Penny Higgins - Storyteller • Artist • Scientist
Combining Science and Joyful Creativity
Since I’m jumping into brewing in a rather manic fashion, it seems only natural to take a moment to reflect upon what it is that I am making.
I brew beer. Lots of beer.
But what is beer?
Beer has three required ingredients. Leave one out, and you no longer have beer.Continue reading “What is Beer?”
I’m done, and I’m spent. I committed myself to catching up on brewing tasks this weekend, and I did.
Yesterday, I filled and capped 45 bottles of my Yam-tastic Oil Change Porter. I had a sip of the uncarbonated beer and I can’t wait to have it when it’s finished!
I love pumpkin beers. Sadly, most commercial pumpkin beers and ales contain cinnamon, to which I am quite allergic. So I decided to make my own, based off of a clone recipe for Brooklyn Brewery’s Post Road Pumpkin Ale in September 2014’s issue of Brew Your Own Magazine.
My recipe:
5 gallon partial-mashContinue reading “Penny’s Pumpkin Ale”
I had some plans for the weekend. They fell through.
So, instead, I’m going to work on catching up on my brewing back-log.
1) Bottle Penny’s Yam-Tastic Oil-Change Porter
2) Brew one or more of the following:Continue reading “Breweekend”
Something clicked in the last couple of weeks, and I’ve been brewing like crazy. The end result is this current state of my living room:
Continue reading “Thirsty Thursday – December’s Brewing Madness”
Two weeks ago, I started a hard cider using locally grown apples.
It’s been happily bubbling away in the dining room these past two weeks. It was time, yesterday, to rack it into a smaller carboy.
Time to rack the cider. #brewing pic.twitter.com/U5nkuvarh0
— Penny NaNo Higgins (@paleololigo) November 27, 2014
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsContinue reading “Thirsty Thursday (on Friday) – Racking the Cider”
Last weekend, I finally got to bottle my pumpkin ale. Two more weeks, and I get to drink it.
It was ready to be bottled, for sure!
Continue reading “Thirsty Thursday – Penny’s Pumpkin Ale… and More!”
It’s October now. That time of year when all the summer seasonal drinks disappear to be replaced with pumpkin spice everything.
This weekend I should be bottling my Sam Adam’s Summer Ale clone. You can’t buy it anymore because it’s no longer summer, but we’ll get to enjoy it all winter long! Last week, I racked it to clarify it a bit.
In our household, there’s a lot of beer consumption. I’ve come to the conclusion that the reason why I can’t lose weight is because of the vast quantities of beer available. (This is also my motivation to keep exercising so that I can drink all I want!)
I alternate brews between one that I’ll like and one that my husband will like. It’s more like I brew something for the husband which undoubtedly I will like anyway. Then I brew something for me, which is inevitably too dark and hoppy for my husband’s tastes. (More for me!)
When we’re out, I try to pay attention to what my husband drinks. It’s mostly wheat beers (which are great!). Earlier this year he discovered that he quite liked the Sam Adam’s Summer Ale. I like it too. Continue reading “Thirsty Thursday – My Sam Adam’s Clone”
I racked the Honey Weizen last week, which meant that over the weekend, I could start a new brew. This time it was a kit called the Innkeeper Ale, an English ale.
This brew, like the Honey Porter I did a while ago, also required specialty grains.
Penny Higgins - Storyteller • Artist • Scientist