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Zen and the art of partial mash brewing

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Later this week I’m reviewing the DVD shown in this picture, “Stepping into All Grain,” by Basic Brewing. But as I hurtle full-tilt into a busy week, every now and then I take a moment to fondly reflect on a small project I squeezed in between household errands and writing, inspired by the DVD: building a partial-mash tun from a 2-gallon cooler and a handful of inexpensive parts (instructions from the Homebrew Wiki — though the DVD made it much clearer what I was doing).

A mash tun is a device for steeping cracked grains in hot water at a controlled temperature long enough to convert the grain’s starches into sugars. The remaining liquid is recirculated through the mash tun a couple of times and then drained into a kettle, where the wort (the liquid) is mixed with other materials and boiled. After that, the wort is cooled, mixed with yeast, fermented, mixed with sugar, and bottled, and in a couple of weeks or more, there you have it, beer.

(I guess that’s the Book-a-Minute Classic version of beer brewing. There is a wee bit more to it than that…)

Brewers who are hardcore go outside with propane burners and massive kettles and use 5 or 10 gallon mash tuns. (Then there are folks who go out and spend hundreds of dollars on very fancy equipment… we thank them for stimulating the economy.)

Despite her fondness for fancy equipment and even her affection for nature, Miss Karen has no intention of sitting outside with the skeeters and heat and humidity and whatnot. To me, brewing is a culinary craft, to be shared in a climate-controlled kitchen with Sandy, Rachel Maddow, and our indoor cats, and to be fitted into the larger scheme of things, such as cooking dinner.

I’ve been happy with the kits that include mostly precooked malt extract and a small amount of grain that is then steeped in a grain bag on the stove for a while. But this partial-mash tun gives me a way to experiment with temperature control for the grains and play more with the science of brewing.  I made Sandy her very own beer this weekend (Lighthouse Ale from Homebrew Den) and had a very pleasant time using the mash tun.

(It’s worth trying homebrewing just for the language… wort, mash tun, lauter, vorlauf, sparging, and much more!)

By the way, if you want really good service in Lowes’ or Home Depot, just explain that you’re assembling homebrew equipment. One fellow at Home Depot actually said to the other clerks, “Look what she’s making!”

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A Basic Homebrewing Collection for Your Library

Saturday, March 14, 2009

In the last week I have been immersed in a writing project I am thoroughly enjoying, so I’ve had just enough personal time to exercise, fiddle around with homebrewing, and do a little reading (finally almost done with The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing — which is nothing less than astonishing).

But I keep meaning to update you with my homebrewing — the reading, in any event.

Homebrewing is a surprisingly bookish craft, and many of the books make wonderful reading.  But if you can’t read all of the homebrewing books (or watch all the videos) you could start with these two books (scandalously underrepresented in public library collections):

Papazian, Charlie. The Complete Joy of Homebrewing.  Now in its third edition, this cheery, reassuring book has walked many a new homebrewer through that crucial first brew. The pictures and illustrations are hokey, but not in a bad way.

Palmer, John. How to Brew.  A thorough book that digs deep into the technical aspect of brewing.  Palmer is a metallurgist, and his love of science and technical precision combine with an engaging voice to make an absorbing read. A great second book after Papazian.

If your poor downturn-eviscerated book budget has even a nickel to spare, you could add these as well:

Mosher, Randy. Radical brewing : recipes, tales, and world-altering meditations in a glass. Go to the edge of brewing and back! Elegant and inspiring.

Hieronymus, Stan. Brew Like a Monk. Great for understanding those wonderful Belgian beers, and beautiful reading.  A book of style and history — not a how-to or recipe book.

Spencer, James. Introduction to extract home brewing. This is a DVD by the host of Basic Brewing podcasts and video casts. I listen to Spencer’s podcasts regularly and have watched his free online videos. Though I haven’t yet viewed his DVDs, I recommend anything he produces. His relaxed, reassuring style and his deep domain knowledge are a winnable combo, particularly when he pairs up with cohort Steve Wilkes and they nerd it up in their button-down shirts in an  average American kitchen (I love it when the dog wanders in and out).  Spencer has a number of other videos; his Stepping Into All-Grain is on my personal purchase wish list (since only 3 libraries carry it!).  I’m not sure I want to try all-grain brewing without Spencer holding my hand.

There are many more good brewing books, some broad and some quite specific (I’m seriously tempted to write Brewing for Little Old Librarians) and I may have left yours off. Make a pitch for the brewing books you love!

Filed in Homebrewing, Librarianship | | Comments (14)

Free books, as in free beer, and more

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

I had a lovely writing day and also built a writing-submission calendar in Google Calendars, sent out some pieces, scheduled submissions for the next three months, and basically worked on my writing mojo. Restoring my “writing self” has done wonderful things for my ‘tude.

Free books! Harper Collins has just started a blog, Library Love Fest, and they’re giving away books all this week.

It’s small press month. Take a small press to lunch! Or you could buy Powder, an anthology of writing by military women, including my essay “Falling In,” nominated for a Pushcart.  Perfect for getting ready for Memorial Day library book displays.

“I thought you might want to see this. This is the editor of the book talking about Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.” Really, who can ever get enough of those Regency zombies?

ALA’s Washington Office has a short survey your library will probably want to fill out about what e-government and employment services your library is providing. “Your answers will help us greatly in our work with legislators in Washington DC, as we advocate for library funding and other library interests.” Deadline: March 20, 2009. Questions? Contact Jessica McGilvray at jmcgilvray@alawash.org

“On some days the most noise comes from the least informed audiences, most of whom have no MLS degress — work in some other occupation — but love to debate things.” — Jay Jordan, on commentary regarding the OCLC records use policy; 5 minutes, 50 seconds into the OCLC Update Breakfast, ALA Midwinter (Denver), January 25, 2009. But Jay — where is your MLS?

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Spring Forward Into Links

Monday, March 9, 2009

Today I am taking a writing day, as a way to help my writing soul and displace me from the omnipresent Now. I have too many writing tasks to work on in the next fourteen hours, and that’s a wonderful problem to contemplate!

But I had this link roundup written, so here you go. As more of us are on Facebook sharing links left and right, the link roundup feels a little less necessary, but there are times when I want to share links people have sent me that are more fun in the aggregate.

Bits n Pieces

I like the voice in this inaugural post on this blog from New York Public Library.  Nice job, folks (except for your craptacular URLs — just “fixed” the link so it would point to all the wobbly stuff on the end — craptacular stuff gone, thanks NYPL!).

My writing friend Thomas Peele (we were at USF together) is one of the investigative journalists who seriously rocked an unsolved Bay Area murder.  I wonder if he and his peers are reinventing journalism?

A friend forwarded this Yahoo article mocking a Virginia resident’s “stimulus” suggestion to invest in local craft brewing.  Let’s see:  local labor, local products, American grains and transportation — what’s not to like?

(Did you know homebrewing was still illegal in six states?)

True confession: until I went to Code4Lib, I thought Rhode Island was actually an island (which in my head explained why it was so small). I don’t have a link for that. Just wanted to share.

Tallahassee Sundries

Do you tweet in Tallahassee? Add the #tallahassee hashtag to relevant tweets.

The Big Read is coming to Tallahassee! It’s Fahrenheit 451, and it coincides with the TWA conference (discussed below).  Yay for Leon County Library, Tallahassee Community College, and everyone else involved! I’m going to buy a used copy of Fahrenheit 451 so I can write in it. (I had a copy… in fact, I may still have it. Hmm, no, on closer inspection, that’s Frankenstein.)

Whoa! Tallahassee Writer’s Association just had a major website makeover! Haven’t hit all the links yet, but it’s at least surface-pretty. The old website made my eyes bleed. Oh hey — blush — my Pushcart nomination even gets a mention.

Speaking of which, the upcoming TWA conference, April 3-5, will be awesome. Robert Olen Butler, Philip Gerard, many other good folks, plus a book fair that Sunday (come by and buy my books — I’ll sign them!).  Zowie! I am genuinely enthusiastic (and I’m doing a small session Sunday morning on creative nonfiction). Hope to see some of you there!

Finally, are there any local homebrewers interested in participating in The Big Brew on Saturday, May 2? I did a half-batch of Saison du Mont this weekend (extract version — all ingredients are at Homebrew Den) to see if I like it and to tinker with my technique. (Our house is now perfumed with sweet and bitter orange, slow-cooked grain, and warmed honey. I won’t know for a month or more if it tastes good, but anything the color of a bull’s-eye caramel that smells that yummy is almost worth making anyway.)

Why Homebrew?

I have realized that homebrewing takes the place of rose-gardening, which I can’t do here in Tallahassee — our house is all shade, and it’s too hot/humid anyway. It’s all the same skills and predelictions: very specific domain knowledge, lots of planning and strategizing, many subspecializations, many enjoyable hours whiled away thinking “what next,” gradual, iterative skill acquisition, interesting gadgets and equipment that can be acquired one little bit at a time — and you can spend as little or as much on it as you want and your pocketbook allows.

Plus, I consider roses and beer very practical outcomes (though I never had to exercise extra hard to work off the roses).

Regarding purchases, I do practice restraint, though it pained me not to walk out of the store this Saturday the proud owner of the Funnel of my Dreams or a gleaming stainless steel digital scale… but oh, someday when my ship comes in: between specialty baking pans, siphons of every size and shape, and a suite of funnels so large they could drain Wakulla Springs,  I’ll need a second kitchen!

Filed in Librarianship, Reading, Recipes, Tallahassee Living, Writing | | Comments (3)

On not writing

Sunday, March 8, 2009

When I was a little girl I fell down the stairs. What I remember most is not the  eyes-open terror of feeling my awkward, clumsy body suddenly loose and limber in free-fall, an unwilling astronaut launched on a possibly lethal space-walk, but my mother’s story of watching me tumble down the stairs,  unable to stop me or help me, her heart liquid in her mouth.

I have had trouble writing lately and I think it is due to the enormity of global events.  I am stuck in the agonized present, watching the world tumbling ass-over-teakettle, unable to go to that other place writers go, which we describe as all pain and teeth-gnashing and angst but is  for many of us actually a comfort zone where our head snuggles into that third place where we peacefully assemble and re-assemble the jigsaw puzzles of our stories, poems, and essays.

I can’t get to that warm, humming place. I have abandoned all my good writing habits (write first thing in the morning, schedule writing time every week, take an hour or two on a trip just for writing, etc.). I get up early to do personal writing and instead launch into work stuff… or I set aside time to do personal writing on the weekend and then do errands until all the time is exhausted.

Like my mother I feel my chest squeezed with empathetic pain, feel my helplessness and my frustration with my helplessness. I avoid cable news and I turn off even NPR if it gets too bleak, but the demons of truth sneak snippets of reality into everything I view or read, stalking me in the wee hours when I’m vulnerable, shaking me awake at 3 a.m. to tell me that my world will never be safe and comfortable again, that everything I knew was wrong, that we have not even begun to hit bottom.

Again in my childhood, I remember college students chanting, “The whole world is watching.”  We are all watching and in some ways I wish we were not, but it must have felt like this in 1939, that the only thing worse than watching was not watching.

The one true thing is my writing group, where no matter how breathlessly distracted I am, I pull myself into the discipline of reminding everyone when we meet, reading submissions, revising my own submissions (if I can’t create I can always revise existing pieces, and revision is the truly golden art), getting together, laughing and thinking and being serious with our work, then driving home in the aftermath feeling at ease and safe for a sweet  moment, as long as I do not switch on the radio.

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Code4Lib Made My Brain Fall Out of My Head

Friday, February 27, 2009

Note: that title is a compliment.

Code4Lib is a big stretch for me. Large swaths of it are simply too technical for me. (Note the important qualifier: for me.)

Even the way Code4Libbers welcome one another in advance was harder than usual. List my name on a wiki? No, nothing that simple. I had to create a FOAF file and make it all valid and whatnot… which took a few tries. I finally stole a file from someone else and modified it.

But I really, really appreciate Code4Lib, even if I feel a teensy bit guilty for taking a spot from someone who dreams in tuples or codes drunk or immediately understands that a doomaflatchy is always a subclass of whatchamajigger. (And since My Place of Work was a sponsor, and then stepped in with more funding when another sponsor dropped out, and I helped tape the conference… well, I don’t feel THAT guilty.)

What I love about Code4Lib:

  • A one-track format of short programs and lightning talks that taken together provide a zeitgeist of where we are in library development
  • Genuinely friendly people who like good food, interesting beer, and local sights
  • Coders and other geeks relaxing and being themselves, with the requisite insider-baseball jokes
  • The ongoing, funny, nattering IRC backchannel, or as one colleague refers to it, the “quilting bee” (I’d go so far to label it as the “stitch and bitch,” a modernized term that nonetheless fits)
  • The relaxed feeling I get when I’m in a group of very intelligent people who aren’t shy about being smart

I had some nice meals big and small (is it now required that mac-n-cheese include truffle oil?) but the best meal by far was at Local 121, where I had a duck leg so good I keep channeling it like a very strong psychedelic hallucination, my noise tingling from its ineluctably gamy fragrance that paired so seductively with that crackling skin floating over moist, moist meat.

After the conference, since I wasn’t leaving til the next day, I drove to Provincetown, where after I visited our friend Mark, Danny at Snip cut my hair, colored it (twice!) and waxed my eyebrows.  It was a quiet drive there and back, just me and my podcasts, and the ocean was a subdued blue that rippled into an equally-muted late-winter sky, while PTown itself was as still as those moments in church before the sermon begins. They have a Radio Shack in PTown now — everyone knows where it is and commented how happy they were to see it — and before my haircut I sped over there to buy a replacement GPS car charger and we talked about the economy, and later, on the way out of town,  the houses with their tidy winter-scrubbed yards and glowing windows  seemed snug and expectant, like they knew spring was coming and were willing to wait.

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Coming down the catwalk in her library cardigan

Wednesday, February 25, 2009
J Crew Library Cardigan

J Crew Library Cardigan

Even those of us who worry about the image of librarians can’t get upset about J. Crew’s “library shawl cardigan,” with its sexy-smart thing workin’ for it.

Although — full disclosure — in the real world, my library sweaters have typically been ratty, lint-flecked monstrosities designed to be furtively donned in the privacy of an overly-cold office.

(Sandy has even crocheted me various “office blankies” to help keep my shoulders warm.)

As someone who spends half the month working in red flannel jammies, I really shouldn’t talk. But I look at this ad and ask, girl, what is it with the shorts? Can you really see an ARL dean garbed in this outfit, strutting into the provost’s office to discuss construction projects? Well, if I were an ARL dean and I looked like this, perhaps in this economy I wouldn’t be shy about tarting my way into a mano-a-mano meeting with the Big Guy or Gal if it meant saving a capital campaign. I suppose I could drop a pen and then lean over and giggle softly… “Times are hard, are they not?” … while the boss ogled my long, long legs and pert bottom. But now I’m writing a porn movie.

My guess is they paired the sweater with a long skirt and realized that cardigans are fundamentally dowdy (which is why I haven’t worn them publicly since my Maud-homage long-sweater-scarves-and-dark-lipstick phase of the early 1980s, and fortunately, few photos of that era survive).  Yet the marketing of this sweater is a knowing nod to the essential sexy-smart hotness of librarians… I suppose no matter how modest our garb in real life, in our hearts,, we’re struttin’ down the librarianship catwalk in our short-shorts.

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Heading to Code4Lib, Prepping for Evergreen 2009

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Sunday, February 22, I leave for Code4Lib, and will be in Providence til midday Friday. I keynoted in 2007, didn’t get there in 2008, and am back as a free-floating attendee (one of the developers is attending, so that we’ll have someone there who actually understands what’s being presented), though I am taking my video camera to help with the recordings.  As for My Place of Work, they not only are a sponsor, when Code4Lib lost a sponsor they stepped in and increased their contribution. MPOW is careful with money, but knows when it’s right to open the purse again.

I am thinking of renting a car Thursday after the last talk and driving around the Cape that afternoon, then returning it to the airport the next day. I had a great haircut last June in Provincetown and I’m wondering if I can remember where Danny works (somewhere on Commercial Street) and if he’s available, and yes I’d drive up 6 and back for an exceptional haircut.  Oh wait — I bet I put that purchase on a credit card. *lightbulb over head*

Meanwhile, working on the upcoming Evergreen conference (May 20-22 in Athens, Georgia) has made me very aware of what it takes to pull together an effort — details as big as hotel contracts and as small as badge-holders, and skill sets from sponsorship machers to the person what does the website — and that would be Laura at SOLINET and we would all be so grateful!

In fact, SOLINET has been generous with their expertise, and I am forever indebted to them (and promise to stop teasing them about their new name, LYRASIS… hey, if they want to sound like a mouthwash, that’s cool). All three organizations involved in the planning have been workin’ it, but it is really invaluable to have someone on board who has Been There.

Speaking of Being There, as a conference speaker I am sometimes not expeditious about returning email with questions or filling out forms. I am truly sorry and I humbly repent (Alane is grinning at that, I’m sure). Our two keynoters for Evergreen, Joe Lucia and Jessamyn West, have been so prompt and good. I grovel before them.

I have a feeling this first conference planning experience is like a first pregnancy — that there are even more details ahead of me that I’m blissfully unaware of until they happen.  But it will All Be Good!

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Thin Sweet Slices of California

Sunday, February 15, 2009
I-5

I-5 Northbound, 2-11-09

The trip out west to attend ER&L 2009 at UCLA, with some vacay tacked on, was just glorious. I took many notes and even got vigorous and drafted several essays, including one that has been percolating in my head for a year, and took some pictures as well.

Before it all gets away from me:

Lunch with dear friend John K. in Berkeley, followed by the first of four pilgrimages to homebrew stores in the Bay Area (why not?)

Suddenly finding myself at Union Square for Chinese New Year, and after having a succulent Cunningham at the Clock Bar, watching the dragon twist and dance its way down the street

Joy-riding through San Francisco with no place to go, no promises to keep — just a road trip down memory lane

A quick, foodalicious stroll through the Ferry Market

Dim sum at Yet Wah with my friend Marsha, where we were served “horse berries” (we finally translated this to “spare ribs” — tiny pork spareribs in a tangy peppercorn sauce). Not every day you have horse berries!

Dinner Sunday night with my smart, funny, ever-inspiring California writer friends, hosted by Marie and Chris, who kindly put me up for two nights. Still thinking about that fume blanc and the banana cream pie. I think I agreed to write a book… memory serves poorly

Lunch at “Rose Pistol” (Rosa Pistola) with Alison — who is even more fun in person than as my long-time virtual friend

A yummy but quick and un-spendy meal of tapas and a glass of wine at Soif’s in Santa Cruz

Late-night chatting and then a seriously yummy breakfast (poached eggs and polenta) with friends Dinah and Gail

A drive down 101 in diorama-perfect weather, the mountains and ocean uncurling around me as I listened to podcasts and let my mind take off its girdle and chill out

A drive up I-5 through immense, rounded, snow-tipped mountains of startling majesty, a part of California I had forgotten

Lunch and In-N-Out

In-N-Out, Santa Barbara, 2-10-09

Lunch at In-N-Out both days (burger and fries in one direction, vanilla shake in the other)

Burmese takeout at Chez Walt in Palo Alto, followed the next morning by a quick stop by Peet’s on Middlefield Road for just-roasted coffee in the bean (the TSA agent dipped her face toward the bag as it went through security and sighed, “Peet’s smells so good“)

And of course…

ER&L — Electronic Resources and Libraries — a great conference, revived, as one friend noted, by its new location in LA. Well-attended, fun, info-packed.

The ILS panel I was on with Andrew Nagy of Serial Solutions (Vufind, Summon) and Tim McGeary of Lehigh (OLE): this was a smart, fun conversation with a group of engaged listeners, and I never had any urge to go online, show a slide, or do any theatrics. Plus the time spent chatting with Andrew and Tim was a real gift; we sat out on a patio talkin’ libraries and wondering why we hadn’t gone to UCLA.

I’ll be wearing California on my hips for a couple of weeks, but it was worth it!

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First Homebrew!

Sunday, February 15, 2009


First Homebrew!

Originally uploaded by freerangelibrarian

Cracked open my first bottle Friday (two weeks after bottling my first batch, 3 in a Bed Bitters from HomeBrew Den)… carefully tasted… yum, it’s delicious! Milder and less fizzy than I expected, but very good, and very fresh-tasting. It’s like homemade ice cream and sorbet: there is no substitute for the freshness.

For all the hoopla, this is really just a timeless kitchen craft (though the industry has figured out how to upsell with expensive equipment — there’s a whole lot of guys out on their back porches, with their turkey fryers and 15-gallon pots) but it’s a lot of fun.

I think what surprises me most about brewing beer is not making tasty alcohol, but making a carbonated beverage. I am very proud of my bubbles!

I’m bottling my porter this coming weekend, before I head to Code4Lib, then will make a batch from a kit I bought in California.

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