Last weekend, we took our one-year-old daughter out backpacking. You can read about the entire trip on her blog: day 1, day 2, day 3 … but, I wanted to take a moment to share a few other photos. Panorama I took some time to climb the ridge to the top of Zigzag valley – […]

Often, when I think about the technology of the future,  fantastical inventions like flying cars come to mind. However, it is easy to overlook how fantastical todays technology really is. Can you guess where we went? This morning, my parents sent me the following photograph with simply: “can you guess where we went?” They do […]

A few weeks back, I entered the Wil Wheat beer in a local competition. I knew that it was off-style when I created the recipe, but was interested in some feedback. Surprisingly it took “runner up”. The judging notes (below) reflect that it was a very well made brew – just too hoppy for a […]

Our friend Joe has been really interested in brewing lately. In fact, he volunteered a bunch of time to help out during the Barrel Project brew day. We decided to get together and split a 12 gallon batch. Just by chance, Cascade hops went on sale. I grabbed 2 lbs and we decided to brew […]

Anyone want to join in on a brew project? My good friend Jamie picked up a full size Bourbon barrel. Now the plan is to fill it with Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Ale (clone) and let it oak age for a year. If you haven’t tried Rasputin, you really should – it’s a smooth, delicious […]

Pondering a super high gravity imperial based on the 16 ton stout that we brewed for the wedding. 25 lb – 2-row 1 lb – Barley, Roasted 1 lb – Chocolate Malt (could be 50% light) 1 lb – Caramel/Crystal Malt (80L) 1 lb – Cara-pils 1 lb – Kiln Coffee Malt Plus specialty grains […]

I plan to brew a very high gravity beer in the near future – which will require a big yeast count. To get there, we need to brew a few lower gravity beers. This, along with the Wil Wheat should provide enough pacman cells for the big batch. Another Cream Ale? You bet. This stuff […]

I have been brewing for a few years. Of course, if you read this blog, you probably already knew that. A large percentage of the posts revolve around brewing. A few weeks back, I submitted two beers to the Slurp and Burp Open – the largest home brew competition in the pacific northwest. My hope […]

Yes, I have scarlet fever – again. This is at least the 3rd time that I have contracted a disease that many people believe was eradicated a century ago. Even the doctor couldn’t hold back his excitement: “This is the first case of scarlet fever that I have seen in my 35 years practicing!” And, […]

I was not expecting to brew this weekend… Then Jamie started talking about the yeast he purchased to brew 24 gallons of “Snowfall Pale Ale” (his house beer). We quickly realized that he would need at least 1 Trillion yeast cells – he only had 2 vials of WLP005 (200 Billion total). He also wouldn’t […]