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#136
03-03-2004, 11:40 PM
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Hops?
The message 6Do1c.2935$zu.469@newsfe1-win
from "Andy Hunt" contains these words: No - not the proper stuff at all. Budweiser Budvar is the proper stuff, a quality Czech "beer", along with Staropramen ("Star of Prague"). Both absolutely delicious served cold on a hot summer's day, outside in the sun, and both a million miles from the gnats' water which goes by the same name in the States. I'm not anti-American by any means, I know some good people over there, but "Budweiser" is not one of the better things to come out of that place, IMHO . . . I could introduce you to plenty of Transpondians who think the same way. But NEITHER can compete with the Belgian "Kriek" beer . . . like the best bitter and the best lager-beer you've ever tasted, all rolled into one, with a kick like a rabid tyrannosaur (weighing in at 8% alcohol). Never managed more than one at one sitting - not exactly a "session" beer. They do a weaker version at a mere 6%, which is a cherry beer - sounds disgusting, but again, it's like the nectar of the gods. I rather like Chimay, (Belgian Trappist) and that weighs in at 6% and 9%. I like the stronger one - not because it is stronger. Try beer from Scotland's oldest brewery, Traquair House. The main gates were locked shut after Bonnie prince Charlie left the house, and the owners vowed they should not be opened until his return. They are still locked shut. More history. Before the days of breweries and various customer-protection bodies, most towns had an Ale Conner to test the fitness of the ale or beer. He would spread a puddle of it on a bench and sit thereon in his leather trousers. If he stuck to the bench, the beer wasn't properly brewed. (I kid you not!) Lol . . . I met a girl once in a club who claimed her job was "beer tester". I was disappointed to learn that it involved mass spectrometer analysis and the like, and nothing more exciting. A cruel end to a budding romantic interest. (only joking!) Of course, in the 'olden days', people HAD to drink beer, as it was the only sterile drink around. The Oriental peoples solved the problem by boiling their water of course, and tea was "discovered" when a Chinese Emperor was boiling his water, and a tea leaf accidentally fell in. Or so I hear! Hmmm. the Chinese always were good at romantic stories, especially if they could weave an emperor or two in. Beer and tea - two wonderful drinks. Wouldn't it be terrible if we were all the same! I have about a dozen different (loose) teas in the kitchen..... The "Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency" sounds right up my street! I may well "check it out", as our American friends might say. It will go with my solar panels and wood pellet stove. OK, here's something else then. Knowing how clay lump building blocks were made led me to try something when my old man offered me seven sacks of slack and dust from the coalshed. I got several buckets of raw cowdung from my neighbours byre and mixed it with the coaldust, trowelling the mixture into plastic flowerpots and turning tem out like little black sandcastles. These I dried in the sun, and they made a fantastic slow-burning fuel for my Parkray and my Rayburn. It also works well with sawdust or chopped straw. However, this might just be a nice thought, as I wouldn't think you have too many dairy farms in Bury. There are a few in Summerseat, actually, which is not far away, but being the proud owner of a mountain bike only, I think I might have some problems transporting the stuff to my house. Hmmm. Yes. I must admit to having used my home-made wheelbarrow, which had a BSA Bantam wheel on the front... However, cycle trailers are easy to make and if you use small kiddycycle wheels with proper bearings, easy to pull. What I AM looking at is a "log maker" from the Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth, Wales, which presses old soggy newspapers into "bricks", which you can then dry out and burn on a fire. As the wood pellet stove I'm planning on getting only takes wood pellets (they have 'liquid' properties, and feed automatically), I'm planning on using the "paper logs" for my outside fire (made out of bricks from a building which was itself demolished by a fire), which I have a few times every year, to burn all the garden rubbish etc. It's a nice 'earthy'-type ritual to have every so often, I find - quite cathartic in a way. Who knows - I might even have some home brew to drink at the next one! Look in the freeads or E-Bay. A lot of newspaper rollers were sold when they first came out in the '60s or '70s, and they didn't catch on. They used to turn up in charity shops for a few shillings. I understand they're not all they're cracked-up to be. On the subject of combustion (pyromaniacs of the world - ignite!), one thing I will have when I get my wood pellet stove which I don't have at the moment is a hot water cylinder - my boiler's a gas combi at the moment. Presumably I would need to brew my beer next to the hot water cylinder, to get the heat . . . ? You can buy thermostatically controlled low wattage immersion heaters. I prefer to put these in a water-jacket round the brewing vessel as small amounts of yeast are continually killed on the surface of an immersion heater, and can taint the beer. Thanks again, all! Best of luck, then. And remember - since Mr. Marples was Home Secretary, it's legal. (I was a 10-year-old criminal.......) Ah! So it's not true that they're starting younger these days, then . . . ? ;-) Nope. I was taught how to make dandelion winr and parsnip wine by our housekeeper, a country lass. (With parental acquiescence!) If I get it all together, I'll most certainly keep you up to date on it! My house has had huge changes since I first joined this group - garden walls covered in camo netting, a yard full of pots, a bathroom full of 'silk' ivy . . . I've even got a buch of seed packets with all sorts of nice things in, ready to go. Sweetcorn, radishes, mangetout peas, turnips, rocket . . . the list goes on! Even got a couple of blueberry bushes (well one of them is more of a 'twig' than a bush, it doesn't look too good actually) - and an apple tree with three varieties grafted on. I'll take some photies in a couple of months and post them up on my homepage - "before URG and after"! Looking forward to that. Before it got urgled: http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/hsejung.jpg -- Rusty Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar. http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/ |
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#137
03-03-2004, 11:40 PM
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Hops?
The message 6Do1c.2935$zu.469@newsfe1-win
from "Andy Hunt" contains these words: No - not the proper stuff at all. Budweiser Budvar is the proper stuff, a quality Czech "beer", along with Staropramen ("Star of Prague"). Both absolutely delicious served cold on a hot summer's day, outside in the sun, and both a million miles from the gnats' water which goes by the same name in the States. I'm not anti-American by any means, I know some good people over there, but "Budweiser" is not one of the better things to come out of that place, IMHO . . . I could introduce you to plenty of Transpondians who think the same way. But NEITHER can compete with the Belgian "Kriek" beer . . . like the best bitter and the best lager-beer you've ever tasted, all rolled into one, with a kick like a rabid tyrannosaur (weighing in at 8% alcohol). Never managed more than one at one sitting - not exactly a "session" beer. They do a weaker version at a mere 6%, which is a cherry beer - sounds disgusting, but again, it's like the nectar of the gods. I rather like Chimay, (Belgian Trappist) and that weighs in at 6% and 9%. I like the stronger one - not because it is stronger. Try beer from Scotland's oldest brewery, Traquair House. The main gates were locked shut after Bonnie prince Charlie left the house, and the owners vowed they should not be opened until his return. They are still locked shut. More history. Before the days of breweries and various customer-protection bodies, most towns had an Ale Conner to test the fitness of the ale or beer. He would spread a puddle of it on a bench and sit thereon in his leather trousers. If he stuck to the bench, the beer wasn't properly brewed. (I kid you not!) Lol . . . I met a girl once in a club who claimed her job was "beer tester". I was disappointed to learn that it involved mass spectrometer analysis and the like, and nothing more exciting. A cruel end to a budding romantic interest. (only joking!) Of course, in the 'olden days', people HAD to drink beer, as it was the only sterile drink around. The Oriental peoples solved the problem by boiling their water of course, and tea was "discovered" when a Chinese Emperor was boiling his water, and a tea leaf accidentally fell in. Or so I hear! Hmmm. the Chinese always were good at romantic stories, especially if they could weave an emperor or two in. Beer and tea - two wonderful drinks. Wouldn't it be terrible if we were all the same! I have about a dozen different (loose) teas in the kitchen..... The "Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency" sounds right up my street! I may well "check it out", as our American friends might say. It will go with my solar panels and wood pellet stove. OK, here's something else then. Knowing how clay lump building blocks were made led me to try something when my old man offered me seven sacks of slack and dust from the coalshed. I got several buckets of raw cowdung from my neighbours byre and mixed it with the coaldust, trowelling the mixture into plastic flowerpots and turning tem out like little black sandcastles. These I dried in the sun, and they made a fantastic slow-burning fuel for my Parkray and my Rayburn. It also works well with sawdust or chopped straw. However, this might just be a nice thought, as I wouldn't think you have too many dairy farms in Bury. There are a few in Summerseat, actually, which is not far away, but being the proud owner of a mountain bike only, I think I might have some problems transporting the stuff to my house. Hmmm. Yes. I must admit to having used my home-made wheelbarrow, which had a BSA Bantam wheel on the front... However, cycle trailers are easy to make and if you use small kiddycycle wheels with proper bearings, easy to pull. What I AM looking at is a "log maker" from the Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth, Wales, which presses old soggy newspapers into "bricks", which you can then dry out and burn on a fire. As the wood pellet stove I'm planning on getting only takes wood pellets (they have 'liquid' properties, and feed automatically), I'm planning on using the "paper logs" for my outside fire (made out of bricks from a building which was itself demolished by a fire), which I have a few times every year, to burn all the garden rubbish etc. It's a nice 'earthy'-type ritual to have every so often, I find - quite cathartic in a way. Who knows - I might even have some home brew to drink at the next one! Look in the freeads or E-Bay. A lot of newspaper rollers were sold when they first came out in the '60s or '70s, and they didn't catch on. They used to turn up in charity shops for a few shillings. I understand they're not all they're cracked-up to be. On the subject of combustion (pyromaniacs of the world - ignite!), one thing I will have when I get my wood pellet stove which I don't have at the moment is a hot water cylinder - my boiler's a gas combi at the moment. Presumably I would need to brew my beer next to the hot water cylinder, to get the heat . . . ? You can buy thermostatically controlled low wattage immersion heaters. I prefer to put these in a water-jacket round the brewing vessel as small amounts of yeast are continually killed on the surface of an immersion heater, and can taint the beer. Thanks again, all! Best of luck, then. And remember - since Mr. Marples was Home Secretary, it's legal. (I was a 10-year-old criminal.......) Ah! So it's not true that they're starting younger these days, then . . . ? ;-) Nope. I was taught how to make dandelion winr and parsnip wine by our housekeeper, a country lass. (With parental acquiescence!) If I get it all together, I'll most certainly keep you up to date on it! My house has had huge changes since I first joined this group - garden walls covered in camo netting, a yard full of pots, a bathroom full of 'silk' ivy . . . I've even got a buch of seed packets with all sorts of nice things in, ready to go. Sweetcorn, radishes, mangetout peas, turnips, rocket . . . the list goes on! Even got a couple of blueberry bushes (well one of them is more of a 'twig' than a bush, it doesn't look too good actually) - and an apple tree with three varieties grafted on. I'll take some photies in a couple of months and post them up on my homepage - "before URG and after"! Looking forward to that. Before it got urgled: http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/hsejung.jpg -- Rusty Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar. http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/ |
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#138
06-03-2004, 04:31 AM
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Hops?
"Andy Hunt" wrote in
news:3lp1c.2958$zu.1910@newsfe1-win: ...snip Right - Goldings it is, then! ...snip I'm a bit surprised this thread didn't include a mention of some of the new "dwarf" hop varieties which are emminently suitable for home-growing. I grew some "primadonna" last year a single "hill" in a large-ish pot, climbed nicely to around 7 feet and produced plenty of cones. Marshalls also have a variety called "Diva" this year... Geoff (homebrewer turned gardener...) |
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#139
06-03-2004, 04:31 AM
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Hops?
"Andy Hunt" wrote in
news:3lp1c.2958$zu.1910@newsfe1-win: ...snip Right - Goldings it is, then! ...snip I'm a bit surprised this thread didn't include a mention of some of the new "dwarf" hop varieties which are emminently suitable for home-growing. I grew some "primadonna" last year a single "hill" in a large-ish pot, climbed nicely to around 7 feet and produced plenty of cones. Marshalls also have a variety called "Diva" this year... Geoff (homebrewer turned gardener...) |
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#140
06-03-2004, 04:32 AM
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Hops?
"Andy Hunt" wrote in
news:3lp1c.2958$zu.1910@newsfe1-win: ...snip Right - Goldings it is, then! ...snip I'm a bit surprised this thread didn't include a mention of some of the new "dwarf" hop varieties which are emminently suitable for home-growing. I grew some "primadonna" last year a single "hill" in a large-ish pot, climbed nicely to around 7 feet and produced plenty of cones. Marshalls also have a variety called "Diva" this year... Geoff (homebrewer turned gardener...) |
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#141
06-03-2004, 04:34 AM
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Hops?
Geoff Rousell wrote
I'm a bit surprised this thread didn't include a mention of some of the new "dwarf" hop varieties which are emminently suitable for home-growing. I grew some "primadonna" last year a single "hill" in a large-ish pot, climbed nicely to around 7 feet and produced plenty of cones. Marshalls also have a variety called "Diva" this year... Geoff (homebrewer turned gardener...) I take it you brewed with them then? any good? the only dwarf variety I know of with proven brewing track record is First Gold - mediumly bitter with quite a pleasant orangey fruit taste/aroma. |
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#142
06-03-2004, 04:35 AM
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Hops?
Geoff Rousell wrote
I'm a bit surprised this thread didn't include a mention of some of the new "dwarf" hop varieties which are emminently suitable for home-growing. I grew some "primadonna" last year a single "hill" in a large-ish pot, climbed nicely to around 7 feet and produced plenty of cones. Marshalls also have a variety called "Diva" this year... Geoff (homebrewer turned gardener...) I take it you brewed with them then? any good? the only dwarf variety I know of with proven brewing track record is First Gold - mediumly bitter with quite a pleasant orangey fruit taste/aroma. |
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#143
06-03-2004, 04:35 AM
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Hops?
Geoff Rousell wrote
I'm a bit surprised this thread didn't include a mention of some of the new "dwarf" hop varieties which are emminently suitable for home-growing. I grew some "primadonna" last year a single "hill" in a large-ish pot, climbed nicely to around 7 feet and produced plenty of cones. Marshalls also have a variety called "Diva" this year... Geoff (homebrewer turned gardener...) I take it you brewed with them then? any good? the only dwarf variety I know of with proven brewing track record is First Gold - mediumly bitter with quite a pleasant orangey fruit taste/aroma. |
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#144
09-03-2004, 04:10 PM
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Hops?
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#146
10-03-2004, 04:18 AM
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Hops?
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