Obsession (again)

My confessions, multiple as they are, can no longer be any surprise. Not even to me.

Decoction mashing. My new obsession. Ask Andrew. I keep telling him about it. He's so enthralled, he seems in a trance. "Wake up, Andrew. How does Dickmeisch differ from Dünnmeisch?" "Daaad, it's midnight. I have to go to school tomorrow." No commitment, these youngsters.

I won't pretend to have read every word of every book I own. How much time do you think I have? The Kunze that's topping my new book tower has 847 pages. In an ideal world, I'd have time to read it twice forwards and once backwards. I have a job and a family. Excuse me if I'm selective.

The raw material is piled up around me. Way too much ("Dad, you've already said that") to attack it randomly. Investigating a specific theme is the only way to stop your head exploding. Mine's almost popped a few times.

"How do you perform a decoction mash?" That's my current question. Finding references to it is piece of piss. Index . . . .M . . . Miaischen . . . page 171 . . . . "In Deustschland sind Dekoktionsvervahren allgemein üblich. Man wendet . . . "

It's that simple. But still definitely worth doing. If only for my own education. This technical stuff is quite fun. I love numbers. And decoction mashing has loads of numbers. It's a great theme.

Sorry if I go on about this. I did clearly state in my mission statement that this blog was supposed to serve as an outlet for the conversations I couldn't have with my family or friends. You're the only ones I can talk to about decoction mashing or the discrepancy between brewery and pub samples of Barclay Perkins draught beers in the 1930's. You were warned.

Having more books than I can read is worthwhile. I'm impulsive. Ideas grab me. When they do, I'm prepared. Dolores believes that, I hope. Though, like an addict, I keep some of my book-buying secret. Don't give me away.

Fermentation. I've skipped through lots about that. All those funny-shaped fermenters. Cleansing. They were crazy about that. Who cleanses now? Lagering. How many ways to lager?

There's so much. So much. Is there anyone rich enough to pay me to do this fulltime?

I can dream.