Shared: ALL-GRAIN BREWING WITH JOHN PALMER

ALL-GRAIN BREWING WITH JOHN PALMER by NorthernBrewerTV:

“How to Brew” author John Palmer stops by Northern Brewer to brew an all-grain batch of a very special recipe. In our video, Palmer discusses his techniques for adding salts to brew water, mashing, batch sparging (versus fly sparging), chilling and fermentation. It’s a full-blown brew day with one of homebrewing’s most influential people. Grab a pint and enjoy the show.

Original recipe here… note: John Palmer has already tweaked it beyond the original form and it continues to be tweaked, but this is the original recipe from the way-back machine:
http://www.brewingtv.com/recipe/2011/9/23/belladonna-tooks-oaked-mild-john-palmer-recipe-for-btv.html

Shared: First evidence from humans on how alcohol may boost risk of cancer

First evidence from humans on how alcohol may boost risk of cancer

About 30 percent of people of Asian descent ― almost 1.6 billion people ― have a variant of the alcohol dehydrogenase gene and are unable to metabolize alcohol to acetate. That genetic variant results in an elevated risk of esophageal cancer from alcohol drinking. Native Americans and native Alaskans have a deficiency in the production of that same enzyme.

Shared: Why College Binge Drinkers Are Happier, Have High Status | Healthland | TIME.com

Why College Binge Drinkers Are Happier, Have High Status | Healthland | TIME.com

Surprisingly little research is conducted on the positive effects sought by drug users and what they actually achieve via their drug consumption; the assumption is that alcohol and other drugs are always bad and their users are irrational. But until more studies like this are conducted, prevention programs are unlikely to improve. We can’t prevent what we don’t understand.

Shared: Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine – Story Index – Brewing History – Archaeobeer

Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine – Story Index – Brewing History – Archaeobeer

The key ingredient that seems to anchor the switch from hunting and gathering to gardening, herding and farming, is the domestication of starchy staple foods. The first of these were grains — particularly wheat and barley — domesticated in the Near East and Asia Minor beginning around 12,000–10,000 years ago. Wheat and rice were largely responsible for fueling similar cultural evolution in Asia. Likewise, sorghum and yams were domesticated in Africa; as were maize, potatoes and cassava in the Americas.

Domesticated starchy staples revolutionized life because they provided huge amounts of energy and, especially, because they could be stored to feed folks even through lean seasons. As I noted, wheat and barley were among the very first domesticated plant foods. And what do we do with wheat and barley? Well, we make beer, of course, and for that reason some archaeologists have argued that beer was the reason that people settled down and began to farm in the first place.