Topic: Hops
I bought a bag of dry hops this week. They look like little green pine cones when they are on the vine, but these are dry and flat. I am going to add them to the current batch of malt extract beer brewing.

I will not add them to the beer now because I want to keep the yeast sediment for food after I have poured off the beer, and hops taste very bitter. It is what makes beer bitter. Brewer's yeast actually has a rather sweetish taste, if it's brewed without additional hops.

I also bought a packet of real ale yeast. The bread yeast has been doing fine, but I understand bread yeast turns out *more* alcohol than yeast specially made to brew beer or ale. The beer yeast should turn out a beer that is 9% (18 proof) alcohol, while the bread yeast is supposed to be capable of making a beer that is 12% (24 proof) alcohol. I don't have any way of testing it to determine what the alcoholic content of the beer made with bread yeast is, but I can certainly vouch for it that it _feels_ like it has a good kick to it, and I would actually be glad to have it be less alcoholic so I could enjoy more of it.