Batch #106 - Apricot Summer Ale

A secondary fermentation with 1/2 gallon of organic apricot mash directly into the carboy set our Strong Ale Yeasties off for another week of party time, and a final week to calm the heck down for bottling.  Definite fruity background, and crisp tasting like a summer ale should be.  This one will celebrate "Indian Summer" because it won't be naturally carbonated until after August 31.  I hope it will be worth the wait!

Batch #105 - Electric Dawn Copper Ale

I slipped in a batch of Ale made with liquid malt extract, because of a sale at Midwest Homebrewers Supply, and a desire to brew quickly.  With all the other projects going on that week, particularly the tasks around completing the Roaring Fork High School Growing Dome, I couldn't spare a whole day for an all-grain batch, so here you go, a 5-gallon batch of Copper Ale, made with Sterling Leaf Hops and my American Ale Yeast.
The label for this Ale celebrates the dawn of a new energy era, or perhaps just my deep longing for an era of energy production that is clean, and that doesn't destroy ecosystems nor contribute to the alteration of our planet's climate patterns.  Now that the BP Deepwater Horizon well leak has finally been capped, experts estimate that 5 million gallons of oil was released into the Gulf of Mexico, and widely distributed throughout the mile-deep water column, so that it is irretrievable, and must be absorbed by the ocean ecosystem.  It will be many years before we understand much of the effects this spill will have, but we can be assured it will be responsible for severe losses in marine life, and very likely further species extinctions.
For those of my friends who believe that human activities have little or no effect on climate change, who believe that climate change is a hoax, I must point out that 5 million gallons of crude oil disbursed in the ocean is a mere 25% of the daily oil consumption in the USA, and a mere 6% of the oil consumed by the entire world in a single day.  This means that the global human population daily spews the carbon from combustion of 85 million barrels of oil into our atmosphere - that's 17 times the amount of oil spilled into the ocean by BP's carelessness, daily!  How can this possibly have no effect on climate change??
We must get this right: Quit Oil, Coal and Natural Gas, and Embrace Clean, Renewable Energy - STARTING NOW!