Just a quick pointer to a simple guide I threw together from the Everything Hard Cider book. Maltose Falcons' Cider Brewing Cheat Sheet Enjoy your apples in an adult fashion! Want the book? Everything Hard Cider Book

The Sower in Question Key Takeaways

Today I kegged the beer I wrote about in my previous blog post. It was a few hours short of 11 days from the time I brewed it. The gravity dropped from 1.063 to 1.013, which is consistent with how this beer usually performs. That's 78.5% AA (apparent attenuation) with a first generation pitch of WY1450. A 1 qt., non stirred starter. In spite of being skeptical, I pitched the whole thing, starter wort and all.

Well, today I'm breaking out of my comfort zone and trying a new yeast starter method. For many years, my standard practice for a starter for an ale in the mid 60s gravity range has been to build a 2-3 qt. starter on a stir plate. I'd let the plate run 3-5 days, then put the starter in the fridge for 2-3 days to crash out the yeast. I'd decant, then pitch the slurry. It always seemed to work well, but.....

You know - I totally forgot to talk about this after the NHC - but y'all remember the Clam Chowdah Saison? The stuff of legend and trepidatious responses from brewers across the world? Well, we poured it at the AHA NHC Club Night and it was a hit. All five gallons went away in a hurry! Between the CC Saison, Annie's Chicken Ale and the Austin Zealots Spam Mead - I think the AHA needs to have a meat themed bar at one of these events. :) A Glass Full of Fear

The AHA is definitely speeding up their turnaround times! Just a few weeks ago we were all chilling in San Diego - now we're able to catch up on the things we missed! All of the seminars and speeches are recorded by the AHA and offered as a member perk. That's right, you have to be a member to access all the talks, but look, why aren't you?

N.B. - Craftmeister (aka National Chemicals) sent me a sample kit to try out. After Denny broke away from his usual cheap ways and gave the Craftmeister products his thumbs up, I had to get my hands on a kit to test out as well. In the kit - 3 lb tubs of the Alkaline Brewery Wash, Oxygen Brewery Wash, a jar of Keg & Carboy Tablets and a jar of Growler Tablets. In this test, we'll look at one of the most common tasks facing homebrewers - the carboy yeast ring of crud - aka a wonderful amalgamation of protein and yeast detritus.

I've now reached the age where I have to assume that there are number of people who no longer share (or were at least exposed to) common cultural touchpoints for my generation. So here you go - I still to this day sing this song when I'm making a salad. It's usually in my head because the world doesn't need the torture that is me singing.