Rambling
Malt Conditioning Exploration
This is a minor revision and edit of the article published in 2017.
Rambling
competition
On Brewing Competitions, Competitors, Rules and Ethics
We need an honest and direct discussion about brewing competition. Of course, being a homebrewer, I am mainly focused on amateur beer, mead, cider, and wine competitions, which often also have a commercial or professional track. Here in 2024, competition stakes are very high, and success is critical
Rambling
When Perfection is the Enemy of...
With the exit of 2020 and a horrible start of 2021 behind us, I feel the need to address some of the issues hampering my brewing over the past few years and the resulting lack of regular content for Accidentalis.com. Hopefully, this will be cathartic for me and perhaps
Product Review
YAHBB Review, "Methods of Modern Homebrewing"
YAHBB: Yet another Homebrewing Book (TM). Yes, they keep coming along and I am one of the addicts that absolutely love books of all kinds. I have a large bookshelf, the kind with the glass doors that protect the books from dust and stuff, and now have two full rows
judging
Judging and the Anatomy of a Score Sheet
It is inevitable. After a major competition, someone posts a horribly written score sheet to social media, and drama ensues; defensive lines are formed, names called. In my years of competing, the quality of score sheet feedback has been random. When reading paired sheets side-by-side, you can often tell who
competition
A Celebration of Mead and Makers
Between March 8 and 11, a herd of mead makers (and a few bee-keepers), converged on the beautiful and scenic Omni Interlocken Hotel in Broomfield, Colorado in celebration of mead. This year, the weather was gorgeous, hanging in the 50's - 60's, with clear views of
Brewer's Notes
Keys to Consistency
Leaning forward from my last post about lessons learned, I am putting a plan together to help me hit a stretch goal of consistency. While this may seem obvious, I am pretty serious about eliminating "possibly" problematic issues, and striking highly consistent and predictable brewing. So here are
Brewer's Notes
Learn from my mistakes...
I firmly believe we learn from history, even our own. While it may seem pedantic, I learn through doing and, most often, making mistakes. So here's my top 6 things I learned in this past year. Consider it confessional and cathartic. 1. It takes a while to recover
Brewer's Notes
Brew-day Walkthrough. Therapy. Meditation.
Brewing, for me, has become therapy, almost meditation. If you are allergic to overly romantic or nostalgic posts, look away, but I am stopping short of writing poetry. I suck at that anyway. Here’s how I brew, with an overly sentimental focus on rhythms and senses. Forgive the grammar
Rambling
An Authoritative Article on Authoritative Advice, or YMMV
Let’s face facts. We have all given and received some bad advice. “I transferred my Fat Tadpole Pale Ale clone to secondary after three days like the instructions said and now there is this funny film on the top. Is this infected?” Remember these posts? And then the litany
Process
Mark II Keg and Carboy Washer Review
I hate to clean kegs and carboys. Ok, pretty much cleaning anything really sucks. In fact, like many folk, I saw some interesting keg/carboy washer DIY designs and built my own keg cleaner, hoping for efficient simplicity and sanitary bliss. After sourcing a sump pump from Harbor Freight and
Brewer's Notes
Centennial Post - The Long Road in Brewing
Just over 3 years ago I started this blog. I was struggling with my brewing, but starting to see the light. At that point, I had been brewing for about 3 years, starting with pre-hopped extract in a Mr. Beer. I quickly jumped into all grain with a round cooler