Watermelon Hard Cider?

Just took of care of the first (pre-watermelon) steps of my new homemade hard cider (which I'm starting now in anticipation of the fall). Once the wort-apple juice combination completes its first fermentation, I'm going rack the brew and let it sit on top of several pounds of sliced watermelon to soak up some additional (unfermented) flavor. We'll see it goes. In the meantime, take a look at the full recipe over in the homebrew section.

Mass Hands on iTunes!

Last month, I shared an article from Mass Hands digital magazine that focused on my craft as a homebrewer. Today, it's available on iTunes. Beer! On the Internet! What a thing! Also, I'm on the iTunes store. That's kinda neat, right?

Mass Hands

Here's the full Mass Hands article, focusing on me as a homebrewer. The project overall is meant to be an interactive/new media exploration of handcrafted work that still thrives in Massachusetts. (Personally, I wish I had a worn a t-shirt that more flattered my figure in the opening photograph, or at least that they had chosen a less-awkward picture of me, but you know what they say: Magneto was Right)

Mass Hands: Brew Mastery

Homebrewing the Future!

Over the last 2 months (basically, over the time it took to make my Blood Orange Hefeweizen), I've been the subject of an interactive "magazine" article about homebrewing. From what I understand, the idea of the magazine is "Old is New" — that is, to present old-fashioned or time honored practices, traditions, and hobbies in a brand new light, with the aid of new media. The completed project is intend for view on an iPad, and should be released on the iTunes store in the coming weeks. In the meantime, here's the first part of the project, a short video focusing on me and my brewing exploits. Part Two to come....whenever I see it.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otuW_3-3Fg8&w=480&h=390]

Thanks to Nick and Braden for this! (and to Brittany Burke for lending her hands & help to the bottling process)

Blood Orange Hefeweizen!

I've been falling behind a bit on my homebrewing (it seems that life's been getting in the way), but I'm finally back on track. And to celebrate, I just brewed a blood orange hefeweizen. I had the impetus to make one late last spring, until I discovered that I had already missed blood orange season (It's a shame that the season for something so delicious only lasts for 2 months in the winter). The recipe was an adaptation of a Honey Wheat Ale kit from Barleycorn's Craft Brew in Natick, combined with a friend's suggestion for the blood oranges.

Yes — that's a pot full of blood orange juice on the left. AWESOME.

This was my first time visiting Barleycorn's, and they were fantastic — much better than the arrogant beersnobs that run Modern Homebrew in Cambridge (Imagine Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons. Now imagine he runs a homebrew store instead. "Extract brew? Ugh. Why don't you just like, sparge at 275 Fahrenheit?" I HATE YOU). If you're looking to get into homebrewing (and have access to a car), I suggest you check them out.

Bottled: Sweet Honey Tangerine IPA

52 bottles of delicious homemade beer on the ground, 52 bottles of delicious homemade beer...

Sweet Honey Tangerine IPA is a bitter West Coast-style IPA brewed with Cascade and Citra hops, with the addition of orange, clementine, and honey tangerine peels, plus some honey and more orange flavor added before bottling. My goal is for the citrus sweetness of the orange-flavors to balance out the hops bitterness. But it just entered to bottle, so we'll have to wait a few weeks to let it bottle-age before we see what happens!