Pairing beer and cheese

Looks like Janet Fletcher at the SF Chronicle finally put into words what I have known all along -- almost anything goes better with beer than wine, including cheese. The next time you want to successfully pair beer and cheese, take a look at this story to get some useful pointers.

Of course, good beer doesn't really need cheese to go along with it, but it might be a good way to lure your wine-drinking friends over to the better fermented beverage.

Not a creature was stirring. . .

The regular readers of HomeBrewBlog.com (all two of you -- myself included) must be lamenting the dearth of new content on this much-heralded site, but alas -- wait no more! I've got a carboy full of Black Death Stout that I will be kegging in short order (should be ready for Christmas). Instead of trying something entirely new, I opted for the tried-and-true recipe and left the time I would normally use experimenting for holiday shopping.

While I was waiting for my home brew to mature, I found an interesting holiday beer in the corner store -- Lagunitas' Brown Shugga (200 pounds of brown sugar in each batch!), which is described on the Beer Advocate message boards as follows:

This is a motherfucker of a brew and must be tried to be believed.

Judget for yourself, but we're talking 9.9% ABV -- it's still sweet, but a lot of that brown sugar turned to alcohol, folks. (Recommended song while drinking: Sonic Youth's Sugar Kane).

Killer mobile bar bike

Random picture I found linked to from a /. article. Not sure where this is from, but it looks like an excellent design. If you look closely you'll notice that the patrons actually have the pedals for it underneath their barstools, and the stools appear to be height-adjustable. If anyone knows where this comes from please drop me an email. Killer beer dispensing vehicle!

-- Kevin

Top tips for new home brewers

As I dusted off my home brew gear this past weekend to make a couple of batches (pale ale and stout), I was thinking about the things I wish more seasoned brewers had told me before I really got into brewing. These tips aren't meant for the person who hasn't started yet -- more for the home brewer who feels a bit of excitement after the first batch. . .that feeling that "hey, I might be doing this for a while." Here are a few tips from my experience:

• Buy a wort chiller. You can try to cool your wort in a tub of ice, but it's a pain. A wort chiller turns a longer and messier process into a ten-minute cinch.
  
• Save all-grain brewing for later. Your beer will be better than anything you've had before anyway, and doing it all-grain just adds unnecessary overhead.
  
• Start kegging. Bottle washing is the most dispiriting activity in the world of home brewing, and it might crush your enthusiasm before you've had a chance to really get going. It's going to cost a couple hundred dollars, but trust me -- it's worth it (and you can use your equipment later when you decide to build a kegerator).
  
• Get an auto-siphon. Some people might not need this, but I've always have trouble siphoning for some reason.
  
• If you can afford it and you're pretty sure you're going to stick with it, I would strongly recommending getting a kettle with a spigot (see the "Italian kettles" on this page). Just get the wort chiller going in a kettle like this, and as soon as the wort cools down, you can transfer it to your primary fermenter without moving anything. No lifting, no splashing, no clumsy pouring into a funnel. A "false bottom" is nice as well. The false bottom is basically a sieve that sits on top of the tube that feeds the spigot. If you brew with whole hops, you don't even need a hop bag because the false bottom will catch it.
  

A bit quiet around here

It's been a little quiet around here, but I'm planning to dust off the brewing equipment this weekend. As the days get colder and shorter, I'm thinking of making something a bit thicker than the summer fare I've enjoyed the past few months. Stay tuned!