Sparge

There is a LOT of terminology that is very specific to brewing.  As I'm learning some of the terms and concepts, I'll be posting them here.  There are two purposes for this; 1. writing about or explain a new concept helps it become more concrete in my mind and 2. to make this blog a good resource for a novice homebrewer. 

We have a friend who is transitioning from a homebrewer to an actual brewer by opening his own brewery with a group of friends.  He is who we ask the stupid questions.  So far, he's been super patient and helpful...  and I plan to milk that for all it's worth:).  The other day, I asked him for a good Hefeweizen recipe and he gave me one with a couple of terms that were unfamiliar to me.  The one that I'll be defining today is SPARGE. 

Let me backtrack just a moment.  When Ty decided that we were going to become homebrewers, he went to the homebrew store solo and came home with the kit, ingredients for the intial batch and two sets of instructions.  One set was the basic, generic instructions for brewing any beer and the other set was for a specific recipe (in this case, stout).  There were minor differences between them so we followed the generic recipe for the most part and the stout recipe only where it varied from the generic recipe. 

Because the generic instructions are written for novices, like us, when Jim's recipe called for SPARGING, I panicked.  We've really been doing this by the seat of our pants and I haven't read much yet (mostly because there's so much terminology that I don't understand that I just get lost and confused).  While we'd actually SPARGED both of our batches to date, I didn't realize it! 

When I asked him what it meant, he gave a very clear and concise explanation so I'll be using it verbatim: 

The small amount of grains used in the first step are crushed (not pulverized into flour, but still have the husk attached), placed into the grain bag, and steeped like tea in the hot (155) water. This is called the mash when using all-grain. The sparge is rinsing these grains and saving the rinse water (wort) for use in the boil. This is a very small step toward all-grain brewing, and opens up all kinds of creative possibilities.

Batch #1

Batch #1 has been in the secondary since Saturday so last night was time to check the specific gravity.  When we initially opened the fermenter, we thought something was wrong because the surface appeared to be covered in mold.  However, a closer look revealed that it was just some residual foam.  Plus, the smell was amazing!  The hydrometer measured the specific gravity at 1.020 and the alcohol content right at 5%.  Our recipe calls for 1.010 to 1.015 so it probably isn't quite ready yet.  We'll measure again in 48 hours - if it's the same, we're ready to bottle.  If not, we measure again in 24 hours. 

Brie Pockets

Brie pockets right before going in oven

Finished brie pockets

Last week, I stumbled across the above recipe while blog-surfing.  I didn't manage to mark down the blog but the recipe totally stuck in my head.  The post only included sweet brie pockets but, of course, Ty was having NONE of that.  So we made two batches.  Mine was sweet with brie and pear butter (see prior posts on canning - this was homemade!).  And Ty's batch was savory with brie, salami and jalapenos. 

They were delish!!  Brie pockets will definitely be on regular rotation for apps in our house. 

Brie Grilled Cheese

Grilled cheese sammies are a staple in our house.  Who doesn't love a simple grilled cheese with cheddar and whole wheat or sourdough bread?  Of course, that's even better if it's grilled in a pan with a bunch of garlic cloves and EVOO.  But what can you make with leftover Brie and rosemary bread and the last of the salami, asparagus and mushrooms?  I'd call that one gourmet grilled cheese!! 

Beer Quotes

We have a friend who is going from a homebrewer to a legitimate brewer who recently posted the following quote on my facebook page:

"Give a man a brew, he'll waste an hour.  Teach a man to brew, he'll waste a lifetime."

 A quick Google search attributed the quote to Bill Owen, whoever that is.  It made me think of the beer quote posted at my favorite bar:

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" ~Benjamin Franklin

Here's another good one:

"I feel sorry for people who don't drink.  When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they are going to feel all day." ~Frank Sinatra

 What's your favorite beer quote?  If you have one, post it in the comments.  
 

Batch #2

Home made grain bag going into pot

And coming out of pot...  look at that yummy start to a batch of Ruby!

Used grains cooling down before being added to the compost bin

Hops getting ready to be tied up in the homemade hop bag and boiled for an hour

Batch #1

We haven't been blogging much lately for a lot of very good reasons that you don't care about.  We have found a new culinary related passion - homebrewing!  We made our first batch last weekend and it was quite the adventure...

We decided to start with a stout because the ladies at the homebrew store said it was a good starting beer and because we really enjoy stouts.  We bought a starter kit but, upon opening the box, were a bit disappointed that there was nothing to explain what each piece of equipment was nor were most of the items labeled.  After getting the water up to the proper heat to put the grains in, we realized that we'd neglected to buy a grain bag.  That was fine, though, thanks to my cheesemaking adventures.  We improvised a 'grain bag' out of a 2 foot by 2 foot section of cheesecloth.  First crisis, adverted!!

So, we steeped the grain for half an hour, added the malt and boiled for an hour.  At the end of that, you're supposed to add a bag of ice to the fermenter before adding the hot liquid...  but we seemed to overlook that step:).  So, we put the whole thing outside to get it cooled down to 65 degrees so we could add the yeast.  In the meantime, we'd had a few beers, had friends over for dinner and movies, had a few more beers...  and were totally ready for bed.  The fermenter had only cooled to 80 degrees but our homebrewed experienced friend assured us that we could just deal with it in the morning and nothing bad would happen...

True to form, Ty woke up at 3am, hungry, and added the yeast, sealed the fermenter and inserted the airlock...  or so he thought, anyway.  Remember, before, where I complained that nothing was labeled??  Well, the directions call for the airlock to be inserted and then add water to the fill line.  In our equipment, there was only one thing that could be filled with water but it had no fill line.  It was weird but we were able to get it into the grommet in the fermenter lid so we thought, this must be the airlock!  

We had so much fun brewing that first batch and we decided that we wanted to start our second batch this weekend.  Which meant that we needed the ingredients as well as a few duplicate pieces of equipment...  which meant a trip back to our local homebrew store.  And, lo and behold, what we were trying to use as an airlock was actually the bottle filler and our kit was completely missing an airlock!!!  I'm sure you veteran brewers out there will have a great chuckle at that... but it is super confusing to an newbie!!  

The lady  there said to just go ahead and transfer to our secondary and add the airlock to that and we'd be just fine.  Of course, Ty did this without reading the directions so he just poured it in rather than syphoning it.  Hopefully, though, it'll be okay.  

At this point, I'll just be happy if we get something that's tolerable to drink.  As I'm typing out this blog post, I'm waiting for the water on our second batch to heat to 165 degrees.  So, we seem to be hooked on this new hobby of ours.  I'll leave you with two pictures - our kit and the malt, improvised grain bag and my brewing beer for batch #2. 

Dairy Day

In what should be a surprise to no one, our mozzarella day has turned into a mozzarella, ricotta, butter and Greek yogurt day!  We are nothing if not overly ambitious.  And, Jewel doesn't know it yet, but I'm hoping that we'll also be make a couple of baguettes with the leftover whey from the cheese making.  I've also never made bread but our cheese making instructor said that using whey instead of water makes for very good and interesting bread.  Seems only natural that we should be serving up our homemade cheese with some homemade bread, no?

Cheese Making Class

Jewel and I took a cheese making class last night and it was amazing!  The process is amazingly simple yet very precise.  The instructor, Debbie, had a very relaxed and down to earth personality.  She made the class both fun and informative.  In fact, I'm trying to rearrange my schedule to go to her feta class soon!

We are so inspired to make some of our own mozzerella that we will be making some this weekend.  I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and post about it here so stay tuned... 

Meatless Mondays and no TV Tuesdays

Meatless Mondays and no TV Tuesdays are two ideas that I'm toying with incorporating into my life.  I don't think it would do any harm to go one a week without any meat.  And I also don't think it would do any harm to go one night a week without watching TV - although I think convincing my better half of this might be a lot of work...  if not totally impossible.  I have a stack of about three months of magazines and several books that I really should get to.  Eliminating one evening of TV in lieu of reading sounds like a really good idea.  

Anyone out there try either of these ideas?  If so, what about it worked for you?  And what were the challenges?

CSA

Our CSA summer share started this week after a month off since the winter share.  I missed it!  This week, we got collards, leeks, green garlic, spinach, parsley, cauliflower and popcorn kernels.  We like to supplement our share with our two raised beds which I like to call my kitchen garden.  We put two types of lettuce (just don't ask me which types!) a couple of weeks ago.  We have rosemary, chives and thyme that regularly overwinters quite well so I've been regularly harvesting lettuce, chives and thyme for salads for Ty (I don't eat salad).  We've also been often using the chives, rosemary and thyme in regular meals for the last month or so.  

I planted the majority of the rest of the garden yesterday.  We put in SIX basil plants for four varieties!  I think that basil has been my best gardening success - we use it some in cooking but mostly use it to make batches and batches of pesto.  We don't always do it the same way but it's generally always a combo of basil leaves, pine nuts or walnuts, parm and EVOO.  We them but the pesto into ice cube trays in the freezer until set.  Then we pop the cubes out and into a freezer bag to use the rest of the year.  Except that we always, always run out well before the next year's basil season.  So, this year, we doubled up on the basil plants:).  

We've also put in four tomato plants, another chive, another rosemary (this one trailing), green beans and soybeans.  The soybeans are an experiment but we did get them last summer from the farm so I'm pretty sure it is at least possible to grow them here.  

I'd also like to add three tomatillo plants.  Last year, I had the most beautiful tomatillo plant you've ever seen - tall, healthy with tons and tons of flowers.  I was so proud.  And I waited and waiting for that puppy to fruit...  before I looked it up and discovered that one plant will never fruit because a solo plant does not pollinate.  SO, this year I need enough that they will pollinate so I can make a bunch of salsa verde! 

Quinoa Porridge

I found this recipe in Trail Runner magazine and it is delish!

1 cup quinoa
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 apple, peeled, cored and diced
1 cup walnuts
1 cup raisins or dried cranberries
2 tablespoons maple or agave syrup
1 cup blueberries or other berry

In a medium saucepan, combine the quinoa and 2 cups of water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for 12 minutes.  Add cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and milk and simmer covered for an additional 10 minutes.  Stir in apple, walnuts, raisins and syrup.  Cover and let rest 10 minutes.  Serve topped with blueberries. 

I had red quinoa at home so that's what I used.  I also used 1/2 golden raisins and 1/2 cup dried cranberries since that was about all I had of each.  Ty added Tabassco to his and really enjoyed it. 

Half a Hog

We recently went in on half a hog with friends.  The total cost was $450 for about 100 pounds of pork products which included hams, a shoulder, country ribs, spare ribs, sausage, bacon and chops.  So far, we've had the bacon and chops - I must say that they were to die for...  the flavor is amazing and the bacon cooks up crispy but not overcooked at all. Easily the best of either that I've ever had.  We got our hog from Full of Life Farms.  They are a local farm that raises all of their animals to be antibiotic and growth hormone free.  Once they are ready for slaughter, they are sent to a local butcher in Mount Angel.  When they receive your animal, they call you to discuss how you'd like it butchered and packaged.  

Here's a picture from this morning's breakfast that includes the yummiest bacon ever as well as collards and purple potatoes from our local CSA.  

Next up?  We'll be buying and splitting a half a cow with the same friends!  Our expectations are high after the hog... 

Spiced Almonds

Spiced Almonds

2 cups raw almonds
2 teaspoons EVOO
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Toss almonds in bowl with EVOO until coated.  Spread on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.  Mix spices, salt and sugar in small bowl.  Remove almonds from oven and carefully transfer back to oil coated bowl.   Sprinkle spice mixture onto almonds and toss to coat.  Return almonds to baking sheet and bake 5 more minutes.  Allow to cool and serve!  

Apple Crisp

I used up a jar of apple pie filling last night by baking up an apple crisp.  I went way too heavy on the crisp part so I'm adjusting the recipe down by a bit but here it is:

1 jar apple pie filling

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Blend the brown sugar, flour and butter until the butter is in pea sized chunks - you can use a food processor for this but I just used a pastry blender.  Add the oats and nuts.  Pour the apple pie filling into an 8 x 8 Pyrex and add the crisp topping.  Bake at 350 for 20 - 25 minutes. 

Food Storage

I have been very haphazardly building some food storage options for us without realizing exactly what I was doing.  Last week, we ordered half a hog to split with the Millers and put in our respective freezers.  Next month, I think we'll order a quarter or half cow for the same purpose.  Over the summer, Jewel and I did a bunch of canning and we still have a decent supply of that in the pantry - in fact, we need to get better about USING it more.  

So, today, when I came across this post:  http://sharonastyk.com/2011/03/06/newbie-food-storage-on-the-cheap/comment-page-1/#comment-37479, it really got me to thinking.  Ty and I need to develop more of a plan regarding our food storage.  I'm not sure what that plan is but that's totally okay.  All good plans start with a lot of thinking anyway:).  Unlike a lot of people who store food, we aren't really focused on emergency planning.  Rather, we are trying to make buying good, high quality, organic, sustainable, anti-biotic free, non-genetically modified food more affordable.  But it is nice to know that we'd be in good shape should an emergency arise...  


I'm sure there's a lot of good resources online so I'm off to do more research! 

Snow Day!

In honor of today's snow day, Ty made chicken enchiladas and I made mocha-cinnamon pudding.  The enchiladas came from Ty's noggin but the pudding came from a recipes in Runner's World magazine.  

Mocha-Cinnamon Pudding
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons instant coffee mix or espresso powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch salt
2 cups low fat chocolate milk
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, very finely chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla

Whisk the sugar, cornstarch, coffee, cinnamon and salt in a large saucepan.  Whisk in milk over medium heat then cook for about five minutes, stirring occasionally at first, then frequently and constantly at the end, until mixture thickens to pudding consistency.  Remove from heat; add chocolate and vanilla, whisking until chocolate is smooth.  Serve warm or pour into containers, placing plastic wrap directly on the pudding surface to keep a skin from forming.  Refrigerate up to five days.

The recipes says that this serves five but I disagree.  I filled four ramekins about half way each.  Next time I make this, I'll be doubling it so that it fills all four completely.  It would also look great in martini glasses and the picture in from the magazines shows it garnished with fresh raspberries which looks completely delish!   

This actually doesn't look that great but, trust me, it is AMAZING!

Roller Derby!

Last Saturday, we were invited to go to Portland's Roller Derby.  It was a really great time made even more so by the fact that one of the friends who we went with REALLY wants to join a team.  The action was fast but it didn't take too long to figure out what was happening.  It may have helped that we'd watched Whip It not too long ago.  The plan was to have a drink at our house before heading to Oaks Park so we whipped up some simple chicken quesidillas, chips, salsa and a small cheese tray:

 

Chicken Wings

Ty makes some amazing chicken wings.  He makes them for many occasions including Sunny in Philadelphia marathons, Wii parties and Sundays.  The Jayhawks play tomorrow and I somehow totally forgot about Valentine's Day when I invited my friend Kona over to watch the game, drink some beers and eat some of Ty's wings!!  So, he's also now making them for Valentine's Day:).  I wish I knew the recipes...  but, alas, I'm not sure he even does...  I think it's always just a bit different but always delish!  In lieu of a recipe, I've included pics. 

New Year's Eve

I have some really good friends who love to humor me.  When I was growing up, we always had clam chowder and cheese and crackers on Christmas Eve.  This tradition is something that I look back on fondly and I'm always sad when I can't honor it.  This year, I decided to keep the tradition but give it an update...  so we invited some close friends over on NYE to enjoy homemade chowder with us.  It was a great evening.  

We started with a cheese plate with three types of cheese including my favorite sun-dried tomato chevre, two types of crackers, dried apricots, dried cherries, cashews, pistachios and dark chocolate chunks.  For the main course, we had homemade clam chowder (recipe below) and BLT popovers (you might remember this recipe from Thanksgiving).  We ended the meal with coconut cheesecake that was divine (that recipe is to come).   

Clam Chowder 
4 slices bacon, diced
1 medium onion, chopped 
3 potatoes, diced
1-8 ounce bottle of clam juice
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2-6.5 ounces cans of minced clams
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
2 cups half and half


Cook bacon until crisp in a Dutch oven or large, heavy saucepan. Remove bacon to paper towels with slotted spoon; drain. Add onion to bacon drippings; sauté until softened. Add potatoes and clam juice, salt, and pepper. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Remove from heat. Add minced clams with their liquid. Whisk flour into milk; add to chowder with half-and-half. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until clam chowder thickens and bubbles, or about 3 minutes.  Ladle into bowls and garnish with bacon crumbles. 

If you are lucky enough to invite a fish monger to dinner, you can hope that yours will also bring fresh clams AND cook them for you to use as garnish!  Really, the perfect finishing touch...