Wanted: Guinness Stout clone

So I've been looking for Guinness clone recipes, and am finding a lot of "like Guinness, but different in a slew of ways" hits

Does anyone that reads my blog have any idea what it is that gives Guinnes that amazing head, that.. ah hell, don't know how to describe it.. it's this:


Also, what is it that gives it that mouth feel, kinda like whole milk?

Still figuring out this brewing thing- lots of new things to learn, lots of new beer to try.

Since I've picked up brewing, I haven't looked at beer the same. Now it's more an intellectual pursuit, not just pursuit of a good buzz.

Get Phil Jones to say the science is settled, all will be ok...

How's that global warming workin' for ya?

6" of snow here Saturday. CHARLESTON, South freakin' Cackalacki... you know, semi-tropical climate, that whole thing?

You can learn a lot by watching youtube...

Been digging around the 'net for homebrewing info... I'd never have realized that extra time in the bottle would matter with beer...



Looks like I am NOT going to be drinking any of that West Coast Pale I bottled 10 days ago, for about another 20 days. GRRRRRRRRrrrrrrr

hmm.. definitely time to get some mead going again... that'll make me learn patience!!

Beef and Guinness Stew Recipe : : Food Network

Beef and Guinness Stew Recipe : : Food Network

experimenting with the "Share" function of Windows, i ran across this recipe- beef 'n Guinnes stew.

DEFINITELY gonna have to try this one... with my homebrew I just put in the fermenter.

Of late, I have gotten into homebrewing- just bottled my first batch, a West Coast Pale Ale- and have a second batch (Archer's Orchard hard cider) that will be bottled next week. I will be bottling this Irish Stout in two weeks.

'Course, after bottling, everything has to sit in the bottle for two weeks to carbonate- so I am looking at two weeks till I can taste the fruits of my labor... but afterwards, I will have more beer than I know what to do with!

Pink: Oh My God

Uhhh, Yummm....




EDIT: Cheeky bastards at Youtube have removed it for "adult content". Apparently Madonna's videos are just fine though :rolls eyes:

Check this out for an idea of what I'm all about here...
Pink, "Oh My God"

Yaaaay, beer!

(with apologies to Red Stripe)

Picked up a Mr Beer kit today at the local kitchen supply place. It took all of 30 minutes to sanitize the equipment and start my first batch of beer going. In 2 weeks I will be able to bottle it, and I am going to *TRY* to wait at least two weeks after that till I drink it.

First batch is the standard West Coast Pale Ale- I'm not a huge fan of pales, but you don't get a choice as the pale is what comes with the kit first off. My next batch will be an Irish Red (think "Killian's") followed perhaps by a German Hefeweisen (if it comes out anything like Paulaner Hefeweissen Dunkle, the person who came up with this kit is my new best friend).

One can also brew their own hard cider in the same kit- or rootbeer. I am not a huge fan of rootbeer, but the wife and kid are- I may have to surprise them with a batch.

I grabbed a twelver of a local brewerie's sampler pack last night, and had two beers out of it (strictly to save the bottle, don'tchaknow). I am now a little hung over- WTF?!?!

The two gallons of beer I have on brew are gonna last me a bit, I think :)

Vonage offering free calls to Haiti for *all* US Callers

Found this when I logged into my Vonage account:

Service Announcements
Vonage is committed to helping during difficult times. In the wake of the recent devastating earthquake in Haiti, Vonage is currently offering free international dialing to Haiti for all U.S. callers. Dial 800-809-2503 and follow the instructions to place a free 10-min call. We encourage you to pass this Vonage toll-free number along to non-Vonage customers who want to call Haiti.

Remember, calls to Haiti are free only if you use this toll-free number to place the call. If you dial from your home phone without using the 800 number, you’ll incur standard long-distance charges. Please note that due to infrastructure limitations in Haiti, you may experience difficulty reaching your party successfully. This free calling service to Haiti may be discontinued at any time.

Please note this is not just for Vonage customers. It's for ALL US callers to Haiti.

Another AD, this time with injury...

- I'd like to start off saying- this one wasn't mine. Thank goodness!

We'll call him Mr. Z, one of the engineers I work with. Apparently he had been cleaning his carry sidearm (I don't know what sidearm he carries, nor is it terribly important. Suffice it to say, it's a 9mm semi-automatic).

To clean said sidearm, he dropped the mag, racked the slide, checking the chamber visually as he did, reinserted the mag, racked the slide again, riding it forward.

Some of you already see the problem- bear with me.

What he neglected to do, if he is going to use the mag as a hold-open method when clearing the weapon, is to *check the mag* AND ENSURE it's empty.

So that was first gig...

Then he inserted the mag into the weapon, and rode the slide forward. This is two failures, way I see it: he didn't slingshot the weapon (pull slide back forcibly, and release), and he failed to maintain control of the weapon, ending up with his hand in front of the muzzle.

Additionally, he apparently had his finger on the trigger throughout this. I can attest to how easy this can be to do, and yet swear you never touched the trigger-- I have a 45ACP hole in my wall to this day to remind me of it, from my own AD about this time last year.

Adding insult to (severe) injury, the weapon sent a 9mm bullet through his (I am not a doctor, I am relating what I was told) 2nd metatarsal near the radius, effectively shattering the metatarsal and causing damage to the 3rd metatarsal, and perhaps some damage to the wrist as well. Subject has no feeling at all in his offside index finger, and no feeling in the near side of his middle finger on same hand. He's visited a (hand surgeon- what're they called?) today and will likely be out all week in the near term before attempting to come back to work- nevermind the time he'll have off work for PT, surgery, etc. There may even be a concern of him losing the finger, the way it sounds. (Again, I am relating info third-hand, as "what the Doctor said")

I won't relate any of the "black humor" that's circulated around the office regarding this. Let's just say that once we'd related our wellwishes for his recovery, he was fair game- most of us are former military, and a lot of us are former military shooters at an above average level. Yeah, once he's healed up, he's gonna have to run the gauntlet... this is our way of saying "we're sorry you had an accident, hope you get better soon... NOW- don't ever do that shit again!"

(I have mentioned, I am not a Politically-Correct person, haven't I?)

So- I've said it before, I'll say it again. I am kinda OCD about clearing weapons after my experience. To clear a semi-auto, I:

-Drop the mag- examine the mag. DO NOT put the mag back in the weapon. Verbally state if the mag is cleared or not- if it isn't cleared, clear the mag of all ammo.

Parenthetically: if you're one of these folks that uses the mag as a hold-open- stop it! Stop working around the system, stop being lazy! Use the slide lock, or hold the slide open manually if your weapon doesn't have one! Hell, stick a spent casing in it- stovepipe it intentionally, if you're using that special semiauto that doesn't have a slidelock! I use spent shtgun shells as holdopens/chamber flags on my AK for exactly this purpose.

-rack the slide and lock it in the open condition. Visually look in the chamber for a round. Insert the pinky finger into the chamber as you do- verbally state the condition of the chamber, and make it clear if need be. Then and only then:

-visually examine and touch the breech. Verbally state the condition of the breech. Make it clear if it isn't. Then and only then:

-look down the magwell via the ejection port. See daylight or other light through the empty well. Verbally state the condition of the magwell. Then and only then:

-State the condition of the firearm as "Weapon is clear".

-if you put the weapon down, immediately clear the weapon upon picking it up again. Same, if a weapon is given to you, even if you've seen it cleared by someone else. NO exceptions! I will often do this three times in succession- I've seen an old rusty shotgun that had a shell stuck in the tube come free unexpectedly- could have been a horrible surprise.

Is this OCD? Why yes, it is. Will someone likely comment that it's too much work, or duplicative? Of course- that's the point.

I haven't been shooting for all my life. I am not a dummy, either. I know intellectually that a weapon I just set aside, turned my back on, with no ammo in the house, and noone else home, IS empty. But how long does it take me to clear the weapon every time I handle it? 10 seconds, on a slow day. Isn't that worth it?

I hate to play Armchair Quarterback, but if my friend had done my little OCD clearing drill, he would not be looking at possibly losing a finger, nor would he be in great pain as he is presently. Also, we wouldn't be writing rude nicknames on his whiteboard for his return ;)

Worst of all, by far-- he's gonna have to listen to the Misses rag his arse about this one till he dies. Believe it. ;)

Clear 'em, folks. Laugh at me when you see me clear a weapon three times as I pick it up. I'll laugh with you, and hope like hell I am wasting precious seconds of my life. But remember- the moment you quit respecting these weapons, they can and will bite you, and they exact a heavy price.

- and most importantly, Teach your kids better than you yourself were taught! None of this circumvents the 4 rules- in fact, it reinforces them.

So.. .how long till these guys are declared "terrorists"?

Anyone checked out the Oathkeepers site?

While I do feel they are in the right, I wouldn't at all put it past the present "leadership" to declare them terrorists.

You know, kinda like the rest of us, who are veterans, believe in the Constitution, the right to bear arms, etc, etc...

While I agree with their stance, I don't think I'd say it would be wise to go sign up on their forum-- seems a real handy damned way to get put on a watch list.

Yes, I am WELL aware of how paranoid that sounds, thank you. But lest we forget, the White House DID stand up a "snitch" line for just this sort of thing, publically, not too long ago.

On my absence...

Folks--

The good news is, I am fine. I had a minor upper respiratory thing going on last time I made that post, and it returned two weeks ago-- so I missed like a week's worth of work. :(

I'm fine folks-- just pretty fed up with the direction I see things going.

10 months ago I would not have given a second thought to speaking my mind. Now, with this... cabal... in power, I'm not so sure.

Every day I wake up and am just astounded at the absolute idiocy of our present "leadership". It's like they're TRYING to bring the whole system down. I wish that I could honestly say that is crazy talk, but looking at the track record of advisers, etc, I can't honestly say it's not possible that's exactly what they're after.

So, I bite my tongue, for the most part...

Some may say this is cowardice. I prefer to think it's being prudent. Because the more I see going on, the more it seems like the fight's ours, and the Cavalry ain't comin'...