I brewed a batch last year, but substituted the corn sugar for more 2-row. It turned out well, but a bit too sweet. Let’s follow the recipe this time to replicate the award-winning original: Kiwanda Cream Ale This is for a full 12gallon batch: 15.5 lb – pale 2 row 1.25 lb – Cara/Pils 1.25 […]

The first set is from December. You may recognize that second one. These next photos were just taken on the 1st of February:

Oat Heaven GF Stout (aka ‘The Glütard’) Inspired by ryanbrews.blogspot.com 10# Oat malt (1.5 – 2 L) 1.5# Oat malt wet roasted to match Crystal 120 (120 L) 1.5# Oat malt dry roasted to match Chocolate Malt (350 L) 0.2# Oat malt dry roasted to match Roasted Barley (500-600 L) 1.5# Flaked Oats (perhaps more?) […]

Remember the spruce ale that I started at the end of November? Brew log Update About a week ago, I racked both carboys in preparation to bottle. However, the dry hopped version was still quite cloudy – so, it went into the fridge for a cold crash. Yesterday, I pulled it out of the fridge […]

With the bathroom somewhat reassembled, we decided to attack the upstairs: Now, this wasn’t just for fun… The upstairs has absolutely no insulation. Currently, with temperatures below freezing, you can see you breath. In a few hours, we had one of the bedrooms down. Here are some of the highlights: We did find a few […]

As a good friend recently told me: “Nothing like a deadline to get projects started” So with a baby on the way, we have decided to start tearing apart the house. First up? A vent fan for the bathroom Our downstairs bathroom (the only one with the shower), gets rather steamy. Lucky for us, there […]

The great midwives from Alma stopped by our home today and brought along the Doppler. “We” are now 15 weeks and 5 days along. The micro Nag’s heartbeat sound great:

It’s been about a week and a half since I brewed up the newest version of the Spruce Ale. The fermentation had slowed, meaning that it was time to rack the beer. Below, I will list some observations. Observations: Clarity This is one cloudy brew. It almost looks like cider. I remember that the others […]

This is my third batch of spruce ale. The base recipe is solid, but I like to switch up the spruce and hops in each version. This year, I am going for a truly spruced-out beer. My hope is to have it taste/smell like you are drinking an xmas tree.The ginger and aroma hops have […]

We were at the goodwill today and I spotted a strange accessory for my old school Nintendo Entertainment System. Was it a power glove? Or, perhaps an NES Advantage controller? No, it was something even more useless… an official NES Dust Cover! But hey, we’re talking a mint-condition, still-in-the-package accessory from 1990. For only $2, […]