I ran across this article earlier and it made me realize that I haven’t really spent any time looking into the history of hops in Michigan. The main thing being that with our growing hop industry why did we stop growing hops in the past. My first thought was maybe the rise of prohibition hurt…
It seems like forever ago that I was in culinary school (graduated almost 7 years ago now, damn time flies). It was here that I had a real taste awakening. Sure food is one thing, it is common place now to search for new tastes and experiences. I have been exploring different foods for most…
I am the appointed go to when my kids need English papers edited and critiqued. Usually for Chelsea’s (the oldest) papers, it is a matter of catching grammar mistakes and showing her a spot or two that needs clarification. But for the most part her writing is pretty clear and flows fairly well. Now Maggie…
At times it can be pretty amazing where we have gotten with technology. I remember growing up playing Moon Patrol on my Commodore 64. This was once state of the art and all super geeky tech. It was a cartridge that I plugged into the back of the keyboard (yes the keyboard of a computer…
The newest addition to the project kegerator is the attachment of the faucets. With this video I feel a bit more like Bob Vila than I ever thought I might want to (Welcome to this installment of This old Kegerator). Time for a pint…
There are as many variations on a mash tun as there are brewers (even when you look at commercial breweries they are quite a few different ways of mashing). The mash tun is the real corner stone of the brew house. We always here talk of how big a brew kettle a commercial brewery has,…
The Bavarian purity law (the Reinheitsgebot) is well known (at least for those who spend any time around beer. The law states that beer will consist only of malt, water, hops, and yeast (though yeast was not part of the original law). But this isn’t what we will be talking about today. You see, in…
You’ve come a long way baby… And then you have to wonder what would make me think of an old Virginia Slims slogan. The slogan itself seems appropriate for the thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head today. I have started thumbing my way through a book dealing with the early history of…
Unless I decide to decorate this one (though I might varnish to help it last longer) the rack is finished. It ended up big enough that I can fit 2 cases in it if I so desire. The great part of this project is the ease of the build out. With a nice hard wood…
If you do any amount of brewing in the Kalamazoo, MI area you begin to know the workers at Bell’s General Store. For the most part, the people who work there are home brewers as well. This is an added advantage when looking for supplies. For the past few months they have been doing demos…
10th Day Brewing 