A friend of mine was recently diagnosed with a health issue that required him to go on a Gluten free diet.

Beer may be good for bones: study

Last Updated: Tuesday, February 9, 2010 | 11:30 AM ET .By Michael Sutherland-Shaw, CBC News

As many of you know, Jason Foster is Edmonton's most widely publicized beer guy. With articles in Vue and a segment on CBC's Radioactive, he fills print and airwaves with all things beer.

It's with a touch of sadness that I'm writing this post today, I was just getting started on what I was hoping to put into and get out of the guild.

Have you ever wondered about the science behind the colour of glass in beer bottles. Neither had I, but if you're into photochemistry, here's a great analysis of the advantages of brown:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5109552/beer-glass

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0924/1224255127163.html

You may have noticed a few changes with the website recently, and in the past. I have been gradually changing things in an attempt to make the website more useful, and soon I am planning to unveil a new layout which I hope should make the important things appear more... important.

To help renewing and revamping the website, I am looking for assistance creating online content. I know that people are busy so I want to make the website something that you can use to save yourselves some time on a brew day, or to find club related information efficiently. With that in mind, I encourage everyone to visit the website forums that have been set up to discuss website content and layout, it's a little bare at the moment, but there are some worthwhile suggestions which I have not yet had time to implement. This is a call for all members to provide their bit of input.

http://www.ehg.ca/forum/137
http://www.ehg.ca/forum/142

There are many excellent things that can be done through our website, here is a list to showcase what kinds of things I'd love to see on ehg.ca

• http://yeastslurry.beerfeed.com/links.html (has a nice list of homebrewing podcasts)
• BJCP course information, assignments, answers, etc. for BJCP judges
• ehg.ca/brewblogger (this can be used for miscellaneous individual brewing information such as recipes, brew dates, brewing calculations, etc.)
• http://www.beerandpolitics.org/cities/longbeach/archive.html (we may consider doing something like this for meetings, competitions, BJCP courses, new brewer webinar courses, etc.)
• Any custom information that EHG members have discovered over the years; I'm thinking more along the lines of Edmonton specific brewing information (water treatment, etc.)
• A web links section for interesting or useful online "stuff" that exists elsewhere.

Please keep in mind that this list is not exhaustive, and if you think of something that you'd like to see, I can probably accomplish it. Additionally, I'd like to keep things as Edmonton specific as possible, to reduce duplication of web homebrew content (hence the web links section, if you find something that definitely should be on our site, but already exists somewhere else).

Finally, if you have not yet used the website (posted a reply, or comment, etc.) please remember that you will have to log in from the front page before you can do this. If you've forgotten (or didn't ever know your password) click the request new password link below the login boxes and provide the same email address through which your receive your club emails (newsletter notifications, meeting reminders, etc.).

Here's looking forward to an active online year for ehg.ca and The Edmonton Homebrewers Guild.

For those of you who missed the post in Tech Talk, here is the mantra for what we do:

I Am A Craft Brewer from I Am A Craft Brewer on Vimeo.

I’ve noticed that I’ve now got the option to provide unsolicited advice and input via the blog tool on our webpage, so I thought I’d review some of the homebrewing podcasts I’ve been listening to.

Basic Brewing Radio (www.basicbrewing.com and on iTunes)
James Spencer is a professional voice over guy; from his studio in Denver he puts together a nicely polished podcast.
As the title would suggest, most of the early episodes deal with the basics of homebrewing, but many of the later episodes delve into more technical topics (such as the January 29th episode on alternative German homebrewing techniques). What I find most useful in this podcast is the abundance of first-hand knowledge and experience provided by James and his guests: given a problem, James will interview someone with an answer, or experiment to find the answer himself.
This podcast is a great stop for general brewing information, and the professional quality makes it great to listen to. I’ll give this one five pints out of five. []>[]>[]>[]>[]>

Craftbrewer Radio (radio.craftbrewer.org and on iTunes)
If Basic Brewing Radio is the nightly news, Craftbrewer Radio is the John Stewart Show.
More than eight years ago, Graham and Ian started broadcasting over the Australian air waves, when the radio gig dried up they turned the show into a podcast. Craftbrewer Radio is a light-hearted comedic compilation of home brewing and tongue-in-cheek banter done in a way that only a couple of wacky Australians could do it. These guys are rarely (if ever) politically correct, and they pull no punches. Amidst the jokes and laughter you’ll find some great technical brewing advice, and great audio clips from the world of beer.
Graham seems to have a background in chemistry and biology, which he combines with his vast brewing experience to provide an in-depth treatment of various topics. I’ve found the content to be very interesting and relevant.
One last thing: when Graham tells you that it’s not necessary to wear safety goggles while using caustic, just wear the damn goggles anyway.
This podcast is very entertaining and often informative. I’ll give this one five pints out of five. []>[]>[]>[]>[]>

Homebrewing Perspectives (www.homebrewingperspectives.com and on iTunes)
Douglas Warzinski is a homebrewing-law student who’s trying to get homebrewing legalized in his home state of Utah. Douglas’ friend, “Dave the hop guy”, regularly joins the podcast via telephone.
I find Douglas can be long-winded and a bit awkward. He tends to prattle on and lacks the easy confidence that makes the other podcasts enjoyable to listen to. The saving grace of this podcast is “Dave the hop guy”. Dave seems to fit the character of hippy-gardener, and it’s his green thumb that’s responsible for an ongoing hops project. Dave has never grown hops before nor has he brewed a batch of homebrew, which makes for great radio. I find the highlight of the show to be “Dave the hop guy’s” trials and tribulations with his hops and learning to brew – it brings back the joy of learning about hobby for the first time.
This podcast does have its high points, and I think it will get better as Douglas gains experience. I’ll give this one three pints out of five. []>[]>[]>

BrewCrazy (www.brewcrazy.com and on iTunes))
If you like listening to people getting drunk and trying to be funny, check this one out. I listened to the first 5 episodes, and then stopped. Before writing this review I listened to the two most recent podcasts and discovered that it hasn’t changed one bit.
The format consists of several people (with nicknames like Johnny Max and King Binka) who get together to drink beer and record a podcast. There is some good info to be found, but unless you enjoy the lowbrow banter that comes with the package, it’s just not worth it.
This review is simply one guy’s opinion, and given the obvious success of this podcast it must appeal to some people; maybe give it a listen and form your own opinion.
I’ll give this podcast one pint out of five. []>

In future blogs, I plan to review the Brewing Network podcasts, Basic Brewing Video, and Brew Bubbas. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Happy Brewing!

If you're partial to the Worthouse News but aren't crazy about downloading the printable PDF, there's now another option. Pull out your favorite RSS reader and subscribe to http://www.ehg.ca/?q=newsletter_articles_feed

And of course, you can always get the feed for the front page here: http://www.ehg.ca/rss.xml

We'd love to hear your feedback on the feed and if there's anything we can do to enhance your enjoyment of it.

Jon