Toad Spit Stout -- Original date: 21-SEP-2000, 12:44AM

And lo! For many moons have passed since last I brewed. During my time off from these writings, Savannah was born and is almost two, Angela & I bought the house on Garry Street, a couple of vehicles, and a whole lot of paint!

During this time, Homebrewing as a hobby has been on the wane. In the Detroit area, many shops selling homebrew supplies have discontinued them. Indeed, I was forced to go to two places to find these ingredients, and bought some of the last close-out merchandise from one of them at a 30% discount. The fella at that shop, The Red Wagon Liquor Store in Rochester Hills (corner of Rochester & Auburn) told me that his sales went from having to re-order every week to throwing things with expired dates out from a lack of interest. It's sad, but the Brew & Grow store in Livonia is still around, and theres always ordering supplies over the Internet, I suppose.

Angela is off for her 48-hour crop-til-you-drop weekend in Port Huron, so I'm Mr. Mom for the weekend. I've wanted to brew a batch for some months now -- the supplies of vanilla & licorice porter have dwindled to one solitary Grolsh bottle -- but of course time is never on my side. I'm getting a late start so as to allow Savannah to sleep whilst I work. Hopefully I'll get some sleep tonight too...

This stout was the first really successful beer I ever made, back when I was living in our first home together in the high-rise on Crocker (Harrison Twp, MI) Virtually indistinguishable from Guiness, it's a good cold-weather brew. Hopefully, it will be in its prime sometime around Christmas.

As usual, I was forced to improvise on the ingredients when shopping tonight (Savannah was a great little helper - she assisted in turning the crank to grind the grains - and generally charmed everyone, as is her custom.) - so here's the actual list. If the brew fails, blame the fact I was forced to substitute. Otherwise, laud my ingenuity... I might have made a great brewer had Y2K forced me to change careers!

Recipe called for	Actually Used
1. 3.3lb John Bull Hopped Dark Malt Extract syrup	1. 3.75lb (1.7KG) Morgans Dockside Stout (Australian) Morgan's Brewing Co Pty Ltd 9 Lochlarny St Beenleigh, Queensland, Australia 4207 Phone: 61 7 3807 2648
2. 4lb plain dark DME.	2. Same. Munton's Brand
3. 3/4lb Crystal malt. 1/3lb roasted barley. 1/3lb black patent grains	3. Same.
4. 1 1/2oz Northern Brewer Hops (Boiling)	4. 1oz Perle Hop Pellets--7.2% alpha acid
5. 1/2oz Fuggles or Willamette Hops (finishing)	5. 1/2oz Fuggles -- 4.5% alpha acid
6. 8 Tsp gypsum	6. Same
7. 1-2 pkgs ale yeast	7. 1 package - came with syrup

Process

1. Washed over 2 years of dust & dirt off of equipment. Used bleach to sterilize stuff that will come into contact w/wort.


2.