It's the Farting Elves singing the 12 Days of Christmas
http://www.boredmuch.com/view.php?id=304
Too many beans with those ribs... ;D
I just finished sampling one of mywinter homebrews. With suspended yeast, and proper planning, I think I can develop a Zepellin tribute.
The untested spiced Christmas beer will probably be more appropriate for Beatles tunes.
Yeah, the new guy's out on a limb, but saw enough "beer cooler" references to step out.
Cheers.
Quote from: Consiglieri on December 02, 2006, 10:42:57 PM
I just finished sampling one of mywinter homebrews.
Funny you should mention that Consiglieri, I'm afraid I sampled a few too many of my Christmas Smoked Porters last night, hence the 'Farting Elves' post. It was day 24 in the bottle, time to sample and boy is it gooood. Cheers
Took some of my ginger beer to a East Indian potluck last night--it was a great way to cool the curry fire!
T2
I read your earlier posts about smoked malt and it piqued my curiosity. Hard enough to find time to smoke a good meal, let alone smoke and mash your malt for an all grain extravaganza. As for my post in this thread, my judgment may have been impared by my sampling... Have two brews aging now: a spiced Christmas that needs time to mellow to smooth out the ginger/cinamman/orange peel (this recipe is in Charlie Papazian's book) and a Viennese dark lager. The later is where I was sampling. Interesting finish, a little sweet but consistant finishing gravity indicates that I shouldn't wind up with popping bottles (thank god this is a lager and I'll be cold aging just in case).
Any awards for your brew? I had some great luck this last summer at our county fair with an IPA and a Marzen. Beat out my brewing counterpart and now may pull a Bart Simpson and retire undefeated, at the top. He'll crack a tooth, but it'll be fun.
Two weeks from now and it'll be Prime Rib and Porter.
Cheers
Quote from: Consiglieri on December 04, 2006, 09:31:05 AM
Any awards for your brew? I had some great luck this last summer at our county fair with an IPA and a Marzen. Beat out my brewing counterpart and now may pull a Bart Simpson and retire undefeated, at the top.
Cheers
I've got three beautiful 1st place blue ribbons from our Fall Fair three years running. Not much for bragging rights though, because I was the only entry three years in a row. ;D
Wait a second! You guys have BEER contests in your county fairs? :o :o
Here, it's pretty much the 3-P's. Pies, preserves & pickles. >:( I think canned meat is a category too. :-[
Must be the Amish influence. ::)
And this, coming from the largest county fair in Indiana. Plus, it's bigger than 6 or 7 states' fairs.
Oh well, the sirloin tips are to die for! :P :P :P
Kirk
CB:
At our fair we have beer making (about 8 to 12 subcategories) and winemaking contests too. No beer drinking contests (unless you count the cowboys in the beer garden on payday). Yeah, I was a proud Papa this year. I think turning in my entries while a butt was smoking was good luck. Served some of the entry with the pulled pork. Two blues, one of which was best of show.
If your county fair has a website, check out the entry program-- you might be surprised. Maybe entries for pulled pork, pork ribs, and porter along with those other P's.
I think I'm going to try your P-rib recipe in two weeks CB. Wife likes moderation on the smoke. Thinking about smoking for an hour to 1.5 and then higher heat in the oven or on the grill. Any thoughts?
Here you go: http://www.4hfair.org/openclass.htm (http://www.4hfair.org/openclass.htm).
I might be tempted to try the "Q" contests, but as you can see, most people around here don't "get it". When KC Masterpeice is a title sponsor...... ::) ::) ::)
Now cow-tipping & sheep-jumping, I think I have a shot at!! Also will be in attendance for the Wet Bonnet Contest! ;D ;D
As far as the P-rib recipe, you'll have to give me a little help. 3 years of babbling posts (and God knows how many malt beverages) leave me clueless to what you're referring to.
Kirk
In a thread for fourth of July Prime Rib, I think someone posted a recipe attributed to you. Lipton onion soup mix, 3-4 hours high BS heat w/smoke (or up to internal temp of 130-135), 2-4 hours FTC, or something like that. Just a question: you prefer the soup mix to salt, pepper, garlic and mild rosemary?
I want to get a good crust, smoke as an enhancement, not the main attraction, so thinking about oven or grill for an hour at 400 or so, BS at about 300 until IT reached during which maybe 1.5 hours mild smoke like apple/pecan will be applied, then rest FTC in a preheated but off oven (FTO?). Tried a smaller cooler to FTC, but don't think it was the best insulated item and lost too much heat last time.
BTW: thanks for all those old posts which provide some great ideas and are a great resource.
We don't have many Amish out here on the West Coast, which isn't to say that there aren't religious types who forget that Jesus' first public miracle was to turn water into wine at the Wedding at Canaa. People can be pretty cool so long as some idiot doesn't ... I was going to say act like an idiot, but that would rule me out. Let's just say "go too far" which is just elastic enough to adapt to the event, setting, and types of guests present.
Make that fair your own. Between the Ps and Qs, the sheep and the cows (whether on the Q or chased in the Pen), there's plenty of opportunity for mischief and fun. Or heck, get some friends together, rent a hall or reserve park space and do your own Q and Brew contest.
Man, now I'm getting fired up.
KC MasterPiece is an embarrising disgraceful waste of the word Kansas IMO.
It's a waste of a paper label!
Maybe you folks could sue for slander or libel?
Kirk
Quote from: Consiglieri on December 06, 2006, 08:38:48 PM
Just a question: you prefer the soup mix to salt, pepper, garlic and mild rosemary?
I find the onion to be a great flavor enhancer as well as make a great gravy/au jus. I'm a big rosemary fan & think that would add a lot, although if I did it, you would not describe it as "mild". ;)
Quote from: Consiglieri on December 06, 2006, 08:38:48 PMJesus' first public miracle was to turn water into wine at the Wedding at Canaa.
Except according to a lot of the clan, it was not wine as we know it, but unfermented grape juice. ??? ::)
The funniest part to me is every year a couple of them get arrested for DUI in their buggies.
Kirk
I went to college at UC Davis, where the predominant transportation was biking, and the school has a great wine making program. From time to time there'd be a student who got a dui on a bike even though he or she was trying to away from the wheel. Man, I'd love to see some buggy pulled over and the driver walking a line on the road. I guess I'm twisted.
Back to the wedding at Canaa: wine is a very particular word and weddings in that place, during that period lasted a week or more because of the time committed to travelling. I'm sure that everyone who made the trip (travelling hundreds of miles) were really looking forward to that Hi-C grape drink. I don't claim to be a biblical scholar, but I've never seen any language in the bible suggesting that wine meant juice. Plus there's that comment about saving the best wine for last, when most hosts would have served an inferior wine after people got lubed up. I'm not aware of differing qualities of unfermented grape juice. Probably not worth raising the point with them, though, unless you want to cause some trouble.
We have a few evangelicals and mormons where I work and at the Christmas party last year some mighty fine wine was served. I offered some to the Christians (I didn't want to offend the mormons, but I thought I could at least debate the issue with the others). When they declined, professing their faith as the reason, I offered the wedding at canaa story and rationale and told them if it's good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me. The boss got a kick, but the others turned to "look who's quoting scripture..." Try to understand the reasoning, and get likened to Satan. And the evangelicals get hit with DUIs too, which is kind of hard to do with unfermented grape juice.
Sorry for the rant. I'm going to respond to the prime rib points in a new thread.
Just my 2 cents worth to ponder - The Bible references wine and new wine. It also cautions about over indulgence.
In my opnion, as in all things, moderation is the key.
Can't dispute that moderation is important. My curiousity is getting the better of me: isn't new wine fermented, but unaged, wine?
Good question. I make wine myself. From a historic view point, I have always assumed that they, back then, made juice from fruit and called it new wine (as in before it starts to ferment). Fermentation at that time was the only way to preserve the fruit juice. I also suspect that the word "juice" was not in their vocabulary hence the term new wine. I may be way off base but that is my opinion. Also, the aging of wine has only two purposes. First to clarify and second to impart a wood flavor.
Thought that aging also mellowed out some of the harsher flavor characteristics of young wine or helped develop some other complexities in flavor. For instance, bottled cabarnet is no longer in wood and typically has been afforded enough time to clarify, but often is laid down for several years before reaching its peak. Don't know enough about the ancient languages to comment on whether biblical references to new wine were speaking about juice. With respect to the wedding at Cana, however, wine is the chosen word.
I kind of like how this thread has morphed from the gutter, to the brewery, to the county fair, back to the gutter, to the pulpit, and now to the wine cellar.
I personally have not noticed any changes to wine that has aged in the bottle for a few years. Many claim it is so, but my taste buds are not that acute. I am begining to get thirsty. Here is a toast to the BS and this forum.
I second the toast (and the thirsty part). As I understand it, the chemistry of change in wine in bottles is outrageously complex and not understood by 'experts'. Given the $'s associated with old=expensive wines, if anyone truely understood what happens, it would be shouted from the mountain tops or cheap wine would be sold as knock offs, which ever comes first.
I notice dramatic changes in wines we make with age in a bottle, and if I may add, many of which are not for the positive. Fruity white wines often benefit from being drank (drunk?) young, as the fruity characteristics often fade rapidly. My bride and I have several variaties of favorite "Wednesday" wines (not what you would bring to the big Friday night bash). That is to say, variaties we make that are palatable young. A good thing as we are not the most patient people in this universe. As a rule of thumb (as dangerous a phrase as common knowledge!), tannic reds will tolerate aging, with potential benefits from alterations in their structure. Some of the noble whites may also gain/change character with limited amounts of age.
I guess wines are like people. Mostly, young ones are cute, bright, potentially wonderful and worthy of lifelong adoration. However, with age, some get better, while others do not!
Happy Holidays all
smoke on
Mark
QuoteI guess wines are like people. Mostly, young ones are cute, bright, potentially wonderful and worthy of lifelong adoration. However, with age, some get better, while others do not!
:D :D :D :D
I will have to try and track down the article from Discover. There are a couple of microbreweries and winemakers who work with anthropologists to re-create some of these old recipes for fermented beverages. Apparently some of them are quite good, while others are almost unpalatable. The author of the article was attempting a home brewed version of what was thought to be the absolute oldest recipe ever unearthed. The brewer that took on the challenge added modern ingredients that would not have been available to the Chinese brewers. I believe it involved Hawthorn berries or something similar. Anyway, the sugars in the berries are resistant to fermentation by most modern strains of yeast, so the fermentation had to be kick started by first chewing the fruit and spitting it out. I don't think the end result was particularly good, but very interesting nonetheless.
BTW, I cannot see many ancient civilizations having objections to drinking alcohol. There was no moral stigma associated with drinking. It was seen as a method of preservation as stated above.
Malc
On the spot winemakers. Well said. ;)
I have experimented with home-made sodas too. The recipe book I used noted that the method of carbonating the drink was the same as for fermented beverages (yeast conversion of sugars into alcohol w/ CO2 as a byproduct). Old fashioned rootbeer, ginger ale, cream soda all had a bit of alcohol, but the beverage was prepared in smaller batches, with slight amounts of yeast, and consumed before the yeast could propogate to full fermentation capacity (or put in cold places to suspend fermentation).
With the quantities of sugar or honey added to the benign beverages, I'm sure that quite a few households had popping bottles after a while.
Cheers to the site and happy holidays.
I understand about popping bottles also. Champaign (sp?) can be made of any wine in two different ways. First is by adding a special yeast after the wine has cleared and corking, the other is by adding a very small amount of dry ice and corking. The latter leaves absolutely no sediment, but it is best done outside with a good bottle.
Quote from: Consiglieri on December 13, 2006, 09:48:15 AM
I have experimented with home-made sodas too. The recipe book I used noted that the method of carbonating the drink was the same as for fermented beverages (yeast conversion of sugars into alcohol w/ CO2 as a byproduct). Old fashioned rootbeer, ginger ale, cream soda all had a bit of alcohol, but the beverage was prepared in smaller batches, with slight amounts of yeast, and consumed before the yeast could propogate to full fermentation capacity (or put in cold places to suspend fermentation).
With the quantities of sugar or honey added to the benign beverages, I'm sure that quite a few households had popping bottles after a while.
Cheers to the site and happy holidays.
We use to make root beer and sarsaparilla when I was a child. I can't remember the complete process. We did use Walkins syrups, sugar, yeast to create the CO2, but once bottled the fermentation ended. We may have consumed the soda before it turned "hard", but if I recall correctly, some of the self life was over a month; unrefrigerated.
Quoteginger ale,
Ah, ginger ale or ginger beer as I remember it. My dad used to make it when I was a boy..... wonderful! ;) And yes, we had our fair share of popping bottles if my memory serves me correctly. :-[
The stuff you can buy nowadays is so insipid by comparison!!
HS: I'm wondering if restricted amount of yeast, combined with cellar temperatures didn't inhibit fermentation. I'm pretty sure my recipe called for baker's yeast, rather than brewer's yeast, which might explain the shelf life. Otherwise, as Manxman can attest, the little yeasty plant or animals just keep on eating the sugar and producing CO2 along the way until the bottles break. Little risk of the rootbeer turning hard since the bottle will break before fermentation is complete
With beer, an ale yeast can convert 5 gallons of wort to beer in 5 to 10 days at 70ish F. Drop the temperature down to 50F and fermentation slows dramitically. A lager yeast, however, will still ferment at the cooler temperatures.
Interesting.
Its good to hear the voice of a fellow addict!
;D
Quote from: Consiglieri on December 13, 2006, 03:24:25 PM
HS: I'm wondering if restricted amount of yeast, combined with cellar temperatures didn't inhibit fermentation. I'm pretty sure my recipe called for baker's yeast, rather than brewer's yeast, which might explain the shelf life. Otherwise, as Manxman can attest, the little yeasty plant or animals just keep on eating the sugar and producing CO2 along the way until the bottles break. Little risk of the rootbeer turning hard since the bottle will break before fermentation is complete
With beer, an ale yeast can convert 5 gallons of wort to beer in 5 to 10 days at 70ish F. Drop the temperature down to 50F and fermentation slows dramitically. A lager yeast, however, will still ferment at the cooler temperatures.
Interesting.
Low and slow has quite different meaning w/ fermentation, huh? Probably ought to be talking about how smoking day is complimented by brewing day (making the new, sampling the old). Pilsner, porter and prime rib this weekend!
Quote from: Consiglieri on December 13, 2006, 03:24:25 PM
HS: I'm wondering if restricted amount of yeast, combined with cellar temperatures didn't inhibit fermentation. I'm pretty sure my recipe called for baker's yeast, rather than brewer's yeast, which might explain the shelf life. Otherwise, as Manxman can attest, the little yeasty plant or animals just keep on eating the sugar and producing CO2 along the way until the bottles break. Little risk of the rootbeer turning hard since the bottle will break before fermentation is complete
With beer, an ale yeast can convert 5 gallons of wort to beer in 5 to 10 days at 70ish F. Drop the temperature down to 50F and fermentation slows dramitically. A lager yeast, however, will still ferment at the cooler temperatures.
Interesting.
I couldn't tell you what type of yeast was used. I only remember that back in those days it was pressed together in a solid cake, and wrapped in foil.