50 For 50 Plans

So here we go. I spent January going over all the ideas that folks sent me and started to compile them into a more focused list. There were quite a lot of good ideas and a lot of ideas that were more “bucket list” focused than I’m prepped for this year. So here’s the plans as they sit so far.

Planned 2026 Experiences

Iceland Trip with Sam

• Horseback Riding - Yes LaLa I’m going to reach out to you to chat.

• Fermented Shark

• Interdimensional Hopscotch

• Roadside Hotsprings

Pokémon Fossil Exhibit in Chicago - Still working on dates. It opens May 22 and runs through April 11, 2027.

Craft Sake in LA & some family hangs - September 3-8. (Possibly)

Creative South in Columbia, GA - April 8-12 - Marks 1 state off my 50 states list and is working towards reinvigorating my creativity

Design and Make 50 fingerboards for my 51st birthday party

Go to Elizabeth, CO to hang with highland coos - Hannah

Go on a Colorado Adventure with Andee Pants - TBD but working on it

Walk all 71 miles of the Highline Canal - Did parts 1 & 2 in January. Planning on doing 1-2 parts every month for the rest of the year. Join me if you’d like :). Doing part 3 on February 7.

Trying to taste a whisk(e)y at 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, & 50 years. Started down this path with Jimmy. I know the 30+ is going to be a challenge, but it sounds fun if it can happen. Addendum to the rule…if the bottle was bought in 1976 and sat in a basement for 50 years, that does count.

Planning on making sakes that reflect 76, 86, 96, 06, 16, & 26. I don’t know if I’ll get though all of them in the next year, but I like the idea and it gives me some new ideas to experiment with. I’ll also incorporate some of the art/design/drawing things that were suggested.

A lot of people mentioned meeting 50 new people which is good, but I think I like the idea of reaching out to 50 people I haven’t chatted with in a long time and catching up with them.

Celebrate a holiday you’ve never celebrated before - I got a chance to celebrate Gnomeuary this year. Super fun idea that I’ll definitely work on adding to my winter celebration calendar. Thanks Megan, Kagen, and Helen. I’ll be on the lookout for other holidays this year as well.

Creative Quests - I signed up for all 4 Quests this year. Looking forward to seeing where this takes me.

Plant-Dyed Bandana Workshop - With Patsy February 26 - In this two-hour workshop, participants will learn about fibers, plant pigments, and how to naturally dye fabric—all in the process of creating a beautifully dyed bandana.

Beginner Bollywood Dance Class - Sundays with Mitch & Friends - Still figuring out my schedule to make this work, but I figure at least twice a month I’ll do the beginner drop in and try and make this work :)

Do a silent retreat - Still working this one out, but it sounds like something that would be good to do this year.

Find a cardigan and Zhoosh it with patches or draw on it. I like the idea that this can also be a recording of the year. Patches from travel, bands, etc. would be cool. Now I just need to find the right cardigan and get this started.

Find a nonprofit that you love and volunteer for a day or on a regular basis. - Trying to work out my schedule for this as well. There are a few I have in mind, but need to get a few ducks in a row first.

So that’s the start. I’m also trying to leave room for spontaneous things and reflection. No sense in overloading the calendar and burning myself out. If you have any additional suggestions, please let me know. Very few things are set in stone and there are a lot of things to experience this year. One thing that I’m pretty sure of is I don’t want to do all this on my own. So if there’s something you’re interested in joining or having me join, please let me know. I set up a calendar here if you want to check in on the happenings. I’ll try and post as often as I can, but I may just do and post very little.

Here’s to 50 and beyond!

Embercraft Sake Pt 3

Well I guess I totally forgot to follow up with this 😂😂😂

The batch definitely is smoky. It starts off strong for sure and mellows out so some of the other flavors, maple & nutty mostly, come through.

This will definitely be a work in progress going forward, but I think I have a good idea on how the smoke/steam should happen going forward. Some of the rice got a bit toasty the way I did it (I burned some of it).

A fun rife for sure and my chest fridge still smells like maple which is lovely.

Embercraft Sake - Take 2 Cont.

So here is where the whole “Trust The Process” thing is valid. I wasn’t feeling so confident about the ferment on this one. I was excited about a spontaneous ferment, but then doubted that it was actually that. The whole thing seemed a little flat and weak, but after doing several tests, pull 1 was at 11% and pull 2 is at 13.3%.

This isn’t to say I should always trust my gut, but this also shows that maybe I should trust the process more…and I will now that I have some other/better testing equipment. I picked up the Anton Parr refractometer and density reader and this will for sure help out.

I’m actually going to press soon as a result of this.

The smoke is sitting stronger in everything right now and the maple ebbs and flows. Sometimes it comes out more when it is cooler. I’ll add another round of candy caps into the secondary. I’ll have to play with timing though. I have a feeling that they might overpower really quickly. I’m thinking I might let the pressed sake rest for a few days then transfer some to a croc pot for some low and slow action….maybe also add in some sugar maple wood staves to try and pull down a bit of the smoke (maybe).

Embercraft - Take 2

So I skipped all the play by play for this one so far. If you’re interested, you can see what I wrote on Instagram.

I am very excited about this try though. I’ve never had a batch spontaneously ferment on me before, so this is a whole new experience for me. I’m not sure what caused it, but I think it may have been the candy cap mushrooms. I made a tea with them to use as the water base and some wild yeast may have survived and thrived.

The initial ferment was good but it started to slow down over the last few days so I added in some DAP and that has done the trick. The foam is pretty bubbly and thin compared to a sake yeast, but it is getting some good fermentation action. I’ll be interested to see what it is like when I pull a sample on Saturday.

The odor fluctuates between heavy smoke and smokey maple which is interesting. I’m pretty sure I’ll add some more candy caps to the secondary ferment, but I’m not totally sure I’ll add some of the bourbon barrel wood chips in. I don’t know if I want any more smoke/char flavor in the mix. We’ll see though.

Oops All Koji - Bottling

Well the bottles I want are on perpetual back order, so we’ll go with these for the Oops All Koji sake.

For my first attempt at an all koji brew it turned out well. It is quite sweet but has some good flavor depth of Mellon as well. It isn’t as thick as I was expecting, so it has a lighter mouthfeel. Overall good job and I’ll have to try another one in the future. Thanks to Colorado Sake for the koji!

Yes the label is a Magic The Gathering card that you could play with. I might make a series of cards to go with this someday, but for now it’s on its own.

#homebrewsake #emeraldmastodon #magicthegathering

Oops All Koji - Pressing Day

The big day is here…Pressing Day!!!

The sake smells fantastic. Very ricy and very sweet. I’m looking forward to seeing how it tastes after a few days rest.

Oops All Koji pt 3

Pulled a sample from the Oops All #koji today. Definitely sweet, with some fruity acidity. The body is lighter than I would have expected. Overall quite nice 😀 I’ll be interested to see what one more week will do to it.

#sake #homebrewsake #emeraldmastodon

Oops All Koji - Pt2

Last addition to the Oops All Koji #sake. It is already sweeter smelling than any sake I’ve made so far.

Am starting to believe that this may be the sake equivalent to pastry stouts. Wasn’t brave enough to replace the last water addition with sake as was suggested by a friend, but I may add some in towards the end of the ferment if I can find something that I think will work. #emeraldmastodon #homebrewsake p

Oops All Koji - The Beginning

I’ve talked about this for years and am now giving it a go. I’ve tried to get a hold of the sake the Nambu Bijin makes, but haven’t tried it yet.

So here we go with an all koji sake batch. I know they’re supposed to be sweet and a little viscous, but that is about it. I’m going to try a standard #7 yeast, but have considered a combo with a champagne yeast.

Let’s go science!

Embercraft Smoked Rice Yamahai Sake

Finally finished and bottled the #smokedrice #sake. I’m calling it Embercraft.

It turned out pretty good. It needs some work for sure, but overall 3/5 writing. Would definitely work with the smoked rice differently next time. Good first try at a #yamahai style.

#emeraldmastodon #hombebrewsake

Smokey Sake Pt7

Since I’m not sure what style of bottles I want to use for this I’m gonna “bulk” pasteurize for now.

Overall this batch turned out pretty well for my first #yamahai attempt. It still has a buttery, fatty flavor that I’m not totally sure where it came from. Although in retrospect I did use a smoker that is regularly used for heavy meats so there may have been some oil transfer or fatty meat flavors imparted to the smoking.

Smokey Sake pt6

Pressing day! Though I am excited to press today I am a little hesitant to get exited about this batch of #sake.

The sample I pulled previously does not taste good. It’s got some buttered apricot flavor(?). I’m not sure that’s the best way to put it but that’s what my brain is telling me. So things may be very wrong with this batch.

I tasted the sample pull that let rest for a few days and I’m not sure what the flavor profile is. It is perhaps apricot forward and maybe buttery. I’ll have to give it another taste with some more focus.

I’ll press the rest soon and see how it goes

I’m hoping it changes during secondary into something better, but this batch may end up being a wash.

Yay science! #homebrewsake #homebrewsakeproblems #emeraldmastodon

Update - I tried the sample pull this morning and though it was still a bit buttery on the nose, it wasn’t as strong on the palate. I also tried heating it up in the microwave for 10 & 20 seconds and the flavor was better. This may be a good room temp or winter warmer sake.

Smokey Sake pt5

First sample of the smoky #sake. Not much smoke quality on this pull. Gonna let it rest for a bit and see if anything develops. It is hitting on the sweet side though

Smokey Sake Pt4

Steaming the next addition to the Smokey #sake. This portioned I washed before smoking. The uncooked rice was very smoky and it it noticeable in the steam.

I’m hoping that I’m not overcooking though.

Smokey Sake Pt 3

Just over a week update, the kimoto process is chugging along. The mash is petty solidly melted and holding well at a temp drop to 50F.

What is a little interesting is that some of the smoke notes have started to reappear with the temp drop. I’ll be interested to see what happened next weekend with the first addition

Smokey Sake

This is an idea I’ve been kicking around for a while. I’ve had a few smoked beers over the last year and even a “smokey” sake from Proper recently, so I thought I’d give it a go on my own.

The idea originally started as a project for the Colorado Sake Social Club. I thought we might smoke some koji and see what happened, but I couldn’t figure out a good way to do it without damaging the koji spores.

I then started chatting with a baker friend and a bbq friend to see if they had any good ideas on how to make it work. Then I started to see that folks on the internet smoke rice to eat all the time. So I started messing around with their recipes a bit, called up my bbq friend and gave it a go.

I’m very sure this will need a lot of tweaking going forward, but for the first batch here’s how I started it.

1. I smoked 570g of uncooked, unwashed Calrose 60% at 250F for about an hour and fifteen minutes. It did color the rice a bit and there is some smoke odor, but it is lighter than I would have expected.

2. I also smoked 1061g of the same rice at the same time and temp, but I washed it first and did not completely dry it before smoking. There was some discoloration, but not much smoke smell to the batch. I’m hoping the wet grains sucked a bit of the smoke inside.

I’m thinking next time, and possibly the rice I have left for the final addition, might work if I wash and soak the rice, then use the smoker for a cold smoke steam cook. It might impart more smoke to the mix. I’m hesitant to do this initially as I don’t want to overpower the rest of the flavors with just smoke.

To this mix I’m planning on using some wild yeast from The Black Project brewery. I’m not sure what this will do exactly but the description is as follows:

This culture is a rare mix of microbes sourced from the Denver brewery’s coolship and wild yeast living on Colorado-grown Riesling grape skins used for beer production.

Flavor/Aroma Profile: Clean saison initial; Funky, sour with aging; varies batch-to-batch

So this may end up being a totally undrinkable sake, but it will be something interesting for sure.

New Emerald Mastodon Sake

It has been a bit for sure, but I’m still working on things.

I recently started another batch of the Emerald Mastodon Spruce Tip sake. I’m taking inspiration from Ben Franklin’s Spruce Tip beer recipe and I made a tea of spruce tips and lemon. I’m trying to pull some of the lemongrassy flavors out of the spruce. I’m hoping that along with the Oslo yeast from Bootleg Biology to bring out some more citrus qualities in the sake.

Sticking with Calrose for the rice base until Isabel Farms can take over for MN Rice in the homebrew world. I am looking forward to having access to some different rices though.

I also kept the brew at about 75-80F for the whole starter and just dropped the temp to 65F yesterday. I’m hoping the high temp will push the Olso to perform better. I’ll try and get it down to 55F next week, but I don’t think I’ll let it go much colder.

Rice: Calrose

Yeast: Oslo Norwegian Farmhouse

Additions: Rocky Mountain Spruce Tips, Whole Lemon

ABV: ??

Wind of Seven stars

This will be the last update on this project for a while…not that my updates were plentiful as of late. I’ve taken a brewing position helping Colorado Sake out with their Social Club special releases. It will be pretty exciting. We’ll be trying out some new yeasts, brewing techniques, chemistry experiments, and local flavors. I’m really looking forward to the next few months. If you’re interested in getting any of the releases, you can join up here.

As for this batch, it turned out quite well. The last batch I did with only Kakheti yeast soured in the very end, and I lost most of it while pasteurizing, so I decided to try again. This time I blended the Kakheti with sake yeast ant it turned out really well. I used about a 70/30 split of Yamada and Omachi and lightly filtered it. It has a nice notes of melon and honey with a little green apple and some soft butter on the finish. I’m really proud of this one. It turned out better than I expected. I’m looking forward to trying the Kakheti yeast again in the future if I can obtain more.