Over the past two weeks I have been listening to a series of lectures on existentialist philosophy. In the past I have had a bit of antipathy toward existentialism. This arose from my dealings from the few self-proclaimed existentialists I have met. Particularly, a Sartre toting and (mis)quoting fellow in Fairbanks, Alaska, whose constant refrain was "I don't care about my life." I could not brook such a philosophy.
I should have known better. As I wend my way through this series of 24 lectures I am finding a very different meaning of existentialism than that which I had heretofore believed. Freedom to choose and responsibility for oneself are the real character of the philosophy of Camus and Sartre, in its simplest form. They (and others) contend that no matter the situation we still have choices and are responsible for the outcome of those choices. We cannot simply let life happen to us. Thus the old excuse of "I had no choice ..." does not hold. Echos of Socrates here.
It is not hard to envision situations where such philosophy would lead to a very severe judgement upon one. We must not expect too much. After all we are only human. Or is that just an excuse? Based on this interpretation, one could opine that existentialism may well be just the philosophy for our current era.
The irony here was Sartre's support of Stalin and Castro et al. How could one argue for freedom of choice and individual responsibility while supporting a system that sought to eliminate individualism, and those who brutally enforced such a system? Camus couldn't figure that out and it ended his friendship with Sartre.
Beer Update
The honey beer is in its 20 day and still turning over the lock. It has slowed, but is still not quite ready for the bottle. The "Old British Ale" is chuggin' right along.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Yeast Failure!
Oh! The pain!
The yeast I pitched in my last recipe, a knock-off from the Old British Beers book, appears to have failed. It was a Wyeast "smack pack" liquid culture. I got on the company website and it stated that a culture could take up to 36 hours to get going. After about 40 nothing was happening, so I pitched a Nottingham dry yeast. Hopefully this will save things.
Looking back over my brewing notes, I see that of the last four times I have used Wyeast cultures: Two have failed, one underperformed, and one (Scotch Ale) worked excellently. I am not sure what the problem could be. I had made a note that only the Scotch Ale pouch had inflated prior to pitching and that was the only one that I smacked the night before brewing. The others were all smacked the day of brewing but still had 6-8 hours before pitching. Maybe that is the key. However, the Wyeast website does say that the pouch need not be inflated prior to pitching.
I know many people swear by Wyeast products, so if anyone has an idea what went wrong, please pass it on.
Thanks and Cheers!
The yeast I pitched in my last recipe, a knock-off from the Old British Beers book, appears to have failed. It was a Wyeast "smack pack" liquid culture. I got on the company website and it stated that a culture could take up to 36 hours to get going. After about 40 nothing was happening, so I pitched a Nottingham dry yeast. Hopefully this will save things.
Looking back over my brewing notes, I see that of the last four times I have used Wyeast cultures: Two have failed, one underperformed, and one (Scotch Ale) worked excellently. I am not sure what the problem could be. I had made a note that only the Scotch Ale pouch had inflated prior to pitching and that was the only one that I smacked the night before brewing. The others were all smacked the day of brewing but still had 6-8 hours before pitching. Maybe that is the key. However, the Wyeast website does say that the pouch need not be inflated prior to pitching.
I know many people swear by Wyeast products, so if anyone has an idea what went wrong, please pass it on.
Thanks and Cheers!
Friday, January 2, 2009
Old British Beer
Greetings and Happy New Year!
Some time ago I stumbled upon the website of the Durden Park Beer Circle. This group of lads and lasses have been pursuing the recovery of formulas for the great British beers of yesteryear. They have published an excellent book, Old British Beers and How To Make Them, of which I have obtained a copy. Part one of the book contains a brief but fascinating history of how the members went about researching and testing their recipes. The second part of the book discusses brewing such beers and includes 131 recipes.
The recipes are all designed for the production of one imperial gallon (4.54 liters). This is where it gets interesting. Some of these recipes call for up to 10 lbs. of pale malt for one imperial gallon! In most of the recipes, as much malt is used for one imperial gallon as I use for five US gallons. I am not quite ready yet to commit 40 or or more pounds of malt to one five gallon batch of beer, however I was inspired.
The most noteworthy feature of the recipes in this book is their simplicity. Most American recipes have a long list of malts, hops, and other additives, often added in very small amounts and at varying times in the mash or boil. The recipes in this book all follow one of two mash and boil schedules and have only two to four ingredients. That's it.
In this spirit of simplicity, and guided by the Durden Park Beer Circle's fine text, I created my own simple "Old British Beer". I used British pale malt in a ratio of 7/1 lbs. with 60L crystal malt. For hops I used the last three ounces from my own hopyard. The yeast of choice was Wyeast British Ale II.
What will become of this "Old British Beer"? Time will tell, and so will I....
Cheers!
Some time ago I stumbled upon the website of the Durden Park Beer Circle. This group of lads and lasses have been pursuing the recovery of formulas for the great British beers of yesteryear. They have published an excellent book, Old British Beers and How To Make Them, of which I have obtained a copy. Part one of the book contains a brief but fascinating history of how the members went about researching and testing their recipes. The second part of the book discusses brewing such beers and includes 131 recipes.
The recipes are all designed for the production of one imperial gallon (4.54 liters). This is where it gets interesting. Some of these recipes call for up to 10 lbs. of pale malt for one imperial gallon! In most of the recipes, as much malt is used for one imperial gallon as I use for five US gallons. I am not quite ready yet to commit 40 or or more pounds of malt to one five gallon batch of beer, however I was inspired.
The most noteworthy feature of the recipes in this book is their simplicity. Most American recipes have a long list of malts, hops, and other additives, often added in very small amounts and at varying times in the mash or boil. The recipes in this book all follow one of two mash and boil schedules and have only two to four ingredients. That's it.
In this spirit of simplicity, and guided by the Durden Park Beer Circle's fine text, I created my own simple "Old British Beer". I used British pale malt in a ratio of 7/1 lbs. with 60L crystal malt. For hops I used the last three ounces from my own hopyard. The yeast of choice was Wyeast British Ale II.
What will become of this "Old British Beer"? Time will tell, and so will I....
Cheers!
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