First Gold - 7.5 AAU @ 60 min
Kent Goldings - 10 AAU @ 20 min
Kent Goldings - 5 AAU @ 5 min
1 oz (about 7AAU) Kent Goldings dry-hopped after about 3 days in primary
4lb Wheat DME
4lb Extra Pale DME
1lb Carastan Malt (steeped at 160F for 30 min)
Before cooling the wort, added
Zest of one orange
Zest of half a grapefruit
1/4oz coriander
Brewed: 08-22-2010
Kegged: 09-25-2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
The Cloud Cult
Went to Portland this weekend to see a Cloud Cult show. I've loved the band for a couple of years, and the show did not disappoint. It's been living in my head ever since then - I can't stop thinking about it. Think of the first time you saw the Matrix - just like that.
A few high points
Crazy spinning easels - Two artists, Connie Minowa and Scott West, do painting on stage during the show. They're auctioned off afterward (the paintings, not the artists). They both have sweet custom rigs that will let their paintings spin. It looked like they had them set up to spin by pump action, like a pottery wheel, and according to Scott's blog, they have disc brakes. Hell yeah.
Great instrumentation - Let's see... Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric bass, drums, keyboard, violin, cello, french horn, toy megaphone, half-sheet pan plus mallet, toy xylophone, vocoder... That's most of them. So yeah - I was really stoked to find out that the weird vocal distortion in some of the songs is Craig Minowa singing into a kid's megaphone that probably came from the dollar store.
Big songs - Seriously, a lot of Cloud Cult songs are like orchestral rock opera epics, and I can't help but dance and shout and sing. On The Exploding People, five of the band members crowd around two bass drums and slam out the rhythm in unison. It's huge. It made me wish I had a drum too, so I could get my tribal funk on.
Intimacy - It was a small venue, and their a band that's niche enough that everyone in the audience has some level of love for them, and probably knows their songs very well. I've been to a Paul McCartney show where 70,000 people all sang Hey Jude. It was way better at the Cloud Cult show where maybe 300 people all sang Everybody Here is a Cloud. Especially since it's a song with multiple harmonies and vocal counterpoints, and people around me were singing every one of the different parts - there's something about that that makes you say "These are MY people."
For those of you listening along at home (*chirp, chirp, chirp*), here's an incomplete set list, in no particular order.
Unexplainable Stories (opener)
Today We Give Ourselves to the Fire
You'll be Bright
The Exploding People
Forces of the Unseen
Running with the Wolves
There's So Much Energy In Us
No One Said it Would Be Easy
Everybody Here is A Cloud
The Story of the Grandson of Jesus
Love You All
When Water Comes to Life
A really Cloud Cult-y cover of Tambourine Man
I'm sure there was at least one song off the Meaning of 8 as well, and probably a few others I missed.
If you were on the fence as to whether you should drop a few g-notes to fly to a far-off city and see the Cloud Cult before the tour is over, waffle no further. Get your ass on the road and rock out. It will be the best show you've ever seen. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and it'll be better than Cats.
If you're not a Cloud Cult fan, run, don't walk, down to your local record shop and purchase their entire catalog. Or, just come to my house, and I'll play them for you and thoroughly annoy you with minutiae about the band and the songs that I read on the internet.
A few high points
Crazy spinning easels - Two artists, Connie Minowa and Scott West, do painting on stage during the show. They're auctioned off afterward (the paintings, not the artists). They both have sweet custom rigs that will let their paintings spin. It looked like they had them set up to spin by pump action, like a pottery wheel, and according to Scott's blog, they have disc brakes. Hell yeah.
Great instrumentation - Let's see... Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric bass, drums, keyboard, violin, cello, french horn, toy megaphone, half-sheet pan plus mallet, toy xylophone, vocoder... That's most of them. So yeah - I was really stoked to find out that the weird vocal distortion in some of the songs is Craig Minowa singing into a kid's megaphone that probably came from the dollar store.
Big songs - Seriously, a lot of Cloud Cult songs are like orchestral rock opera epics, and I can't help but dance and shout and sing. On The Exploding People, five of the band members crowd around two bass drums and slam out the rhythm in unison. It's huge. It made me wish I had a drum too, so I could get my tribal funk on.
Intimacy - It was a small venue, and their a band that's niche enough that everyone in the audience has some level of love for them, and probably knows their songs very well. I've been to a Paul McCartney show where 70,000 people all sang Hey Jude. It was way better at the Cloud Cult show where maybe 300 people all sang Everybody Here is a Cloud. Especially since it's a song with multiple harmonies and vocal counterpoints, and people around me were singing every one of the different parts - there's something about that that makes you say "These are MY people."
 |
| A crappy picture I snapped because I wanted a good shot of Craig's Country Gentleman |
Unexplainable Stories (opener)
Today We Give Ourselves to the Fire
You'll be Bright
The Exploding People
Forces of the Unseen
Running with the Wolves
There's So Much Energy In Us
No One Said it Would Be Easy
Everybody Here is A Cloud
The Story of the Grandson of Jesus
Love You All
When Water Comes to Life
A really Cloud Cult-y cover of Tambourine Man
I'm sure there was at least one song off the Meaning of 8 as well, and probably a few others I missed.
If you were on the fence as to whether you should drop a few g-notes to fly to a far-off city and see the Cloud Cult before the tour is over, waffle no further. Get your ass on the road and rock out. It will be the best show you've ever seen. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and it'll be better than Cats.
If you're not a Cloud Cult fan, run, don't walk, down to your local record shop and purchase their entire catalog. Or, just come to my house, and I'll play them for you and thoroughly annoy you with minutiae about the band and the songs that I read on the internet.
Seared Chicken
For years, I've stuck to roasting or braising my chicken. No more! Here's a few guidelines to make seared chicken unbelievably awesome.
- Let it come up to room temperature - Or at least 40 degrees F all the way through.
- Cut it into smallish chunks - Say, half a thigh big
- Adequate Lube - Olive oil works real nice
- Don't be afraid of high heat - Crank it up, get some brown crusties
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Pictures from Camp
Dear Mom and Dad,
Having a great time at camp. Meeting lots of new friends!
Love,
Dan
Sunday, July 18, 2010
6.5 Gallon Carboy vs Vertical Epic 06-06-06 Clone
My local brew shop had a special this month on a clone of Stone Brewing's Vertical Epic 06-06-06, so I decided that would be a good brew to test my new glass carboy with.
So I did the partial mash/extract version of this recipe. Nine (!) lb of Extra Light DME, plus an lb of some seriously dark crushed grain (Weyermann Carafa, I believe). An ounce and a half of some very fruity smelling hops, unidentified. (Need to ask Tom the beer guy next time I see him)
Anyway, the result is below. After only about 16 hours, the beer is ready to blow the top off the airlock. I've removed, sanitized, and refilled it a few times, but it doesn't take long for for the foam to start filling it up again. This one is really rolling. If I had a couple of 5 gallon carboys, I probably could've safely split the wort between them, and I'm still not sure I'd have had enough head space.
So I did the partial mash/extract version of this recipe. Nine (!) lb of Extra Light DME, plus an lb of some seriously dark crushed grain (Weyermann Carafa, I believe). An ounce and a half of some very fruity smelling hops, unidentified. (Need to ask Tom the beer guy next time I see him)
Anyway, the result is below. After only about 16 hours, the beer is ready to blow the top off the airlock. I've removed, sanitized, and refilled it a few times, but it doesn't take long for for the foam to start filling it up again. This one is really rolling. If I had a couple of 5 gallon carboys, I probably could've safely split the wort between them, and I'm still not sure I'd have had enough head space.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Willow Garden
After I did She Lets Me In, my friend Barton said "That's great, but that's my least favorite Big Smith song. Could you do something else?"
Picky, picky picky. So I did Willow Garden.
They seem to do it differently than any version of Willow Garden I can find on the net. Art Garfunkel does it mostly with G and Em, and it sounds wrong when I play those along with the recording. There are a few other versions that even seem to have different intervals.
If you have a second instrument (say, a guitar, banjo, or mandolin), there's a lot of pickin' between lines. It seems to usually be on the notes of whatever chord that line ended with.
Also, note that there are lines where the chords spell out DEAD. Surely that's some kind of music major joke.
Willow Garden
Big Smith version
A D E A
Down in a willow garden
D A E
where me and my love did meet
A D E A
was there we sat a courtin',
A E A
my love fell off to sleep
D E A D
I had me a bottle of burgundy wine
A D E
Which my true love did not know
A D E A
And there I poisoned that dear little girl
A E A
Down on the banks below
A D E A
I drew a saber through her,
D A E
It was a bloody sight
A D E A
I threw her in the river,
A E A
It was a terrible night
D E A D
My father often told me
A D E
That money would set me free
A D E A
If I would murder that dear little girl
A E A
Whose name was Rose Connelly.
A D E A
And now he sits at his cabin door,
D A E
Wiping his tear stained eyes,
A D E A
Mournin for his only son
A E A
Upon the scaffold high.
D E A D
My race is run beneath the sun,
A D E
And hell is waiting for me
A D E A
For I did murder that dear little girl
A E A
Whose name was Rose Connelly.
Update: This same chord progression also works pretty well for Blowin in the Wind. The song, not the activity.
Big Smith version
A D E A
Down in a willow garden
D A E
where me and my love did meet
A D E A
was there we sat a courtin',
A E A
my love fell off to sleep
D E A D
I had me a bottle of burgundy wine
A D E
Which my true love did not know
A D E A
And there I poisoned that dear little girl
A E A
Down on the banks below
A D E A
I drew a saber through her,
D A E
It was a bloody sight
A D E A
I threw her in the river,
A E A
It was a terrible night
D E A D
My father often told me
A D E
That money would set me free
A D E A
If I would murder that dear little girl
A E A
Whose name was Rose Connelly.
A D E A
And now he sits at his cabin door,
D A E
Wiping his tear stained eyes,
A D E A
Mournin for his only son
A E A
Upon the scaffold high.
D E A D
My race is run beneath the sun,
A D E
And hell is waiting for me
A D E A
For I did murder that dear little girl
A E A
Whose name was Rose Connelly.
Update: This same chord progression also works pretty well for Blowin in the Wind. The song, not the activity.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
She Lets Me In
From Big Smith, one of my favorite bands. These are the chords played, as best I can figure them out. Pretty all the verses have the CDG pattern except one. These guys need to get up to Nashville so I don't need to drive 8 hours to see them.
SHE LETS ME IN
(Mark Bilyeu / Jeff Wiens)
C D G
I was so sad and so lonely
C D G
Out walkin' the streets once again
C D G C
She was chasin' the barflies out
C D G
When she let me in
We talked a couple of hours
We shared a bottle of gin
We stammered and stumbled to her front door
When she let me in
The boys at the bar they amuse her
For a tip she might flash them a grin
But she saves up her laughter 'till after she's home
When she lets me in
F G C
Now there's no more sad and lonely nights
F G C
When I'm near the warmth of her skin
F G C F
She turns back the covers and turns off the light
F G C
And she lets me in
When I come home late from drinkin'
And runnin' around with my friends
You think she'd put me in the doghouse
But she lets me in
You ask what I treasure about her
It's hard to know where to begin
But I'll start with the way that she opens her heart
And she lets me in
Lead vocal: Mark
Banjo: Bill Thomas
(Mark Bilyeu / Jeff Wiens)
C D G
I was so sad and so lonely
C D G
Out walkin' the streets once again
C D G C
She was chasin' the barflies out
C D G
When she let me in
We talked a couple of hours
We shared a bottle of gin
We stammered and stumbled to her front door
When she let me in
The boys at the bar they amuse her
For a tip she might flash them a grin
But she saves up her laughter 'till after she's home
When she lets me in
F G C
Now there's no more sad and lonely nights
F G C
When I'm near the warmth of her skin
F G C F
She turns back the covers and turns off the light
F G C
And she lets me in
When I come home late from drinkin'
And runnin' around with my friends
You think she'd put me in the doghouse
But she lets me in
You ask what I treasure about her
It's hard to know where to begin
But I'll start with the way that she opens her heart
And she lets me in
Lead vocal: Mark
Banjo: Bill Thomas
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