1. 1. Cut Men’s risk of dying from a heart attack by 30 – 35%.
2. 2. Raise your HDL (good cholesterol).
3. 3. Make your blood cells less likely to clog an artery.
4. 4. Help protect against type 2 diabetes.

I also ran across this article in wired citing a study that linked beer consumption with higher bone mineral density. Evidently Beer has a good deal of bio-available Silicon, which our body needs.

I’ve also seen research, but am too lazy to go look it up now, that shows that an active chemical in hops may be able to help stop prostate and breast cancer. Those studies are still in the early stages though.

Go Beer!

I’m not really too concerned with the color, and I was going for a Negra Modella type beer, so dark was OK with me.

I ended up using the 3 pounds of Vienna they had, then 4 lbs of Dark Munich, and 1 LB of light Munich. All this is being fermented by some Munich lager yeast.

This is actually my first lager, and I’m hoping it turns out well. I had purchased a chest freezer on craig’s list, and a temperature controller. All this time I had been brewing in warm weather, and I’ve only recently realized that the challenge may no longer be keeping the wort cool, but rather keeping it warm. My garage has been a cool 40 degrees lately, which would be ok for the lagering stage, but could cause issues with the fermentation stage. (Lagers generally ferment around 50 – 55 degrees.

I left the carboy in my kitchen overnight, and had some nice activity going in the vapor lock when I woke up this morning. Then I moved it into the freezer (which isn’t plugged in) in the garage, and the temp quickly rose from 40 degrees to 50 degrees. I’m hoping that the fermentation activity and the mass of the liquid will keep the temp in the freezer in the 50’s.

This should be the first batch that I keg. I’ve got everything to keg now except for some tubing, and the Cornelius kegs.

I’m very much looking forward to kegging the beer, bottling is just a pain in the neck sometimes.

Original post:

At Christmas I tried a batch of beer I had made, luckily it was only a 1 gallon batch, and there was something terribly wrong with it. It tasted like water, but with a funky taste to it. I figured I must have had an infection in it.

So now I’m a little paranoid, and I’m wondering if I did something wrong with my last batch of Centennial Blonde. It has these green floaty things on the top.

I made a 10 gallon batch, and split it between two carboys, and used a starter of a American Ale yeast in one, and a package of Nottingham yeast in the other. The American Ale yeast carboy has these green things across the entire carboy, and the nottingham yeast carboy only has a few of them, in a 4 inch circle.

I took a whiff of both carboys, and they smell fine to me. I’m just a little concerned since I had the problem with that 1 gallon batch, and I was planning on putting a Stout on the yeast cake of the American Ale Carboy.

I’m going to post to the Homebrew forums to see what those knowledgeable folks have to say, but I figured I could share here as well.

It took quite a bit more time to get the water to boil off, I ended up with almost 14 gallons of wort to start with, but it ended up only taking an hour or so more than I’m used to. I also ended up with 11 Gallons of wort instead of 10, which was good because after reviewing the recipe, it turns out it was actually for a 11 Gallon batch.

I think I’m going to have to buy a real immersion chiller soon, that would probably cut close to an hour from my brew day.

I was a little worried that the Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast that I had rinsed from a previous batch wasn’t going to be ready in time, but Saturday it just took off, and I was able to use it in one carboy after all. The second carboy has the Nottingham yeast that the recipe calls for.

So my storage room now has 2 carboys full of the delicious Centennial Blonde. I’m curious to see if I can tell the difference in flavor between the two batches, since I used different yeasts.

I’m planning on doing a quick extract American Stout recipe in 2 weeks, and I’m going to put it on the American Ale yeast cake.

The only strange thing is that I still seem to be running a pretty bad efficiency, this time it seems to be 65%, but I keep hitting my Original Gravity targets. So I’m not too concerned with it.

Once I open a bottle of the Centennial Blonde, in about 4 weeks, I’ll have to take a picture.

Of course, this week is Christmas, I hope yours is wonderful!

Or is it that brewing is excitement? A few weeks ago, I set a brew date for myself, and it’s this Sunday! I started getting excited as soon as I set it, and have just been gearing up since.

I won’t be brewing at Great Divide Brewing Co, but it was a fitting picture for the post.

This time, I’m making a 10 gallon batch of a recipe called “Centennial Blonde” that I found over at Home Brew Talk forums. I’ve made it once before and everyone loved it, but I only made 5 Gallons of it, so this time I’m going to double the pleasure, double the fun.

This will also be my first 10 gallon batch, so I’m hoping it doesn’t add too much to the brew day. The original idea was to use some yeast that I “rinsed”, which is basically a way to re-use yeast, but my starter doesn’t seem to be active, so I think those yeasties are either really sleepy, or dead.

To add a little interesting twist to the recipe, I think I’m going to use the Nottingham yeast that it calls for in the recipe for one of my 5 Gallon Carboys, and buy some new American Ale yeast for the second carboy. This way I can compare them and see if I can tell a difference.

I’m already plotting to try and put a Stout on top of the yeast cake after I bottle, but we’ll see if that happens.

Oh yea, and Christmas is coming up too. I am pretty psyched up for Christmas, I think I got some good gifts for my family, and I’m looking forward to having some good friends over for Christmas Eve dinner. Maybe they can help me empty some beer bottles for my next batch.

This last Monday, October 19th, 2009, our family lost it’s best friend.

For 14 years, you were our child, our companion, protector, and friend. Always happy to do whatever it is that we wanted, or go where ever we were going, enthusiasm wasn’t in short supply with you.

I can’t put into words what those years meant to us, or what they meant to me.

We will never forget you.

Good Boy Fantus!

I was worried about getting my un-fermented beer cooled down quickly, and had been looking around at immersion chillers. Having spent enough this week on brewing equipment, I was thinking that I could probably just use a clean garbage can full of water, and pump cold water from the bottom every now and then.

I know it’s not a perfect solution, but it worked pretty good. I only had water in the pot, and it brought it from boiling to 100 degrees in about 20 minutes, and I wasn’t changing the water out very much.

It took about another 20 minutes to get it to 70 degrees, but when I have real beer in it, I’ll have some ice on hand to help it out.

I’m sure I’ll be in the market soon for a chiller, but for now, I think this will do.

In my last post, I mentioned that I had been doing a lot of reading about beer, and was thinking of starting to brew my own. Well after a summer of not being home, between various work travels and vacation, I’m now pretty far along with that hobby.

Directly after the last post I ended up brewing a delicious Hefeweizen, and I was incredibly pleased with how well it came out. Then came all the travel.

My next batch of beer was a “No Sham Shamrock Irish Ale” from the book “The Complete Joy of Homebrewing”, and I only have 6 of those left. They also came out terrifically.

Right now, I have a few weeks before the next batch is ready, it is Presidential Pale Ale, which I hope I like as much as I like Bristol’s Red Rocket.

Then last night I brewed Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale, which I found on the most useful Home Brew Talk Forums. Highly suggest a visit there if you are interested in the subject.

I’m up to 20 Gallons brewed, and I’m looking forward to my next batch.

So in my journey down through the wonderful world of beer, I tried Liberty Ale from Anchor Brewing. What a great beer! Just enough hops to keep it really crisp, it’s very refreshing and delicious.

Maybe in the future I can add more constructive comments, but for now, let me just say that it’s really really good. With the hot summer months coming up, I can see getting more  of it.

It was very good, with the kids doing different songs or dances from different parts of the world.

When we were leaving, I reminded the kids to watch out for cars, because “Everyone gets hit by a car in the same language”.

As you probably know, I’ve been spending most of my time over at Two Guys Tech, and even over there, I haven’t been posting.

So, what’s going on you ask? Well, the Pinewood Derby is coming up before too long, so I think that Zane and I will start working on our cars here pretty soon. I’ve also had a few other hobbies on my mind, and I may or may not give those a try soon.

More later.

Watch CBS Videos Online

Some of my Favorites from the video:

“The American Medical Association doesn’t recognize me”

“Good old fashioned healthy Lard”

“Only try this under scantily clad medical supervision”

I always have such trouble keeping my planner in a condition which allows me to close the zipper. Most of the time it’s just bursting at the seams. Well not today.

My wife was kind enough to get me a Franklin Covey refill for my birthday, and it instructed me to put 2 months worth of the planning pages in it. Well that wasn’t going to happen in the condition the planner was in at the time. So a cleaning out was in order.

What goes? Well, old pictures of the kids, I have new ones now, coupons that have expired, membership cards to places that either I don’t go to, or that aren’t in business any more. Also, old receipts, old calendar pages, notes for things that have passed, and goals that I haven’t achieved.

Wait a second? Goals that I haven’t achieved?

Well, looking back a year, it seems that I went through my planner then as well, although you wouldn’t be able to tell if you saw how much stuff I tossed.

At that time, I noticed there were a lot of things that I had never finished. Well, this year is no different.

I will have to say that this year, I’ve really done well at keeping the important things in mind. My family and kids have been in the front of my mind.

Also, Art and I started a podcast over at Two Guys Tech, and that’s going really well, with 37 shows under our belt, we have somewhere around 75 regular listeners. If you haven’t checked it out, check out the feed.

So, back to those goals that I was talking about. You know, the ones I never achieved. Well, they get moved to this year’s goals. If I looked at them, and they are still pertinent, then it would be a shame to stop pursuing them just because they proved to be hard.

I hope you’re willing to do the same.

Here’s wishing you a terrific 2009!

Much good work is lost for the lack of a little more.

Edward H. Harriman

Does my family know me or what? Looking at the picture now, I’m thinking I should have arranged these in this order:

Mummy3 - Zombie Survival Guide - Fallout 3

This way I would have a Movie about the Undead, then a book about a Undead Apocalypse, and finally a game about life after a Nuclear Apocalypse.

So far, I’m already spending way too much time playing Fallout 3, and The Mummy 3 wasn’t as good as the movies before it.

I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas and are looking forward to a new year!

The second song I have to look up, is Steve Martin teaming up with one of my favorite singers, Paul Simon, singing “Silver Bells”. Always brings a tear to my eye, a tear from laughing so hard that is.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Amazon also has the book here (this is a non-affiliate link) for $12.

If you haven’t seen it already, you should check out my Command of the Grill Posts.

Announcing the Second Annual Command of the Grill Week

Day 1: Disco’s Hot and Tangy Pork Loin?

Day 2: Chicken Satays

Day 3: Combat Steaks

Day 4: Garlic and Balsamic Marinated Steaks with Rosemary

Day 5: Isaacs’s Inspiration

Day 6: T-Bone with Bistro Dipping Sauce

Day 7: Rosemary Crusted Strip Steaks with Gorgonzola Sauce

Yup, today was the end of the “Command of the Grill Week”, I hope you enjoyed reading the posts at least about half as much as I enjoyed cooking and eating all of that steak. Maybe now I should go get my cholesterol checked.

Of course, I chose today as the end date because it’s the 233rd birthday of the United States Marine Corps.

If you know a Marine, active duty or not, wish them happy birthday.

To all of my brothers and sisters, both home and abroad, I hope you have a happy and safe day today.

Happy Birthday Devil Dogs!

Semper Fi!

The purpose of Command of the Grill week is to promote the book “Command of the Grill”, whose proceeds benefit charities that support Marines. I’m not making any money off of this. You can read more here, or follow this link to purchase your own copy. This is a really easy way to support our troops. Semper Fi!

The original recipe calls for Filet Mignon, but being a man on a budget, I made them with New York Strip. To come a little closer, I should have made this with either Rib Eye, just because it’s so tender, or with a T-Bone, since it has a piece of filet mignon on it.

This recipe is Ken Norton’s. Ken Norton fought Mohamad Ali for the heavyweight title in 1973, and won. Ken was introduced to boxing while serving in the Marine Corps, and is in the Marine Corps sports hall of fame.

This steak has a rub of rosemary, salt, black pepper, orange zest and fennel seed. The sauce has shallots, white wine, orange juice, Gorgonzola cheese, and some other spices.

Like all of the others, I really liked this steak. I think it would have been better if I had used the Filet Mignon, like it called for, just because there are more pores and cracks to absorb the herb run, but it was still pretty tasty. If you haven’t had a shallot before, it’s like a cross between a clove of garlic, and an onion. Many people who don’t like either garlic and/or onion like shallots.

The cheese in the sauce really adds a stiff accent to the meat, without overpowering it.

As a side note, I cooked these steaks about one every weekend. Well, last weekend, I realized that I was going to be short 1 steak, so I had to cook one on Saturday, and one on Sunday, right? Wrong.

We had some plans for that Saturday, and ended up not getting home until very late. So I ended up cooking both the T-Bone with Bistro Dipping Sauce, and this steak on the same night. So, long story short, I had 2 steaks for dinner. Yes folks, that’s an example of the lengths I am willing to go, and the sacrifices that I’m willing to make for you. Brings a tear to your eye.

The purpose of Command of the Grill week is to promote the book “Command of the Grill”, whose proceeds benefit charities that support Marines. I’m not making any money off of this. You can read more here, or follow this link to purchase your own copy. This is a really easy way to support our troops. Semper Fi!

Now, I’ll have to be honest with you on this one. I was really wondering if I should make this recipe. The bistro dipping sauce is mostly ketchup, and I was worried it wouldn’t be that good. I decided to go ahead and give it a try, and boy am I glad I did!

The dipping sauce has Ketchup, butter, molasses, Worcestershire sauce and some spices, and it doesn’t taste like ketchup at all. The sauce was really terrific.

This was one of the celebrity recipes, and was attributed to Ed McMahon, who was a Marine Aviator in both World War 2 and Korea, being promoted to a full Colonel during his service.

Besides Ed’s wonderful bistro dipping sauce, the steaks also have a rub applied to them  before they are grilled. I highly suggest this recipe, and it’s free on the Weber site, so you can give it a try too!

The purpose of Command of the Grill week is to promote the book “Command of the Grill”, whose proceeds benefit charities that support Marines. I’m not making any money off of this. You can read more here, or follow this link to purchase your own copy. This is a really easy way to support our troops. Semper Fi!

I’ll have to say that I’ve been introduced to some really great stuff making these recipes this year. For today’s steak, Isaac’s inspiration, I learned about Adobo and Sezon seasoning. Mmmm! That stuff is going to find it’s way onto a whole lot of my meats in the future.

This recipe took second place at the MCB Quantico competition, and was created by Sergeant Isaac Gonzalez.

One interesting thing about this steak is that it uses a paste, rather than a rub or marinade. Several ingredients, whiskey, Teriyaki, orange juice, and lime juice, just to name a few, are combined to create a paste. The paste is then smeared over the steak, both sides, and sits like that, in the fridge, for 4 – 6 hours.

I’m a big fan of stuff that smells good while you’re grilling it, and I’ve been known to cook some corn on the cob, in the husk, just for the aroma. This steak smelled terrific when it was being grilled. Not only did it smell good, but it tasted delicious.

This one is going to have to go onto my favorites list for sure.