First State Brewers

I have polluted my first minimash with 4oz of steamed oak chips and 2 split whole vanilla beans… Its probably going to be more like an imperial porter (or strong porter) rather than a stout – its probably not dark enough to be called stout. Damn my poor sparging technique!!! But oak-aged vanilla porter sounds good too… Next minimash I’m going to have to redo my sparging so something a little more effective. I’m even considering getting a cooler to do the mashes in…

At 8% Alcohol, this beer ought to pack quite a whollop :D

Later man
–Garrett

Congratulations Scott et and al and thanks for linking to my blog. I did have a cool link, but lost it, will post it when I find it.

Jane Hautanen (Jane Doe)

Here’s an unbelievable story from Ananova.

Man peed way out of avalanche

A Slovak man trapped in his car under an avalanche freed himself by drinking 60 bottles of beer and urinating on the snow to melt it.

Rescue teams found Richard Kral drunk and staggering along a mountain path four days after his Audi car was buried in the Slovak Tatra mountains.

He told them that after the avalanche, he had opened his car window and tried to dig his way out.

But as he dug with his hands, he realised the snow would fill his car before he managed to break through.

He had 60 half-litre bottles of beer in his car as he was going on holiday, and after cracking one open to think about the problem he realised he could urinate on the snow to melt it, local media reported.

He said: “I was scooping the snow from above me and packing it down below the window, and then I peed on it to melt it. It was hard and now my kidneys and liver hurt. But I’m glad the beer I took on holiday turned out to be useful and I managed to get out of there.”

Parts of Europe have this week been hit by the heaviest snowfalls since 1941, with some places registering more than ten feet of snow in 24 hours.

Hat Tip: The Unabrewer
Hat Tip: Yeah, Right, Whatever

Here’s a great article I found in Brew Your Own magazine that is an introduction to homebrewing.

Your First Brew

I like to tell people that brewing beer is as easy as making soup. I call it an addictive hobby. If you’re a beer lover, there is nothing like the feeling of drinking and sharing your own tasty brews! It is also fun to fill the entire house with the aroma of hops and malt and listen to the kids complain that it stinks! lol

I saw this article the other day. Sounds like something that would happen in this country. I guess there are idiots everywhere!

Czech man hooks himself up directly, falls asleep in cooler

Jan 24, 2005 – A Czech man who literally tried to suck down a keg of beer might end up paying a big price. The man who got himself locked inside of a Prague pizzeria to drink beer ended up drunk and asleep when he was arrested by police.

When the restaurant’s staff left, the 32-year-old broke into a cooling box containing a keg, disconnected the pipes leading to the tap, put them in his mouth and drank as much as he could.

The man, drunk and fast asleep, was found by cleaners in the early hours of next morning.

He will now have to pay for the beer he drank and faces up to one year in prison or a fine of $346 for the damage he caused to the cooling box.