Brian & Gabi Kinney
modernjourneymen@gmail.com

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  • We've been a bit quiet this past week because we've been working a lot. Brian is still full time at his job and I got the best job in Key West and have been training for the past several days.

But I get to treat people to free tastings of the most delicious rum at @keywestlegalrum three days a week! These guys know what they're doing and these are some of the best rums I've ever had. If you're ever in the Keys, you should definitely make a stop here. The people behind the operation are pretty amazing as well. We are always excited to find people who really love their craft and do it so well. ๐Ÿน๐Ÿ’– Now that we'll be getting back into a regular routine, we'll be posting more often again. Hope everyone is having a great week!
  • Just a gentle reminder - OUR FERMENTATION KIT IS 50% OFF!!!! - through the month of February. ๐Ÿ˜ƒ๐Ÿ˜ฎ๐Ÿคฉ Trust me - it makes a fabulous Valentine's Day gift for your number 1 sweetheart! I would love to get this from my sweetie! ๐Ÿ’ž๐Ÿ’–โ™ฅ๏ธ Follow the link in our profile to read all about our awesome fermentation weights and git you some! ๐Ÿ˜˜๐Ÿ‘๐ŸŽ‰
  • It's #fermentationfebruary and here is another sweet ferment! I threatened to lacto-ferment the abundance of star fruit we had a little while back and I sure as heck did it. ๐Ÿ˜

Isn't she pretty? Tastes pretty good too. A little sweet, a lotta zing. Just like I hoped. ๐Ÿ™Œ

Follow the link in our profile to see how we did it! ๐Ÿ˜‰
  • So our weekend was like a scene out of Dexter. The good news is that the living room and kitchen area are about 99% done save a few touch ups. I will take a break from the painting until next weekend when we will tackle the bedroom/bathroom area. Luckily, it's a much smaller area! ๐Ÿ˜ฅ

Pic #2 is the delicious Zombie that I totally needed after this past week. The glass says it all. ๐Ÿ˜

I hope everyone had a great weekend! G'night. ๐ŸŒŒ
  • Brian had the opportunity to spend yesterday working on a lobster boat - unfortunately, they were catching crab and not lobster. I prefer crab anyway. Sadly, he did not get to bring any home. ๐Ÿฆ€๐Ÿ˜ญ It was a very long day and really hard work and he's happy to have had the experience. But I don't think it will be a new career any time soon. He did enjoy being able to watch the sun rise and set over the ocean in the same day. I may be a little jealous. ๐Ÿ˜’๐ŸŒ…
  • Coming along! ๐ŸŽจ๐Ÿ’Ž Painting, painting and painting. Can I tell you how NOT fun it is to paint a small space while you are living in it? I'm sure some of you have done it and the rest of you can imagine. It takes a lot of patience and luckily, I was born with a lot of it. ๐Ÿ˜’

Brian is the son of a painter and spent much of his young life painting and, ironically, he is doing it for a living right now. So he's quick and good at it. Quite good. I, on the other hand, am slow and very critical of myself, so it can be very frustrating at times. But I've painted with my talented husband many times over the years and am always improving. Steady as she goes.

I'm looking forward to having my small space tidy and uncluttered again. In the meantime, my kitchen island is like a jewel from the sea that sparkles in the sun. ๐Ÿ˜
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Be Yourself. Be Happy.

We want to return to a time of local craftsmen providing services for members in the community, not some faceless corporation far away. We want to enable people to create for themselves and their families.ย 

Like growing your own food in an urban apartment. Baking a fresh loaf of your own sourdough for dinner. Sharing a bottle of wine with your friends that you picked, fermented and bottled. These are the small things that you can do to take you away from the consumer-driven economy, create something wonderful and share it with friends and family.

Stay Positive. Always.

If you would like to be featured on our blog or want to recommend someone to be featured, get in touch. If you have burning questions, reach out. If youโ€™re just looking to chat, weโ€™re here for you.

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The Benefits of Small Batch Brewing
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Fermenting, Libations

The Benefits of Small Batch Brewing

Posted by Brian & Gabi

If it takes a similar amount of time and effort to brew 1-2 gallons of beer as it does to brew 5 gallons, why would anyone want to brew in small batches?

Brewers have the tendency to go bigger with equipment and batch size, as if bigger batches mean that youโ€™re a better or more professional brewer. This scale often intimidates people who might be interested in homebrew. Why brew 5 gallons when you can do 10? Why do 10 gallons when you can easily do 15, and so on down the rabbit hole.

Small batch brewing is not only a smaller, less intimidating, and more affordable option, but itโ€™s also a much easier and enjoyable process.

Which brings me to my first point.

For the Love of the Brew

Once I had to brew 15 gallons of beer to fill a whiskey barrel and it was a total of 8 hours of brewing to get it all done. I burned my hand, spilled a bunch of grain, broke a hydrometer and had to work by flashlight after the sun went down. I was angry, tired and very frustrated, so much so that I didnโ€™t brew again for a while.

The simplicity of smaller batch brewing makes the process go so much smoother. No heavy pots, boil overs, propane tanks, immersion chillers, or shaking 5 gallons of finished wort to aerate.

Which means I can concentrate on my process, take better notes and experiment more.

I love the brewing process as much as I enjoy drinking the finished product, and with small batch brewing my quality has increased, my stress lowered and it doesnโ€™t feel like work anymore.

Small Batch Boil

Our Favorite Small Batch Brewing Equipment

Small Batch Brewing Takes Up Less Space

Brewing takes up space. Whether it be the fermentation buckets, glass carboys, bottles, chilling coils or the brew pots, they all need a place to go and be stored. In our tiny little apartment, space is at a premium. Over the years weโ€™ve gotten very creative and store 5 gallon carboys under the desk and in the closet, we store bottles above the kitchen cabinets, on our bookshelves, dressers or anywhere else we can find a smidgen of space. Itโ€™s not ideal, but it works.

However, when we move into an RV we wonโ€™t have that tiny amount of extra space.

Every 5 Gallon batch makes 48 bottles of beer that need to be stored and then eventually consumed. If weโ€™re going to try and brew often, weโ€™re going to end up with a lot of extra beer to haul around.

Each 1 gallon batch makes about 10 bottles, which should be plenty for us to enjoy and share with others.

Small Batch Brewing Takes Less Time

As mentioned above, it takes about the same amount of time to brew 1 gallon as it does 5 gallons, but there are tons of places where we end up saving time:

  • Bringing water to a boil is super quick
  • Cooling the finished wort is even faster
  • Transferring and aerating finished wort is a snap
  • Clean up time is almost non-existent
  • No need to create yeast starters
  • Bottling can be done in 10 minutes

All these things add up to about 45 to 90 minutes saved on brew day and 30 minutes or more on bottling day.

There's Lower Risk When Brewing 1 Gallon Batches

I love brewing funky, experimental beers using local ingredients and seasonal items, and trying new recipes. Iโ€™m pretty excited about all the different styles, rare ingredients and crazy brews we can try on the road.

However, itโ€™s unlikely every batch will be amazing and some might be downright undrinkable. Like the time I made a brew with chanterelle mushrooms and I had such high hopes for the beer that I actually made extra.

Two months later I poured all 7 gallons of earthy brew down the drain. That was about $100 worth of ingredients gone.

With smaller batches, a lot of that fear is gone if something doesnโ€™t turn out ideal. We can experiment, brew more often, and try new things. Worst case scenario, itโ€™s only 1 gallon of homebrew and about $15 worth of ingredients.

This is also great for home brewers who want to try all-grain, but are hesitant to make the full investment.

You Save Money Brewing Smaller Batches

As I mentioned before, home brewers love their toys and brewing bigger and bigger batches. I love beer as much as the next guy but I can only drink so much.ย 

Here are some of the areas that you can save money by going small batch:

  • Ingredient costs are lower for each batch
  • No big pots, which means no big burners
  • Energy costs are much less (gas or electric)
  • No need for an immersion/plate chiller
  • Lower water costs
  • No need to buy additional bottles
  • No need for a fancy mash-tun with a false bottom
  • No crazy exhaust system
  • No expensive glass carboys or stainless fermentors
All in all, Iโ€™m super happy that we decided to switch from 5 gallon batches to 1 gallon. The brew day is so much easier and weโ€™ll get to enjoy a wider variety of beer.

The risk, stress, cost, space, and timeย of brewing have all been reduced to a much more manageable size for RV life. And if we ever come up with a recipe that we love, we can always team up with another homebrewer and make a larger batch.

We hope that our reasoning for switching to small batch brewing will diminish any fears you may have and maybe inspire you to give it a try.

Iโ€™m always open to any questions you might have in your homebrewing journey, and hope to share a beer with you someday!

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Our mission is to celebrate the journey of life, to learn as much as we can, to share as much as we can and, hopefully, tell great stories as we go. At the end of the day, we want to meet good people, eat good food, drink good drink, make love, and have fun.
The Modern Journeymen
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  • Eating Well While Traveling Full-Time
    March 21, 2018

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FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM
  • We've been a bit quiet this past week because we've been working a lot. Brian is still full time at his job and I got the best job in Key West and have been training for the past several days.

But I get to treat people to free tastings of the most delicious rum at @keywestlegalrum three days a week! These guys know what they're doing and these are some of the best rums I've ever had. If you're ever in the Keys, you should definitely make a stop here. The people behind the operation are pretty amazing as well. We are always excited to find people who really love their craft and do it so well. ๐Ÿน๐Ÿ’– Now that we'll be getting back into a regular routine, we'll be posting more often again. Hope everyone is having a great week!
  • Just a gentle reminder - OUR FERMENTATION KIT IS 50% OFF!!!! - through the month of February. ๐Ÿ˜ƒ๐Ÿ˜ฎ๐Ÿคฉ Trust me - it makes a fabulous Valentine's Day gift for your number 1 sweetheart! I would love to get this from my sweetie! ๐Ÿ’ž๐Ÿ’–โ™ฅ๏ธ Follow the link in our profile to read all about our awesome fermentation weights and git you some! ๐Ÿ˜˜๐Ÿ‘๐ŸŽ‰
  • It's #fermentationfebruary and here is another sweet ferment! I threatened to lacto-ferment the abundance of star fruit we had a little while back and I sure as heck did it. ๐Ÿ˜

Isn't she pretty? Tastes pretty good too. A little sweet, a lotta zing. Just like I hoped. ๐Ÿ™Œ

Follow the link in our profile to see how we did it! ๐Ÿ˜‰
  • So our weekend was like a scene out of Dexter. The good news is that the living room and kitchen area are about 99% done save a few touch ups. I will take a break from the painting until next weekend when we will tackle the bedroom/bathroom area. Luckily, it's a much smaller area! ๐Ÿ˜ฅ

Pic #2 is the delicious Zombie that I totally needed after this past week. The glass says it all. ๐Ÿ˜

I hope everyone had a great weekend! G'night. ๐ŸŒŒ
  • Brian had the opportunity to spend yesterday working on a lobster boat - unfortunately, they were catching crab and not lobster. I prefer crab anyway. Sadly, he did not get to bring any home. ๐Ÿฆ€๐Ÿ˜ญ It was a very long day and really hard work and he's happy to have had the experience. But I don't think it will be a new career any time soon. He did enjoy being able to watch the sun rise and set over the ocean in the same day. I may be a little jealous. ๐Ÿ˜’๐ŸŒ…
  • Coming along! ๐ŸŽจ๐Ÿ’Ž Painting, painting and painting. Can I tell you how NOT fun it is to paint a small space while you are living in it? I'm sure some of you have done it and the rest of you can imagine. It takes a lot of patience and luckily, I was born with a lot of it. ๐Ÿ˜’

Brian is the son of a painter and spent much of his young life painting and, ironically, he is doing it for a living right now. So he's quick and good at it. Quite good. I, on the other hand, am slow and very critical of myself, so it can be very frustrating at times. But I've painted with my talented husband many times over the years and am always improving. Steady as she goes.

I'm looking forward to having my small space tidy and uncluttered again. In the meantime, my kitchen island is like a jewel from the sea that sparkles in the sun. ๐Ÿ˜
  • New month, new week. February can be a dreary month, so why not try something new and dabble in fermentation? ๐Ÿ˜‰

Today we're launching #fermentationfebruary! Every week throughout the month we'll be posting a few of our favorite ferments. Recipes will be up on the blog as well. โœจ

First up is an antioxidant powerhouse, Pineapple Turmeric Sauerkraut. Not only is it all sparkly goodness, but it's super good to your tummy too! ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ ๐Ÿ‘Œ Follow the link in our profile to get the recipe!
  • We are not Superbowl watchers. Never been football fans, either of us. We've spent all day painting the island in our RV kitchen. I have been painting cabinets in the hot sun all day. โ˜€๏ธ๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐ŸŽจ So no post about ferments or funny commercials or sports teams. Instead, these two. Two happy pups enjoying #keywestlife on a beautiful day. ๐Ÿ˜

Shorty on the left is a shorkie. He is a mama's boy whose happy place is my lap. No one is allowed to hug or kiss mom, not even dad, or he will complain profusely with barks, snuffles and snorts. We adopted him through extended family. He wasn't wanted any more. Hard to believe since he is the snuggliest and most loyal boy. He is my kuala bear. ๐Ÿจ

Lily on the right is a pomchi. We rescued her 6 months after we got Shorty to give him a friend. She was brought up to Pennsylvania from Georgia where she was being bred in a puppy mill. She was very sick and very skittish when we brought her home. We had to quarantine her for a month before we could introduce her to Shorty. She is the most loving and silly pup I have ever known. She hates birds and cats. She is our foxy lady. ๐ŸฆŠ

These two are best friends and they are our family, our babies. We are very lucky to have found them. Expect to see more of them here. And they badly need haircuts. ๐Ÿ˜‚

Happy Superbowl watching!
  • Today was a busy Saturday for us. We spent the morning checking out farmers markets and art festivals in the area and then it was home in the afternoon to start working on some ferments. Five hours later and I'm ready for some takeout and Pj's. ๐Ÿ˜…๐Ÿ˜ด Despite being wiped out, I am happy with our progress. We've got lacto fermented star fruit and strawberries, tropical fruit kimchi and fermented turmeric root and ginger all a brewin'. We even started a tropical fruit wine! ๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ We'll be working on getting all of these recipes up on the blog in the coming weeks. In the meantime... ๐Ÿ•๐Ÿป๐Ÿ›Œ
  • Happy February, everyone! We have an exciting announcement! After several months of hard work, we are officially launching our own line of products under the name Wildcraft Culture!! ๐ŸŽ‰

We love fermentation in all its forms and, being busy people who like to live in small spaces, we were always looking for products that were easy to use and practical. We had trouble finding products that made sense for our unique needs, so we decided to create some of our own.

Our very first product offering is a set of fermentation weights and silicone airlocks designed for wide mouth mason jars. Our weights have a unique easy grip handle that makes it way easier to get them in and out of the jar. We had such trouble with this with Brian's big man hands and my tiny lady hands that this design made so much sense! ๐Ÿ˜…

Also included in the set are four food grade silicone airlocks that are low profile, making it easy to store your ferments in tight spaces like a shelf or cabinet. This is essential for us while living in a small space. Plus, they come in fun, pretty colors cuz fermenting is fun! ๐Ÿ’ƒ

The best part of all is that through the month of February, our fermentation set is 50% off on Amazon!!!! What?!! That is a great deal, so if you have been wanting to give fermentation a try or are looking to upgrade your tools, make sure you don't miss out. Follow the link in our profile and check out the set! โ˜‘๏ธโ˜‘๏ธ We'll be adding new products to the line in the near future, so keep your eye on our page for updates.
  • Farmers market score - fresh turmeric root! And a lot of it. ๐Ÿ˜ฒ

What will we do with all of it? The heck if I know. ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™€๏ธ We'll be strapping on our fermenting gear - whatever that means - because it's going to be a busy weekend. ๐Ÿ˜
  • "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts..." ๐ŸŽถ .

One of the advantages of Brian's job is free fruit. And a gigantic haul of coconuts is obviously necessary. Obviously. ๐Ÿ™„ If coconuts were currency, we'd be well off right now. ๐Ÿ˜‚ .

So, now the planning has begun on what to do with all these cuties. The green ones don't have much in the way of "meat" but their water is good and we are going to attempt a kefir. The yellow have "meat" and we can get oil from them, which we use often for cooking. There will also hopefully be yogurt and - my favorite - ice cream! ๐Ÿฆ๐Ÿง๐Ÿจ .

Does anyone have any other fun ideas for ๐Ÿฅฅ๐Ÿฅฅ๐Ÿฅฅ๐Ÿฅฅ๐Ÿฅฅ๐Ÿฅฅ๐Ÿฅฅ๐Ÿฅฅ?
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Brian & Gabi Kinney
Anywhere USA
modernjourneymen@gmail.com
RECENT POSTS
  • February 11, 2019
    Lacto-Fermented Fruit
  • February 4, 2019
    Pineapple-Turmeric Kraut
  • December 11, 2018
    The Art of Old World Bread at McBurney Manor
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