The Windsor Express Daily Headlines:
January 4, 2009 by mw001
Home Brewing Ingredients and Why They Are So Important
April 11, 2008 by mw001Home Brewing Ingredients and Why They Are So Important
Home brewing beer can be quite a fun and educational process. Although there are many different ways a home brewer can make his or her home brewed beer, there are some essential ingredients which must be included at all times when homebrewing. These main homebrew ingredients are malt, hops, yeast, sugars, and water.
The first most basic homebrewing ingredient is malt. The most commonly used is barley malt. There are also other types of things such as corn and rice which can be added to the home brewed beer, but these are considered as adjuncts. Barley malt comes in two different types, 2-row malt and 6-row malt where 2-row malt has larger grains and less husk.
The whole malting process begins by simply steeping the grains until they are in germination mode, then they are quickly dried. What happens is the enzymes which convert the starches to sugars are “frozen” in their tracks until the steeping, or mash, begins during the home brewing process.
The next ingredient is hops. Hops add the flavors, aromas and bitterness often found in beers for over 1,000 years. They act as a balancing factor in home brewing with their special oils which are released during the brewing process. Hops consist of many different levels of acidity and can be purchased in pellet, leaf, or whole hop forms.
The next home brewing ingredient is yeast. There are two types of yeasts for home brewing. The two types of home brewing yeast are ale and lager yeasts. The main differences between the two yeasts are through the characteristics they provide to the end home brewed product. Ale yeasts offer a much more “floral” aroma and such and are much easier to handle during fermentation for many new and experienced brewers. Ale yeast is a top fermenting yeast, which means it ferments and foams at the top and then settles to the bottom. Ale yeast can also ferment and much higher temperatures that lager yeasts.
Lager yeasts actually require much lower temperatures for fermentation and are referred to as “bottom-fermenting” yeasts. It is the lower temperatures during fermentation which keep the yeasts from providing similar characteristics such as a floral aroma like that of ales.
Most yeasts are manufactured commercially and can be purchased in liquid or dry form for home brewers.
Water, of course, is one of the most essential ingredients and it can also alter the outcome of your end home brew product. Waters come in many “styles”. For example, water in London could be much more “minerally”, or hard, that that of water from Los Angeles, California. These characteristics are actually considered in the official styles of beers. In order to keep in line with the official style of the beer, many additions will have to be made in order to emulate the hardness or softness of the water where the original style came from.
Sugars are another thing which many home brewers may use during the home brewing process, especially for such beers as Belgian Strong ales and such. These sugars are added in order to affect the taste and alcohol levels of the home brewed beer, giving the yeast much more sugar to ferment. In addition, priming sugars are often used for the bottling process in order to add carbonation in the bottle.
S. Michael Windsor is currently publisher and a writer for myHomebrewNetwork.com. The MyHN Online Home Brewing Guide is a premier college home brewing information platform that provides individuals with a quality in-depth look at these topics as well as the associated products, services and information available today. Visit us today at http://www.myHomebrewNetwork.com and get your free subscription our member services.
Basic Overview of Home Beer Brewing
April 7, 2008 by mw001Basic Overview of Home Beer Brewing
Home brewing beer as complex as it may seem, is not as complicated as you may think. The process of home brewing your own beer is basically broken down in a minimal amount of steps in contrast to the seemingly intimidating steps that many advanced home brewers prefer to take.
The basic process of beer home brewing can be broken down into to steps starting with getting your ingredients, which consist of water, grains, yeast and hops. Then after the grains are crushed, the steeping of them begins. The steeping process is basically like making tea, the only difference is that the starches in the grains need to be converted into sugars that can be used, or fermented by yeast. So, basically, the entire home brewing process is converting sugars from barley or other grain malt then fermenting those sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide through the beer fermentation process. That’s it.
Now, back to the whole “steeping” process. There are a few specifics wanted to point out in regards to the conversion process of the sugars. These sugars actually start out as starches in the grains. It all happens at a temperature of around 165 degrees Fahrenheit. What is really going on is there are actual enzymes inside the grain which, when activated at the right temperature, will go after the starches and convert them into sugars. This process is all made possible through the “malting” process of grains for home brewing beer where the grains are soaked until they are about to sprout or germinate. This is the moment the “maltsters” quickly dry the grains in order to freeze the process in its tracks. Now, left “frozen” in the grain, are the enzymes and starches. These will not become active again until you, the home brewer, begin the “sugar rest” or steeping of the grains part of the beer home brewing process.
After the grains are steeped, they are rinsed of all the sweet fermentable sugars. The remaining sweet liquid is called “wort”. Soon this home brew wort will be transferred to the brewing kettle and brought to a boil. The home brewing process will be under way. The boiling process of homebrewing has a lot to do with releasing oils from the hops in order to provide proper bitterness, flavor and aroma to your home brewed beer. In addition, the boiling process will help sanitize the wort.
Once the boiling of the home brew wort is completed, the wort is cooled to around 70 degrees or so then transferred to a homebrew fermenter and the yeast is added. It takes about 5 days for the yeast to complete the task of “primary fermentation”, producing the alcohol and carbon dioxide.
That’s just about it. Following primary fermentation when homebrewing would be a stage called secondary fermentation where the homebrewed beer is separated from the yeast on the bottom of the fermenter and transferred into another glass fermenter in order to allow for clearing of the homebrewed beer.
S. Michael Windsor is currently publisher and a writer for myHomebrewNetwork.com. The MyHN Online Home Brewing Guide is a premier college home brewing information platform that provides individuals with a quality in-depth look at these topics as well as the associated products, services and information available today. Visit us today at http://www.myHomebrewNetwork.com and get your free subscription our member services.
How to Improve Your College Admissions Essay
April 1, 2008 by mw001How to Improve Your College Admissions Essay
The college admissions essay can be quite a daunting and intimidating task for many aspiring college students. However, the college admissions essay does not have to be so bad. In all actuality though, it seems many colleges do favor an admissions essay which knocks them off their feet, but in that case, a book on writing essays may help with that task along with a LOT of practice. On the other hand, many colleges and universities just want to know more about YOU…while seeing how well you write.
Colleges and universities WANT you to succeed. They want you to do well on the college admissions essay so they can accept you and make them look great! In order to help you along with this task, I have put together some tips to help all students along with their university admissions essays.
First thing I wanted to point out is that focusing and staying on a topic that you know about very well is key. This will show, through your writing, that you are very sincere and do not appear to be misleading anyone. Write what you now about.
Put a little bit of humor in your writing. Of course, the college admissions essay is not a stand up comedy routing, but a little humor helps show a more modest side to your self. Remember to stay on topic while modestly making light humor out of some of the subject matter in your college admissions essay topic.
In reference to the last tip, remember that you don’t need to impress the reader with something you don’t really have. Try to avoid using really big words that you normally would never ever use in real life. This will only come across as inflated and a little odd to them. But don’t worry, they read enough of this type of thins in many college admissions essays all the time from others. Be original.
Even though there may be an option to hand write your college admissions essay, try to type your essay out completely. If you cannot gain access to a computer or simply must write your essay out, then be sure to write as legibly as you can. A messy-looking essay may not show your writing in its best light and may even potentially hurt the reader’s impression of your writing skills overall. So it is just safer to type the essay when applying for college.
Start out with a rough draft of your essay and make improvements as you go along rather than simply writing from the heart and letting destiny do the rest. This will give you an opportunity to look over your grammar and be sure that it is clear, concise and legible (if writing by hand). You are trying to make the best impression possible for this admissions essay so make this shot count.
After you have written the essay and have made corrections on it, have family and friends look at it with a critical eye. Ask friends or family members who have already written a college admissions essay to take a look at it to see if it does any justice based on their past essay experience.
As I mentioned earlier, different colleges have different requirements for their admissions essays and it would be very wise to read over all of the guidelines the college or university sets forth in regards to your college admissions essay. It is very important to follow directions, especially when you want them to educate you. So be sure that the essay is no longer or shorter than what they require.
These tips and referring to other essay-writing resources can help you, as a student, to really achieve your college goals and getting into that college you really wanted to attend. In many cases, seemingly smaller things such as the college essay for admissions makes such a big difference as it is the only real statement you are able to make in reference to the consideration of your admission to the college. So give it your best shot and show those essay readers the best side of you.
S. Michael Windsor is currently publisher and a writer for BackToSchoolNetwork.com. The BSN Online Back To School Guide is a premier college back-to-school information platform that provides individuals with a quality in-depth look at these topics as well as the associated products, services and information available today. Visit us today at http://www.BackToSchoolNetwork.com and get your free subscription our member services.
Tips on Cooking in the Dorm Room
March 28, 2008 by mw001Tips on Cooking in the Dorm Room
For many students, especially freshmen in college, living in the dorm can be quite a change from what a student is normally used to. And as for meals, in many cases, you are at the mercy of the dorm cafeteria hours and whatever restaurant is open when you want it. The problem with the dorms is that there is obviously no kitchen in your dorm room in most cases and many students don’t have a car at first. So what is a person to do with their sudden hunger at 2am while cramming for that political science exam in a day or writing the final draft of a report that you thought would only take a few hours to write? Many students living in the dorm have learned to cook in their dorm rooms.
There are many options in addition to simply storing dry goods such as granola bars under your bed in the dorm room. This is why it is a good idea to bring a small refrigerator the first day arriving at the dorm. In addition to the fridge, it’s a good idea to have a microwave in your dorm room as well as some microwave safe dishes, utensils, dish soap, pot scrubbers, dish towels and a cookbook. With these tools in your grasp, you will have plenty more options available to satisfy your hunger pains rather than simply going for the pack of cookies or tortilla chips in the vending machine down the hall. You will have a little kitchen in your little dorm.
Now what to keep in your dorm while not taking up too much space is important as well. We recommend simply keeping your standard canned pastas and soups around along with those wonderful bean burritos, frozen dinners, nuts and yogurt. Late at night, eating pasta may not be the best thing so yogurt and nuts is always a good thing, but you never know. You may just have a massive craving for carbs or even need them on the go as you are forced to skip dinner for whatever reason. It’s good to have a balance. The dry items can be placed in your wardrobe closet in that extra space beneath your clothes which can be used as a makeshift pantry.
Another great piece of equipment for the dorm is a water boiling unit. This is always great for those ramen noodle cravings as well as for making coffee and tea. Coffee makers can suffice as well just as long as you can boil the water since it will most likely be coming from the restroom faucet. You will need to boil out whatever may potentially be in the tap water such as chlorine.
Some students living in the dorm actually decide they want to be a bit more gourmet with their dorm cooking and who could blame them. These students usually have a stock of fresh lettuce greens, salad dressing, frozen vegetables in their freezer and more. They will prepare a gourmet salad on those days hey have no access to real food using all of the ingredients they have available.
Living at the dorms should limit you or any student completely as there are many ways to get around some of the small hurdles of college life. It just takes a little adapting. If you are one of the fortunate ones who arrives at college your first year with a car to drive around in then that is great. But there are just some times you will not feel like traveling all the way to the parking lot to get into your car in order to travel out to main street to find a business that is still open that has a drive thru window or even a grocery store that is open at later hours. It is always a good idea to simply keep cooking equipment and ingredients around in your dorm to make sure that you get the proper nutrition that all students need during their new college experience.
S. Michael Windsor is currently publisher and a writer for BackToSchoolNetwork.com. The BSN Online Back To School Guide is a premier college back-to-school information platform that provides individuals with a quality in-depth look at these topics as well as the associated products, services and information available today. Visit us today at http://www.BackToSchoolNetwork.com and get your free subscription our member services.
Tips on Preparing Your Dorm Room Stuff & Meeting Your Dorm Mate
March 27, 2008 by mw001Tips on Preparing Your Dorm Room Stuff & Meeting Your Dorm Mate
When first arriving at college and first walking into the barren dorm room, new students may realize that they still have a lot of shopping to do in order to decorate those blank walls and actually DO something with the place. Sometimes this task may even take a lot of the year and then by the end…it’s time to take everything down. Better preparation is the key.
The first step in getting that dorm room in a livable fashion is to contact your roommate if you haven’t already and take a little time to get to know them and to find out what exactly they like on their walls. It is also a good idea at this time to get the dimensions of the room so you can properly plan out what to bring. This information may be online, but if not, then just contact your college or university and they will be glad to help in most cases.
Once you contact your roommate, you will both have to decide on a color scheme and theme for the room. There is nothing worse living with a roommate than a really bad decorator you are afraid to say anything to the entire year because you know it may very well hurt their feelings. Get things out in the open about what you want the dorm room to look like early on in order to help alleviate these disagreements. Remember, you will be living in very close quarters for an entire school year.
Next, find out what the college dorms do not allow in the dorm rooms. This is normally limited to candles or other fire-breathing items as well as such things as halogen lamps which COULD start a fire if something is laid on top of it. The limitations may seem a bit extreme but it is only for the safety and well being of ALL the students living there.
Once you have figured out what you both want and what the limitations at the dorm are, collect the items that you can use among both or you as well as just yourself and compile a list of items that are still going to be needed. It would be a good time to buy these items ANYTIME before the school year begins as there will be a lot of things going on at the university that you may gave to miss out on just to get your dorm room set up and shopping for stuff like extension cords.
Through decorating the dorm room together, this helps you and your new roommate actually start talking and helps alleviate those anxieties of living with a complete stranger in a small dorm room. Sometimes friends will request each other and become roommates, not bad. But in most cases, students living in the dorms are given a random roommate and will have to learn to live with the person whether they talk first or not. So why not give it a try and get that dorm decorated and set up the way that BOTH of you want it to be. And if they are a very passive person who says they don’t care what it looks like, try to get SOMETHING out of them as they will ultimately have to live with it too in the long run.
S. Michael Windsor is currently publisher and a writer for BackToSchoolNetwork.com. The BSN Online Back To School Guide is a premier college back-to-school information platform that provides individuals with a quality in-depth look at these topics as well as the associated products, services and information available today. Visit us today at http://www.BackToSchoolNetwork.com and get your free subscription our member services.
About College Scholarships and Grants
March 24, 2008 by mw001About College Scholarships and Grants
Some of the best ways to pay for a college education is by focusing on either scholarships or grants. With college scholarships and grants, none of the money has to be repaid, in contrast to Federal student loans as well as private loans. Access to these types of funding usually has to do with the student’s past achievements in school and more. There are many types of scholarships and cannot be listed in full here; however, a good site to look at all the different scholarships would be college-scholarships.com which lists each one as well as some descriptions available. It is important to know that each scholarship may be different from the next and they may all have different terms and conditions applied to them which you will need to review prior to applying for the scholarship.
In addition to scholarships are grants. As a result of the US government’s No Child Left Behind Act, our government now offers more college grant opportunities than ever. Some of the Federal grants include the Pell Grant, National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (aka SMART) grant, as well as the Academic Competitiveness grant. The money provided by these grants and more are provided in order to help pay for college expenses such as for books and tuition. These grants and more can be obtained through federal and state governments, colleges, universities, as well as other public and private organizations.
There are several different categories for grants such as student-specific grants, degree level grants, subject specific grants as well as grants specifically for lower income students and minorities.
As for the student-specific grants, there are several categories such as those for low income or disadvantaged students, graduate grants, doctoral grants, undergraduate grants, non-traditional grants as well as military grants for college.
When considering subject-specific grants, subjects such as nursing, teaching and healthcare may offer grants for schooling which in many cases will be sponsored by corporations hoping to acquire interns and future employees to their companies after graduating from college with a degree in the corporation’s industry. In addition to the grants provided by many corporations and such, there are also those grants which are offered by your state and information about these types of grants that are offered by your individual state can be found be simply contacting your state offices and/or contacting financial aid offices at your college which you will be attending. There are many opportunities for students to get the funding for a great education and they can all be found by contacting those organizations or their websites for more information. If you are in high school, try a guidance counselor. It is important to get this information earlier on as the more you know the easier things will be once it comes down to getting that education funded.
S. Michael Windsor is currently publisher and a writer for BackToSchoolNetwork.com. The BSN Online Back To School Guide is a premier college back-to-school information platform that provides individuals with a quality in-depth look at these topics as well as the associated products, services and information available today. Visit us today at http://www.BackToSchoolNetwork.com and get your free subscription our member services.
College Student Loans : Federal and Private Loans
March 19, 2008 by mw001College Student Loans : Federal and Private Loans
When a student or parent sets out to obtain a loan and/or financing a college education there are a many different sources they can go to in order to acquire the funding necessary. However, there are two different categories of loans which are either federal loans or private loans.
As for federal funding for college, in many cases it is much easier to get the financing if you fit the criteria set in place. By far, one of the most popular federal student loans is the Stafford loan. There are two types of Stafford loans which are the federal family educational loan and the William D. Ford federal direct loan. The process of obtaining a Stafford loan is through the student filling out a federal student aid application, then once approved they will sign a promissory note on the loan.
The only real difference between the two types of Stafford loans is where the actual funding is coming from. For a direct loan, the funds are coming directly from the federal government as for a FFEL loan, the funding comes from either a bank, credit union or another participating lender in the program.
There are also a couple more that should be mentioned in this article and those are the Parent PLUS and Perkins loans. First, the Parent PLUS loan is designed for parents in need of assistance for paying their child’s college fees. This loan basically will fill in any gaps that the parent needs in order to cover all the college expenses fully.
The Perkins loan is basically a student loan which can be applied for at the college or university financial aid office which usually has a very low interest rat, but has a maximum loan amount of around $4,000 each year for students. They are federal fund and can be added to other types of funding. There are late fees and fees for skipping payments on the Perkins loan as well.
These loans and more can all be inquired upon at your selected college or university.
Credit history may not be as necessary if it is necessary at all in obtaining these types of funding options. As opposed to federal student loan funding, there are many private lenders willing to provide assistance for college funding as well. However, if you so decide to take the private lender route for financing a student loan, it is important to remember that most will need a bit of a credit history from the potential debtor and will most likely require a co-signer on the loan if the student with not much credit history at all is attempting to obtain the financing.
Federal funding for college students who need the financing, as well as parents is very available for anyone who has a need for such funding and it would be a good idea to look at all the options available in order to compare interest rates, fees, and more as these student loans will be around for a while after college as some loans will begin the payment schedule immediately during college like the Parent PLUS. Other repayment schedules will begin after 6 months for Stafford loans and 9 months for Perkins. So it would be a good idea to get all this information first hand before making any quick decisions about your college student loans.
S. Michael Windsor is currently publisher and a writer for BackToSchoolNetwork.com. The BSN Online Back To School Guide is a premier college back-to-school information platform that provides individuals with a quality in-depth look at college living and the associated products, services and information available today. Visit us today at http://www.BackToSchoolNetwork.com and subscribe to our Free Member services.
How to Prepare for Living at College
March 17, 2008 by mw001How to Prepare for Living at College
Each year, for parents across the country, it is a sad day as their children are swept off and away to college. The child turns to walk away…a little grin appears on their face. They are about to become independent! This is a wonderful time for many of us, but the problem is actually LIVING on your own. Many students entertain the idea of living alone, but in many cases, do not prepare and it can become quite difficult at first. That is, if you don’t feel like eating fast food every single night and more.
Being on your own means you are in charge of your expenses, job, homework, school deadlines and more. After time, it becomes much easier…and quite enjoyable!
As far as food, try to keep a smaller fridge and freezer in your room to keep frozen items and such just for the week as you satisfy those late night cravings. Also, a microwave would be a great idea.
Make sure there is laundry detergent and other laundry tools as the laundry pile really piles high very quickly when mom is not around. That is one of the first major things new independents will notice.
Be sure to have all of your credit card information changed to the proper address. You don’t need any of those outlaw bills that just knock out your credit. Be sure you are on it as these are the years that really start your credit rating days. And without decent credit your life after college may not be so easy as it may seem NOW.
Remember to protect yourself from thieves in your dorm. Keep all your identifying information and credit cards and such in a hidden place while keeping your door locked at all times. I know this may seem a bit paranoid, but many students find items disappearing as they keep their doors open often and/or unlocked. You may not notice, but the one in your dorm a few doors down who would like to have some of you stuff certainly does.
Staying healthy in college is very important as well. If a person comes down with a flu that keeps them bedridden for weeks, then there may be a bit of difficulty in the lines of passing that chemistry class and labs that semester. Take advantage of your health center if you feel ill.
Be sure to bring plenty of warm clothes in case it gets cold and you have to walk through the freezing cold I n the morning for that 8am class. Trudging through the cold in your lightweight shirt and a pair of slacks just isn’t going to keep your body warm enough for long.
Before heading off to college, think about your living situation and what sort of decorative items you would like to have, as well as any roommate questions you may have. Getting along with your roommate can be an essential to surviving that first year. You will both be in close quarters so make sure you have some sort of a setup for the dorm ready. Follow these tips and more at our website and you will find yourself having a much more enjoyable experience than some of the others in college and your dorm who didn’t even think about what to do once they got there.
S. Michael Windsor is currently publisher and a writer for The Back-To-School Network. The BSN Online back to school and college living Guide is a premier back-to-school information platform that provides individuals with a quality in-depth look at college life and the associated products, services and information available today. Visit us today and find out more about this topic at http://www.BackToSchoolNetwork.com and subscribe to our Free Member services.
