Tag: BEER & HOMEBREWING

Back to Brewing (Kinda)

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Years ago, I was an avid homebrewer. Then I moved someplace hot, where it wasn’t really practical to brew, and when we moved back to Korea, one thing after another prevented me getting back to it. (At first, it was just money and having a new kid; then it was the shoddy electrical system in our apartment, and the fact I was focusing on writing and parenting.) But finally I am brewing again… and, unsurprisingly, part of the motivation is my son: I proposed a trade to my friend, whose kids had outgrown their LEGOS—a batch of beer for the …

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If I Could Brew Now…

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Saigon doesn’t seem to be a great place to be a homebrewer. As far as I know, there’s nowhere to buy grain, yeast, or hops in the city, and while there is  and active community of homebrewers up in Hanoi, there doesn’t seem to be one in Saigon. I could be wrong–and if I am, I’d love to hear more about it–but that’s my impression from scouring the web. This is tolerable, for me, because I brewed a hell of a lot–to the point of exhaustion, and being a bit tired of brewing–by the time I left Korea, and because Saigon …

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Final (Korean!) Brewday: Wonmisan Last Hurrah Hoppy Weizen / Wonmisan Kitchen Sink Dubbel

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Well, that’s it. Things are winding down, and it’s time to stop making new beer. I’m selling my gear to my friends Rowan and Ian, who will be remaining in Korea for a while a brewing up a storm, but I figured I might as well use up my remaining malt and adjuncts as best I can. So, yes, my last brew in Korea is a double-batch kitchen-sink type brew, made at the last minute. I did everything I could to use up all my remaining malt, hops, and adjuncts, and just went ahead and made brews that could work …

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Hoptastic Brewday: Wonmisan Castle Black Wildling IPA (With Rowan Chadwick)

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My friend Rowan flew back in to Korea sometime on Friday; by Saturday afternoon, he was brewing again already. Now that’s dedication! I invited him over to help me brew up my next beer, a “black IPA” (which may or may not end up being black) I’ve named Castle Black Wildling IPA in honor of a certain TV series Miss Jiwaku and I love. (Neither of us has read the books, though I’m sure we both will eventually.) In any case, I had a few concepts in mind for this beer: Brew up a Black IPA (also known as a …

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Sour Mash Brewday: All-Brett Lambicus / Farmhouse Ale Split Batch

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So, t’is the season of brewing experiments, and today, I mashed in on a brew I’ll actually be boiling up tomorrow… that’s right, I’m trying a sour mash on a double-batch of beer for the first time. I’m only planning to leave the mash souring for 24 hours, mind you, but then again,  that’s not nothing. I figured, since I have a Farmhouse Ale Blend and a smack pack of Brett L., now would be a good time to try brewing with both… especially since I’ll have a nice population of Brett L. to spike a sour beer with later on. …

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Oops (Bretted Kolsch/IPA blend)

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Adjustable Relief Valve

I recently got my hands on an adjustable relief valve, which is a very snazzy bit of gear. Basically, you can use it to ferment beer in a keg, without having to worry about the pressure buildup: anything over 15 psi at the most is outgassed, and in fact you can set it to let out anything over 10 or 5 psi if you like. (Mine is attached to a pin lock quick disconnect, and the pressure gauge looks a little different, but it’s basically the same thing.) For fermenting in a keg, this is a massive improvement over doing it with …

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Big News!

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I apologize for the lack of activity here. I have a lot going on, between working on several writing projects (fiction and scripts alike) and trying to get some stuff done around the house. In the process, I’ve let the Blogging Ezra Pound’s Cantos project slide a bit, though I do have a post about a couple of Cantos that is almost ready to post. But in the meantime, I’ll say a bit about the busy weekend. The biggest news is that over the weekend, “The Music of Jo Hyeja” got its World Premiere at the Los Angeles H.P. Lovecraft …

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Brettanomyces, Brettanomyces…

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I didn’t mention that, along with several beery events this past weekend, like supplying the beer for a gathering of Korean SF fans, authors, and translators, and attending the wonderful IPA Jubilation event in Kyeongnidan Saturday night, I also met up with Bryan and David, a couple of local brewers, to keg the beers we brewed for the Fall Beer Festival that’s coming up at the end of September. For those guys, it was a simple kegging meetup, but I enlisted them into helping me to decide which of my beers to spike with a Brettanomyces culture. The culture is …

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Spent Grain Cooking and Baking

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So, I’ve been brewing again, which means I’ve been producing spent grains again. I don’t like to waste the grains, but disposing of them has become difficult. Until the spring, I was able to hand them over to my friend Mark, who has a worm farm and who used to sun-dry the grains to use them for worm farm bedding. However, after the Housing Office where we live decided to deem that, on the basis of the temporary (and, really, not so bad) smell outside the building, this practice was “harmful to other people.” (This is pretty laughable, given the …

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Citrachi Brewday: Wonmisan Citradelic Rebrew

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Today, I knew I had to brew something hoppy, but I wasn’t sure what at first. I have a limited number of kegs to rack beer into, and several full batches of beer to rack; while I can get away with leaving one of my Saisons on the yeast a week or two more, it’s really time I bottled my meads — a task for next week, to be sure. But I was also hoping that, just maybe, I might be able to condition up a hoppy beer for a party next weekend. Nuts, I know, giving so little time …

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