The Urban Survivalist

"In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of."

Lately I've been talking about homebrewing and home winemaking a lot. I plan to keep touching on it now and then so I've decided to take on a homebrewing sponsor. I'd like to welcome Do Your Brew to the website. I know this guy personally. If you're interested in homebrewing or you're an old salt I encourage you to give him a call or check out his website for any equipment or ingredient needs. He's very knowledgeable and is always happy to help with troubleshooting a brew or to answer any questions. He's also got great prices. Be sure and let him know that I sent you.

I just finished the last of my hard cider. It turned out really good. It tasted like sour apple juice. There was very little alcohol smell and little to no alcohol flavor. The second batch was slightly better than the first batch. The only thing that I did differently to the second batch was added a cup of dissolved sugar and champagne yeast rather than white wine yeast. I'll be this again. I really like those 1 gallon jugs, too. They're great for making small batches of wild wine. They're also nice to have around just in case the batch of whatever you're making ends up being too big for your fermenter. I also kegged my beer. This was my first attempt at kegging. I've had a cornelius keg in the garage for the last year or so. I finally decided to clean it out and try using it. When I went to put the fittings on, though, they didn't match up. Apparently there are two types of cornelius kegs. The ball lock keg is much more popular and easier to wo...

What homebrewer's garden is complete without some hops vines? I stopped by my local homebrew store today and picked up some hops rhizomes . At $5.25 these things are a bargain. Once they get established they should produce about 5 pounds or so of hoppy goodness per plant. I'll have to wait to plant them until it warms up a little bit but they survive just fine if you keep them moist in the refrigerator. Once you get them in the ground they take a year or two to get established but once they start producing they produce a lot. Now is the time of year to buy them if you've been thinking about growing your own. I'll post about my experience putting them in the ground once I get them in there.

Lately, I've been getting a lot of inquiries via email with homebrewing questions. I've also seen it mentioned a lot on other blogs. As far as I'm concerned this is one of the best hobbies that a preparedness minded individual can get into. Benjamin Franklin said it best; "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy". Before you do anything else go read How to Brew . This is easily the most comprehensive free resource that I'm aware of. If you want to drop a few bucks then I highly recommend The Complete Joy of Homebrewing . Between these two books you'll learn just about everything that you need to know. So, anyway, once you decide that getting into brewing isn't such a bad idea you need to start thinking about the equipment you'll need. You could always just go the lazy route and pick up a mr beer kit . Just follow the directions and you'll end up with decent beer. But if you want to keep using it you'll have to ke...

It looks like they've discovered more inconsistencies with global warming data. Remember the report that was released by the UN a few years back that claimed that livestock was responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions? The one that said that livestock accounts for more greenhouse gases than transportation. Apparently, they compared the total emissions produced from growing the feed grain to getting it to your plate with how much a car produces while driving. How much of this bullcrap "science" do we have to put up with before we can finally stop taking their word for anything? Climate scientists need to start rebuilding their credibility before we can take them seriously enough to enact sweeping legislation that will wreck our economy even more.

That's what a recent Fox News poll says, anyway. Now if they'd just get off their asses and start prepping. I wonder how long it'll be before we start seeing Mountain House commercials on TV.