Recent content by twig

I lean the other way on this one. Unless I explicitly agree to be put on a mailing list, I'd be rather annoyed to start receiving unsolicited emails. The problem with the opt-out links is that spammers use them to verify email addresses (making them more valuable to sell), so you can't always...

There was a religious bookstore in Thunder Bay that closed down a while back. I'm still kicking myself for not getting a picture of the big "The Catholic Truth" sign over the completely empty storefront.

Growlers aren't designed to hold that much pressure. I used to do it and it worked fine for a few batches. Then my buddy went to crack into the growler he had stored under the kitchen table...when he picked it up, the bottom stayed behind on the floor and the growler was empty.

4 days is awfully short for primary, especially for a stronger beer. It's possible fermentation would be done (need to use a hydrometer to check) but longer in the primary would give the yeast a chance to clean up off-flavours. I'd suggest 2 weeks at the very least, and if it was me I'd...

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2010/11/30/calgary-alberta-beer-alcohol-content-ban.html Gotta love Canadian liquor laws. Not sure that a barley wine or trippel would be my first choice for binge drinking. If all you're looking for is to get drunk, there's lots of cheap 12% wine out...

The crappy tire burner does hold a keggle. The bottom rim of the keg goes on the outside of the supports, which then fit nicely against the bottom of the keg - it kind of gets wedged in place. I've only had about 7 gallons in the keg, but it seems solid. For me, the pot is a bonus 'cause I'll...

Based on a recommendation from another thread on here, I got the 'multi-purpose propane cooker' from canadian tire for $70. It holds a keggle and boils 6-7 gallons in around half an hour. It comes with a 30 qt pot (future HLT?) too. The only annoying thing is the 10 minute shut-off timer, but...

A buddy of mine in grad school developed the 'confusion to weight ratio' theory for alcohol and other inebriating substances for backcountry ski trips (perhaps if he'd spent more time on his studies and less on researching this theory he wouldn't have spent four years for his Masters?). Beer...

They have snow-making equipment, but it only works when it's below freezing, or possibly a couple of degrees above. Vancouver just had the warmest stretch of weather in 114 years of records, so even making snow hasn't been possible.

try watching it online. no tv so i'm watching it right now on ctv.ca, but not sure if that will work from an american IP adress. pretty impressive ceremony so far. i'm a sucker for good celtic fiddle music.

None. When I used to use plastic I'd squeeze the bottle while putting the cap on so the beer was right up to the rim. The bottle expands as the beer carbonates, so you can even tell by the firmness of the bottle when the beer is carbed.

They're not designed to hold pressure, so there's a risk they'll break. I used growlers several times with no problems before I knew better - then one of my buddies picked up a growler he'd had stored under the kitchen table for a couple of months and found the bottom was no longer part of the...

Fruit fly trap...put a bit of beer or red wine in a glass (1/2" or so is enough). Cover the glass with plastic wrap then poke little holes in the plastic with a toothpick. The flies crawl in to get the drink then can't figure out how to get back out and end up drowning. It seems to work best...

I had one break too. I had a couple of growlers we were using for bottling. They worked fine for a few batches, then one day my buddy went to grab one from where it was stored under his kitchen table - found the bottom was no longer part of the growler and the beer had long ago seeped into the...

I've been confused by the same thing. I started brewing with Coopers (and other) kits, so thought that 5 gallons meant 23 litres. Then I went and ordered a couple of kits from Midwest, didn't realize that American gallons were different, so I ended up with a couple of 23 L batches of slightly...