Four Loco, not really beer news worthy, but here's my take....

Alcohol + Man = Drunk....  Pretty simple equation. Granted it's not perfect math, there are a few that can have just one and be fine, and there are people that add the same two and you get smashed. When the math gets tricky is when you add caffeine. To Keep things VERY simple here I'll just say this, Caffeine is a very complicated, readily available,  psychoactive stimulant drug.  To see more about it read this, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine You might need to grab a cup of coffee, it's not exciting stuff. But it does give you a little insight into the world of easy access stimulants.

Now add alcohol, a depressant, also very easy to get your hands on. After being in the bar business for several years what I know is this. As easily available as the two are, outlawing one drink because it is the current poster child of a huge growing problem is not going to stop anything. Ironically, it does the exact opposite in this situation. Cue Obvious News Article Here

The type of people that like to mix their redbulls and vodka's respectively are usually the same people that like to try the newest and latest "Mixed" drink. And the ONLY thing they here if you try and outlaw an over the counter can of punch is, must be great S#!+. And yes, they will buy out a supplier if they hear that they won't be able to get it.

And the there is this. Man Dies From Caffeine Overdose To my knowledge, this is the first ever recorded of it's kind. And no alcohol was in this instance.... So what's my point? If you want to "fix" the problem, a whole lot of education of how bad people are messing up their bodies would be a small start. Regulate coffee? Outlaw the two be mixed together? I don't have all the answers but I will say that they will find a new way to get what they want, and if you tell them no, all you're doing is promoting it.

Random Stuff I Post When Exciting Beer News Fails To Find Me.

These are pics from the top shelf of my bookcase. If you are a connoisseur of old fine books or collect old bartenders guides, you'll find I have a few fun toys but no "Holly Grails" of the collectors world. I've been collecting "Old Mr Boston Bartending Guides" for several years now and have 22 different editions,  because you have to have goals in life... Some are to fragile to open so I don't have print shots of all of them... Enjoy

Didn't Get The Memo....

Looking through Beernews.org I just read about the World's First Beer Bloggers Conference ! I guess my invite was lost in the mail but it looked like a huge success. I can only imagine that year 2 will be even bigger. Along with 108 bloggers the event also attracted Industry representatives. Speakers and tastings filled the time along with the networking of all that attended. Maybe next year I can make it to one of the two locations for 2011, Can't wait to see you all there!

Old Oklahoma Power Plant Gets New Life

The Old Sand Springs Power Plant is now getting turned into a Micro-Brewery! Spring Loaded Brewery
Old Power PlantOld Power Plant

Discovery's New TV Show, Brew Masters

On November 21 2010, the season premier of Brew Masters series premiere, Host Sam Calagione, head of Dogfish Head, takes fans around the world looking for the right ingredients and recipes. His book, "Extreme Brewing" teaches you to not fear taking a chance on something different. I highly recommend the book and look forward to the show!

Some International Home Brewing

Looking at all the countries that I get readers from can kinda be daunting when you think about where I am. If you read this and "your not from around here", I'm in Springfield Missouri. Basically, if you threw a dart at the middle of a map of the United States, you'd get pretty close. And thinking that I now have readers in Canada, UK, Germany, Poland, Russia, Denmark, Hong Kong, Italy, and Singapore, it feels amazing. Let me say Hello, and thank you all for stopping by! I would love to here brewing stories or just talk beer with all of you! Leave me a message, send me an email, you can even snail mail me! I have a big world map and would love to put up a pin where your at! Tell me your local brewing laws, what your favorite beer is, or just say HI.  Keep drinking good beer out there!

Keeton

The Brew Is Brewed

My Winter Snowman Ale is Brewed and fermenting as we speak. Mainly Light and Amber malt was used along with some Chocolate and Belgium grains. I steeped the grains for about 15 minutes longer than the recipe called for. It boiled for an hour, Irish Moss was added at 15 Min left and Spices (Cinnamon, allspice, and ginger) were added at 5 Min left.  Original Gravity was 1.080 on the dot and 24 hours after pitching the yeast, I can barley keep the trap full. It's blown twice tonight. I'm going to to let it run dry and give it a week after racked with some new sugar just to kick it a little and then bottle it. On Monday I'll have all the brew numbers plugged into my iBrewMaster App and be able to post all the specs on the brew.   I'll update this as I work the brew.

I also racked both Mead brews and the Cider. Both Meads were given another 1.5 pounds of clover honey  and the 3 gallons of cider got half a pound of brown sugar. All three are chirping along and loving the now sugar.

Brew Update

I've moved to a new brewery and haven't had time to post anything new in a few weeks, but I'm back! The Root Beer that I put together was only about 2.5* but the cider I made was 4 out of 5! I have two different 5 gallon batches of mead going and a newer batch of cider with a new recipe to go with it. I have used the same yeast starter for all the batches of mead and cider I've started now.
 
Tomorrow, all three get racked, honey, and or brown sugar gets added, lees get pitched (thrown away) not pitched like new pitched... hahaha I made a brewers joke.... and I'll make a trip to the Home Brewery to pick a great winter brew recipe to start the next couple days...

And at the end of the day I'll have some new pics to post of my pets!

Welcome!

I'm hoping that I'll be able to provide some answers and information on here about brewing and fermentation that I learned the hard way down a long road. Simple little things like placing your fermentation traps in zip lock bags after you clean and dry them to keep dust out of them in between brews. Feel free to ask me anything about brewing, I won't guarantee I know it but I can find the answer!



Happy Brewing,
Keeton