Malkavian

Precisely. Back in the area where I grew up (Rutherford County, NC, if you ever find yourself in the western part of the state) there's a little Vietnamese place that I insist on visiting every time I head home to see the family; it's a little place, maybe 5-6 tables, but the chef knows me, comes out to talk, brings myself and whoever I'm with random treats (banana cannonli one day, fried seasoned pork skins another) The place is tiny, built inside an old Skat's fast food restaurant, and basically a greasy spoon type place with an asian menu, but it's always a great experience.

My budget contraints at this point in my life tend to keep me away from what anyone might consider a "fine" restaurant, so my experience there is limisted. That said, I *am* a regular at the best bar (as far as I'm concerned!) in Charlotte, and I can say with utter confidence that the difference in service once the waitstaff and the manager (who's a homebrewer like myself brownie points) know your name is incredible, at least in a smallish establishment like that. My group of friends got a great laugh a few weeks ago, when an obviously new waitress treated us like we'd never been there before.

I've heard mesquite makes for interesting meads Chris, be sure to keep us updated on how it progresses I hope to get a Cyser going here soon with fresh pressed apple juice and sourwood honey along with cinnamon and nutmeg. The black pepper mead OKbrewer posted also sounds intriguing. May give that a shot with some of the 2004 clover honey I have sitting around.

I believe Northern Brewer stocks Munich (and maybe a few other varieties) of LME that you don't usually see. I've had pretty good luck getting pale beers out of DME, but an important factor I feel is being able to do full-volume boils. Having your sugars spread out over 5 gallons of water instead of 2 makes for a bit less caramelized sugars, which contribute to the darkening (and keep your beer from finishing dry in some cases) Just outta curiousity what problems did you have adding the DME late in the boil? I've done that a few times without incident, mostly as a different slant on avoiding caramelized sugars as I mentioned above.

Grabbed a 4 pack of Wexford Irish Cream to enjoy this evening, great stuff in a draught can

Actually Chris, you brought a typo to my attention I only used 1/3 pound in this recipe; must have been thinking of another formula to get my wires crossed lke that. You're right, of course, a full pound IS a fair bit of flaked grain to use without mashing. I've done a number of darker brews (stouts and the like) using a couple cups of flaked grains (about half a pound usually) without mashing, and never had any trouble, but at least partial mashing would be the best idea. I wouldn't want to do such a thing with a beer that'd come out any lighter than this one, it'd be hazy beyond belief.

Victory's only been available here the past year or so I'd estimate (or maybe i never noticed?) but it's very popular at my local hangout. I tend to go for the prima pils and Hopdevil

Simple for me before work: 3 eggs hard boiled with cracked black pepper and salt, and a glass of skim milk. Not the most elegant thing in the world but it does the job till lunch

marinating fish in milk (especially non-bony fish like skate or shark) works well to tone down the ammonia 'fishy' notes. Soaking porkchops in buttermilk before breading and frying is just heavenly

I haven't had time to do much for myself either. Most of the summer was occupied brewing in prep for the Oktoberfest in town (about a dozen or 15 5 gallon batches) and after that I felt just a weeeeeeeee bit burnt out on the whole deal. Recently however the bug hit me again and I have an English bitter going of the following recipe: Fermentables: 4.5 pounds (2kg) light dry malt extract or about 5.5 pounds (2.5kg) light liquid extract Specialty grains: 1 pound (450g) English Dark Crystal, approx 155 lovibond 1/3 pound (150g) Flaked Oats (Thansk for the catch Chris!) Hops: .5 oz (14g) Target @ 10.4%AA 1oz (28g) Kent Goldings @ 5.1%AA Yeast: White Labs 017 Whitbread Notes: Toast flaked oats @ 350F (177C) until light brown, let air and cool before adding to wort. Add Target hops initially, and the Kent Goldings with 30 minutes go in the boil. starting Specific gravity should be around 1.040

Audiofan: Once upon a time the prevailing opinion was that you couldn't make good beer with extracts. These days however, extract recipes are beating out all grain batches in competitions with regularity. Getting away from extract can give you more options in your beer, but it isn't going to necessarily make it superior or more 'professional' Are you referring to liquid extract or the dried spraymalt type? Either way if they're getting in weekly it should be fine as far as freshness is concerned (not always so with the canned kind)

Had a Brooklyn Brown today after I clocked out, and some various sips of homebrew

I was already quite pleasantly surprised reading through this thread and then you had to go and link to the website of the brewer's club that operates in my area I deal with CBM members just about every day, great bunch of guys, and there is indeed a great deal of information on the site. I've been in homebrewing and winemaking for about 2 years, most of that also spent working in the field. Always great to see new people getting into the hobby I'd love to contribute some here, comments and a few recipes, but I'd hate to seem as if I'm muscling in on cdh or stealing the spotlight since I'm new.