Homebrewing

[Cuffy]

http://www.amazon.co...ords=free+beer+books

Best I could do on short notice 

If you have an Amazon account simply search free beer books.
That was the only one there just now but that's a dynamic site and there may be a dozen tomorrow. 

I'm also wondering if I copy and paste a link from an RSS feed directing you to Amazon if that would work. You have an Amazon account, hmmm 

[Cuffy]

Here's one of the entries on the Free Kindle eBooks list this morning.
I realize that you need a Kindle acct, Amazon acct, etc. but this will give you an idea of what's out there   
Damn!, beer is big business   
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EZV3HX2

This page is for free Kindle books, which Amazon downloads to your Kindle acct, AT Amazon 
They areNOT downloaded to your harddrive 
If you will notice there's a long list of "what others are reading" at the bottom of that page........
Somewhere in that kindle list it was cited that a large overlap of sources exists so my mission this morning is to find another source for some of those books. I was a little surprised at the number of free psychology books that Google turned up so maybe there is some free beer (books) afterall   
If Google turns up freebies, I promise, you'll be the first to know...

[Renegade]

Been a bit busy, so still need to get the VM & accounts & Kindle running... But I'll get to that!


Regarding this batch of ginger ale, I've been much more patient and methodical (using the fermenter), and it's gurgling away very nicely after almost a week and gurgles every 5 seconds or so.

But... it is testing my patience... I'm dying to try it...

Heck, I can't keep away from my last batch of beer. It's bottled, and primed for secondary fermentation, but I've still pilfered 3 bottles so far, and it's still very nice. Even at room temperature.

I HATE warm beer. Or rather, I hate stuff like warm MGD or Bud or Molson Canadian or Labatt's Blue... They're horrid warm. This? It's actually nice warm. It's a brownish red, lightly carbonated (because it's still too early), but very drinkable. It's actually much nicer than the commercial stuff I buy.

I've got a packet of ale yeast still, and wondering what I can do with that, but I've only got so many bottles, and I'll run out once I bottle the ginger ale.

I saw strawberries on sale... oh my... strawberry beer! So many possibilities!

[Renegade]

This is Youtube channel from a homebrew retailer. They have a LOT of really good material. They do advertise some of the things they sell, BUT... get this... they actually talk about the products in a practical way, i.e. exactly the opposite of the drivel commercial ads you get on TV. They're more like product reviews.

Most of the videos are educational, and even the short ones get into some depth with explanations that I've not heard elsewhere.

https://www.youtube....thernBrewerTV/videos

Now, back to watching a fellow explain yeast strains!  

[Cuffy]

Here's one of the entries on the Free Kindle eBooks list this morning.
I realize that you need a Kindle acct, Amazon acct, etc. but this will give you an idea of what's out there   huh
Damn!, beer is big business   ohmy
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EZV3HX2

This page is for free Kindle books, which Amazon downloads to your Kindle acct, AT Amazon  tellme
They areNOT downloaded to your harddrive  Sad

A slight correction is in order here............
The free Kindle books are downloaded to your Kindle account at Amazon and are loaded into your Kindle for PC when you open the reader.
BUT    by right clicking on each volume then clicking "Download" the book comes down to your Kindle content folder.
I knew I had Kindle book files in Win7 so I started playing, moving files, etc. where I discovered, (or remembered) the right click thingee. What happened in Win8  I went back to the Win8 machine and tried the right click. Bingo, it works in Win8 too 

I found the fastest way to download was to go to the end of the list of books in the ereader, right click, Download, and keep doing the same thing (up the list) as fast as you want. As they download they disappear from the list so you just keep up with the drill until all the books in the achive are gone and they all appear in your collections. It's easy and quite fast once you get a rhythm established. 

[Renegade]

The last batch of beer is working very well, and the batch of ginger ale is highly alcoholic. But, I'm too lit to continue typing.

[Renegade]

Here's an interesting post:

https://www.reddit.c..._beer_in_the_viking/

Source: The earliest Norwegian laws

This law was written down in the older gulathing law . The reason for this law was because of the old tradition of drinking "jol" to remembrance and as a ritual drinking offer to the old gods. This was not in accordance to christianity, but all the people of Norway was so accustomed to drinking jol that Olav Trygvasson said/made a law that more or less said "You shall keep your traditions of brewing beer and drinking it, but you have to bless it in the name of Christ and holy Mary".
Also, Jol was celebrated as long as there was beer to drink. After 20 days of celebrating, all the beer had to be consumed and eveything regarding christmas had to leave the house. But some kept the tradition of celebrating as long as there was beer in the house.

Here is the transcript from the older gulathing law.

"Hvis det ikke er færdigt til den fastsatte tid, skal man betale 3 øre til biskoppen, men dog holde gildet, selv om det er senere. Hvis nogen ikke brygger og findes sandskyldig i det, at han sidder således i 12 måneder uden at iværksætte sammenskudsøl, da skal han bøde 3 mærker til biskoppen for det.

Endnu en ølbrygning har vi lovet at gøre — bonde og husfrue af lige store mængder — og signe det på den hellige nat til Kristi og den hellige Marias tak til år og fred. Men hvis det ikke bliver gjort således, skal der bødes 3 mærker til biskoppen for det. Hvis han sidder således i tre vintre, at han ikke iværksætter ølbrygningen — og findes sandskyldig deri — og ikke udreder de bøder, som vi har pålagt for vor kristendoms skyld, da har han forbrudt hver en penning af sin ejendom, som skal tilfalde halvt vor konge og halvt biskoppen. Men han skal have mulighed for at gå til skrifte og bøde over for Krist og så forblive i Norge; hvis han ikke vil det, skal han forlade vor konges land."

In english:

Now the next is this, that we have promised an ale feast, such as men call a "neighborhood ale"; [there shall be] ale from one measure of malt for each freeman and another for his wife. And let three householders at the fewest give the ale in common, unless the live so far out among the isles or so high up on the mountainside that they are not able to bring their brewing to the homes of other men ; in such cases they shall brew as much ale singly, Magnus: "as would be their share". Olaf "as all three should".

But if a man occupies a farm supporting fewer than 6 cows or [needing] less than six salds of seed grain he shall give the ale feast only if he wishes to do so. Both: "This ale shall be given before the mass of All Saints at the lates. The ale shall be blessed with thanks to Christ and Saint Mary for peace and a fruitful harvest; and if one fails to do this at the appointed time, he shall pay a fine of three "øre" to the bishop and shall give his ale even if it [has to] be at a later time. If he fails to do it and if he is accused and convicted of having allowed a twelvemonth (year) to pass without sharing in a neighborhood ale, he shall pay a fine of three marks to the bishop.

We have also promised that every husbandman and his wife shall join in an ale feast, all sharing equality, and bless it on Holy Night with thanks to Christ and Saint Mary for peace and a fruitful harvest. And if this is not done, they shall pay a fine of three marks to the bishop. And if a man allows three winters to pass without giving an ale feast, and he is accused and convicted of this, or [if he fails to heed] the penalties that we have added to our church law, he shall have forfeited his goods to the last penny ; and the king shall have one-half of it, and the bishop one-half. But he has the choice of going to confession and doing penane; [then he may] remain in Norway ; but if he refuses to do this, he shall depart from the king's dominion.

tl;dr - It was illegal to not brew ale.


In other news, I've got a new batch of ginger ale on the go. I've been too busy for too long to manage to get it started, but Saturday I finally had time.

Once that's done, next on the list is a beer.

But this ginger ale recipe is quite different from anything I've tried so far. I'm really curious how it will turn out. I'll post the recipe later when I find my notes again. I still need to write down the SG (1.096).

[Renegade]

Some may enjoy this. Just know... the Mountain King is a beer drinker!

[Renegade]

http://gizmodo.com/w...eck-reall-1689446524

What 170-Year-Old Beer Uncovered From a Shipwreck Really Tasted Like

In other news, my last batch of hard ginger ale was AWESOME!