Two wits, one weekend

January 31, 2011  |  1 Comments  |  by Matt Hufford  |  Homebrew, Homebrew Recipes

After a brewing hiatus due to being busy, holidays, and cold, I have once again starting brew, but with a twist. I have moved to brewing electric in my apartment. Now, my puny stove cannot handle a full boil with my brew pot, so additional heat sources are required. To augment the power of my stove, I built what homebrewers call a heatsick, which is basically just the heater element from an electric water heater mounted to the end of a pipe so that it can be safely put into the brew pot. I chose to make a heat stick instead of just mounting the element on my pot for improved flexibility. A hole in a pot is pretty much permanent, where as a heatstick isn’t.

Heat Stick

Heat Stick in Action

Since I had two empty fermentors and it was cheaper to buy the ingredients for two batches, I went ahead and brewed two of the same Belgian wits as follows:

  • 5# 2 row
  • 4# wheat malt
  • 0.5# crystal 10L
  • 0.5# flaked wheat
  • 0.25# Caravienne
  • 1 oz willamette @ 60 min
  • Safbrew WB-06 ( I wanted to use WLP400, but my lhbs didn’t have it)

Bird Feeder Staves Off Winter Garden Blues, Brings In Songbirds [Gardening]

January 20, 2011  |  2 Comments  |  by Ben Czajkowski  |  Gardening, Home Hacking

One of the earliest childhood memories I have came springing back into my head, earlier this week. It was of taking the toilet paper roll (called a duh-duh, as a child), smearing peanut butter on it, and covering it in birdseed. Then we’d hang them in the backyard, near the bird feeder, for the birds to go absolutely crazy over. It’s such a simple craft but created hours of entertainment watching the blue jays battle the cardinals for dominance of the bird feeder.

Too bad I can’t say that about baseball! BOOM!

This inspired me to take my Monday lunch break at Lowe’s, where I picked up a cheap, $10 bird feeder, a bag of songbird mix (thistle-free, per the wife’s request), and a giant, wrought-iron, dual-headed shepherd’s crook, on which to hang the bird feeder.

Garden Treasures Suet and Seed Hopper Feeder

Garden Treasures Suet and Seed Hopper Feeder

My effort aligned with my need to antagonize my cat, Ellie. She loves to sit in my bedroom window and watch the world go by, often chirping to herself or at a passing squirrel. I positioned the shepherd’s crook and the bird feeder outside of my window, where she would be able to enjoy the birds, once they find this delightful place to feed.

Or the squirrels do, whichever comes first!

Ellie In Shopping Bags

Ellie In Shopping Bags

Now, I am considering getting a hi-def web cam to train on the bird feeder. It would be set to take a shot, based on movement. Since I can’t always be home to enjoy the birds on the bird feeder, that doesn’t mean that I can’t capture them for viewing, at any time.

Archeologists Date Celtic Brewing Back 2500 Years [Homebrew]

January 18, 2011  |  Comments Off  |  by Ben Czajkowski  |  Homebrew

Would you enjoy a fine wine that has been aging for a couple hundred years? How about a pint of beer from 500BC?

Unearthed Celtic Iron Age Barley

Unearthed Celtic Iron Age Barley

Naw, I wouldn’t either. That would be some angry yeast and some gnarly flavors. Considering these brews probably contained “stinking nightshade“, I think I’d pass.
It looks like Celts made some booze some 2500 years ago in what’s now southwestern Germany. The history of home brewing and beer-making go back almost twice that.

Recently, a paper revealed that, about a decade ago, thousands of charred barley grains were uncovered in six, large, specially constructed ditches previously excavated at Eberdingen-Hochdorf. Sounds like their slaves did a poor job of cleaning, rinsing, and sanitizing before brewing! Obviously, the brew master let them get away with too much.

The article, printed in Science News, says that, instead of using hops, hop plant, this Celtic brew probably contained spices slike mugwort or carrot seeds. Excavations yielded a few seeds of henbane, a plant that also makes beer more intoxicating. The brewing process would also leave the beer smokey, from burning, and sour, from the lactic acid.

Awesome! Iron Age beer. How great of a brewery name would that be?

You can read the full article here.

Two Theories On The Disappearance of Bumble Bees [Gardening]

January 16, 2011  |  1 Comments  |  by Ben Czajkowski  |  Gardening
American BumbleBee

American Bumble Bee

One of the things I’ve learned as a gardener is that bumble bees are incredibly important incests, when it comes to gaining the fruits that you desire. What if you couldn’t sink your teeth into an exploding berry or an epically juicy tomato? Yes, you can buy open-pollinated seeds or swab the blooms yourself, but what if you have a field of hundreds or thousands of blooms that need some sweet bee loving?

Bees do all the dirty work for you. But there are suggested population declines in several North American species

A new research paper from people at the University of Illinois, Urbana and Utah State University has given some ground to determine what the problem is: fungus and/or inbreeding.

They “show that the relative abundances of four species have declined by up to 96% and that their surveyed geographic ranges have contracted by 23–87%, some within the last 20 y[ear].” That’s absolutely insane; these four species, which are important to the backbone of agriculture, could become distinct over the next few decades.

From Ars, on the theory of fungus:

Current data comes from surveys conducted at 382 sites spread over 40 states between 2007 and 2009, in which they collected 16,788 specimens comprising eight different species of bumblebees, including four species thought to be in decline. Historic data on these eight species come from a database containing 73,759 specimens compiled from natural history museums across the country. (For context, there are 50 known species of bumblebee to date.)

Their analysis revealed that over the last twenty to thirty years, there have been significant decreases—up to 96 percent—in relative abundance in the four species that were thought to be declining. These bees were absent from sites we’d expect to see them based on the natural history collections, indicating that their geographical ranges have shrunk.

Secondly, when it comes to inbreeding, these bees are like British Royalty because of the decreasing size of population. They are impacted higher by genetic drift, and can be more susceptible to environmental agents like parasites.

Regardless of the cause, bees are disappearing quickly. I hope that my children and their children will still be able to enjoy the luxuries that we have.

Better Garden Management Through Seed Organization [Gardening]

January 13, 2011  |  2 Comments  |  by Ben Czajkowski  |  Gardening, Home Hacking

Earlier today, I picked up this video from Green Roof Growers in my Reader Feed, but the post has since been removed for some reason. I think the video is worth enough energy to keep it circulating among the garden-blog-o-sphere that I’m dedicating a post to it. In the video, this lady talks about and displays her obsessive organization of her expansive vegetable seed collection.

Basically, she has purchased a blue file container, and in it, she places manila folders that contain plastic page inserts full of seed packets. These seed packets are not just in alphabetical order; they are also in order by what season that they can be planted. At first, I was judgmental of her seed organization tactics. Then I thought about what I do, which is just toss all my seed packets in a drawer and forget what I have. I didn’t have much room to judge…

Ultimately, what I’d like to do is use a seed organization method along the lines of a bead container, especially for multiple varieties of the same type of seed (bean, tomato, etc). However, I then lose valuable information on the seed packet itself, which can be an important part of seed organization.

I do need to organize what I have, though. Considering that when I went back through my seeds recently to catalog what seeds I do have, for the spring plant, I found packets I didn’t even know I had, including another strain of basil and a packet of unused rosemary seeds I had gotten for Xmas in 2009. Oops!

Soap Nuts For Laundry Detergent, Shampoo, Not For Snacking

January 9, 2011  |  Comments Off  |  by Ben Czajkowski  |  Home Hacking
Sapindus Mukorossi

Sapindus Mukorossi De-shelled Soap Nuts

Wow, it’s been about six weeks since I’ve last made a post. I haven’t done too much in the way of gardening, cooking, or brewing, so I haven’t had much new content to write about. Now, though, with the winter solstice gone and the days getting longer, it’s time to start thinking about starting seedlings and planning what’s worth fiddling with in the garden, this year.

More about that later this week.

Anyway, Mrs. Czajkowski went out with her grandmother this past week. She picked me up some fair trade Ethiopian coffee, which I am excited to push through my new grinder. While there, though, she picked herself up a bag of soap nuts (Sapindus Mukorossi, specifically). I was hoping that I’d be able to eat them, but, alas, they are nothing but bitter husks.

The bag says:

Soap nuts are the fruit of the Ritha, a tree found primarily in Nepal. The shell contains “saponin“, which is known for its ability to clean and wash. Soap nuts preserve the color and structure of valuable clothing longer than chemical detergent.

Place 5-6 Soap Nut shell halves in the cotton sack and soak in warm water for 10 minutes. Put the sack in the washing machine. The same soap nuts can be used up to three times. If the temperature is more than 150 degrees, shells can be used only once.

The wife wants to use them for two things. First of all, she’d love to replace the current detergent we’re using. Both her and I have sensitive skin, so we avoid perfumed and chemical-based substances the best that we can, especially on our clothing. Our skins absorb these chemicals and can have some harsh effects on us (and people, in general).

Secondly, since she has a very delicate scalp and has a hard time finding a shampoo that helps rather than harms, she wants to make a home made shampoo from these soap nuts. Here’s one possible recipe:

Boil approximately 12-15 whole soap nuts with 6 cups of water for 30 minutes. When it is boiled down, you will have about 4c. of liquid left. Add extra water, if needed, to keep it at that amount. When cooled, remove the soap nuts, and pour it into an airtight plastic or glass jar. It is better to make the liquid in smaller batches as it can spoil. Experiment with making liquid to see if you prefer a more concentrated version, using 3 cups water instead of 6 cups. Some prefer the concentrated solution for handwashing and shampoo.