If it floats, it is a witch and should be burned on the briquettes

Anyone who knows me even a little, knows I am one congenial bastard when it comes to the holidays. This Thxgvng (twitter spelling), I'm brining the bird, cooking the bird, and drinking beer while others in the home cook. So, here it is. I hunted for my bird near Weiland's today. I plopped it in a bag-lined box, topped it with brine (1/4 C salt and sugar/quart water) until it was swimming. It floats. It'll brine for a day and a half and then to the coals. Probably medium, indirect, cut and eat. Have an awesome frickin' day y'all.

Related articles

• For the Briners, Thanksgiving May Start Today (dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com)
• A better way to brine (realmendriveminivans.com)
• "How to Brine a Turkey" and related posts (savorysweetlife.com)

notes to self for pain au levain

x = 30 g

1. 1x(flour) + 2x(pineapple juice) + 2d ---> 3x[A]

2. 3x[A] + 1x(pineapple juice) + 1x(flour) + 1-2 d ---> 5x[B] see image

3. 5x[B] + 1x(water) + 2x(flour) + 1-2 d ---> 8x[C] see image

4. 4x[C] + 1x(water) + 3x(flour) + 1 d ---> 8x[D]

5. 4x[D] +9x(water) + 12x(flour) + 4-8 h ---> starter= [S]

>> [S] can be refreshed according to:
1x[S] + 2x(water) = 3x(flour) ---> 6x[S]

Pain au levain

3x[S] + 5x(water) + 8x(flour, mixed) + 6-8 h ---> levain

16x[levain] + 11x(water) + 16x(flour) + 1% w/w salt ---> dough

(a strategy to follow based on Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day (some rounding)

Related articles

• Pain de campagne (saffronandhoney.wordpress.com)
• Is white whole wheat flour a whole grain? (self.com)

Just Ale

(Lot = http://j.mp/9mqoXv --> 14-Nov-2010: archive sample bottled and remainder kegged)
I started brewing all grain recently and haven't had much luck with logistics. Most stuff now, I think, is worked out. Today I'm doing a simple practice ale to check out techniques and equipment. After reading a bit, I decided to try a higher dilution single infusion mash. I wanted to do as much as possible with an in place kettle because carrying around hot liquids is heavy and unpleasant. Higher dilution mash, ca. 2L / pound grain, means I'm not going to sparge, simpler. Results? We'll see.

Dave's Beer (Ale)
Breiss 2 row, 10 lbs
Crystal Malt, 60°, 1 lb
Black patent, ca. 1/4 lb
hops, Fuggles, 1.6 oz

1. Took a 50L pot (one can never have too much headspace) to 162°F and placed the cracked grain and mesh grain bag in (using a half-assed cooling rack/false bottom), stirred and let sit at ca. 150-145°F for an hour.
2. Warmed to 170°F and let sit 15 min.
3. Pulled grain bag (kind of messy pull, got snagged), squished it and rinsed it a bit, total 22L 10°Brix, ca. 225 points. This grain bag will be replaced with a fine stainless mesh more rigid bag when I finish it.
4. Brought to boil, added hops intermittently throughout an hour, careful huh?
5. Cooled to <70°F using an immersion chiller (thanks cold weather) in ca. 15 min.
6. Aerated the pulp out of it.
7. Dumped into a bucket to ferment while filtering out hot/cold breaks. OG = 12°Brix (1.048).
8. Charged yeast slurry to wort at 68°F.
9. waiting patiently...
10. gravity after 3days = 1.016, bummer, a little high, another 2-3 points and I'd be happy. Taste is pretty good (as much as I can tell at this stage).

Related articles

• Beer Brewing Basics, by Doctus (survivalblog.com)
• Behind the scenes at the Samuel Adams brewery (news.cnet.com)
• Amber DeGrace: A Day in the Life of a Brewer -- Iron Hill Brewery (huffingtonpost.com)