Homebrewing Blog

I just barely avoided disasater today. Only minor damage to home and surronding area. Check out the write up. http://atomicdonkeybrewing.blogspot.com/

1stTimer said:

I just barely avoided disasater today. Only minor damage to home and surronding area. Check out the write up. http://atomicdonkeybrewing.blogspot.com/

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Wow, glad it wasn't worse!

Control those ferment temps, and get a blow off tube! =)

Thanks, I think I was probably 10 to 20 mins from a full blown fountain. When SWMBO called it wasnt even coming out of the airlock yet, just whistling and really active. 20 mins later when I got there it was flowing out and screaming. So a little stain on the ceiling and wall is nothing compared to what I think was about to happen. :rockin:

Got the blow off tube on now. Temp is right where it should be. I never used a starter before and I think thats the big difference.

glad i found this thread because there's a lot of great brewing blogs. some i've been reading for a while and some news ones i'll be sure to check out. i just started a new blog: happily hopped come check it out and tell me what you think!

One thing I've found is that it is tough to generate content to keep the blog updated regularly beyond the ho-hum, here's what I'm brewing today type posts.

I definitely give props to the guys that have been blogging for a few years, and have no shortage of interesting material.

scottland said:

One thing I've found is that it is tough to generate content to keep the blog updated regularly beyond the ho-hum, here's what I'm brewing today type posts.

I definitely give props to the guys that have been blogging for a few years, and have no shortage of interesting material.

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I see that you've gone beyond the "what am I brewing today" type posts... your DIY Tap Handles piece was superb.

homebrewdad said:

I see that you've gone beyond the "what am I brewing today" type posts... your DIY Tap Handles piece was superb.

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Thanks! Ya, that was part of the reason why I started the blog. Part of the reason was to use it as a digital record book for the beers I brew, but the other but the other reason was share some of the cool things and good advice I've come across since I started brewing.

homebrewdad said:

I see that you've gone beyond the "what am I brewing today" type posts... your DIY Tap Handles piece was superb.

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Totally agree. Quality post!

I put up a good post today. I managed to get an interview with Alan Newman. He founded magic hat and now is partnered with Boston Beer co. In a new venture called Alchemy & Science
http://hollisbrewco.blogspot.com/2012/02/interview-alan-newman-of-alchemy.html?m=1

great interview Hollis! the content really fits with where your blog is going.

I just participated in my first Session. Anyone ever partake? here's my post:

Growlers at happily hopped

The rest of the roundup can be found at Washington Beer Blog

I have heard I think. First Sunday of every month everyone blogs about the same thing right ?

Some great reading there Hollis. Really enjoyed it. I just got started on my single tier build this past Saturday. A buddy at work is doing the welding for me. He is far more creative than I am. He is now talking about putting the burners on a swivel and making the rig for 6 kegs instead of 3. All of them back to back. That way I can swivel the burners from one keg on one side to one of the other side. I will have pics up on the blog as soon as I can.

It was hard for me to picture until he drew it out for me. I think its going to turn out sweet!! Can’t wait. Now watch me win the brew rig in the drawing. If by some freak chance I do I will auction one of them off, promise!

Good news on the rig 1st timer, I would get as much info/ pictures of it up on the blog as possible my brewing rig post is one of my biggest.
Does anybody use google analyitics for their blog ? I know the numbers are not everything but I didn't like what blogger was giving me and I found out googles analyitics software is much more accurate (and free) plus I LOVE DATA !! all the pie charts and stuff are great. Below is a shot of mine.

I maintain multiple websites (one for youth baseball, one for Disney World strategies, one for my wife's photo business, one for an RPG community, plus my homebrewing blog) and I use Google analytics for every one of them. It is a superb resource, gives you details out the wazoo.

For my money, once you have analytics, you can go ahead and disable any other stats package.

I use analytics as well. I'm a huge numbers fan. It's nice seeing how many people are actually reading what you have to write and how spread out across the world they are.

I used to use google analytics for my old blog and agree it's the best. Unfortunately I can't figure out a way to link it to wordpress Searched the interwebs and can't find a solution. Also read you can't use it with wordpress.

Does anyone know a way how to?

TenaciousJ said:

I used to use google analytics for my old blog and agree it's the best. Unfortunately I can't figure out a way to link it to wordpress Searched the interwebs and can't find a solution. Also read you can't use it with wordpress.

Does anyone know a way how to?

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I know there is a Wordpress plugin for it...

SPLASTiK said:

I know there is a Wordpress plugin for it...

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This is why I refuse to use wordpress. If you want to do ANYTHING slightly unusual, you have to get a frakking plugin.

my problem is I can't even find a place to download plugins. Every tutorial I've seen online seems to have a different dashboard then mine. I go to where it's supposed to be and nothing... I feel like I'm missing something

TenaciousJ said:

my problem is I can't even find a place to download plugins. Every tutorial I've seen online seems to have a different dashboard then mine. I go to where it's supposed to be and nothing... I feel like I'm missing something

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**insert generic anti-wordpress comment here**

homebrewdad said:

This is why I refuse to use wordpress. If you want to do ANYTHING slightly unusual, you have to get a frakking plugin.

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You don't have to use a plugin to do it, that's just the easy way.

TenaciousJ said:

my problem is I can't even find a place to download plugins. Every tutorial I've seen online seems to have a different dashboard then mine. I go to where it's supposed to be and nothing... I feel like I'm missing something

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What version of WordPress?

SPLASTiK said:

You don't have to use a plugin to do it, that's just the easy way.



What version of WordPress?

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i have the normal version... not pro. using twenty eleven theme. i've tried to drop the code from google analytics in the footer but it cuts off a portion of the script when saved on the widgets page. i also can't seem to find where to edit the page metadata to insert the script.

SPLASTiK said:

You don't have to use a plugin to do it, that's just the easy way.

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Sure. I'm a PHP developer (I wrote my own blog). I could go in and hack the code... but my changes are likely to get overwritten and/or break the next release or wordpress, which (like most releases) will probably be recommended due to the umpteenth security hole that needs fixing.

And wordpress itsef will nag you to upgrade every time you log into the admin... unless, ironically, you install a plugin to kill that functionality.

Insane.

Wordpress sounds like a bit of a pain in the arse.

I've been writing content for a while, but I'm still riding a high from the MN Craft Brewer's Guild Wintefest event a couple weeks ago and figured this was as good a time to launch as any! I've been following a lot of blogs from this thread and love the bredth of topics that are covered! Hope someone finds my posts enjoyable and occasionally informative

http://hoppedupbrewer.com/

I've always wanted to start one but I've really gotten motivated. I'm building a kick ass system right now and when I'm done I'll definitely be posting a write up with lots of pics.

Like many, I had the dream of making a website for their home brewery. Well I finally got around to making one. It was easier then I thought just took a little time. Without further ado:

http://fluke-brewing.blogspot.com/

Would anybody be interested in doing a collaboration post ? I was thinking of doing a review of the different brewing software. I would take beer alchemy and would need somebody to review beer tools pro, beer smith and/or anything else Im missing. We would put the same post with all the reviews up on everyone who participates blog.
Shoot me a PM here if your interested.

Sounds fun. You can count me in for reviewing BeerSmith on The Homebrew Academy. I've got the Mac version in case you think it's worth having both reviewed.

Beat me to it Billy. I've got the non-Mac version if that matters.

Also, I've got a minor update up on the blog to be followed by a big one tomorrow.
http://atomicdonkeybrewing.blogspot.com/

1stTimer said:

Beat me to it Billy. I've got the non-Mac version if that matters.
http://atomicdonkeybrewing.blogspot.com/

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Too slow!

I was actually planning on trying out iBrewMaster soon. If no one else claims it I could always take that and you can have BeerSmith.

Here's another blog for this thread: BeerAndGarden.com
I started with a gardening blog but only added a few posts, then the home brewing passion kicked in and I combined the topics in a new blog that I called 'Beer And Garden'. But I became only interested in blogging about brewing so the name is not quite appropriate anymore.

By the way, another brewing software that you might consider reviewing is Brew Mate, it's the best of the free ones that I found.

Http://www.thetablelands.com - just started recently

Aidan do you use brew mate and want to review it ? Anybody use beer tools ? I'm thinking we should put up all the posts together. We could exchange emails with text and pictures and let everyone format for their own blog.

Haven't set up a blog yet, but its on my to do list. I use Brew Target (open source created by an HBT member) and I could write a review for that if need be.

I use Brew Pal for iOS. Let me know if you're interested

HollisBrewCo said:

Aidan do you use brew mate and want to review it ? Anybody use beer tools ? I'm thinking we should put up all the posts together. We could exchange emails with text and pictures and let everyone format for their own blog.

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Yes I use it but may not be the best to review it since I don't also use one of the standard recipe applications such as Beersmith so wouldn't really have a benchmark to compare it with.