Monday, January 01, 2007

DicksnJanes #82: A Better World?

Friends of the Scarborough Dude try to convince him the world is getting better. Global warming and AIDS aside, is it?

Music:
Handle With Care - Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins - Mojo: Revolver Reloaded
Try Honesty - Billy Talent - Billy Talent
Legend Of A Mind - The Moody Blues - In Search Of The Lost Chord

Wanna see some stupid comics? You can find some here:
DicksnJanes Comics

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know if you are looking for a comment from someone who has only listened to one of your podcasts (#82) but I'll leave one anyway. I'm planning to listen to more as listening to just one doesn't really give a feel to what they are like. Happy New Year

A Canadian in Finland

Scarborough Dude said...

Well thank you very much, Mr. Fincanuck - your comment is much appeciated. You're right- one show dosn't reveal much, a few shows will show you I'm an old fart still trying to figure out life, but having fun along the journey...

Scarborough Dude

Anonymous said...

Sigh. Did I sound male? I'm not.

I just listened to #81 and heard that you work with immigrants (I haven't listened to enough episodes to find out why). Do they feel like immigrants? I've lived in Finland for a very long time and I have never thought of myself as an immigrant. Maybe because I still feel that this isn't my home, it's just where I live. Sigh.

Scarborough Dude said...

Oops! My apologies, Ms. Fincanuck! I should not have automatically assumed the person posting from Finland was male! Everone in Canada is an immigrant- including our first nations people - it's just a matter of how long people have been here. I've lived many years in Japan, but was always comfortable as a 'gaijin' (outside foreign person). But most people in Canada intend to stay, and assimilation takes time. So yes, they feel like immigrants, specially when they don't speak English good.

Anonymous said...

Brew low cost beer. The amount of time you spend on brewing beer makes the small difference in cost between "just OK" ingredients and top quality ingredients a minor point. Either way, the cost of brewing a 5 gallon batch is much cheaper than buying a couple of cases of beer in the store.

Beer is made of cheap ingredients, so it doesn't hurt to buy the best. Surprisingly, the cheapest way to brew beer gives you the best results: all grain brewing is the cheapest way to brew when grain is bought in bulk.

You do need a grain mill and a mash tun, so there is a small investment in equipment needed. But you should be able to brew excellent quality beer for less than $2 per gallon, and you could brew a mild ale for as little as $1 per gallon, or less than 10 cents per bottle (one gallon is about 10-1/2 12oz bottles). Most of my pilsners are about $1.50 a gallon brews.

Other ways to reduce the cost of your beer are by growing your own hops and reusing yeast from the fermenter. Easy to do, and it means that I don't have to buy yeast more than once every half year or so. The hops should last e through most of the winter brews. So all you need is grain, which is about $0.70 per pound in a bulk purchase (much of the cost is in shipping).

Beer Brewing Equipment Basic, simple, cheap equipment that gets the job done. Sometimes it adds to the challenge. But through the mystique of brewing and remember that illiterate alewives brewed for centuries using tried and true recipes and procedures before the dawn of kegerators, ph meters or hydrometers.

Beer Keg Brewing. After using bottles for years, you can jump to the corny keg (Cornelius keg). This is an important step because it makes brewing so much easier. You can still bottle, but just a few bottles per batch, and use a corny keg to fill the bottles. You can use corny kegs as secondary fermenting vessels. You can try out method where you leave the beer in the primary for about two weeks until it clears nicely, and then UPI carefully siphon it over to a corny, avoiding transferring any trub.

Scarborough Dude said...

Dunno who posted this or why, but I'm gonna leave it... I've enjoyed some good home brew, but never made any myself.