Brewmaster 'Dros

Random thoughts from a random person... Usually fueled by a homebrewed beer var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-24315409-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();

[fi-end]

[brewmasterdros]

shitcat:

[atheistsblog]

“In fact, “atheism” is a term that should not even exist. No one ever needs to identify himself as a “non-astrologer” or a “non-alchemist.” We do not have words for people who doubt that Elvis is still alive or that aliens have traversed the galaxy only to molest ranchers and their cattle. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs.” - Sam Harris, Letter to a Christian Nation

[atheistsblog]

Adam Savage

[sciencecenter]

I wish all scientific papers were this concise.

[brewmasterdros]

I have to admit, if one of my students wrote a paper like this, they'd probably get a passing grade...

[brewmasterdros]

[misslampface]

[shorterexcerpts]

[brewmasterdros]

jtotheizzoe:

shorterexcerpts:

“It’s one louder.”

Happy Spinal Tap Day!

[brewmasterdros]

Abbey Weiss

With a cameo appearance by my friend GingerBrew!

[brewmasterdros]

Belgian Abbey Weiss - First attempt at all-grain brewing

This brew is based off of an Abbey Weiss recipe found on the HomeBrewTalk.com forums.  This is intended to be a light, easy drinking beer with nice belgian notes from the yeast and the chamomile and coriander, with very little in the way of hop or malt effects.

Brewed with the help of my friend GingerBrew using his equipment, since I have yet to take the financial plunge of creating my own all-grain system.  

For the fermentation I am going to simply use the spare bathtub in the spare bathroom, since I don't have temperature control (yet!).

OG: 1.052   FG: —     ABV: —    IBU: 20     SRM: 4

Size: 5.5 gallon       Mash: 167-164 for 60min       Ferment: 72-75 F

Grains:

7 lbs Pilsner Malt

5 lbs Wheat Malt

8 oz Rice Hulls (For mash consistency)

Hops:

2 oz Tettnang Hop pellets 4.5AA for 90 mins

Misc:

0.25 oz Chamomile Tea for 10 mins

0.25 oz Crushed Coriander Seed for 10 mins

Yeast:

White Labs Belgian Abbey Yeast

Notes:

10/22/11

Preliminaries went very well.  Used GingerBrew's equipment for my first all mash batch.  The 90 minute boil called for by the recipe seemed excessive, and I lost several gallons to the boil, winding up with about 4.25 gallons after boiling and sparging.  Also, despite using muslin bags for the hops, a lot of the material from the hop pellets ended up in my wort, so a LOT of straining was necessary.  Added 1 gallon of cool water to the wort to bring the volume up to 5.25 gallons before pitching yeast.

10/30/11

Racked from primary to secondary fermenter.  Still very cloudy, possibly due to movement when setting up siphon.  Gravity measured at 1.041

Tasting Notes:

10/22/11

After pitching, a small sample was taken to measure OG and for tasting.  Very strong bitter flavor, hoping it will mellow during fermentation and lagering.

10/30/11

Racked from primary to secondary fermenter.  Bitter flavor milder, yet still significant.

[itsokaytobesmart]

[brewmasterdros]

jtotheizzoe:

Space crew returns after ‘Mars’ mission to nowhere

If they wanted to spend 18 months going nowhere, they could have just enrolled in graduate school. Much cheaper. Less spacesuits, though.

The would-be spacefarers spent more than 500 days in windowless isolation in a simulated mission to Mars that played out in a complex of chambers at a research centre in Moscow. Once sealed inside the crew’s only contact with the outside world was over the internet and by phone lines that carried a delay of up to 20 minutes to simulate the time it takes for radio signals to pass between Earth and Mars.

The crew of the $10m Mars500 project – three Russians, two Europeans and a Chinese man – return to the world safe in the knowledge that the medical, physical and psychological examinations they have endured for the last year and a half will prepare future astronauts for real journeys to far-flung planets

(via The Guardian)

[thematicphilosophy]

[brewmasterdros]

da-damyata:

minoritycode:

katiealicemm:

Dear future children,

We are doing this. I don’t care what you say. We are doing it, and we will tell people it’s what you wanted to do. Not me.

Sincerely,

Your mother.

I respect the parent or parents who spent the time with their kids to create this… Parenting, you’re doing right. 

The only thing I’m thinking is “How the hell do they have so much track for their hotwheels?” 

[gingerbrew]

[brewmasterdros]

gingerbrew:

Never mind that at the other end of the field there’s a massive fight breaking out between the teams…

[4gifs]

[brewmasterdros]

fuckmetodubstep:

Fucking kids, got what that little bastard deserved!

[dat-asterisk-deactivated2019021]

[itsokaytobesmart]

[brewmasterdros]

jtotheizzoe:

Japan’s Ministry of Defense has developed the first spherical flying machine. It hovers with amazing stability using internal gyroscopes, but can also move forward at over 30 mph.

No word on whether it will be useful for light saber training:

[brewmasterdros]

[gingerbrew]

[brewmasterdros]

gingerbrew:

From back in the day, when Sci-fi channel was worth watching…