Beer!

“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”

—not Ben Franklin

Quite a few years ago I received a really cool gift, in the form of a brewing kit from Homebrew Heaven. I won't say my first batch was great, as I definitely made some mistakes, but it got me hooked on homebrewing as a hobby. I continued brewing with new recipes, using Homebrew Heaven and The Beer Essentials as my main "suppliers."

It's been awhile since I brewed a batch because I need to upgrade my equipment (I was doing partial boils, on an electric range, for those who know what trouble that can mean). I don't really have the spare funds to get what I want (stainless steel kettle and an outdoor propane burner), but I'm still quite eager to get my next batch started.

One way that I've been able to keep in touch with the hobby a bit is by sharing through CafePress a fun little design I created, as seen on this bumper sticker:

The "Delicious Cycle" store offers various t-shirts, mugs, stickers, a clock, and other products along the same theme. And if you decide to buy something, you'll help me toward starting my next batch!

When I do get back to the point where I can start brewing again, I will probably either document my batches right here, or create a new blog on this site to share the process and results. Since I have lately been experimenting with telemetry, one sub-project I have in mind is to make a WiFi-enabled thermometer that keeps tabs on the temperature of beer in a carboy, which I can display here and also set up to get SMS text alerts if the temperature strays outside a desired range.