Stein Beer

This weekend was the 16th brewing of Stein Beer at Ellicottville Brewing Company in Ellicottville, NY. Twice a year the brewery, with the help of the local homebrewers, brews a batch of authentic stein beer using granite rocks. The day starts off by heating up the rocks while inside the brewery the grains are being mashed and lautered getting ready for the boil.

The large blocks of granite will break down with all the heat into a more manageable cobble size and once the brewer is ready for the boil it is time to remove them from the fire. Placing several rocks at a time into metal baskets for transport into the brewery.

 Once in the brewery the rocks are then lowered into the boil kettle. The intense heat of the rocks produce a lot of steam as soon as it touches the boiling wort (unfermented beer) and continues with rolling boil for around 5 minutes.

Once the boiling has stopped the rocks are remove and returned to the fire while another set is brought in. This process will take place for the next hour or more until it is time to cool the wort and begin fermentation.
After that its time to get together and sample various beers from other homebrewers and EBC.

I already can't wait for the spring edition!!!
On Sunday I decided to make some chips since we were just going to lounge around the house and watch football all day. Depending on how much you want to make i take a half and half mix of all-purpose and whole wheat flour and add different spices to taste. For this recipe it was 2 cups all-purpose and 2 cups whole. The spices i never really measure, and sometime i couldn't even tell you what i added. This time is was habenero, red pepper, chili powder, franks hot sauce and salt. Add 1-1/2 cups of water and 1/2 cup of olive oil then mix. Knead the dough until all ingredients are incorporated and cup into about 3/4 to 1 cup sized balls. Roll out each ball until they are thin, I bake these on stone so i place the baking stones into the oven and pre-heat at about 450 before hand, then place on the baking stone. I watch until the dough starts to bubble and then i flip them.

After i flip i wait until the tops are golden brown and i remove and let cool. After they are cool i break into pieces and enjoy with some nacho "cheese" dip.

They taste great, and you can make them to taste however you would like, oh not to mention better for you!

Who doesn't love Brussel Sprouts?

It was a frosty morning when I woke up, the temperature outside according to my thermometer read 8 degrees, although weather man was saying it was 20. I think the thermometer is a little off but it was still freezing out.

With the temps falling the way they are I'm glad I finally renewed my gym membership.
Over the weekend it was time to rack off the last 15 gallons of fermenting wine into the glass carboys to finish fermenting and clearing up until January.

First up was the Cabernet Sauvignon, which I added some oak to at the beginning of fermentation. This is going to be a lighter version of Cab. Sauv. due to being fermented with out the skins. When we picked up the juice at Fulkerson, they had informed us that the skins had gone moldy and were not available. The skins are what gives the wine its deep red color. So this will be more of a blush, not what i wanted but it will still taste good.

After siphoning the wine into a glass carboy all that is left is the yeast at the bottom.

 And now its ready to hang out in the basement until January, see how light in color it is compared to the deep red De Chaunac next to it.

Next up was the 10 gallons of the Vidal.

 There, 30 gallons of wine, see how much clearer the Gewurztraminer on the right is compared to the Vidal. The Vidal still has the yeast suspended in the wine but in only 2 weeks it should look like the Gewurz., maybe clearer.

 Now i just have to forget about the wine for the next 2 months, although doesn't it look like I need to fill in that space in the middle with another batch?
We had gone over to my parents house to pick the last of the brussel sprouts in their garden so I decided I would make a quick meal with some of them.First I cut them in half and sauteed them in some oil, garlic, salt and pepper.

 Next I added about 6 cups of vegetable broth, spices to your taste and bring to a boil.

Then add some farfalle (or bowtie) pasta and cooked until done and add some corn starch to thicken.

And there you go, a quick creamy brussel sprout soup.