Ok so today was brew day.  It went way better than I expected.  I made my first all grain batch and I didn't have any of the problems that people normally have doing their first all grain batch. I ended up doing a five gallon batch of a Chocolate Stout recipe and then I divided it in half during the last half hour of my boil.I then added Acai juice, Hershey's powdered cocoa and a little Vanilla extract. It turned out very sweet with a slight hoppy aftertaste, which is exactly what I was hoping to achieve. I definitely think all-grain brewing is the way to go and in the future I plan on making all my beer that way. In three weeks I'll check the fermentation and see if its drinkable!

I listen to music when I brew, so here was today's playlist, on shuffle of course:

David Vandervlede -Moonlight Instrumental
Delirious- All God's Children
Luna Halo- On Your Side
Monarch- Lowly
Shane and Shane - Bad Days Better
Tokyo Police Club- Graves
Kevin Max- The Imposter's Song
Coldplay- Clocks

At this point I wanted to watch some new Podcasts:

Dinner with the Band -Pigeon John pts 1,2,3,4

Ok now my latest brews are ready, The Chocolate Acai (pronounced "Ah Sigh") Stout, and an Oatmeal Cream Stout. I'll be back!

SO today was exciting because I finally got hold of my partner in crime Nate McGathey.  We usually like to get together and develop recipes and try to team up on our brews. He's down with doing a stout. so half of our recipe will be a good old chocolate stout and the other half will be the acai stout that I've been formulating over the last few weeks.  So in the next couple of days I'll place an order at the organic supply shop I've found and hopefully by the end of the week we'll be brewing again!

In other news I've been realizing that I'm not challenging myself enough theologically. Last year I downloaded a really great podcast by tim keller in which he says that Christians really should take a multiperciptival approach to theological education. For a while I've taken that to mean that I should listen to a bunch of different theologians from my particular theological stream. Over the last couple of months however I've been realizing that that is not the healthiest approach for me in my journey.  SO as a result, I've been listening to guys that I don't necessiarilly agree with 100% Theologically, but are still challenging and, who, I believe, still love Jesus.  Guys Like Doug Paggit, Brian McClaren and Rob Bell.  I'm also getting a healthy dosage of guys like Mark Driscoll, Matt Chandler, and John Piper as well.

I don't really think that true discerment can come about when you just listen to people on one side of the fence. As I've been listening to these guys with very different theological backgrounds, its really been encouraging me to sit down and study the Scriptures and develop where I stand on orthodoxy and orthopraxis.  I've also found that I can be "Emergent" in the living out of my faith, while be very "conservative" in my theology. Ultimately for me its all about fullfilling what Jesus calls the two greatest commandments; loving God and loving my fellow man.



JW



P.s thats a David Bowie reference in the title if your wondering....

So I got all my equipment to make a mash tun out of my coleman cooler. A Mash tun is essential to making all grain beer, which is what I'm making next.  I've also decided that I want to buy a keg and make jockey box so that I won't need to find 50 bottles each time I decide to make a batch of brew. 

In other news I found a really cool vodcast called dinner with the band. Hosted by Sam Mason (from the restaurant wd-50 in NYC) its an interesting take on a fairly normal cooking show. Sam invites his favorite bands to come to his flat and enjoy really interesting meals that he's created. Afterwards the bands will usually preform a small set of music. Being both a chef and a music lover this was right up my alley.  If your into podcasting I'd suggest checking it out @, http://www.onnetworks.com/videos/dinner-with-the-band


Well I'm off to read some Valley of Vision, and then to bed.



JW

current song: Pigeon John -Live- "Freaks, Freaks!"

So my brewing adventures continue! Over the last few weeks I've been tempted to brew organic beer but didn't know where to start. Brew Your Own Mag. (byo.com,) just released an article on brewing organic beers and I happened to stumble across it at the B&N. Inside they also had an add for breworganic.com, which offers USDA certified organic products for homebrewers such as myself. So I headed over to the website today and found an sweet oatmeal stout kit that would be perfect for my Chocolate Acai Stout that I've been wanting to make. Whats even better is the fact that they have an all grain kit that will allow my to make my first all grain batch of beer!

Oh and also I was able to talk to the Maintencence Director at work today and he is able to hook me up with some equipment to turn my 48 qt ice cooler into 48 qt mash tun. A mash tun is essential for making all grain beer and is the only peice of equipment I don't currently have. It basically allows you to steep your beer grains at a constant temp and then convert it into wort. Then you take the wort and yest to it and you got some good homebrew.
 

So all that means is, that very soon,  the first (of my knowledge) Organic Chocolate Acai Stout will be a reality!

Rock on!

So I'm pretty excited. Actually really excited. I'm excited of course because I've decided what my next batch of brew is going to be. At first I was leaning towards a Belgium beer using a continual hopping technique that, as far as I know, hasn't been done before.  But now I've decided to do a stout instead. However this not just any stout its a chocolate cream stout. Oh but wait it gets even better...

Ok, so my buddy Lee has got me hooked on Acai juice while I've been fighting sickness over the last month. Acai juice has very powerful antioxidant properities and tastes like a really tart mixture of blueberries and raspberries. It also has chocolatey notes to it. Hmm perfect for my chocolate stout! So now I'm making a Acai Chocolate Stout!

I've also decided to make the transition to brewing my first all-grain batch of beer. The process is a little more complicated than what I have been doing and double the amount of time it normal takes to brew, but the end results are supposedly much better. Plus it cost half  the ammount of money for supplies! So hopefully it will all be worth it!

I'm also really excited because I just purchused a copy of The Voice, which is a new contempary translation of the New Testament by authors like Chris Seay and Brian McClaren. If you've never heard of it check it out @ http://www.hearthevoice.com/ They have the entire book of John for free to check out.  It features some of the most diverse and interesting translations that I've read in a while.

I also began listening up on some really great podcasts to go along with what I've been studying in 1 Corinthians. First off there's my home church  Bethel Church in Crown Point. Then theres Mark Driscoll's Church in Seattle called Mars Hill. Finally I just found out that Rick McKinley just started a series in Corinthians at his church Imago Dei.  Its very cool to have such good teaching and a zune to listen to it on. I'm so blessed!


JW


current song:
Just As I Am
by E-pop