Homemade Beer for the Holidays

Made some beer this morning for Christmas, the girls will be home and I plan to share it with them whether they want to or not. I received the kit last year for Christmas from the Eldest and kept meaning to make a second batch. The first batch, Chocolate Maple Porter came out fine and I guess I was just too busy. Although, it doesn't take long, about 3 hours on day one and an hour or two at bottling time two weeks later. This batch is a Smoked Wheat Beer, "full of beechwood-smoked malt and German wheat making for a rich weizen(German for wheat) body and smooth roasted finish" so says a Brooklyn Brew Shop copywriter. Also purchased an Oatmeal Stout mix so that I have it ready for when the Smoked Wheat is finished, plus the incitement of free shipping was also a factor in buying a second mix and a mini auto-siphon.

The Mash,  cook the grains for an hour.

Looks like oatmeal, the mash gets strained into another pot and then flushed with more water to create the wort. Dumped the spent grains in the compost pile.

The Wort, at this point it tastes sweet. It will be boiled for an hour and hops(adds flavor and prevents growth of some bad bacteria) will be added throughout the boil. The wort tastes a bit bitter after the introduction of the hops.

The Wort after the boil. It gets cooled and then the yeast is added. Over the course of about two weeks sugars will be converted to alcohol(yipee) and carbon dioxide which is let escape. At this point the beer can be bottled.

Beers in the Fridge.

Both good, prefer the Saranac. Last month had the Saranac Pumpkin Ale, it was just OK, slight pumpkin scent, not much in the way of pumpkin flavor, but that is better than being overpowered by pumpkin and spice.

Travel? Why Not! Vienna

Home of the Habsburgs and many classical musicians, lair of Harry Lime of "The Third Man*". Well known for Wiener Schnitzel, Apfelstrudel, other pastries, its coffee and a very rich hot chocolate, I've wanted to visit Vienna for a long time.

Travel

• minimum 10 hours(at least 1 stop) NYC to Flughafen Wien depending on layovers.
• Airport to Wien Mitte station via CAT(City Airport Train) 16 minutes non-stop every half hour.
• Flights from London are about 2.5 hours

Vienna Tourism
Vienna Tourist Card - free public transport and discounts galore
Vienna Museum List
Vienna Public Transport map

Sights

• Ubiquitous Hop On/Off bus tour
• Spanish Riding School home of the Lipizzaner stallions. At the Hofburg.
• The Hofburg, Imperial Apartments and quite a few museums in the City center.
• Schönbrunn Palace, Baroque palace and gardens
• Chocolate Museum
• Josephinum Museum, Anatomical wax models plus other historic medical stuff. Friday and Saturday 10 - 6PM
• Botanic Garden, daily
• Belvedere Palace and Garden, next to the Botanic Gardens.
• St. Stephens Cathedral,Views from the towers got so-so reviews, but the catacomb tour ranked high, with one out of context quite of "cavernous vaults of bones", cool!
• United Nations in Vienna Tour, still have aspirations to get myself or spouse a gig here or in Geneva. Monday to Friday.
• Danube river tour
• Berg Kreuzenstein a few miles north of Vienna
• Clock Museum,
• Vienna Pathological-Anatomical Museum, at the Madhouse

* Screenplay by Graham Greene