Homebrewing 101

Finally got around to making some beer. I've done this a couple times with friends but never on my own. Well, not entirely my own...my lovely pregnant wife was quite helpful :) These pictures are from 2 weeks ago.

Here's the grains steeping in the water. At this point it's simply that, grains in water.



Now that the sugars have been extracted from the grains, it's called "Wort". Once this mixture begins to boil, then we add hops for bittering and aroma. This batch has 1oz of Simcoe hops for a full hour of boiling, then 1/2oz of Chinook hops for 40 minutes, then 1/2oz of Centennial hops for 20 minutes, and finally another 1oz of Cascade hops with 5 minutes left of boiling. Each variety brings something different to the flavor, and this is a LOT of hops for a 3 gallon batch :)



Once we're done boiling, we have to get it cold as fast as possible. A simple ice bath in the sink takes the brew from 212 degrees to 75 in 15 minutes. From now on, anything that touches the wort must be sanitized. The cooled wort is strained and funneled into a 3 gallon glass carboy.



Using a hydrometer, I check the original gravity (OG), which is 1.060. Distilled water has a gravity of 1.00.



Now that I've added yeast, it is officially beer. The carboy is loaded into my wine fridge so I can control the fermentation temperature. In this case, 68 degrees. The yeast will eat the sugars and convert them into alcohol and CO2 (aka fermentation). The CO2 is bled off via a blow off hose, which allows air to escape without letting air in. It was bubbling like crazy for 4 days, then slowed to 10 bubbles a minute. Now it's a bubble every other minute.



It's pretty much done fermenting now, with a final gravity (FG) of 1.019. I was hoping that it would finish about 1.016, but it's good enough. It'll just be a little sweeter than planned. Now taking the OG minus the FG, we get 0.041. We multipy this number by 131 and get 5.37. So my beers alcohol content is 5.4%, not bad at all! Right where a beer of this style should be. Now after 2 weeks in the fermenter, I'll add another 1/2oz of Centennial Hops, which is a process called "dry hopping". These hops will only effect the aroma. It'll sit another week and I'll bottle it! That experience will be completely new to me, and worthy of its own blog post :)

Commuting Video

I finally used iMovie on my macbook for the first time and made this little video out of pictures I took on the way to/from work today. Enjoy!

BikeCommute3-4-09 from JAG410 on Vimeo.

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Weirdest feeling ever

It's Thursday. I should be at work, but I can't be. My hours were cut and I can only do 32 a week. I have a TON of stuff to do, and deadlines to meet, but I can't be at work. So I'm home. It's an expensive day off. I'm so used to working 40 hours that I've become accustomed to knowing exactly how much will be on my paycheck. Not anymore. I actually WANT to be at work, this is a weird feeling. 

I fall down go boom

Another beautiful day not wasted! Mike and I hit the trails at Hawe's in east Mesa today. Second time I've been there and I feel bad for not going more often, it's absolutely gorgeous! Some fun parts, some hard parts, and quite a few "oh shit" parts. One of the latter parts got me and I went down with the style and grace of a water balloon. Skinned up both knees and my right elbow, but it was fun! I haven't done that in quite some time, so I knew I was due for a fall. I might hurt a little tomorrow, but for now I'm still laughing. 

Did about 12.5 miles, reaching some of the higher points of the trail system, and finding the elusive "secret" trail and the mineshaft. Good workout, that's for sure. I'll be sleeping great tonight!

I is genius

No shower at work anymore meant no more bike commuting....unless I figured out how to get by without it. 

Today I rode 7 miles to the light rail station, paid my $1.25 one-way fare and rode to the station closest to my work. From there, a quick 1.5 mile trip to work was a breeze, and with a fresh change of clothes and some gel to manage the helmet hair, its as if I had driven. Without the traffic stress to start my day :)

Since my activity level has been nearly zero with all the holiday and studying madness, I cheated and used the light rail on the way home too, but it's still cheaper than driving, and 17 miles of riding (~550 calories burned!) isn't too shabby for someone who's been "out of it" for a couple months. 

Further encouraged by my new LEED AP status, I figure I need to practice what I preach and get back into doing more "green" things with my life. 

And speaking of green....there's a Filiberto's right by the Light Rail station, I'm totally gonna stop one of these mornings and get a breakfast burrito, and I'll drown it with green sauce. Mmmmm yummy. 

Green isn't a coincidence anymore...

Me, LEED AP. Yeah boyyeeeeeeee! I passed my test today and I haven't figured out if I'm more excited that I've accomplished a goal, or that I never have to take that f'n test again. It was just as hard as I thought it would be and then some. I'm so glad that the test gave instant results, because if I had to sweat for a couple weeks waiting for them, I'd go nuts. But alas, I have 6 letters after my name now, eat that Doogie :)

I have to thank my lovely wife and son for putting up with me and supporting my study time. Hopefully it'll be a while before I have to study for anything again!

Study Mode: Hardcore!

I'm one of them. Tucked away in a dark corner of the local coffee shop (Coffee Rush, not Starbucks), typing away on my Macbook, sipping a non-fat latte. Sorry Jayne, there's no way to sneak pictures of the Grecian God for you, it would be too obvious. Maybe next time :)

Desperate needs require desperate measures! With my big LEED test a week from today, I've got to cram in as much study time as possible to ensure a first time pass on this test. Out of the 4 people in my office to take the test, none have done it on the first try. 3 gave up on it and never retook it. There's a lot at stake for my pride if I don't get accomplish this mission! At $300 per test attempt, I don't wanna be the next chump to ask the boss for more cash because I didn't apply myself the first time. I don't think I need to mention "troubled economic times" or "recession" and what they mean to my occupation...it ain't pretty.

I haven't taken a test in nearly 12 years. I never took the SAT either, so this is quite a daunting task for someone who's been out of the study/school loop for so long. I started studying in September, off and on, until the beginning of January, when I started getting serious. 

For the few people that read this blog, I'm putting my study and test goals up here now, because I don't wanna let you down with bad news next Monday. Cheer for me!