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Turns out you can use your brewing burner for cooking food too. I used it to get a great sear on some scallops.

Trying an experimental brew. A while back I had a Mosaic IPA on tap and a Patersbier. I had to switch the keg line from one to the other so when I did that, the line was full of IPA. I poured a little of the Patersbier just to flush it out, so I had a little glass of a blend of each. I...

Three quarts of chicken stock. Yes, chicken. Simmered backs and feet for 24 hours with aromatics and a cup of caramelized onions. This is some rich flavorful stuff!

Another vote for Vienna lager. I just kicked my annual keg of Vienna lager and wish I had more. Since you have so much, why not experiment with maybe an all-Vienna barley wine? Years ago I made an all-Maris Otter barleywine. I used a ton of MO, like 18 lbs or something, and did a 3.5 hour...

After many weekends of crappy weather including the polar vortex, it's in the upper 40s here today, so I brewed an Oktoberfest-like lager. Nearly 1/3 each of Pilsner, Vienna and Munich plus a tiny bit of Melanoiden. I added a heap of Willamette as late addition hops so we'll see how that works...

An Army at Dawn. I know nothing about WWII in North Africa and this is a Pulitzer winning history of just that. And it’s part one of a three-part series. Should keep me busy for a while.

I’m brewing a lot too - it’s to lay in a supply for winter while the weather is still good. Got a fall favorite brewing right now - the Common Room ESB.

Pork butts were $0.99/lb so of course I grabbed one. At that price, a 7 lb pork butt was roughly the same price as the two-serving salmon fillet I grilled last night. Anyway, butt’s on the WSM and will be ready in plenty of time for Wisconsin vs. Iowa later tonight.

Fundraiser run today, but brewing a Hefeweizen tomorrow. Usually I make a Hefeweizen early in the summer but early fall works too.

My two pork butts were a hit at the party - when we got there the host told me that the earlier arrivals had all asked “Is Jon bringing smoked pork again?” The smoker is still set up and chickens were $0.79/lb this morning, so we’re having smoked chicken later.

Couple butts for a party at some friends’ house. Put them on at 6:00 last night, we leave at 2:00 this afternoon, so 20 hours should be more than enough. Now off to the bakery for fresh buns.

Edit: Jeez, they just played Thrill Kill Kult. And They Might Be Giants. Jesus and Mary Chain, Depeche Mode.

A local station does the Retro Brunch on Sundays and it’s like they found my tape collection from high school: Midnight Oil, Ramones, the Cure, New Order, Killing Joke, Belly, Pixies, XTC, Replacements, REM, etc.

I stepped up this starter (150 ml to 1L) about 13 hours ago. I’d say it’s active and pretty darn healthy.

Mosaic pale ale this morning and I just decided that I’ll do a Briess Pale Ale Malt/Willamette SMASH next weekend because why not?

Update: I went with the Milwaukee and it is great! So easy to calibrate. (And my pale ale had a perfect 5.35 pH this morning.)

So Thursday we stuffed our faces at State Fair with all manner of fried stuff, cheese, fried cheese, etc. so dinner on Friday was considerably lighter. I made my grilled ratatouille with our garden tomatoes, an eggplant that I picked off our plant just before cooking, and I stopped at a farm...

Got a half pound of Mosaic ready for a nice IPA this weekend.

Aahhh ... ribs on the smoker, August sweet corn and pattypans fresh from a morning visit to the farmers market (which is in a park with Milwaukee’s newest Biergarten) and eggplants from our garden. I love summer.

I’ve done the garlic and rosemary thing before with great results. I put Polish sausage seasoning on chops often and it’s great. Don’t know why it took me this long to figure out the sausage seasoning + ribs thing.