Homebrew and Chemistry

Thermite 2011

2011-04-29T20:37:00.002-06:00

No, I'm not returning to write a post. Just here to show off a superb thermite reaction I did. This was unedited so jump to 3:00 for the actual fun stuff. The wind was really strong so very little of what I said could be heard. That's OK. I was trying to be teachery and stuff. Enjoy:

Awesome day

2010-11-26T22:42:00.002-06:00

Today was an awesome day in my brewing life. I did what few brewers have ever done. I brewed 6 beers in one day!!!!!!!!While the rest of you were fighting mobs of people to get a Xbox for $10 off, I was brewing beer.I started this morning in the vicinity of 10AM and finished around 10PM. I brewed the following:Carbon Black Oatmeal StoutRye Pale AleMaifest Bock cloneBelgian DuppelMetathesis Pale

back in the saddle again

2010-11-17T21:41:00.002-06:00

I was recently offered an interim "promotion" to an administrative position at my college. I don't want to tell you what it is, but it rhymes with "Gene of the Smackulty." I quickly accepted the position only to find out later that apparently, I can't fire anyone I want. I've been learning and doing a lot! This has left little time to brew. Thankfully, I've finally gotten things into a nice

R.I.P.

2010-11-16T10:45:00.002-06:00

I finally dumped it.It took me a while to build up the courage to dump 5 gallons of beer down the drain, but I did it.This was my first total loss.

Patents vs copyright

2010-10-20T19:52:00.003-06:00

When a drug is patented, the patent last 20 years. It often takes 8-10 years of testing before a drug can be sold to the public. That means the drug company has only 10-12 years to recoup the costs. After which, anyone can make the drug and sell it.Try that in any other creative endeavor and it gets labeled "outright theft of intellectual property."Recently some Thai animators, created a nearly

10-10-10

2010-10-05T21:23:00.003-06:00

10-10-10Anyone know the importance of this?Is anyone a fan of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?Can anyone make the connection?The first person to do so wins a prize.[1]non-nerds need not napply.[2][1] I'll email you an emoticon. [2] alliteration enhanced.

oops, I did it again.

2010-09-28T20:54:00.002-06:00

I'm kind of like this:I once had trouble with a bit of a beer geyser. Well, tonight I got fooled again. Shame on me..or.. don't get fooled a second time... whatever.After killing three kegs within the matter of 2 days (thanks in large part to my family), I went about filling those three kegs. I had removed the faucets for cleaning and...um... well...err...forgot to attach them... again... like

Things I hate

2010-09-28T10:32:00.002-06:00

I hate speaker phones.

It's torture

2010-09-16T16:52:00.003-06:00

Since the beginning of August (± several days), I have had three beers on tap. I have a pale ale, a dark lager and a saison. All fine beers. About a month ago, I found out my brother was going to be in town during this coming weekend. Since he is an enjoyer of beer, I figured I would save some for him. Easier said than done. I've spent the last several weeks doing my best to ration my beer. This

.

2010-09-11T08:29:00.002-06:00

stupid, stupid, stupid....

2010-09-01T22:03:00.003-06:00

I have brewed over 115 batches of beer in my homebrewing career. I would like to think I know what I am doing. Recently, I brewed a partial mash rye ale. I was excited because I had never brewed a batch with rye in it. I have a large kettle in which I can boil about 4.5 gallons of wort. After boiling the wort and chilling it, I dumped it into my carboy. My carboy has a mark on it to indicate 5

To return or not to return

2010-08-26T22:05:00.002-06:00

With the recent rash of delinquent bloggers returning to active blogging, (see here, here, here and maybe even here) I've asked myself if maybe I should return to blogging on a more regular basis. hmmmmmmmm, what to do, what to do?!?!?Nah, I'm just going to stay here and keep blogging at a local high school. .. Unless, three of my fellow blog buddies would like to fly out here and talk me into

Just popping in for a bat.. I mean bit.

2010-08-24T08:40:00.003-06:00

I'm not really coming out of blogging retirement, but sometime things just need to be shared with the world[1]Apparently, some dude in the Minneapolis area decided to go all NRA on a bat in his house. While it got the job done, it also got him in a bit of trouble. My favorite part was when he sent his wife upstairs to be safe. I'm pretty sure bats fly near the ceiling which happens to be the

Why I love living in Minnesota

2010-04-11T23:39:00.003-06:00

Today was the day. The day Spring done went and sprung here in God's country. This morning the trees lining the river valley were brown. By the afternoon, there was an obvious green color covering the valley. The sudden appearance of green is what makes Minnesota great. We endure harsh winters for this very day and the many that follow. Now, if I can keep the freakin' rabbits away, we should get

Random thought as I randomly post sporadically

2010-04-02T09:41:00.005-06:00

In the USA, yesterday was census day. Stand and be counted. I must admit, I still need to send in my census stuff. The USA Today published some interesting data on census participation. How does your state stack up? Notice that the highest participation rate is for states in the Midwest! Horray Midwesterners!!!! We are so responsible. But, I was wondering. Where do these percentages come from?

Stuff that I think is funny

2010-03-14T21:37:00.004-06:00

...no, not girls kissing. Just watch the whole thing. It's funny.The part at 2:16 is funniest.

Happy pi day

2010-03-14T16:04:00.004-06:00

[(–1)^(1/2)] [2^3] π....and it was goodHappy π day everyone!!

More free homebrewing advice.

2010-03-11T13:12:00.003-06:00

Here's a novel idea for those of you interested in homebrewing. When you get grains at your LHBS* it is a good idea to label each bags. I know it sounds radical, but it helps identify which is the domestic 2-row and which is the Maris Otter. Or to identify the 20°L crystal from the 55°L crystal malt.The last time I went to my LHBS, I got about 20 pounds of grains to be used in several batches. At

potty humor (nerd alert)

2010-03-01T13:47:00.000-06:00

–log(pee)

Ag sucks

2010-03-01T01:06:00.004-06:00

Congratulations to our neighbors to the north. You can have your Au. Hell of a game though, eh? Ah geez. We had it and den we din't. If the bulk of Canadians[1] weren't such nice folk, I'd be real pissed off. Instead, since I live in Minnesota[2] and since I appreciate good hockey, I'm willing to let this one slide, fellas. But geez, we almost had it. Curse that Gretzky version 2.0 fella.[3]All I

2010-02-26T13:50:00.004-06:00

The ACS national conference is coming up. The theme is sustainability. The keynote speech is Green Chemistry: Chemical Solutions for a Sustainable World. The whole "green" thing reminded me of a post I wrote almost 2 years ago. Since I'm semi-retired from blogging, I thought I'd do a little reposting to fill up the space.Here is my opinion of "going green" from a May 2008 post.===================

I'm a super poster!!!!

2010-02-23T23:15:00.004-06:00

Ever since I said I was going to quit blogging, I've found myself thinking of a lot more blog post ideas. I've also found that since I quit, I've felt a lot less pressure to post anything. I can't seem to get myself to totally quit. Slow down, yes, but not quit. I've like the Brett Farve of posting. OK, maybe not, but here I am. Not being retired from blogging.Let me get you up to date on my

My newest activity

2010-02-19T21:49:00.002-06:00

I've found a new outlet for all of the information floating around in my head. I do homework for desperate/lazy students. Yahoo Answers is a website that allows users to ask any kind of question. You may have heard of it.If you go to the chemistry section (and I'm sure this is true of any area) there are all sorts of questions from users that clearly came off of a homework assignment. I'm sure

Sporadicism

2010-02-13T23:00:00.004-06:00

OK, I'm not going to totally quit blogging. But, I am going to fall into the typical pattern of a dying blog. I'll sporadically blog until I totally stop. It could get ugly and uncomfortable. Feel free to just look away. Beside, I still have things to say that the world cannot do without!First of all, which USA state has provided the most olympians for the 2010 Winter olympics in Vancouver? If

It still stinks

2010-01-28T14:04:00.003-06:00

After spending a week wallowing in a state of self-pity, I've come to a few conclusions about the Vikings loss in the NFC championship game. Without Brett Favre the Vikings don't play in the ChampionshipBrett Favre is, as he was for Green Bay, the Vikings greatest asset and greatest liabilityHowever, Favre did not lose the game, Adrian Peterson did with his fumbles (despite an otherwise great

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.... hmmm

2010-01-25T09:00:00.003-06:00

When the math gets hard and heavy in General Chemistry, and my students get frustrated, I tell my students that if they can count to 5, they have the math skills needed to handle about 90% of what we cover in Organic Chemistry.For those of you not into chemistry, carbon can only form 4 bonds. I tell my organic students to count the bonds to carbon and if they get to 5, something is wrong.My

Things I hate.

2010-01-24T21:40:00.000-06:00

Brett FarveTurnovers

Belated birthday to the blog and goodbye?

2010-01-22T08:45:00.002-06:00

This blog was born on January 3, 2007. That's three years ago, and I missed its birthday 20 days ago. oops. It is time to reflect on whether I have accomplished what I wanted to with this blog. In short, No, not really. My posts on the Chemistry of brewing have been few a far between. My problem is that I plan big ambitious posts and never find the time or motivation to finish them. There's

Wort as a beverage

2010-01-13T23:04:00.003-06:00

My wife and I recently took a trip to Puerto Rico. We picked the most perfect time. Minnesota was suffering from record cold temperatures and Puerto Rico was not. It was great. While in Puerto Rico, I discovered a drink that is very popular in the Caribbean, but I had never heard of before. And it is related to beer.Malta. No, not the island, the drink. Malta is essentially wort that has not been

The legend is true.

2010-01-10T22:59:00.001-06:00

OMG, it does exist!!!I just found my desk.After I shred a pile of papers, I will have clean (in a very relative sense) desk.

Rain in January

2010-01-06T17:12:00.002-06:00

Hey losers freezing your butts off on the continent (USA specifically).I got rained on in Puerto Rico today while riding bike and I didn't mind a bit. Man, I could live here. After I learn Spanish of course. My wife and I reckoned neither of us had ever been rained on during January. At least not comfortably. Those we left behind in MN can enjoy the cold and snow. And to think, there is still

hmmmm

2010-01-04T17:04:00.004-06:00

Avatar has made a billion dollars and counting.You would think they could have hired someone to teach Sigourney Weaver how to use an Eppendorf Pipette.If you've seen it, did you notice? If you haven't, watch for it when they take the trailer to a remote location (you'll know what I mean). Not to mention that since the film is set in 2154 it seems odd that Eppendorf would not have updated their

A little math lesson for you

2010-01-04T08:41:00.005-06:00

Where I am:Where I will be in about 30 hours:Here's the math (updated to actually be correct) :83°F – (-23°F) = 105°F difference between the two locales. After setting two record lows in 2010 (yeah, that's 2 out of 4 days) for my area, I'm ready for a break.

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T11:56:00.002-06:00

Happy New Year everyone. I hope 2010 treats you well. My family and I spent the night at a friends house. I drank some a pale ale that I designed and brewed with my friend. He had it on tap. It was delicious. Almost a bit too cascady (if that is possible).Of all of the beer I drank during 2009, none of it compares to the beer that Al over at HopTalk drank. He finished 365 days of beer. During

Hey sportsfans...

2009-12-30T23:04:00.001-06:00

Don't tell me this isn't impressive.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful

2009-12-24T15:04:00.002-06:00

This is shaping up to be a Christmas to remember for us Midwesterners. After getting almost 8 inches of snow last night, the second wave has just started. We can expect to get 10-12 more inches by Saturday. I'm running out of places to put all of this snow. My driveway is bordered by a 3-4 foot wall of snow. The kids love it.Thankfully, we have no travel plans, we have a pantry full of food, and

Something for free

2009-12-21T14:11:00.003-06:00

Recently, I was doing a bit of research on the proteins responsible for beer foam. I plan on writing a post about that sometime soon.[1]I came across the Journal of the Institute of Brewing. This is published by the Institute of Brewing and Distilling.This journal is a treasure trove of articles dealing with everything from PCR analysis of bacterial infections, to GC-MS analysis of yeast

And I call myself a chemist

2009-12-15T08:19:00.003-06:00

I hate it when I do things that #1 result in the destruction of my toys and #2 are a direct result of me not applying sound chemical principles to the task at hand. A few days ago I was going to rack 4 different beers. To do so, I needed to clean and sanitize an empty carboy. The empty carboy was sitting on my basement floor. The outside temperatures are currently around 0°F here in Minnesota and

He should but won't

2009-12-12T09:29:00.003-06:00

Ndamukong Suh should win the Heisman trophy, but he probably won't. Even after manhandling a fellow Heisman finalist in the Big 12 Championship game (see above), that may not be enough to push him over the top. The Heisman Trophy is essentially an offensive player award.

WT-WTF?

2009-12-09T22:59:00.003-06:00

There are not enough 'WTFs' for this one.A chemistry student in the Ukraine was found dead with his jaw blown off by what is believed to be exploding chewing gum, according to reports.It gets a bit more interesting:The student apparently had a bizarre habit of chewing gum after dipping it into citric acid, Russian news agency Ria Novosti said.Officers found both citric acid packets and a

This blows

2009-12-09T10:01:00.002-06:00

We are having a bit of a blizzard blow through our neck of the woods. The blizzard of aught-nine has descended upon us. Every school around here is closed. I cleared the snow out my driveway using my grandpa's old snowblower. The thing is from the late 60's, it is big and it still works like a charm. There are zero safety features, but boy does it blow. The way my neighbor's house is aligned with

Here's a problem for you

2009-12-08T11:41:00.003-06:00

When I took over this teaching gig, my predecessor left a fold behind labeled "Diabolical Organic Problems." I love the word "Diabolical" but some may argue that that title is redundant with "Organic."I have on occasion given my students diabolical problems to hone their skills. Today in preparation for the cumulative final exam, I gave my General Chemistry class the following question: