Technology moves Dylan forward

Dylan and Jake (don’t know what they are doing) helping Mike (really knows what he is doing) with the concrete for the boiler pad.

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DYLAN SUMMONS ESTABLISHED BLOGGERS

No matter what Carl may say about Jake, I am, in fact, the worlds worst blogger.  In fact, I'm not really a blogger.  I'm a blog faker.  But since  the times they are a changin', I resolve to dig deep, and increase my blogging to more than once a month.  Which, as I look at my posts will increase my blogging about 300%.  I am also resolving to improve content, although a more modest amount- say around 7%.   

To help in my blogging endeavor I figured it would be good to know what a successful blog was- Huffington Post, TMZ, enGaget, PerezHilton, Mashable....  These are the blog juggernauts of our time?  I gotta say, Mashable was a complete beer let-down.  And I thought it was Paris Hilton?I may not know about TMZ-land, but it doesn't matter as long as I know whats going down in TTB-land.  (Tax and Trade Bureau).  As long as we're talking about the TTB and I have the internet at hand, lets talk about that.   The TTB is part of the Treasury.  They have a lot of duties, but lets just say for the sake of simplicity they focus on taxes, permits, audits and manufacturing- All of these are related to Alcohol and Tobacco. Maybe not the glitz and glam you expected from making beer, but as history shows us- Death, Taxes, and Beer are all unavoidable.  Also, TTB stands for "Ticking Time Bomb Scenario" and "Trigger the Bloodshed" (a British Death Metal Band)...(courtesy Wikipedia).  I'd like to add to the TTB abbreviations by offering "Time To Bounce".  I feel like this could come in handy for Texting, which  I can now do with my average phone.  

Back to Beer.  This was a busy week of beer brewing at my house.  I finally got some more brown malt, which is my Bat-a-rang; or the malt that gets me out of Tiger pits just after the commercial.  Brown malt isn't popular.  I think Brown Malt needs a new Marketing firm.  Look what UPS did with it!  What can Brown do for YOU!? Brown malt isn't popular because its very specific.  It just doesn't have a place in too many beers, so its not one of those specialty malts that you can have on hand and throw in everything to give it that extra something.  Its kilned to have enough roast that it bites but soft enough to maintain a sweet berry quality as well.  On either side of Brown malt you have Roast or Black Malts which have all of the bite but much less berry, and Amber-type malts  which can be sweeter, grainy, and fruity.  Brown malt is a tweener.  And thats exactly why most brewers and breweries don't use it.  It just isn't very flexible.  But, it is absolutely necessary in Brown Beer.  At least in my book.  You can flex out some color with Crystal malts (too sweet), Roasted Malt (too dry) or Chocolate Malt (too Wonka), but to my palate Brown Malt is where its at.  Brown malt is a knit sweater.  It's a red wagon.  It's seconds on Thanksgiving.  It's a Polaroid in a scrap book.  It's Lady Gaga on tour.  

Used to be most malt was brown.  Its a fact.  A few hundred years ago, kilning was a simple affair- two shades of burnt.  Malt is always kilned in some way and its only recently (by iceberg standards) that we've been able to process lots of malt without much color.  Once people saw beer could be lighter colored they freaked out and wanted more.  I can't say I blame them, but I'm glad that Brown Malt is still kicking.  Thomas Fawcett makes a great one, one I'm using now.  I'd like to think if I were a malt, I'd be Brown Malt.  I'm pretty sure based on the amount of plaid in my closet I would be.