Barley Crusher added to the Trillium arsenal

The Barley Crusher finally arrived yesterday, so I can do some on-demand grain crushing instead of having it pre-crushed and staling if I don't get to my brewday right away. It will get its first workout this Saturday when I make ...another Russian Imperial Stout (surprise, surprise). (post hoc note...this RIS never got made...)

I went with the 7lb hopper vs. the 15lb hopper (the smaller one to the left), as I'm comfortable with taking the time to load the hopper more frequently to save a few $. I also liked that I didn't have to fabricate anything like I would for other grain crushers. The BC would be essentially ready to go out of the box. I'll power it with my cordless drill. The knurled rolls have a pre-set gap, and have read that people get great efficiency at the factory setting, so I'll go with that to start. Good to know that I can adjust to tighter spacing if I ever need/want to.

I was putting together an order for a lot of specialty grain from Midwest Supplies (in preparation for the wedding brewing), so added the BC on to the order. I priced out the difference on this purchase between Midwest and Northern Brewer. The final tab put Midwest out front by ~$10, even given the flat shipping rate at Northern Brewer. What really put this over the edge for Midwest, was the greater selection of specialty grain and my good experiences with their products in the past.

Bring it back with you

When we went to Napa, we had some bottles shipped back to us. They shipped several hundred dollars worth of wine in a cardboard box that contained some expanded cardboard shippers. Simple, effective.

...and perfect for bringing beer back with me in my suitcase when I'm travelling.

Here's a pic of a haul from my trip in late 2008 to Arizona. I went to Magnum's and saw a bottle of Alesmith Numbskull. Nice. There was also a vacancy where I would expect the Speedway Stout. I sulked. I asked the salesperson if they had any in the back "I don't know...let me check."

"...ah, yeah, here you go." She handed me a bottle. The clouds lifted.

"Do you have any more?" "Yeah, I think we have maybe twelve, how many would you like"

I restrained myself from saying "Twelve....doy!", and just said "oh, great, yeah, I'll take a couple more".

"We also just got Sam Adams Chocolate Bock in."

...

Also snagged a Black Butte XX from AJ's!