Brewing Beer

 For about the past year my wife and I have been getting into the home brewing action with a trip to the local-not-so-local homebrew shop in Westminster CO. Our first brewing endeavor started not with beer, but wine. At the time I was not at all into wine. I was a microbrew guy to the core. Elise was definitely a wine girl with a knowledge of good beer. As the story goes, during our engagement we visited "Do your Brew" just to "look". After spending a short while looking, we were told that making wine was a simple process and would only take a little bit of our time and we could brew on premises. That day we started a Old Vine Zinfandel. And our home brew fun had begun.

 Last November my wife and I brewed our second batch of beer. It didn't have a classification of its own, however it did have a kick. Measuring 14+%ABV this was a strong beer. It had problems though. The taste was too earthy and there was very little carbonation, if any at all. The brewing part was great, my wife, brother and good friend all came over to enjoy the event. Thanksgiving dinner was the debut of the beer and I was disappointed. I believe all the guests at the thanksgiving dinner thought the same (even though they didn't say anything). Except Elise, she is always an encouragement and never lets me be defeated.
...Fast forward 4 months and a move to Minnesota...
I decided on a Imperial Nut Brown Ale for our next brewing adventure, the only brew since the epic failure a few months prior. Whenever we brew there is always beer on hand to drink, after all, its part of the experience. I have a few bottles of the failure brew sitting in the corner of our dinning room and I decided to pour a glass and give it a little sip. After pouring I noticed  a great deal of carbonation, full head, and the aroma of the beer was good, the taste was a lot less earthy. It actually turned out ok. The only venerable was the temperature, room temp instead of refrigerated.

 Now for the brewing of the Imperial Nut Brown Ale...
We begin the night by drinking Trout Slayer made by Big Sky Brewing Company in Montana. By we I really mean I because currently Elise is carrying our first baby. (We will get to meet our little girl in about a month). First steps in brewing is to clean everything to make sure your beer does not pick up any off flavors. At this stage I'm also making sure I have everything I need, ready and available.

After the steeping grains 

During the boil

 Time to get the brew pot doing its thing. I put about 10qts of water in and bring it to a temperature of 150. I steep the grain bag in this water for about 25min then remove the brew pot from the heat before adding the extract. (This beer is a partial mash so it includes both grains and extract). This brew calls for a couple things I have never used. Maltodextrin and powder malt extract in addition to the liquid extract I am familiar with. Then back on the burner to a full boil once everything is dissolved. The total time boiled is 1 hour with three stages of hops. The hop schedule is 45min 5min 2min.

 After the boil we cooled the wort as fast as we could by putting the brew pot in the kitchen sink and spraying down the sides of the pot with the sprayer attachment, making sure no water enters the wort. Once I got the temperature down to 90 I transferred the wort to the primary fermenter and added cold water to bring the total volume up to 5 gallons. Once we get to this point, we take a gravity reading. This beer has a gravity of 1.076 which translated into a potential alcohol of 10%. So with those numbers, I figure the final alcohol reading will be between 6-8%ABV. After I take my readings I pitch the yeast and seal it up. We will be leaving it in the baby room where it is currently dark and cool. Not to worry, the beer will be out before the baby comes in.

Pork for your table

Recently I borrowed a book from the library entitled Storey's guide to raising pigs. So far this book has explained the basic demands of raising and keeping pigs for personal use and small farm use. After reading the first three chapters of this book I think I am that much closer to successfully raising and breeding swine. This is also bringing some good questions to mind about local problems. Where do I find breed stock? Where do I start looking for feedstuff? Both issues are talked about in the book, however it still seems a little intangible until I can start finding the local people I need to talk to. 


First things first. We need to acquire land. Fortunately it only takes 2/10 of on acre to raise a couple sows and there litters. Not to mention the boar for the breeding. Currently I am looking for something in Anoka county that has .25 to 5 acres of land for close to $100k. It may seem like I am asking for a lot but the current market allows for such aggressive goals. While we are living in our apartment, we have time to look for a place and if necessary do a little TLC or minor repairs. 


Back to my main point, raising swine is low maintenance with low requirements. Depending on the breed your pork can have wonderful taste and pack a standing freezer. If you don't want to deal with the maintenance of a pig you can have someone raise and butcher your pig for you for less than what the equivalent would cost at the grocery store. Not to mention the taste will be far superior to the grocery store pork. Hopefully we will be raising and selling pork in the next year or two. 

Pigs are delicious

I have been on my pig kick lately. I want to know everything there is to know about those delicious creatures, form breeding to eating. Fortunately our library system has a inter-library loan program where I can get all the farming books I want. The problem is waiting a week or more to get the information. Since we are currently renting an apartment I don't need the books immediately. I just want to have the knowledge I need to get my feet on the ground when it comes time to buy a home for my family.

That brings me to the next thing I have been thinking about lately. Housing...
Currently it is not feasible to buy a farm with the kind of income we currently make. "Start small and grow" is something all the farming books seem to have in common. But a frequent question becomes "whats a farmer without lots of land"? My response is simple, a small scale farmer. My plane is to buy 1/4 - 2 acres of land with a nice house on it. Plan my small enterprises around the land and learn everything I can in that time we own that home. I can raise most animals, from chickens to goats to pigs. What I am reading, tells me it only takes 1/5 of a acre to raise pigs and/or chickens. The bottom line to all this is: raising a family in a happy, safe and Christ centered home is top priority. Beyond my faith and my family, everything else just is. fortunately, I have married the most beautiful and supportive woman I have ever met. If my wife was not with me emotionally and physically and any other way, there would be no point. She is the love of my life.

With time and good stewardship, everything will fall into place.

Whats with the farming?

As some of you know, I have been becoming more and more interested in farming lately. Not just one aspect of farming, such as a cattle farmer or a corn farmer, but a farmer that is diversified in his undertakings. I have ambitions to raise my beautiful family on a self-sustaining farm by marketing a variety of different enterprises and supporting enterprises. Over the past several years I have kicked around a lot of different ideas for self employment. Some were ridiculous while others showed promise. Bottom line, I think this is a calling...