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Category: food

Blue Cheese and Bacon, etc

Published February 9, 2011

Here is a blue cheese dressing and bacon salad made with a wedge of iceberg lettuce. Danielle made this for dinner on Monday evening and it was absolutely wonderful. I had more of it for lunch the next day, and it really hit the spot then too.

Here’s some other moblog photos that I’ve taken recently:

· Looking out from an elevator at the RenCen at an artificially accelerated sunset.
· My reflection in an elevator while heading down to my car.
· Yay! I have a trash can at work!
· Blue cheese and bacon salad made by Danielle with fresh dressing and extremely high quality bacon.
· Racking the Area 51 American IPA to a corney keg for carbonation.
· The non-dairy creamer at work has one of the worst possible fonts.
· Arek eating a sandwich at Al’s Famous Deli on Woodward.
· Horny Goat Brewing Company Variety Pack.

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Lazy Stout is Ready!

Published January 30, 2011

Here is a glass of Lazy Stout all ready to drink. It’s well-carbonated, with the ~10psi working out well in the ~40F temperature that the keg settled to. There is a slightly odd flavor to the beer that I dislike and I think comes from using all extract, but Danielle likes it and doesn’t notice anything odd. I also think it’s a bit too roasted-tasting for me, so maybe next time I’ll have to try it with both a dark and light extract. Still, overall, it’s good.

Now to finish this off and get the Area 51 into the keg and carbonating. I suspect this will take a while. Anyone want a growler fill?

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Goose Island Night Stalker

Published January 28, 2011

Earlier this week I picked up a bottle of Goose Island’s Night Stalker and tonight I’m drinking it. This 11.7% stout is a bit harsh when cold straight out of the fridge, but as it warms up it gets considerably smoother tasting. It’s just hoppy enough, but roasty and malty enough that it’s very clearly a stout. There’s just a bit of alcohol burn, but nothing unpleasant. Goose Island claims that this beer can be cellared for up to five years, and I can see this turning into something even nicer as it sits.

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Stout Blowout!

Published January 18, 2011

48 hours after pitching yeast into the Lazy Stout I arrived home to find that the krausen had blown out the airlock. This surprise me, as it’s not a high gravity beer and didn’t seem to be particularly thick. Looks like the yeast is definitely doing its job, though.

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Rebuilt Keg, Force Carbonation Test

Published January 17, 2011

When I purchased my beer kegging supplies the keg came used, complete with some flavor of Canada Dry residual liquid sloshing around inside. It’s common to buy used kegs for home brewing, and I knew that before I used it I’d have to rebuild it and replace all the o-rings to ensure no off flavors contaminate the beer.

This evening I pulled the keg apart, scrubbed all parts with a sodium percarbonate solution, then reassembled it with food-safe grease and new seals. After assembly and pressure testing I filled it with filtered tap water and set it up as seen above. This 15psi supply of CO2 should force carbonate the water to 2.5 volumes (or so) of CO2, depending on how cold the water actually ends up. After proving out that this method works I’ll then try it on one of the future batches of beer, carbonating it either in the garage or a kegerator, if I assemble one.

For more information on force carbonating, take a look at this article.

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Area 51 IPA Kit

Published January 9, 2011

After a ~3 year hiatus from brewing beer, I woke this morning and decided that today would be the day I brew a batch. Not wanting to take the time to put together a recipe I decided to use an off the shelf kit, and off to Cap n’ Cork I went. $48 later I had the Area 51 IPA kit seen above and a packet of Wyeast 1272 American Ale II yeast. This partial mash kit should make about five gallons of 5.6% American IPA, perfect for filling my newly acquired corney keg setup.

As he’s been wanting to try it brewing himself and curious about the process Nick came by just as I was beginning the partial mash. Everything was going great, until it came time to boil the wort and I found that the burner on the outdoor stove (burner from a turkey fryer) wouldn’t light. Troubleshooting pointed to a bad regulator, so we set off to Home Depot where I purchased a new regulator and some brass fitting to connect it all. Despite it all connecting nicely, the new regulator didn’t let through enough gas and the burner petered along barely heating the wort.

Nick then remembered that he has a turkey fryer burner available and that Marty would soon be passing through the area and would be able to drop it by. She did, and this replacement burner provided a proper amount of heat, taking the wort from the a tepid 160°F to boiling in less than 15 minutes. Then, an hour later, it was ready to cool, rack to a fermenter, and pitch the yeast.

Now it all sits in a bathtub in a warm interior room waiting for fermentation to begin. If everything goes according to schedule primary fermentation a week from Monday (or so), I’ll then rack it to secondary and dry hop it, then a month or so later I’ll keg and carbonate it. After sitting for another month or so beyond that it should be ready to drink. In the mean time I can contemplate dispensing possibilities, including maybe fashioning some manner of kegerator.

OG for this batch is 1.053, which is just 0.002 shy of the target OG of 1.055. Hopefully the rest of the batch will go as planned and it’ll come out great.

UPDATE: Racked to secondary on 16-Jan-2010 with 1oz of Cascade hops. Gravity (at this point, after degassing) was 1.012 making for 5.38% ABV. Will allow to condition for another 2 weeks to 2 months before transferring to a keg.

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New Year’s Eve Preparations

Published December 31, 2010

Here’s a corney keg of Salonius Pale Ale from Sherwood Brewing Company on it’s way back to my house for New Year’s Eve festivities. The child seat lock on the seatbelt finally came in handy, allowing me to lock the keg in place to keep it from tipping. I believe this is one of their new beers, and a small that I was given while picking it up showed it to be outstanding. It’s a bit sour, a little spicy from the yeast, and with some really nice, fruity hops that come in part from it’s being dry hopped. Supposedly it’s about 6%.

Danielle is currently cooking BBQ sauce and pulling pork, and with some chili, cheese, and dessert stuff that’s on the way we should have quite a ready supply of tasty food. Mmm.

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Carbonated Coffee

Published December 28, 2010

For my first carbonation attempt I tried coffee. I brewed one serving (about a pint) via the usual method then added another half cup of water, chilled it, and then force carbonated it at ~27psi until it seemed to stop taking gas. After letting it sit in the fridge for 20 or 30 minutes I impatiently tried it, but the initial opening produced a LOT of foam. After dealing with some bottle overflow I tried a couple ounces, and it was both what I expected and something bizarre. It was cold (like iced) coffee, but with an extra bitter flavor likely from the carbonic acid formed during the carbonation.

I’ll drink it tomorrow, likely with breakfast or lunch. It should be colder and less foamy and maybe even enjoyable. After that I’ll probably try making some soda, likely ginger or cream. I feel like I’m getting dangerously close to molecular gastronomy. If I post about acquiring a Dewar and some LN2 please warn me.

(The photo above was taken while letting the bottle sit after a round of shaking.)

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Carbonating / Kegging Supplies

Published December 28, 2010

While planning a New Year’s Eve party I realized that it’d be particularly handy to have supplies for dispensing kegged beer with CO2. Well, after a run to Cap n’ Cork I now have everything needed: a CO2 tank, regulator, thick-wall PVC line, a corney keg, picnic tap, keg rebuild kit, and ball lock fittings. I also picked up cherry and cream soda mixes and a special cap that allows one to carbonate things in plain plastic bottles. Now I can make carbonated water, juice, milk, or anything else whenever I want. Hmm. I think I could even try carbonating fruit…

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טרײף ארוחת בוקר

Published December 27, 2010

If my Yiddish subject line is correct, this is today’s forbidden breakfast: a sesame bagel with bacon and mild cheddar, served with a cup of typical-for-me coffee. The bacon is an uncured, nitrate/nitrite free vareity from Trader Joe’s, the bagel is a random item from Meijer‘s bakery, cheddar is some random prepackaged slices from VG’s, and the coffee is typical generic (Sumatran?) dark roast purchased in bulk from Costco.

This is a not-bad meal for a day of working from home, tying up loose ends, and perusing deals on late-spring vacations.

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