I have been brewing for several years and feel pretty confident with most ale recipes. However, this will be the first lager attempt. It’s not that I don’t like lagers – rather, I have avoided them in the past due to the fermentation temperatures. My home stays between 60-70°F, which is optimal for ales. Lagers […]

We’re trying to catch up after not brewing for almost a year! The first time I made this, the recipe was a complete experiment – but it turned out so well that a re-brew was in order. Grain This is for 12gal 24# 2row 3# Caramel 60 .5# Chocolate .5# Black Patent .5# Roast Barley […]

Having already brewed 24 gallons: of stout and strong scotch – we decided to use all the grain to make a small beer. Sparging more hot water over the grain yielded 12 gallons of wort with a potential for a 2% beer. We raised the gravity to 1.032 with 2 extra pounds of sugar. This […]

This is a “retooling” of the Gibbous recipe which everyone was calling Gebbeth, anyway…  The most radical change was to decrease the percentage of dark malts. The new recipe conforms with the BJCP style for a strong scotch ale. In Ursula K. Le Guin’s novel, a Gebbeth is: “a person who has been consumed and […]

The classic stout recipe. We have brewed this several times from the outstanding CYBI recipe– often making small moderations. This time, we stuck the recipe – even going so far as to modify our water with salt and chalk additions. It was a double batch (12 gallons total). The hops were all from my yard. […]

Every fall, we make pickles and dilly beans. It’s fun, easy and saves lots of money  – if you eat pickled vegetables in the amount that my family does. Normally, we can the vegetables in a vinegar solution. Then last year, I discovered how easy it is to create true sour pickles at home… Pickles […]

It’s time to make cider again! The fruit In 2009, we made separate batches of pear and apple cider. This time around, we just mixed all the fruit together from the start. All of it is organic and much of it was donated from friends in the neighborhood. If you have an old apple tree […]

Each year, the city closes down a number of streets opens a number of streets to walk, bike, roll, run, jump and skip – all without having to watch out for cars. It’s called Sunday Parkways! This year, the NE route went down my block: The event was set to start at noon. Unfortunatly, it started […]

Last week I met a bunch of friends to hike/climb Mt. Olympus. This is one of the least climbed peaks in northwest; simply due to it’s remote location. It was a two day hike in and another two out. Before we could even start, there was a several hour drive to drop off our cars […]

In case you didn’t hear… we had a baby! Ronin arrived this morning at 8:40am. She weighed 7lb 9oz. And, she has her own blog! Learn all about her at ronin.nagmay.com