Kyle Rankin @kyle@librem.one

Once all the grain is added I add a mesh screen above the water level in the kettle, attach a recirculation arm to my Grainfather's pump and tell it to start the 90 min mashing process. It recirculates water throughout the process to improve efficiency and clarity in the beer.

#brewing #happybrewyear #beer

After the water heats up I can "dough in" or add my ground grain to the mash water. I have a long metal mashing paddle that makes it easier to stir the grain as I add it to remove clumps, which helps improve mashing efficiency later. Basically you are making a barley porridge and the consistency at the end is pretty similar to oatmeal.

#brewing #happybrewyear #beer

While the mash water heats up, I grind my grain using a hand grinder. For some recipes I get my malted barley pre-ground, but I have started buying my base malt in bulk, and the barley comes whole.

Grinding the grain removes the kernel from the husk and exposes more of the starch to the water so the mashing process is much more efficient. Malted barley contains an enzyme that will convert starches in the barley to sugar when immersed in water. #brewing #happybrewyear #beer

Happy Brew Year! Today I'm going to brew a simple Mexican-style dark Lager which traditionally were based on a Vienna dark lager but with US ingredients including flaked corn. In this thread I will document my brew day.

The first step is to heat up my mash water. I brew beer using a Grainfather brewing system, which automates a lot of the process for me and shaves a few hours off of my brew day. #brewing #happybrewyear #beer

@josh My main recommendation is to use a static generation plugin (like SimplyStatic) so you can separate, segregate, and protect the dynamic PHP Wordpress site (even potentially on a different non-public server), and then generate and host just static HTML. It has the side benefit of making your page load quickly with minimal resources and allows you to host it anywhere that accepts static HTML.

@kirschner This book had one of the best descriptions of what it was like to come of age online in the late 1990s, and in contrast to the current era. That section alone would be useful reading for folks who weren't online in that age but are part of the recent wave of interest in open protocols like ActivityPub.

@EleazerBryan It is fitting that the darker the chocolate, the more metal. #metal #heavymetal

@whack I'm so sorry Jordan.

@penguin42 The comments about tasting the heavy metals were just a joke. That said, my understanding is that there are tighter regulations on the percentage of actual chocolate (compared to chocolate-flavored syrups and the like) that must be in Canadian chocolate bars.

I did a side-by-side comparison with chocolate I bought at a Canadian gas station, and the same brands (KitKats, etc) when I crossed the border into the US to see if I was just imagining it, and I could taste the difference.

@primalmotion My trips to France definitely ruined me when I come back to the oversized, dry pastries we pass off as croissants here in the US.

When I visited Canada I was surprised at how much better the chocolate, even the inexpensive mass-produced chocolate, tasted compared to comparable brands in the US.

I could be because Canada has tighter regulations on % of chocolate in their recipes, but today I learned it was probably also the lack of lead and cadmium: https://metro.co.uk/2022/12/29/hershey-facing-lawsuit-over-heavy-metals-found-in-their-chocolates-18012980/

@Triffen It seems weird to "like" this post given the context around it, but I wanted you to know I really do appreciate that you are sharing your perspective and experience.

@shawnp0wers It is another example of how quickly people can form factions/sides they identify with, and "other sides" that are the enemy. Then if anyone with less extreme, more nuanced/balanced views on things dares to say something critical of "their side" (or favorable of the "other side") it must mean you are with the enemy.

I do wish people were more capable of seeing issues and opinions past a binary "us" vs "them" because few things fit so neatly into a dichotomy.

@shawnp0wers It is a shame those folks don't want to try things out over here and see whether they prefer it.

@epic @hacks4pancakes In other countries some people don't use butter at all, but prefer jam or even marmalade!

@hacks4pancakes There is less and less room for people who approach things with nuance and thoughtfulness instead of ideological extremes. You are either "in" a tribe or out of it, and anyone who likes toast butter side up in some situations and butter side down in others faces massive pressure to pick a side.

@faziarizvi I ended up joining! Really enjoying reading through the back catalog.

@penguin42 Yes!