ChristinaS1

Thanks Frank. All the best to you too. I will think about your invitation to come back to the forum at some point in the future, to talk about food and gardening. Maybe. The idea appeals to me but I am not sure I should....

Hi Everyone, It has been a while since I posted. I just wanted to provide an explanation as to why I have not been on the forum. I have run into some health issues. For the past year and a half or so I have been experiencing a lot of brain farts, forgetting things, sometimes mispronouncing my words, etc. At first I brushed them off, but then my family started to notice too, and that made me take a hard look at my situation. I feel like I am showing early signs of dementia. Yikes! As a retired nurse practitioner, I dove right into research mode. Luckily for me I had genetic testing a couple of years ago through 23andMe, including the health testing. In taking a closer look at my results I discovered that I have a genetic variant called APOE E4, aka "the Alzheimer's gene." Luckily I only have one copy, which is the case for 25% of people with European ancestry. People with one copy of the variant run a 4-7% chance of developing Alzheimer's by age 75, and a 20-30% chance of getting it by age 85. Geez, those are awfully high rates, and I am nearly 63 already. ...Note, 2-3% of people carry two copies of E4 and are at even greater risk. Long story short, I am making some major lifestyle changes, chief among them is giving up alcohol. I have not had a drink since March 31, 2022, and don't plan on drinking again. In people with the APOE E4 variant it is recommended that you don't drink any alcohol later life as even light to moderate consumption can increase your risk. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24049153/ Alcohol is a neurotoxin, and contributes to inflammation of the brain. I love beer, but I love my brain and family more! I don't want to saddle my wife with having to look after me, not if there is anything I can do to prevent it. So I have quit drinking. I have also started intermittent fasting (squeezing all of my meals into 8 hours and fasting the other 16), increased my exercise, started taking CBD oil, and am trying to get to bed earlier. I am looking into various supplements too. These are all meant to decrease inflammation. Anyway, the good news is that, while it has only been 18 days, we have noticed some improvements in my symptoms. I hope the improvements continue. I may still get Alzheimer's but I hope to push that day ahead as long as possible....I am scheduled to see my doctor tomorrow to discuss. Part of my motivation for sharing this is because 28% of you will have one or two copies of the APOE E4 variant, and that is a large number. Also, I know that many of you are daily drinkers, of multiple servings, and some of you are getting close to retirement, or are retired. I encourage all of you to get tested for the APOE E4 variant, to find out if you are at risk of Alzheimer's and, if you are, to consider making some lifestyle changes. When discussion on this thread dies down, I probably won't be visiting the Coopers forum anymore, to avoid temptation. Just wanted to add that you are a great bunch of guys and it has been nice knowing you. All the best going forward. May you live long and prosper! Cheers, Christina.

I have tried dry hopping at pitching time a few times, when I was fermenting in a keg. I was not a fan and did not keep it up. I did not get much flavour out of them; it seemed like a waste of hops. I feel I get way more out of hops if I use them after fermentation has died down. If you are looking for biotransformation, might as well add them to the hop stand where there is a little bit of heat to help the oils become soluable. Cheers, Christina.

Nice to be remembered on the forum @Tone boy. I have not been active on the forum of late but I get an email notification when someone quotes one of my posts. I am actually taking a break from brewing. We'll see how long it lasts! LOL! Cheers friends. Miss you guys. Christina.

Hey @Itinerant Peasant That bread looks great! Any chance you could post or PM Jim Lahey's recipe by weight or baker's percentages? I would really appreciate it. When I Google, "how much does a cup of rye flour weigh?" I get all kinds of answers, ranging from 102g to 153g. Might have to do with the fact that there are many grades of rye flour. In the USA, where most of the info I get comes from, they seems to have: light, medium, dark, and whole grain. Which one does Jim call for? In my area there is only one kind of rye flour available: organic stoneground whole grain, which is the least processed. Cheers, Christina.

Thanks a bunch @stquinto. I will try making sourdough someday. I will think about it.

Hey stquinto. Yes indeed, I have. It is quite a rabbit hole! It will keep me busy for a while. Sounds like you do a fair bit of bread making. Cool. I made a no knead rye bread with yeast today, with one of the few recipes I found in grams. It turned out pretty well, although it is a bit soft and hard to cut without squishing it. I followed the recipe except for one thing: I increased the water from 72% to 80% as I found the dough too dry. Maybe that is why it is so soft? Perhaps I should have baked it longer? The recipe said to bake covered for 30 minutes and then another 10 minutes uncovered, to colour the crust, to a temp of 205F. I pulled it out when the temp was 206F, but it had only been uncovered for about 3 minutes. Flavour is pretty good though, in spite of only being 20% rye. Apparently, if you want to use a higher percentage of rye you really need to use a sourdough starter. Personally I am not interesting in taking care of a sourdough starter and will be sticking to yeast. Kind of you to offer to post a recipe. Do you have one that combines rye and spelt? What is your favourite bread recipe? That multigrain mix looks interesting. I will look around for something similar here.

I mix the ingredients after supper, starting with the dry ingredients (flour, salt, instant dry yeast), then mix in the wet ingredients (usually just room temp water, and occasionally a bit of oil; the last loaf had a bit of beer in it too). I generally use 80-82% hydration. Then I cover the bowl and let it sit on the counter overnight, for around 12-15 hours. In the morning I stir it down with the handle end of a wooden spoon. A lot of no knead recipes say to just plop the dough into the baking dish at this point, where it rises for 2 hours and shapes itself as it does so, but I do a few folds and turns first, and shape it myself. Baking starts covered. The lid is removed near the end, to allow the crust to develop colour. Ideally the dough should be baked in an enamel cast iron Dutch oven, which I don't own, so I have been improvising with other bakeware. I just ordered a Dutch oven, so expect my bread will be a lot better going forward. Do you make rye bread? What percentage rye do you use? Any other favourite grains? Cheers, Christina.

Wow, what a beautiful colour. Makes me feel good just to look at it. You are right, I have never seen one of these. Thanks for thinking of me and sharing. Cheers, Christina.

I have been making plain white No Knead Bread on and off for several years. It is pretty easy. You can get pretty nice bread with very little effort, which is the part that appeals to me. Anyone else making no knead bread? I want to branch out into rye bread, and cheese bread, etc. but it has been hard to find good no knead recipes for them. Most are based on volume instead of weight, so they are pretty much garbage. If you have some good recipes, please post, or link. Thanks. Cheers, Christina

Finally getting around to tapping this keg and it is yummy. More dank than my usual Citra, Amarillo & Mosaic based brews, but most enjoyable. I will savour it while I can as there is no way I can repeat it: too many odds and ends. Cheers, Christina.

Happy New Year to you too @iBooz2, @Itinerant Peasant, and everyone else. Here's hoping the pandemic will end this year. People are posting some gorgeous photos of their brews. It is making me thirsty! Cheers, Christina. PS No, not much snow here yet. Just a dusting. PPS Just tapping my most recent cider and am a bit disappointed. Not as good as my Bear's Delight cider, but drinkable.

Just put this one on, another one where I am trying to use up odds and ends of hops. I really liked the last one I made, which was dry hopped with Cascades and El Dorado. We will see how it pairs with Galaxy. This is the last of the El Dorado hops though. Galaxy & El Dorado APA Dec 21, 2021 1.7kg Coopers Euro Lager 1.5kg light LME 650g Vienna 17% 300g Golden Promise malt 7.8% 200g Crystal 15L 5.2% 125g Carapils 3.3% 15g Mt Hood x 20 min 15g Motueka x 5 minutes 24g Motueka & 16g El Dorado @ FO for 20 minute hop stand 28g Galaxy DH 12g El Dorado DH 23L 7g Coopers Ale yeast & 7gm Euro Lager yeast & 1/4 tsp MJ20 Barvarian Wheat yeast dry pitched @ 20C. Added just a bit of pinch of MJ20 Barvarian Wheat yeast as an experiment. It is supposed to add a silky mouthfeel (glycerol), vanilla, and banana esters. Got the idea from internet lore which speculates that Julius's Treehouse uses three dry yeasts, one of them being an unknown wheat yeast. Cheers, Christina.

I may be wrong but I think it was German lager makers who started the whole fermenting under pressure movement. Good luck with your brew @Popo

Thanks @PintsAtMeLocal. Everything is fine. Just not brewing or drinking as much beer. Side tracked with apple harvest and cider. Cheers, Christina.