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 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 […]

This is one that I have wanted to brew for a while. Cascadian Dark Ale (CDA) is a jet black, highly hopped beer style. They are  often referred to as “Black IPA”, but do have subtle malt characteristics. Though, this is all up for debate, since neither CDA or Black IPA is an official BJCP […]

After the success of the last stout, I decided to brew up enough to keg for my upcoming nuptials. I even added a few more adjuncts – bringing the total amount of “grains” to lucky number 13. The brew includes barely, wheat, oats, amaranth, quinoa, millet, buckwheat, rice, corn, flax, sesame, sunflower and hazelnuts. I […]

Finished off the last of the stout and decide to make a new batch. This time, inspired by the HUB Survival Stout, a bunch of extra grains were added. None were malted and only meant to add flavor – not sugars. I also plan to add some cold-brewed espresso when racked. OG was exactly 1.050. […]

The spruce beer has been bottled and it is awesome! Jamie racked it for me last week and snuck a sip for his trouble. He immediately called and tell me how good it was. Today we bottled and it was my chance to see what had been produced.  The beer is heavenly. In the carboy […]

On Friday, we brewed a batch of beer that incorporated freshly picked spruce tips. I chose a pale ale (like this recipe), but altered the hops a bit and threw in some oats and ginger for good measure. Oats in  a pale ale? Why not? Recipe 10 lb – 2 row malt 1.5 lb – […]

It has been a while since I did any woodworking. This weekend I decided to carve a special spoon/paddle used to stir the boiling wort when making homebrew. Most people refer to this utensil as a “mash rake”. I prefer the term “spurdle”. It is made from a Brazilian tigerwood board that my brother salvaged. […]

I just noticed that one of the local Portland, OR restaurants was featured on the FailBlog. It used to be located downtown, but now it is on 82nd across the street from our SE Center.