 -0500 <![CDATA[Sick, day 2...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=41

However, onto lighter topics. Finally got around to making my "kitchen sink" brown/robust porter a week or so ago. The whole thing went well - part of the brewing was observed, but that's for something else I have coming down the pipe. All will be known on 3/15. :-) But yeah, the brewing went well, and it seems like I remembered everything I needed to do. No problems like I normally run into, and I even remembered to oxygenate the beer before (and a little bit after) I pitched the yeast. So I check a few hours later, before I go to bed, and the middle of the airlock is up - a good sign. Means that the yeast are done reproducing and will start fermenting in earnest soon enough.

Fast forward to following morning.

I'm lying there in bed, half sleeping, half awake, when I notice this odd, intermittent, hissing sound. I'd compare it to some animal or something like that, but honestly, I don't know what it would even be. I did know, however, that it was coming from either in or near my kitchen. I walk over there, and what do I see? The fermentation had taken off - and then some...







Yep. All that from one packet of yeast. Guess I gave them enough oxygen. ;-) So what I did was swap in my blowoff tube...







...and let it keep fermenting. I was actually able to watch the foam climbing up the tube - I know this all sounds kind of ridiculous, but hey, what can I say, I'm a brewing geek. :-) Didn't expect it to take off quite like this, though - but if I know the yeast are this hungry already, I'm thinking I need to brew again this weekend... I just hope that the gravity is low enough on this porter. I'm thinking the next one will be a Vanilla Imperial Porter of some kind, need to figure out my grains and recipe for that one.

Being sick for these couple of days have taken a bit out of me - not to mention the case of cabin fever I have going on over here... I was talking to Mom last night and mentioned that I hung up my magnetic knife rack.

"Oh, well, you must be feeling better if you were able to do that..."

"Actually, no, I just did it because I needed to do SOMETHING." (She and I both said "something" together.)

I've been doing some straightening, some cleaning, but I'd love nothing more than to just get some sort of real activity in, you know? When you're trying to get rid of what's left of your head cold/flu (since I was really achy and whatnot as well), even the thought of walking a hundred yards down to the mailbox seems a little less appealing... If I had more stuff on hand here, I'd cook something - but I don't really have enough worth anything to cook... Guy Fieri inspired me a little earlier, though - what about something like Whiskey Baked Beans? Slow cooker, regular baked beans - but with a cup or so of whiskey in there for just a slightly different flavor...

And one other thing that's been bothering me recently - my favorite chinese food place was sold. Now, the food in there isn't quite as good anymore. So I've been going to some of the other places around here, but each one is just missing... something. Maybe this is where I finally get serious about teaching myself more about chinese cooking. I've already found a recipe for twice cooked pork (one of my favorites, with General Tso's, Chicken in Garlic Sauce and Ta Chien chicken being up there as well) that seems like it's doable for me, and of course, I can always put my own twist on it. So we'll see - who knows where this might take me. I already make my own wontons...

Alright, can't think of what else I wanted to write about - so this is good enough for now. Hopefully it won't be as long for me before I write again next time...
]]> General http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=41 Tue, 3 Mar 2009 16:17:58 -0500 <![CDATA[Being sick sucks.]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=39
Then I wake up today with a fever of 101.3. It's gone down a bit over the course of the day - now it's "only" 100.


Still calling out sick again tomorrow, though. Feel like death warmed over.


/me sighs]]> General http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=39 Mon, 2 Mar 2009 21:29:56 -0500 <![CDATA[Water, water, everywhere...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=36

Been an interesting week in a couple of other ways, though, none of which are fit for public discussion. (And it's not as scandalous as that might make it sound.) But either way, sitting around on a Saturday night with a couple of good beers... life is good. :-) I opened a bottle of Victory V-Twelve (click the link) tonight, and I guess I didn't let it cool enough or something - once I got the cork out, it then proceeded to go all the hell over the place... so from a 750ml bottle, all I got was a tulip glass worth (link). Kind of disappointing, but meh. Not too worried about it. After this, though, is a Norwegian beer I picked up a month or so ago from a distributor almost out in the middle of nowhere. It's labeled as a "Double Extreme Imperial Wheat Stout," and I have no idea what to expect from this - but I'm assuming it should be pretty good. Past that, well, I have nothing planned, but I could always put something else in the fridge. I know of a place where I can get some pretty good stuff around here, and he hasn't steered me wrong yet. I have all the ingredients to make myself a brown porter (think Sam Smith Taddy Porter), and I can do it - I just need to actually devote the 4ish hours (since I've been lazy and need to really clean all my equipment) to actually brew it up. I'm looking forward to this one, though - it should be a very tasty little beer. Kitchen-sink style, too - I had 4 ounces of this grain, and 6 ounces of that grain, and 12 ounces of the other grain - and a fraction of an ounce of this hop, and a fraction of an ounce of that hop, etc. I posted on a message board I'm part of, and they suggested I go with a brown porter. It'll be a nice change of pace for me - normally I make lighter beers, or spiced beers, or belgian/german-inspired beers. (I'm counting my self-described American Imperial Krystal Weizen in that category - basically, it was supposed to be a wheat beer, but it's too strong and clear to be a proper wheat beer, and it's fermented with an American Wheat yeast strain.) Either way, I'm looking forward to this one. And I figure I should open my barleywine one of these days - I bottled it in late November, and I've been letting it age ever since. It's approximately 10.5% alcohol, and I'm thinking about entering it into a competition later in the year - around May or so. We'll see what happens.

Also, thinking about maybe ordering another kit or two. The patersbier I made last year went over pretty well, and given the yeast strain used for that one, it almost doesn't make sense for me to do a stronger beer or two on top of it. (The yeast strain is derived specifically for high-alcohol beers.) So between the brown porter, maybe something after the brown porter (but I doubt it - I'd almost have to do an imperial porter or a stout), the patersbier and whatever I decide to follow that up with, a wheat beer and my Imperial Wheat beer I mentioned above... looks like my brewing is spoken for for the next little while. :-)


I really need to get up to date on my labels, though. I need to do a label for my barleywine, maybe one for the dunkelweizen that I did for the super bowl party I went to last week. I think that's about it for the labels for right now, but I do need to figure out what to call these beers first... Anyone have any suggestions on how to take a good picture of a kitchen sink? If so, I think I have an idea for what to do for my brown porter...


And since I just realized that I haven't posted any recipes in here to date, I might as well start now - with one of my favorites, and one that's become something of a legend amongst my friends. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's the summer barbecue soup recipe - aka the "hot dog soup" recipe...

Hot Dog Soup

1 package Hot Dogs
1 package Hot Sausage
1 green pepper
1 potato
Carrots
1 can of beans
1 small can of tomato sauce
1 can of kernel corn
Garlic powder
Salt
Pepper
Italian seasoning
Bbq sauce
1 bottle of beer
Soy sauce (optional)


Combine all ingredients except for corn in slow cooker, season liberally, cook on low for 6-8 hours/high for 3-4 hours. Drain liquid from corn, add to slow cooker, add seasoning as necessary, cook on low for another 45 minutes.


Sometimes, I throw in a bit of curry powder or red pepper flakes - but that's optional. I recommend Premio Hot Italian Sausage, and I forget exactly what they're called, but Boars Head does some sort of skinless (I think) hot dog that just tastes better than anything else I've found. Cut the sausage and hot dogs up before you add them, and if you can, do this soup on low. If you do it on high, it's still good, but the veggies are a bit harder...


Alright, enough rambling - I have a bit of iSketch to play, and a stout to finish off. If anyone has any other suggestions, either for topics or beers or anything else, by all means, please let me know...]]> recipes http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=36 Sat, 7 Feb 2009 22:37:42 -0500 <![CDATA[*insert witty journal entry title here*]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=34
I got on the scale this morning. 211.5.

(and yes, I know, I know - you're supposed to weigh yourself at the same time every day, etc.)

Got on after dinner (which was a whole medium Papa John's pizza - portion control FTW!), but before my shower - 210.5


So somehow, after a light lunch and AN ENTIRE PIZZA, I lost a pound. I think that sums up my weekend in a nutshell. (also makes me wonder what I'd weigh if I didn't eat the pizza...)


But I digress. Racked my apple cider tonight from one carboy to the other - only picked up a small amount of yeast along with it. this should help it clear the rest of the way - no idea how long to let it sit for, but I'm not in any real rush for it, so... I guess we'll see what happens. A friend of mine said it will still take a while from here, but that's fine by me. Took a taste of it recently and it's definitely interesting - still has a bit of an apple smell/taste to it, but it's like it's layered on top of a dry white wine. So we'll see how it comes out. Also, need to get a couple of bottles of the holiday beer out to a dear friend of mine in Florida... sometimes, what happens in Albright Court stays in Albright Court. There's a lot to be said for the housing staff in that building, though... :-)

And I think, possibly, I'm going to make my Kitchen Sink Brown Porter this coming weekend. I'll be steeping almost 4 pounds of grain, but it's going to be exactly what it sounds like - a kitchen sink beer. All the assorted grains I have laying around are going into it. Just need to pick up the malt extract and the hops for it, which shouldn't be too too bad. It's going to be something like Sam Smith Taddy Porter - so by all means, live vicariously through me, spend a couple of bucks, and pick yourself up a bottle of it. It's nice - a little roasty, but not too much, and nice and dark. Should be a good late winter-early spring brew.


Also, Dad's birthday is coming up this weekend. Made him a batch of Russian Imperial Stout last winter, gave it a year to age. He'll get it this weekend - and I haven't tried it at all. Kind of hoping it's good. He'd drink it even if it wasn't, and the gesture won't be lost on him, but still - I'd feel terrible if it wasn't very good... I mean, by all rights, it should be just fine - a beer like that can stand up to age. I can see how it's going to go, though... I'll hand him a glass of it, tell him it's a new one he has to try. He'll tell me he likes it (his favorite beer of all time is a RIS from a brewery in PA), I'll say something like "Good - there's another 2 cases of it out in my car. Happy birthday." :-) I also have a barleywine that I'm currently aging - going to try that one out next weekend, too... we'll see how it is. Maybe I'll just crash at my parents house next weekend, since I'll be going to my sister's for the super bowl anyway - she lives in the next town over from them. I'm probably going to enter the barleywine into competition in May-ish... we'll see. I still have some time on that one - and if the porter comes out well, then I can always enter that one in, too...

Also, finally managed to snag myself a Roomba. It's broken in some way, shape, and/or form, so I got it for 29.99 and 5 dollars shipping. My piss-away fund (money from rebates and the like) was at 35 dollars, so this roomba really only cost me a dollar. I've been in touch with their tech support because the battery's not charging - if all it is is a bad battery, then I might've gotten myself one hell of a deal. Either way, I got it, I registered it, and according to them, I have a year's worth of warranty on it. In theory, that can be doubled to 2 years through my credit card - but since it wasn't new, I don't know how I'd have to spin it if I needed to bring the credit card company into it...


Alright. Enough blathering on here. Calling it a night, so I can go into work and suffer through that for the next few days. We'll see how that goes - I have a big project starting an office-wide rollout this week. Catch up with me sometime - I'll need the sanity. And so help me god, people, if you see me, ask me how the label designing is going - I have 3 that I need to do, 2 of which are for this coming weekend...]]> beer http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=34 Mon, 26 Jan 2009 00:12:03 -0500 <![CDATA[So I'd be a bad person if...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=32

For years now, for some reason, various versions of the name Jennifer have been in my life in quantity. There was Library Jen, Rumble Strip Jen, Acupuncturist Jen, and I'm sure a few others that I've forgotten about.


I got a couple of holiday presents this year - care packages, if you will. Acupuncturist Jen sent me some of her homebrews - a bomber (22 oz bottle) of her stout, a bottle of her hefeweizen, and a bottle of her spiced IPA - which I have to say was pretty impressive. All the spices came through in the nose, but nothing too major in the taste. Well done, Jen!

Then, a few days later, Chicago Jen (yes, that's how you're getting referred to here - deal with it :-P) tipped me off that she was sending me a present. So I open it up - and I pull out the first bottle. New Glarus Unplugged Berliner Weisse.


Now if you've never had a berliner weisse, you haven't had a Good Beer. This is just a simple, low alcohol, very tasty, slightly tart/sour, refreshing beer. And the New Glarus one, if it's not the BEST one I've ever had, it's one of the top 3. So I smile, very happy that I got a bottle of it (I had tried it in October at the GABF), then I decide that I might as well unpack the rest of the box as well - take out the rest of the bottles.


And, low and behold - another bottle of berliner weisse. And a bottle of their Apple Ale. And, my personal favorite, a bottle of their WI Belgian Red. I LOVE their WI Belgian Red. (and once I figure out how to change the color of links in these posts, I'm going to add in some links in this post.)


However, for the time being, I'm going to call it a night. It's been a long week, and I'm exhausted. So until I get to write again...

-CB]]> beer http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=32 Sat, 17 Jan 2009 00:50:25 -0500 <![CDATA[It's funny how true love gets caught up by still waters...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=30

So it's been interesting recently. I don't know how to put it other than that... Other than that, I have a dunkelweizen (aka dark wheat beer) fermenting here - which I nearly screwed up in a couple of ways. I'm just hoping it ferments out ok. The taste will probably be somewhat off, but hopefully not; It's been fermenting at a higher temperature than it "should" be in order to try to get a more complete fermentation, but higher temperatures during fermentation tend to lead to more clove-type flavors in the final product. So I may have a not-completely-fermented dunkelweizen that has a strong clove taste to it. That should be wonderful. ;-)

Eh, if nothing else, I have ideas for what I want to do for my next few beers. Right now, I'm thinking a brown porter next - I posted on a message board, asking what people think I can do with the 4 ounces of this grain and 8 ounces of that grain and so on and so forth that I have laying around. They all said it sounds like a good base for a brown porter, so as long as I know the basis of the recipe is there, then why not, right? :-) I might do a normal hefeweizen, then my imperial hefeweizen after that. (Well, technically, they're both American wheat beers, but wheat beers are supposed to be somewhat cloudy, and my imperial hefeweizen is actually crystal clear. If you want to get REALLY technical, it's a different kind of beer called a krystal weizen, but again, I digress.) :-)

So I went to Captain Lawrence Brewing Company over the weekend - it was a nice way to kill a weekend afternoon. I was able to head up there at my leisure, since they're not all that far from me - maybe about 45 minutes - and I was able to pick up a special release they have... they aged a tripel in apple brandy barrels. I figure I'll hold onto that one a bit and open it for some special occasion - don't know when that'll be, but it's good to have it, you know? Some people have special meals for special occasions, some people have special drinks... I keep special beers. I have one picked out for Passover already - we were going to have it for Hanukkah, but it just didn't happen. It should be interesting - I tried this kind of beer for the first time when I was out in Denver this past year...


And, before I forget, my apple wine is still happily fermenting away in the corner of my living room. First experience in something like this, so we'll see how it turns out. If it comes out well, I'll be happy with it - last time I smelled it, it smelled kind of like a dry white wine, but with a bit of apple to it. I'll probably do it again next year, and tweak the recipe a bit - just like I'm going to tweak my spiced ale recipe next year. I'm happy with how it came out, but at the same time, I would've liked for it to have had some more spices in there - you have to try really hard to pick up the spices. And yes, yes, I know, that goes against everything I've been told about spices in a beer (apparently, if someone can taste the spices but can't readily tell you what they are, you spiced it right), but... I just think this beer would be better with a more assertive spice profile. It's my beer, dammit, I'm going to spice it however I want. ;-)

And, least of all, the apartment needs to be cleaned. BADLY. I might just end up spending a whole day cleaning. Vacuuming, getting rid of clothes, washing down all the horizontal surfaces, all that kind of stuff. I can finally get rid of some of these boxes, I'll get these bottles put downstairs until the dunkelweizen's ready, I'll finally get some of the waste around here thrown out...



...and, of course, none of this will happen and I'll piss away another weekend. ;-)]]> life http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=30 Tue, 6 Jan 2009 23:55:24 -0500 <![CDATA[Grrrr...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=28 life http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=28 Mon, 29 Dec 2008 23:38:44 -0500 <![CDATA[food for thought...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=26
When you don't have any money, the problem is food. When you have money, it's sex. When you have both, it's health. If everything is simply jake, then you're frightened of death.

--J.P. Donleavy]]> life http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=26 Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:10:48 -0500 <![CDATA[On programming and mental health...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=24
However, that doesn't mean it's been ALL smooth sailing. I feel like I'm hitting... this kind of mental burnout. I've seen it happen to a few of my friends, too - I know I'm in good company. The difference here, though, is that I'm finally taking care of myself when I feel it happening. A few years ago, I wouldn't've done anything about it - and I would've ended up a lot worse off because I'd just end up completely mentally shot and exhausted. Instead, this time, I'm taking a day trip tomorrow. It's about 4 hours away, but I'm making the drive from where I am on Long Island to Brewery Ommegang, in Cooperstown. I've loved their beers (well, most of their beers) for quite some time now - one of my personal favorites is their saison, Ommegang Hennepin. So I'm treating myself. Yes, the economy's on its way down, and we're all supposed to be saving our money because everyone's corrupt and the world is horrible and all that jazz - but I'm lucky enough to be in a position where I can buy myself little things here and there. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for teaching me financial responsibility. :-) Doesn't mean I don't make a bad choice here and there, but hey - don't we all sometimes?


And on the completely-superfluous-use-of-eight-otherwise-good-dollars front, I managed to score another bag of crap from Woot. :-) I'm a little too lazy right now to put a link up to explain what it is, but the quick version is that for 8 dollars (a dollar a piece and 5 dollars shipping), they'll send you "three" items and a bag of some kind. Why is the 3 in quotes? Because generally, you get at least 3 items. I think they use stuff like this as a way of cleaning out their warehouse - people will get 4 items, 5 items... and there's no guarantee they'll all work/be useful. In a recent BoC, I got a brand new flight-style joystick. Still had the plastic wrap on it. Just like it has for the past 12 years. That's right, it came out around 1996 or so. And someone else, in the last one, got about 50 or so broken mp3 players. He's trying to fix them, last I knew, but if he doesn't succeed... well, he's out $8. And to me, the anticipation, the waiting, the hoping is worth the $8 in and of itself. If I happen to get one of the nicer items people have gotten in their shipments, like a Zune or a Roomba, I wouldn't complain - but it's not necessary. Would just be nice. :-)


Alright, time for me to head off - but I just wanted to give you guys a little update as to what's going on. Soon enough I'll get some more of my labels posted, for perusal and comment, but not right now. Have a couple of other things I want to take care of tonight.


Have a good one, all, and if I don't talk to you before then, hope you get everything you want this season. :-)]]> General http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=24 Fri, 12 Dec 2008 21:03:25 -0500 <![CDATA[Barleywine Label]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=22
There's a cemetary not too far from work called Lyceum. For some reason, I like the word - and it sounds like it would be a good name for my barleywine. So, I was going to go over there to take a couple of shots to see if there was something I could use to do the label. Ended up not going to that one, but another small cemetary near work and took a couple of pictures to see what I could find. I'm thinking this is the shot I'm going to use...






Thoughts? :-)]]> beer http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=22 Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:18:20 -0500 <![CDATA[I keep telling myself I'll say this, but I haven't yet...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=20

Do me ONE favor.


Don't let your life pass you by. I know you're busy - just make sure you make time to live, too, ok?


And I know you'll probably never see this. And if you do see it, there's no guarantee you'll know it's about you.


But I hope you make time somewhere in there to live.



You deserve it. :-)]]> life http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=20 Sat, 15 Nov 2008 22:46:38 -0500 <![CDATA[The end of a long week...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=18


So tomorrow, I get to move my beer from the container it's currently in to a smaller container - and put the vanilla beans into it. It'll be a spiced Northern English Brown Ale (think Sam Smith or Newcastle), and there's some cinnamon and nutmeg in there already. I'm going to put in 2 Madagascar vanilla beans (which smells almost like a cross between "Bourbon vanilla" and "ice cream vanilla," if that makes any sense) tomorrow - both split and possibly scraped, but I'm not sure about that yet. Will probably wait to see what they look like on the inside first. I'm really looking forward to this, though - it gives every sign of being a good beer so far... which is especially impressive, considering I'm just kind of winging it. I'm figuring it'll come out around 5-6 percent alcohol, which will be a little strong for the style - but I don't mind that much at all. The guidelines I'm using are really just a general idea, nothing hard and fast - kind of like pizza. Pizza "has" to have bread. sauce, and cheese. Traditionally, it's done with a smooth sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese. But there's nothing saying that you can't make your pizza with a chunky sauce, or with Colby cheese, or... etc. The guideline basically say "the beer should have this taste, should have none of this taste, it should be somewhere between this color and that color, and should have this much alcohol in it." I'm really using it moreso as a general idea, not a hard and fast guideline - so if it's too strong to be a "normal" Northern English Brown Ale, then so be it. Kind of like this. That's actually the exact description of the style I'm making - I'm not sure how good of a representation it is of a Northern English Brown, but then again, I also don't really care. :-) Next up, most likely, a dunkelweizen - think a wheat beer (almost, kindasorta, like Blue Moon, if you don't know much about beer - if you know about beer, then I shouldn't need to give you an example), but the color of Newcastle or something similar. I believe dunkelweizen actually translates to dark wheat, but don't quote me on that...


Also, for those of you who know what it is, I got my Bag of Crap from woot.com the other day. I got a Go-Duster, a Timex clock radio for a Sansa mp3 player, and this little "toiletries" bag. I don't know what else to call it, really - but a friend of mine has already called dibs on it. It's got 2 bath cubes in it, LA Looks styling gel, eyeliner, and something else in it... so enjoy it, Anna. :-)

Other than that, not too much else interesting going on here (that I'm going to talk about). So, until we meet again...]]> life http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=18 Sat, 8 Nov 2008 22:19:33 -0500 <![CDATA[What a long, strange trip it's been...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=16

I know this post has been kind of random, but there's a couple of other things on my mind right now - so I think this is all you're going to get from me at the moment.



Just suffice it to say that finally, after almost 28 years, I feel like I'm growing up.



Finally.




And I never thought it would feel this good. :-)]]> life http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=16 Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:32:41 -0400 <![CDATA[Do you remember a time when the city was a great place for architects and dilettantes, a fine place for midwives and crossing guards, and on and on?]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=14

Took care of some business that needed to be attended to, but I'm taking it from a different perspective than I normally would. A couple of weeks ago, I made a stupid mistake and had to pay for it. Instead of the many ways I could look at this, I'm looking at it in the context of that it's something I can learn from. It's almost like a wake up call for me. Yeah, I'm only 27, but I should be acting more like I'm 37 and less like I'm 17. I need to grow up sometime - and the only reason I'm making some of these stupid mistakes in my life is because of me. It's no one else. I'm not saying I'm not allowed to screw up every now and again - we all are. Like my dad said once, you have to look out for the other guy - but sometimes, YOU'RE the other guy. It's going to happen. If I can be more intelligent in my thoughts, my actions, my behavior, I'll be better off in general. I've felt like I can't get out of my own way on occasion - and now, if I start being a little smarter in my actions, maybe I'll finally be able to do so. Maybe I'll stop tripping over myself when I do certain things. :-)

Now, the next thing I need to do this weekend (other than laundry, which is just completely out of control right now) is rack my barleywine from the primary fermenter to the secondary fermenter. It's still a little too sweet, but it doesn't taste that way. Long story short, with a detour back to high school science class:

The way I measure how much sugar is in the beer is by way of specific gravity. Water has a specific gravity of 1.000, and your "average" beer will have a starting gravity of around 1.040 or 1.050 or so and a final gravity of about 1.012. This barleywine? Started at 1.111 and is at 1.039 right now. Barleywines can get away with finishing around 1.025 or so, so I'm going to add a little more yeast to it and see what happens. It's "only" 9.5% alcohol right now, which is within guidelines, but... still. I'd like to get it a little lower if at all possible. I guess I hopped it well, though - because the sweetness in there isn't really all that noticeable. I really should start posting some of my beer recipes on here - that's actually part of the reason why I got this webspace in the first place... maybe some people might take my recipes for their own inspiration. And thanks to my friend Anna, I may end up doing a holiday beer yet this year. Thinking a brown ale, but with some spices... should be interesting. :-)


Alright, this is all I can concentrate on right now - I'm going to try to get some more up in the near future. Been slacking a little on this, I know, I know... forgive me? :-)]]> life http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=14 Sat, 25 Oct 2008 22:35:16 -0400 <![CDATA[]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=12

So, when last we left our intrepid adventurer, I had alluded to something re: beer that I found really interested me. Kind of like a sub-aspect of it. I get a kick out of reading about the history of beer - what it's meant over time, how it's helped people over time, how in some ways, it's actually been responsible for saving lives. There's a ton of people tied to beer through history - saints, gods, royalty, regular people who've made a difference in some way, shape, or form. Different types of beer - how some were almost extinct, until one brewery decided to start making them again. How some beers are pretty obscure just by their nature - go to your local distributor and tell them you want a zwickelbier, and tell me what they say. Or see who's making a good sahti or a good chicha these days. Some odd/unusual brewing methods - like making a steinbier. Exactly what it sounds like - you heat the beer to boil it by using hot rocks. (It caramelizes some amount of the sugars, which would be one of the benefits.) Just general beer trivia/facts, I guess. Anyone know any companies looking for a beer historian? I love just learning about all this. I find it completely fascinating. :-)

Other than that, life's been... well, life. Mini road trip going on this weekend.


But for now, I'm calling it a night. Have been trying something new over the past couple of nights, where I've gone to bed at 1130 and woke up at 6. (Out of bed at 645 after resetting the alarm, but up at 6.) And all things considered? I'm surprisingly awake during the day. So I think this might be working out well. I'm going to go grab a beer and call it a night - happy trails to you, until we meet again...]]> beer http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=12 Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:43:55 -0400 <![CDATA[Thoughts on the way home from the GABF...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=10
Some of the stuff I tried out there was wretched, honestly, but some of it… wow. If any of you really, truly love me, find me a bottle of Isabelle Proximus from Port Brewing in California. Chances are you won’t be able to find it, but just to have tried it in and of itself made me happy. I had never heard of it prior to this trip, but once I found out a little about the history, I think that may have made the beer taste even better.

Every once in a while, brewers with a high level of respect for each other and their products will team up and make some sort of interesting beer. The first example that comes to mind is the beer (well, both beers, actually) that the brewer at Brooklyn Brewery and the brewer at Schneider teamed up on. They made similar beers – but one year they made it in Brooklyn, and the other year they made it in Germany. In this case, with the Isabelle Proximus, there were 5 brewers involved. Sam Calagione (Dogfish Head), Tomme Arthur (Port Brewing), Adam Avery (Avery Brewing), Rob Tod (Allagash), and Vinnie Cilurzo (Russian River) all went to Belgium – and knew they wanted to make a beer based on their trip when they got back. The result is Isabelle Proximus. When I was at a beer bar Thursday night, after the first session I went to, I found out they had the big cork/cage bottles of Isabelle Proximus for $60 a bottle. Retail on the bottle, from what I hear, is about $30 – and I would gladly pay that, then save this one for a couple of years/some sort of really special occasion. The beer is just flat out THAT good.

Got to have some stuff from one of my other favorite breweries as well – New Glarus Brewing Co., out of Wisconsin. Two friends who I love dearly (and know me well ;-)) got me bottles of their WI Belgian Red last year – generally speaking, I’m not a huge fan of cherry. But, long story short, this beer is just phenomenal. It tastes like “cherry pie in a bottle”, as many people were saying. It was also kind of funny, in a way – there were all these other breweries adjacent to New Glarus, but none of them had lines. New Glarus ALWAYS had a line about 20 people deep. So of course I had a few tastings of their Red, but I also got to try another beer from them – their Berliner Weisse.

If you’re not familiar with a Berliner Weisse, I would advise you at least try it out. It’s a low alcohol (3-4%ish) beer, generally served in a smaller bottle – 8-10 ounces, as opposed to the normal 12. But what makes it particularly interesting is the taste. It’s not hoppy like some beers, nor is it overly malty like your typical Octoberfest-type beer. In a well executed Berliner Weisse, there should be this… tartness. Not in a bad way, but… you know, I’m actually at something of a loss as to how to describe it. In germany, they’re known to mix a syrup into the beer (woodruff, maybe?) in order to temper the tartness a bit. I prefer mine without anything added (not to mention woodruff syrup isn’t exactly something they’d carry at Key Food or even Trader Joe’s), and I’m still working on trying to decide what I think it tastes best with. So far the best pairing I’ve found is a “soft Muenster” cheese called Port Salut. There’s this subtle nuttiness to the cheese that the beer helps bring around. I’d love to experiment with beer/food pairings a bit more, but that’s a post for another time.

In spending some time with friends, I got to open a beer I had been looking forward to for a while. I had bought a bottle of Ommegang Ommegeddon a few months ago so that I could let it sit and mature a little. The thing about Ommegeddon is that it’s… well, inoculated (in a way) with a bacteria (I think it’s a bacteria, anyway) called Brettanomyces. The Brettanomyces, or Brett, give it this kind of musty flavor that works very well in this variety of beer.

There was one beer that I was looking forward to trying – Three Floyds Gumballhead – just based on reputation alone. Unfortunately, the brewery didn’t bring it out with them. So sad. :-P I did get to have some stuff from St. Arnold’s out of Houston again, and they were telling me in a few years, they may start distributing outside of Texas. Cmon, St. Arnold’s, you know you want to. ;-) There were also a couple of rauchbiers that I got to try which were very good – I keep thinking about making a rauchweiss, just to see how it would come out. There’s just one problem with that, though – rauchbiers are, translated, smoked beers. They’re good here and there, but I’d have to see if I really wanted 2 cases worth of them, you know?

Hm. Yeah, I’m probably getting kind of geeky right about now (either that, or I passed kind of a few miles back), so if anyone wants a little more detail about this, feel free to ask. If anyone’s still reading, that is. :-)

About an hour and a half left in my flight – and to the best I can figure, we’re going from Denver to LGA by way of Chicago. Flew over the lake a little while ago, now we’re over some semi-rural areas in… Indiana, maybe? Illinois? Ohio? I don’t mind the rural areas, but for some reason, I just like flying over more developed areas better. Maybe it’s just that there’s more to look down at/on than farmland that’s different shades of brown/gold/other colors that were in everyone’s kitchen in the 70s. You can look down and see these small towns, maybe some cities – and I’m the kind of person who looks at them and wonders just where we are. Of course, if I bought the DirecTV for $5.99, I could know exactly where we are – but it’s not that important to me. More just a kind of fun curiosity.

The only problem, though, is that there’s been kids yelling (almost) the entire flight. Don’t get me wrong, the older I get, the more I like little kids – my nephew and nieces are case in point. But the yelling is getting to me a little – even though I have my headphones, I can still hear them, and I’d rather not have to turn up the music so loud that it would piss the people around me off. Meh. At least the flight’s almost over. Don’t sweat the small stuff, and it’s all small stuff, you know? Soon enough, I’ll be meeting Dad at the terminal and will be on my way back to their place to offload and just… relax a little. I doubt it, but maybe I’ll see if I can convince them to get Chinese food tonight. Can’t hurt, right? Sundays were always order-in days when I was growing up, so…

Also, wonder what they’ll think of my new beer baron hat. Not that it matters – I bought it already, and I like it, but I like getting other people’s opinions of how I look in things. And yes, when I say beer baron, I mean the Simpsons beer baron episode. Why is that significant? When Homer becomes the beer baron, he gets himself a hat – and specifically wears it at a “jaunty” angle. This hat actually looks better on me at a jaunty angle. Pictures will be furnished upon request. ;-)

Alright, enough typing for right now – the nice Orthodox guy sitting next to me has been listening to all this tapping for a while and hasn’t said anything. I figure I should give him a break. (Not to mention I think he’s falling asleep, but I digress.) Either way, maybe I’ll just put my beer baron hat over my face and try to catch a few more minutes of sleep, or I’ll watch the scenery, or something. I think I’m going to write another post in a day or two, though, with what I’m thinking about doing/looking into as kind of focusing my beer passion. There was an article in one of the magazines I picked up out there that kind of got me thinking… so until then, keep yourselves safe and healthy.


I need all the readers I can get. ;-)
]]> beer http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=10 Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:25:06 -0400 <![CDATA[And sometimes...]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=7

Ever notice when things start to go wrong, they go wrong in multitudes? Or at least more than one at a time? Meh.


I'm not going to go into it here, though. Just have to keep reminding myself that the stuff that is going wrong, by and large, isn't worth anything in the grand scheme of things.

Next up, to convince myself the fact that my barleywine didn't ferment all the way is the worst of what's going on. :-)


Edit - Well, I took another look at things. There's still not much I can do about the barleywine, but the other thing that was bothering me? I feel considerably better about it now. I think I'm coming to terms with it a little better. So thank you to the people who let me sound off to them. :-)]]> life http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=7 Sun, 5 Oct 2008 12:17:43 -0400 <![CDATA[Exhaustion, growing up, and really good beer.]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=5
(Mind you, that recipe for the vanilla sugar may be wrong, but I digress - the concept is still there.)

Wet hopping, on the other hand, is a different technique. In this case, I used hops I picked fresh off the vine in my beer, instead of hop pellets. Since they're not dehydrated, you need more of them than you would otherwise - but it was still a site that I had to smile at when I had my hop additions all lined up. Normally, I have these 1 ounce packages on my counter with a post-it with the number of minutes on it (so I know when to add it to the boiling pre-beer). With this particular beer, it wasn't packages - it was soup bowls. True beauty to a beer geek like myself.

This is also one of two beers that I've entered into a local homebrewing competition - taking place on 10/19 in Connecticut. Between this beer and a Belgian Strong Dark Ale that a beer judge my brother-in-law works with said was spot on, I'm hoping I can get a medal. Do I need a medal? No. But seriously - how cool would it be to be able to say I'm a medal winning homebrewer?


So I'm going on vacation next week - Great American Beer Festival, in Denver. Flying out Wednesday, flying back in on Sunday. I feel like this is going to be a good time for me no matter what, if for no other reason than I'll be around like-minded people for almost the entire weekend. I'm also going to get to see/hang out with a few people who I wouldn't get to see otherwise, and that alone is worth it. I love my friends dearly - a couple of them I've known for a short while but look forward to getting to see, and I've known another for probably about 10 years now. Hm. That's not quite accurate - we started talking about 10 years ago, but lost touch for a long while in the middle. We've gotten back in touch recently, and it turns out she lives out in CO now - so I'll see if she can spare any time while I'm out there.

This is going to be kind of a rite of passage for me as well, though. I grew up in a VERY close family, to the point where we checked with our parents before we did a lot of stuff. When you grow up one way for 24-25 years, and all of a sudden you move out and become an adult more than you ever had been before in your parents' eyes, it's a little difficult to get used to, you know? I never "wasted" money when I was growing up, even after I turned 18 and "could" spend it on whatever I wanted. It's a little hard to explain - somehow, you knew that if it was something they wouldn't approve of, you didn't feel right doing it.


But now, it's different. Now I can spend my money (or in this particular case, my credit card points) on whatever I want. But it's still kind of... surreal for me. It's part of growing up - exercising free will to do what I want when I want to. And doing what I want with my money, to boot. I've been burned a couple of times financially, but that's a story for another time. The fact of the matter is that I feel like a kid in a worldwide candy store - that I can buy anything I want now, when I want it, and I don't have to justify it to anyone other than myself. I even have a separate account set up for "toys" - but, a little more loosely, I refer to it as my "no justification necessary" account. It's a good feeling to be in this position. To be able to say I have my own place, my own car that I own outright (yay for saving money by being an RA in college), a good job, and that I can still put money away - how many people my age can say that? So yeah - life is good right now.


And now, if you'll excuse me, there's an APA in my fridge that's begging to be consumed.

-CB]]> life http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=5 Thu, 2 Oct 2008 23:29:20 -0400 <![CDATA[Welcome, everyone]]> http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=3
I'll be writing about all sorts of different things here - some beer related, some life related, and some... well, probably other topics that I haven't even thought of yet.


For right now, though, a little about me. I'm 27 and a computer programmer on Long Island for a well known company. In the past few years, though, I've taken a DEFINITE liking to beer. So at this point, I'll pretty much "preach" beer to anyone who will listen to me about it - but with a number of my friends, I've become the "beer guy." When you need advice on a topic, you know how you turn to one of your friends because of how well they know that topic? That's me and beer. I'm convinced that there's a beer out there that everyone will like - that everyone will be able to find at least one beer palatable. I'm not saying you have to drink it all the time, but that if there was no other drink on earth, you could deal with this particular beer.

Thanks to my friend Erik, I've started homebrewing. I find it's helped me out a LOT with other aspects of my life as well, but I think those are better suited for future blog posts.


And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to play around with configuring this blog a little more. In the near future, I hope to be able to have comments available (if they aren't already), along with updating some of the links on the side and the rest of the bells and whistles.

-Craig]]> beer http://dentedcapbrewing.net/index.php?itemid=3 Wed, 1 Oct 2008 19:45:00 -0400