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Sep. 20th, 2009 @ 03:14 pm Coltrane ESB recipe and review
Ok, here's some info on my latest brew. It's the first homebrew for my brewing assistant Brent so we went with something fairly easy and straightforward.

Coltrane ESB
Extract + grains
OG: 1.073 FG: 1.018 IBU: 40 ABV: 7.8% Color: ~ 8SRM
5gal boil
6lb golden light DME @ 60/15min (1/2 at 60, remainder added at 15 for color control)
1lb crystal 10L @ 15min
1oz cluster pellet 7.9aa @ 60min
0.5oz kent goldings whole 4.5aa @ 15min
0.5oz kent goldings whole 4.5aa @ 5 min
1t irish moss @ 5min

primary:
WLP002 English Ale with a 2hour started
in 29Aug09
out 4Sep09
estimated 70°-75°F

secondary:
in 4Sep09
out 6Sep09
1.020 when in
estimates 75°-77°

bottling:
6Sep09
3.5oz bottling sugar
0.5oz table sugar (I was a little short on the bottling sugar)
27 x 12oz bottles
2 x 1L flip tops
yield about 3.6gal

Mostly carbonated after 1 week in bottles but still a little low...pretty good after two weeks.
Tasting slightly chilled (40°F or so).
A small to medium head with some large bubbles. Retention is fairly short with a light head lasting quit a while.
Nose is predominately malty with some vegetal hop aroma and no noticeable citrus.
Hints on pineapple and banana with slight vanilla and caramel when agitated. After drinking some, cereal aromas become obvious in the background but don't dominate.
Medium body on the tongue with much more hop showing up. Hop is slightly tannic with a bit of resin.
Malt is balanced at the start and fades to a grainy after taste.
Hop holds well with medium bitterness for a number of minutes. Inhaling after a swallow brings a strong cereal flavor like cooked grits. Overall, a slightly heavy malt start with a clean hop finish.
The alcohol is fairly high but a good balance on the malt makes it difficult to detect when tasting. This is definitely not a session beer but it's not like drinking whiskey either. Perhaps a little bitter for an ESB but a little dark and definitely too malty for an IPA.
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Aug. 7th, 2009 @ 08:55 am GenCon
Anyone going to gencon this year?
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Nov. 20th, 2008 @ 07:28 am still in denver
Current Mood: groggygroggy
Current Music: cafe mnusic
Tags: ,
I'm still in Denver. It's been a fantastic week weather wise...60's and even 70 but it's cold and rainy today. The conference has been pretty good. Made some contacts and saw a couple of good presentations..generally worthwhile. The main conference ends today at noon but this afternoon and tomorrow there's a special UAS session. Tomorrow afternoon I'm driving up to Boulder to Ball to give a demo. Should be a nice way to wrap up the week. I'm back on a plane saturday morning. It'll be good to be home. I've got a few pics up on facebook and I might be some more up this morning.
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Nov. 16th, 2008 @ 09:51 pm in denver
I woke up at 4am today to catch a 6:45 to Denver. It was worth it tho since I arrived about 8am local time. Plenty of time to drive to the mountains and ski for the day. It was a great day...the place I went had 3 lifts open and enough runs to make it worthwhile. It was sunny and clear all day until about 2:30 when the wind picked up. I toughed it out until closing then drove the 4 miles up a crazy steep and unprotected switchback to Loveland Pass which is part of the continental divide. The wind was furious up there and it was so cold I couldn't stand more than about 5 minutes outside the car. Drove back to Denver and checked into the hotel. It's on the main street in downtown so I walked around a bit and had a quick bite to eat. I'm getting ready for an early night since the conference starts up early tomorrow morning.
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Nov. 5th, 2008 @ 09:12 am (no subject)
Current Mood: relievedrelieved
Hmm...funny...I woke up this morning and don't feel Muslim. Maybe that doesn't happen until the inauguration.
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Oct. 30th, 2008 @ 04:16 pm (no subject)
Jenn bought us tickets to a get out the vote concert tonight....Beastie Boys, Sheryl Crow, and Ben Harper! It's gonna rock....

I did realize how old I'm getting. I'm sitting at my desk thinking, "The doors don't open until 7:00 so I've got plenty of time to take a nap before the concert." Ugh..
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Oct. 23rd, 2008 @ 09:51 am (no subject)
Happy birthday [info]guaymar!
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Sep. 15th, 2008 @ 09:19 am (no subject)
If you are following the craziness in sw ohio (and still have power to check the interwebs), Jenn and I escaped most of the damage...didn't lose power, only a few limbs down, and no damage to the house. Can't say as much for the rest of the area. 200 000 in Dayton w/o power including most of the gas stations (gas went from about $3.60 to $4.29 this morning), most of the restaurants, and a bunch of houses. The strip of road where my office sits is one of the only places in Fairborn/Beavercreek with power so I'm here today. One of my coworkers was at his parent's in Cincinnati last night. He's still there this morning even though they have no power since he doesn't have enough gas to get back to Dayton and all the gas stations are either w/o power or have no more fuel.
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Sep. 9th, 2008 @ 10:11 am Important info: aim worm
There seems to be a worm running around AIM. I just logged into AIM Express and got bit...I haven't tracked down the details but it may be an Express only problem. If you see a message from anyone with a link to new pictures, avoid it, avoid AIM Express, and change you AIM password. It seems benign, just sends out the same message to your buddy list but it could be harvesting passwords.
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Aug. 26th, 2008 @ 07:36 pm On the grid, unfortunately
Current Mood: nostalgicnostalgic
I was just watching Warren Miller's Off the Grid and now I really miss skiing. I've been thinking about the appeal since I've done many things in my life that I was really into and now am somewhat ambivalent. Skiing, especially hiking off trail has a certain appeal lacking in many other activities I've pursued. You spend all morning hiking over to a run, you're legs ache from the hike and your lungs burn from the dry air. That first look over the edge is terrifying and you can't stop shaking and thinking, "why on earth am I about to ski down this." A few minutes and you decide to try it anyway and you start to slip off the edge. Those first moments are filled with heart pounding terror and images of broken legs and avalanches. Then, as the find picks up and your face goes a little numb from the cold, it hits: absolute calm. I only experience it on those crazy hard runs that are obviously at the edge of, or likely past my abilities. I'd ski them anyway because I was young and stupid. Those were always the runs were I found that intense calm. It's not really the sports "zone" as I've hit that plenty of times in other ventures. It's not even the same calm you get from meditation. It's more of detached calm. Everything slows down like your watching yourself in a slow motion segment of a movie; almost like that scene at the end of the Matrix. The turns aren't exactly effortless but they seem to happen a split second early and then you're onto the next one..everything just sort of flows together. Finally, you hit the flats at the bottom of the avalanche shoot, or bowl, or whatever else you were just skiing down and things speed up again. You realize how fast you're really going and all you can do is head straight and bleed off the excess. Jenn, Brent, Judy, and I were just talking about going to Utah this winter...maybe I'll work hard to make sure that happens..I really miss the mountains.
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