Make Real Beer in your Mr. Beer

A few days ago I talked about using the Mr. Beer kit. I should have mentioned that you can use the Mr. Beer fermenter to make your own beer recipe, without using one of their kits. You simply make a 2 gallon batch of beer and use the Mr. Beer keg for fermenting it. This is a safe way to move into "legitimate" beer brewing, with much less expense. I have a recipe for a very basic Hefeweizen that I love to make, and I have scaled it to a 2 gallon recipe. Enjoy!

2 Gallon Hefeweizen

• 2.2 pounds Dry Wheat Extract (Here)
• 1/2 ounce German Hallertau Whole Hops (Here)
• WLP300 Hefeweizen Yeast (Here)

1. Boil 1/4 c. of Dry Extract in 2 gallons of water with all of the hops for 45 min.
2. After 45 minutes, add the rest of the malt extract and boil for the remaining 15 minutes
3. Remove from the heat and cool
4. Add to the fermenter, top up to 2 gallons in the fermenter with spring water
5. Pour in Yeast vial, and seal up the fermenter

Once fermentation is finished, prime with 3.3 oz. of sugar. The easiest way is to use something like Munton's CarbTabs, which has pre-measured tablets, with dextrose, spray-dried extract, and heading powder. You can find more information here. You can buy the CarbTabs at any brewers supply store or website. If you use CarbTabs, you won't need to add any sugar to prime the bottles.

Enjoy the recipe, anyone who loves wheat beers will love a good hefeweizen. Enjoy!

Make Your Own Beer, Without a Stove

The Problem

Ok, so, beer can be quite expensive. After a while, you will start to notice that you are spending more money than you should on beer; well, if you're like most college students, that is (note: if you are under 21, you shouldn't be drinking anyway, it's important to wait until you are 21 to start drinking...)

Many people toy around with the idea of making their own beer, it seems like a great idea, doesn't it? The problem is: most kits require you to make 5 gallons of beer at a time, and require a stove. I tried this...and it worked, but it was a TON of work, and the product wasn't great. Now that I have an apartment, I make my own beer, the real way, and it is very delicious. I actually just bottled 25 bottles of a Hefeweizen, and it should be delicious.

The Solution

Anywho, back to the topic at hand; making your own without a stove. The Mr. Beer kit is really great for starting out at making beer. While you do not make world class beers with Mr. Beer, you can make a very tasty product, and you will definitely enjoy making, and drinking it. We figured out you could have 2 gallons of beer ready to drink per week when I first started doing this. Our plan was to buy up to 9 Mr. Beer kits and have 18 gallons ready per week. Then, we would sell the beer and make a handsome profit. (This did not work because 1. It is Illegal, and 2. It requires large amounts of capital, and 3. It is Illegal. Don't make beer if you're too young, and DON'T EVER SELL YOUR BEER!)

You can get a kit from Amazon, or other websites, and it will have enough to make one batch of beer (2 gallons). After that, you can buy refill kits to keep making beer. You might need some bottles, as well to fill up with delicious beer. Once you have the things you need, there is a slight change in procedure that you will need to follow, but I have outlined it below.

1. Sanitize the keg as usual: all sanitization steps will be exactly the same
2. Sprinkle a little bit (1 teaspoon) of the booster into 4 cups of water in a microwave safe container which will hold the liquid. Microwave until it is nearly boiling (microwaved water will not actually boil, unless a container is made for it)
3. Stir in the booster, slowly
4. Stir in the canned malt extract. Re-microwave to heat up if required
5. After this, all the steps are the same. I have made Mr. Beer with the microwave before, and it turned out great. I highly recommend it.

Once you get into this, it is possible to catch the "bug" of homebrewing. Once you have the space to do it, and you would like to step into "real" beer making, you can try out a few sources for information. One is a DVD that is pretty popular. It lays out all the steps needed to make beer from malt extract. There are further DVD's with more advanced techniques.

Some books that are also helpful are:

• The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papaizian
• Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels
• Clone Brews by Mark Szamatulski
• How to Brew by John Palmer - This one is free online, and has all the basic info you need
• Brew Your Own Magazine
• BasicBrewing Podcasts - Video and Radio podcasts dedicating to the art of brewing beer

So, that's a basic overview of how to get into brewing your own beer; in a small confined space, and in an apartment. Once you get into brewing beer, it can take off and you can start making lots of beer :) I currently have probably 100 bottles in my stash, just waiting for a thirsty day.

Happy Brewing!

Save Money with Hydroponics!

I have started a hobby that, at the very least, is very fun, and it can in fact save you money. I have started growing my own vegetables in a hydroponic garden. There are some VERY complicated hydroponic systems out there, then there is the system I use, which is called a deep water culture. Basically, my plants sit in little pots full of hydroton (basically soil for hydroponic systems, it's actually clay pebbles) over water in a rubbermaid tub. Once my plants start producing, I should save TONS of money on vegetables. Peppers and tomatoes can be expensive, as can fresh herbs, so this can save you serious money in the long run.

The system I built cost me about $40-$50 to get going. However, that cost is higher because I did not price shop (please price shop) and I had to buy a separate light, instead of installing an incandescent plant light into a lamp I already owned (which I highly suggest)

The following video gives a good breakdown about how to start building a hydroponic garden

A few things that are different with my system:

• His is a larger system, I used a smaller tub, and did not have a problem with the sides bowing out (too much)
• I keep mine indoors, so I also use a plant light during the night time (this way, I get about 18 hours of "sun" on my plants per day")
• I bought my stuff at Meijer and a hydroponics store.
• I cut my top with a utility knife (a.k.a. box cutter, a.k.a. exacto knife), once you get a hole going, it is quite simple to cut the plastic with a sharp blade. (Word of warning, be careful with a sharp blade, always)
• I did not cut "slits", I simply cut holes so that I could rest the pots in the plastic
• It's not a "neti" pot, it's a "net" pot (Click here to see what a "neti" pot is)
• I eyeballed where to cut the holes. His is much more precise, mine required much less effort...you can decide how you would like to do yours

If you can find a shallow tub that allows you to build a system, I would recommend it. There is not reason to keep 12 gallons of liquid in a tub when you don't need it.

The most amazing tip about planting seeds in hydroponic gardens!

If you want/can buy plants to transplant, go for it; I could not, since I started my garden in the winter in Michigan. I bought seeds, however, and I figured out you can plant directly into your hydroton. I simply dropped 2-3 seeds (for larger plant seeds like tomatoes, peppers, and basil) or sprinkled seeds (for smaller seeds like oregano and thyme) onto the hydroton in the basket.

1. Fill basket half full with hydroton
2. Sprinkle (small seeds) or place 2-3 large seeds on the hydroton
3. Cover to about 3/4 of the way up the basket with hydroton
4. Once seeds have sprouted and are tall enough, offer more support for the stalk with hydroton filled to the top of the basket

If you cannot find a store which sells these items, I have put together a little aStore on amazon which has all the items you will need with the exception of the giant tub. Furthermore, if you want different seeds, you can either search amazon, or simply find them at a grocery store (some grocery stores will still carry them)

If any of that is unclear (and it is very likely that some of it is) or if you would like some clarification, just leave a comment and I will reply with more details.

Here are some pictures of my hydroponic garden:

The Air stone:

The pots barely touch the water:
Tomato plants:
The pepper plant:

Keeping Yourself Accountable

January - Over.

My record based on the Seinfeld calendar for exercising: 27/31

That's pretty good, working out to 87% completion; 90% would be better, 100% desired, but looking back, I have no regrets.

The days I missed were interview related; after a long day of interviews, it's too difficult to go ahead and work out. With that said, every day I do not have an 'X' I actually did SOMETHING, but not enough for me to justify that in my mind, because that would sabotage me later on.

For Example:

"Well, 20 minutes of cardio should be enough to count it, I've already done that twice"

"You know, 10 minutes is ok, because I went pretty hard during those ten minutes"

"Well, I didn't actually 'work out' per se, but I walked a lot around campus"

"I didn't lift weights, but I did lug around my backpack, and that is quite heavy"

"I didn't do anything today, but I did get out of bed, that should count"

Blam, suddenly you find yourself doing nothing, and, worst-of-all, it is all justified in your mind.

This calendar is keeping me accountable, because I can see, and everyone else can see, how much I worked out. I also purchased a scale, and once it comes, I will take daily measurements, and graph it. This will also be posted in my room, for all to see.

"Hmm, I'm kind of embarrassed about 380, but, I won't be embarrassed if that was my starting point and I have lost 30 pounds"

So you can see, it is all about accountability, because we're all too persuasive to ourselves; we can make ourselves believe anything, so don't let your mind start to persuade you, fight back and do what is right!

My First Missed Day of the Year, and How to GET PSYCHED!

I have been keeping up the working out every day thing for 19 days of this year, then, two days ago, the career fair ambushed me. I went so hard all day that I decided not to do my cardio that day. Then, yesterday, I had another marathon, and I plainly forgot to do my weights. So, as a result, my calendar looks something like this:

That's okay with me though. 19 days in a row is quite impressive. So, in order to prove that I'm awesome, I now have to go 20 days in a row, to beat that streak. That means, including today (already rode the bike for 45 minutes) I have to go once a day until Wednesday, February 10th, though by no means does that mean that I want to only go 20 days.

So, I'll keep it short for today, but that's a little update on my main goal of the year. Oh, as far as affirmations, I got my favorite one I think. It's from How I Met Your Mother (a new favorite show) and it's simple: "I'm Awesome".

Oh, also, to get myself psyched up when I need it, I've been using a playlist from the show to get psyched. I can't confirm that this is the proper playlist, but it's based on general consensus from multiple sources. Here it goes:

Barney Stinson's Get Psyched Playlist

1. You Give Love a Bad Name - Jonathan B. Jovi

2. I Wanna Rock - Twisted Sister

3. The Humpty Dance - Digital Underground

4. Don't Stop Believing - Journey

5. Lick it Up - KISS

6. Paradise City - Guns N' Roses

7. Tom Sawyer - Rush

8. The Theme from Transformers [80's Version] - Lion

9. Dancing with Myself - Billy Idol

10. Rock You Like a Hurricane - Scorpions

11. Come Sail Away - Styx

12. Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd

13. Panama - Van Halen

14. Jessie's Girl - Rick Springfield

15. Talk Dirty to Me - Poison

16. Thunderstruck - AC/DC

17. High Enough - Damn Yankees

18. Hip Hop Hooray - Naughty by Nature

19. Dr. Feelgood - Mötley Crüe

20. Round and Round - Ratt

It's pretty cool, because when I turn it on, I make it so that I get psyched, so when Bon Jovi first comes on, I start to get really psyched. It's all an association thing, so make sure that you associate this playlist with getting psyched up initially, then, afterward, it WILL get you psyched up always!

So...I didn't keep it as short as I thought I would, but still, it's a good playlist, and a GREAT technique for getting psyched up.

Goal Setting

It's 2010, and in typical fashion, all blog owners are laying out their goals, I'm going to take a slightly different approach, and try to teach you how to lay out your own goals and help you achieve them. I'll do this by going through the process of laying out my own goals, but please adapt this to whatever is relevant in your own life.

I am a firm believer in the use of goals for the achievement of success. I have my overall life goals, my long term goals, short term goals, and super short term goals.

I don't have all of these written down in a nice pretty notebook or something...we all have these different goals, we just don't take time to write them down. Everyone secretly knows some life goals (raise a good family, become wildly successful in business, become a music star: those are life goals)

Long term goals might be graduating college, or looking for a director position in your firm, they aren't all clearly defined, but we all know where we would like to go. Short term might be to 6 month to year long goals like losing weight to fit into a dress for a wedding, or building up some muscle in the gym. Super short term might be that this week you want to go work out, or this month you would like to eat out less. Everyone has goals, few people write them down.

Writing down goals is a HUGE part of motivation: reminding yourself of where you are going can be a huge help in all aspects of life. Remember, we all have the power to achieve our goals, we just have to be willing:

My one year goals are as follows:

1. Lose an average of 2.5 pounds per week (130 pounds on the year)
2. Use motivational tools to drive success in all aspects of life
3. Have a good job that I like by the time I turn 22
   

Those are my main goals for a one year period. Some call it a new years resolution, so I'll go with that for now, but I HATE that term. First of all, no one ever keeps their "New Years Resolutions" so it kind of sets you up for failure, secondly, January 1 is one day apart from December 31...there is not a huge monumental change, time goes on at a relatively constant rate as far as we know; years are only for our benefit for the use of knowing the seasons.

Side note, at the New Years Eve party, I made a promise that we would celebrate New Years 2042 on Mars (2032 on the moon) and I realized...it won't be the new year on Mars, since Mars has a different year than us. Years are arbitrary in the grand scheme of things.

Anyway, so above are my three main goals for the year. Call those strategic goals, it outlines where I would like to be; now we need tactical goals, or the steps we will take to get there.

Goal one: Lose an average of 2.5 pounds per week
Tactical Goals:

1. Do some workout everyday, incorporating weight lifting and cardio
2. Eat mostly fresh foods
3. Avoid all processed foods
4. Eat well (note: I know what eat well means for me, if you don't know EXACTLY what that means for you, get more specific, do calorie counts if you must)
   

Goal Two: Use motivational tools to drive success in all aspects of my life
Tactical Goals

1. Use quotes as motivational material (I have a wall where I hand write quotes to inspire me, this way they stay fresh and I don't become "used" to them)
2. Use calendar trackers (I use small calendar trackers to track small goals, like Neville does at NevBlog Motivations - The Seinfeld Calendar)
3. Use daily to-do lists (Again, inspired by Neville, read more about them there: To-do Lists)
4. Use affirmations - basically, write down specifically things about you that you want to be true (ex: I work out every day, I spend time to look good in the morning, I am a successful man at work, I have a great job) and every morning and evening, look yourself in the mirror and say them to yourself. Now, if these things are not true, it will create an inner conflict between what you are saying, and what you are, so you will start to shift your mental mind into what you are saying, to reduce that conflict. Also, keep them positive to the max (I am not addicted to chocolate vs. I am able to resist the temptation of chocolate)
5. Drink coffee - It sounds simple, but I know that for myself, when I am on a caffeine induced high, I am much more motivated, then once I get going, even when the caffeine wears off I am motivated.
   

Goal Three: Have a good job that I like by the time I turn 22 (June 17, 2010)
Tactical Goals:

1. Update resume
2. Put out feelers with all corporate contacts
3. Prepare for EVERY company at the Supply Chain Management Career Fair
4. Do 2 mock interviews
   

So You can see, goal setting is very important. There are different levels of goals to use, and there are more specific levels (for example, those to-do lists I will be using are daily tactical goals which will lead me to achieve my tactical goals, to lead me to achieving my three main goals) When you are looking to create goals for yourself for this year (or any time frame) try to achieve some balance between the three most important areas of your life.

Health, Wealth, and Love. All three need to be balanced, and you can't achieve success in life without these three things. They are very general labels, but because of that generality, they can apply to everyone. Improve your health and wealth, and have no love or relationships, your mental health will suffer. Find love and health, but no wealth your relationship could suffer...etc.

I will stop rambling now, and leave you with one of my favorite quotes:

I cannot become who I want to be by remaining who I am.
-Adapted from a Max Depree quote

Entrepreneurship

So, let me lay out my schedule...

Tuesday, Thursday - 3 Entrepreneurship classes
Monday, Wednesday - Golf
Independent Study (research)

As you can see, I'm pretty Entrepreneurship heavy this semester, which is good, because that is what this blog was originally about!

So, a few notes on Entrepreneurship. Basically, anyone can be an entrepreneur, anywhere, anytime, anyone. Do not let ANYONE ever tell you otherwise. If you truly believe in your idea, you should make it happen...

That is...if it's a GOOD idea. I have heard from 2 professors already that Entrepreneurs do not take huge risks, like most people believe they do. A common misconception is that entrepreneurs are huge risk takers. This is actually false. A good entrepreneur will analyze his idea, and his market enough to know that there is a good chance of success. (The actual success rate for new businesses is 50/50...much better than restaurants, which have a 98% FAILURE rate)

Another common misconception is that an entrepreneur is someone that starts a new business. That is FALSE! Think about it, is a gas station owner an entrepreneur, or a business owner...no, they are not one in the same. Someone who starts a restaurant that does your dry cleaning while you eat is entrepreneurial (maybe not a great idea, but a NEW idea). A good entrepreneurial mind thinks uniquely, and looks at things differently.

If you want more education on entrepreneurship, I have found that the Podcast Entrepreneurship and Business Course with Mark Juliano (adjunct prof. at Carnegie Mellon) is a great basic course for someone wanting to learn to THINK more like a small business owner. This is geared more toward "big" small businesses. Meaning, businesses that are geared to bring in $2-$10 Million in funding to grow rapidly. It's still a great podcast, as he also gears some toward small business owners.

I find there are plenty of great podcasts which provide free learning.

I'll keep updating with more knowledge as I get it from my classes.