You Brew Your Own Beer? Pretzel beer?

I am taking a break from brewing starting January so I can prepare for my Professional Engineer exam in April. I have some backstock ingredients so I have been working them down. Today I brewed an experimental beer that I hope reminds me of pretzels.

Here is the recipe for 1.5 gallons:
10.00 g Sea Salt (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 1 –
1 lbs 10.4 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 2 69.5 %
4.0 oz Acid Malt (3.0 SRM) Grain 3 10.5 %
4.0 oz White Wheat Malt-toasted (2.4 SRM) Grain 4 10.5 %
2.0 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 5 5.3 %
0.30 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] – Boil 90.0 min Hop 6 23.1 IBUs
1.6 oz Cane (Beet) Sugar (0.0 SRM) Sugar 7 4.2 % post krausen

I did a step mash, biab, stovetop. The first rest was 122F for 30 minutes. The second rest was 152F for 60 minutes. I did a 90 minute boil. I didn’t have any beer yeast, so I used a packet of Montrachet. Hopefully it rips through the sugars, I’m not looking for yeast character on this one anyways. Hopefully the acid malt gives the hint of sourdough, the salt, well salt, and the toasted wheat that toasty outer crust of a pretzel. The wort tasted pretty good going into the fermenter.

I used a 5 gallon paint strainer for this BIAB on my stovetop

The mash, really light with the white wheat

Sleeping bag wrap for the rests

Almost the scale of steeping grains in extract brewing…

Back to the kitchen sink cooling

While I was brewing, some other things were going on at Little House on the Sandpit…

Panels for gingerbread houses were made

I tried some pine needle and spruce tip tea

and our sick chicken started to feel better, she can stand without falling over now.

You Make Your Own Foods? Process day 10/15/11

Busy afternoon processing foods to put in storage. We made applesauce, apple peel and core jelly, started fermenting apple peel and core cider vinegar, roasted squash, and saved squash seeds for toasting today. Kitchen was a disaster but well worth it.

Grand Totals
Apple Jelly
5 jelly jars
6 pints
6 quarts
Applesauce
7 quarts
Apple Cider Vinegar
To be determined
Roasted Squash
2 quart bags pureed
big bowl waiting to be pureed
3 acorn squash frozen halfs

Roasted Squash

Applesauce

Apple Jelly

Apple peels and cores ready for gift 2 then 3

Squash Seeds

Apple Cider Vinegar

A full stovetop!

Apple Jelly

No artificial colors added

Applesauce in front of the jelly

All natural applesauce, nothing but apples and water

Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution

 Do you pay attention to the school lunch menus of your children?  You should.  GARBAGE food is being fed to our kids.  Jamie wants to change that.  There is no reason that healthy meals made from whole foods, not processed, can’t be fed to our kids.  This isn’t about going vegan.  This isn’t about tofu burgers.  This isn’t about healthy but tasteless food.  This is about french fries not qualifying as a vegetable.  This is about white milk instead of flavored milk that has as much sugar as soda.  This is about good, wholesome, flavorful food.  This is about teaching our kids how to eat right…what the original purpose of the school lunch program was.  Sadly, for many children, this is the only chance at a healthy meal all day. 

Please sign the petition  <-click the link