Starting Anew

I’ve been absent awhile, for which I do not apologize. Throughout the summer I was planning a wedding, after which I got married, went on a honeymoon, started a new job as a first year Special Education teacher and adopted a dog. It has been a busy few months and I have not found the time nor the energy to update this blog.

The work/life balance is a tough line to toe. There’s days I’m simply exhausted after the day’s work and cannot bring myself to begin the creative process and write. In the morning, between walking the dog, showering, shaving, making breakfast, getting lunches together and finally getting ready for work, there is very little time for anything else.

All of these are excuses, I know. If I want to write, I must make time for it. Sometimes, I ask myself if I simply stopped writing, stopped trying and just enjoyed my time without having the nagging ‘I should write’ feeling in the back of my mind, maybe I’d be better off. Maybe it would be better to just stop. Forget the disappointment in my lack of writing, my lack of effort, and just give in. To simply leave the whole ‘writing thing’ be. Would I be happier?

I’m not sure. Maybe you were expecting me to say “But of course, I couldn’t stop and blah blah blah, I had to write…” but that’s simply not true. Sometimes I think I would be able to enjoy other things more if I left the writing gig behind. I need some soul searching, some deep digging. I believe that I want to continue writing. I’m beginning to find balance between my new job and my hobbies and my social life. It’s difficult but maybe it’s not impossible.

I’ll keep going, for now. We’ll see how it goes as the year goes on.

The Blank Page

In good times, the writer looks at the blank page with excitement, with potential, with joy.

Excited by the words they will soon put down, the story they will soon tell, the characters who will soon breath, live and sometimes die. There is potential there, so much potential for things to happen, it is a joyous experience.

Other times, the writer looks at the blank page with trepidation, with fear, with disgust, anger, frustration, indignation.

Fear of the unknown, of the lack of ability, of innate inability to produce anything of worth, anything worth reading, anything worthy of anyone else’s time.

Disgust at the fact that the page lies blank before them, blank, a symbol of the writer’s inability to commit ink to paper or words to the screen.

Anger and frustration at themselves that they cannot seem to get the ideas in their heads out onto the page, such fantastic ideas only to turn into plain boring text on that page.

Indignation, this writer calls themselves a writer and yet cannot, does not, write.

What is this inability, this refusal? This difficulty? Where does this stem from and why?

Writing is work. Work is hard. Make the choice, do it or don’t but do not dwell too long in between. Making the choice to write or not is meaningful. Deliberating over long is a waste.

Do something. Anything.

Don’t waste your time in the middle.

Home Brewed Wisdom: Your First Brew

Experiences Brewing Beer

(confused about why I’m writing about beer? Try here first)

Your First Brew

There’s not much I can tell you about your first brew. I went over the basic method here but I don’t want to delve too much into the nitty-gritty and overwhelm you with details. You have to just go through it on your own to see and feel what it’s like.

(Note: this is going to be for extract brewing, which I suggest any starting home brewer begins with, as it’s much more simple and requires much less of an investment of both money and time)

If you don’t have equipment and aren’t sure what to get, here’s going to be my advice for lots of things: Find a Local Homebrew Store (LHBS) and speak to the staff there. They will be knowledgeable and helpful. They will point out useful beginners kits and equipment you need. They are great. It’s likely they are home brewers themselves and always seem interested to help out newbies. Honestly, when you have any questions in regards to homebrewing, asking the staff at a LHBS is always a good option. They are a great resource.

If you don’t have a LHBS close by, you can look online for homebrewing kits. northernbrewer.com isn’t bad. Check out the reviews for various kits and pick one. Try to figure out what you might be looking for. A glass car-boy is old school and looks great, but can be difficult to clean with its narrow opening, meanwhile a plastic bucket is practical and cheap, but has its own issues. Really, any starting kit will work. If you want to put together your own kit, check out the basic brewing post I mentioned above. It has resources at the bottom that will tell you exactly what you need.

Now you have equipment. What’s next? Ingredients and a recipe. Since this is your first brew, I suggest purchasing a recipe kit, which includes all the ingredients you need as well as step-by-step instructions. This takes much of the guesswork and thinking out of it which means you can focus on the process and familiarize yourself with it. Your LHBS will likely have recipe kits. My LHBS, Homebrew Emporium, has kits and its own recipes, all of which are solid from my experience. I have heard northernbrewers recipe kits are decent as well.

Once you have your equipment, recipe and ingredients, you are good to go! Make sure you have a good 4-5 hour block of free time and brew! It shouldn’t take that long every time but it’s always good to plan for it, as cleaning itself can take awhile. Follow the instructions on the recipe. Your beginner’s brewing kit may have instructions as well but ignore those and simply follow the recipe. It will do you fine.

When I made my first brew, I tried to follow both the kit’s instructions and the recipe, which confused me to no end. Ultimately, I ended up with a lackluster beer and unsure of just what went wrong. Follow the recipe.

You will begin with cleaning and sanitizing every piece of equipment that will touch the Wort after the boil. Then you will steep specialty grain in a pot of water for 15-20 minutes or so, depending on the recipe. You will bring the pot to a boil, then add the malt extract and bittering hops. Throughout the 60 minute boil, you will add more hops and any special ingredients. After the boil, you’ll cool off the wort in an ice bath of some sort. I used to just use cold water, ice and ice packs in my sink. Once the Wort has cooled down, enough so the bottom of the pot is cool to the touch, you will transfer it to the fermenter, and cap it with an airlock after pitching the yeast. Stick it somewhere dark and let it sit for two weeks. Then you bottle. Then you wait two more weeks and drink. (Times may change depending on style of beer)

Congratulations, you’re a home brewer! In posts to come, I’ll talk about what comes next after your first brew, go into depth into the various stages of the process and throw up a glossary of the various terms that are always thrown around in home brewing.

Thanks for reading, now go enjoy a beer.