Back in the Saddle

The weather might not suggest it but it is in fact winter here in the land of 10,000 lakes.  To keep reminding myself of such I practiced two of my favorite indoor winter hobbies on the post Christmas day work holiday today (since there isn't any snow for skiing).  With the sun shining outside I spent most of the day inside, baking a delicious load of jalapeno cheddar bread and getting a batch of extra hopped coffee stout beer started.  The beer will take several weeks to be ready but the bread is out now and delicious!

Jalapeno Cheddar Bread (for bread machine)

1 1/4 C + 2 T room temp milk
2 T vegetable oil
2 T sugar
1 t salt
2/3 C shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 C diced pickled jalapenos
3 C bread flour
2 1/4 t bread machine yeast

Extra hopped Java Stout (Midwest supply extract kit)

Fermentables: 6 lbs Dark liquid malt extract
Specialty Grains: 8 oz chocolate malt, 4 oz flaked barley, 4 oz caramel 60 L, 4 oz roasted barley
Hops: 1 oz challenger bittering hops (kit called for 1/2 oz), 1 ox tettnang aroma hops
Yeast: Wyeast Thames Valley #1275
Specialty Addition: Peace Coffee Nicaraguan roast

The kit called for 1/2 oz of the bittering hops but upon returning home to find I had been shorted the hops entirely I swung over to the new Northern Brewer location where they only sell hops in 1 oz or greater quantities.  Great excuse to go for a hoppier stout as I was originally thinking.  The coffee will get added to the secondary fermentation in a week or so...


...the video is obviously terrible quantity...but lets not forgot that at one point Aerosmith was actually a really good band.  Of course it's been a while.