We made our first batch of beer today and a batch of mead! The process was a lot of fun and I think I am going to like periodically spending an afternoon on the patio mixing up 5 gallons of beer.

The video below is just a couple minutes after we put the bag of specialty malt (crystal malt) into 2 gallons of water in the brew kettle. We kept it the water between 160 and 170 degrees for 20 minutes. I was surprised how quickly it colored the water and how dark it made the water.



This is a picture of the muslin bag of grain after it was done steeping with a hole cut in it to see what it looks like. We tried a few bites of it and tt was like really fibrous oatmeal. Click on the picture to see a larger image.



After we removed the malt bag we turned off the burner and added two cans of liquid malt extract and the bittering hops. The heat gets turned off so the clumps of the syrupy malt extract that fall to the bottom do not burn. Once we completely stirred it into the liquid we turned the heat back on, brought it to a boil, and kept it boiling for 55 minutes. After 55 minutes we add the finishing hops and boiled for an additional 5 minutes.

We had a clean 7.9 gallon fermenter with 2 gallons of water that sat out overnight so the chlorine could evaporate off. We poured the wort (that is what is in the kettle now) into the fermenter, and then added additional water to bring the total volume to 5 gallons. The original gravity is 1.045. That is a measure of how much sugar is in the water. As it gets consumed by the yeast and turned to alcohol the specific gravity will drop. Subtracting the final gravity from the original gravity and plugging it into a formula will tell you how much alcohol is in the beer.

Once the wort had cooled to 105 degrees I added the yeast and put the lid on and inserted the air lock. Below is a video just a couple hours after I sealed it up and carried it to the basement. I apparently have some really happy yeast at work in there!



After about a week I will use a siphon to transfer the beer from the primary fermenter to a large glass jug called a carboy. This will clarify the beer because I will keep the tip of the siphon just a little bit above the sediment that will have settled to the bottom. I might do this once or twice more before I finally bottle it in two or three weeks. I will get a little clearer each time I do that.

I have taken it upon myself to make it my life's work to get people to understand dew point rather than the more commonly used, but less useful to most, relative humidity. I have written before that all you need to know when listening to the weather report is that a dew point of 65 degrees or higher means high humidity and will be uncomfortable. The lower the dew point is, the dryer the air is. Today I am going to show you how useless it is for the average person to know what the relative humidity is.

The chart below charts out, from top to bottom, temperature, dew point and relative humidity. Relative humidity is a function of temperature, so notice that the temperature line (top) and relative humidity line (bottom) move in an almost perfect mirror pattern. But notice the dew point stays unchanged.


I grabbed this screen shot from the NOAA website a couple of years ago when we were going through a long hot and humid spell.

At night time (the lightly shaded area) the relative humidity shoots up to 89%, but during the day it drops to 43%. But it is not any less humid during the day, and it is just as uncomfortable as during the night. That is because relative humidity is not directly measuring how much actual moisture is in the air. It is telling you how much more moisture you can add to the air at a given temperature. Really useful to you, isn't it?

The dew point is a direct measure of how much moisture is in the air. It is not dependant on temperature and will not fluctuate when the temperature changes, only when the moisture content of the air changes.

I went to the local homebrew shop today to check things out. They have a couple beginners equipment kits, but I think there are some things in there that I don't think I would use, so I worked up a list of the things I would want and priced it out. I asked if he would give me a discount because I was buying everything all at once and he said sure. The prices below are pre-discount. I think he might have put down the wrong prices for the pail and lid because those seem a little expensive. We also forgot to add a stopper for the carboy and fermentation air locks, but those are just a couple dollars each. I didn't buy anything today because Amy wanted to be there when we buy everything, so I will wait until she is back from California visiting her mom.

Glass carboy - 6.5 gallons	29.50
fermenting pail – 6.5 gallons	15.90
pail lid	5.69
auto siphon	10.20
bottling siphon	9.90
hydrometer	6.20
bottle sterilizer	14.65
45-bottle drying tree	29.00
capper	16.95
Stainless steel brew kettle - 5 gallons	32.50
Total	170.49

They had a bunch of ingredient kits too I looked over. I think my first one will be an American pale ale. I plan on doing a couple kits first before I try an all-grain batch. He gave me a sample of a double Belgian ale they made in the store and it was delicious. It was not from a kit, but it was not an all grain batch. It was a recipe they made using powdered malts and malt extracts. That might be a good intermediate to do between the kits and an all grain batch. I could be a little creative and pick the varieties of hops I want to use, maybe use some specialty malts, etc.

I went to Gordon's Food Service today and got 5 pounds of cocoa powder. Every morning I put a scoop in the soy protein drink I invented and it is cheaper to buy it this way rather than the 1 pound cans in the grocery store.

I went to performance bike after than and bought a chain cleaner, some chain cleaner fluid, and some Teflon chain lubricant.

Then I went to the homebrew shop as detailed above, and then because I was in the neighborhood I went to Farm and Fleet for no reason other than to walk around. I ended up getting hound food for Mitch, a rat trap, a solar powered LED dragonfly for the garden, and a Diet Coke, jerky and sesame sticks for the car because up to that point (3 PM) I only had coffee, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a beer sample and was a little beyond hungry.

After an afternoon of thinking about beer I really want to go have one, but I think I am going to cut the grass first and maybe take Mitch to the dog park or a walk around the neighborhood. If I had a beer now I probably wouldn't get to grass cutting next.

I also might have to take another video of me pouring a beer for my smartass brother in law, albeit probably not a homebrew one.

Five weeks ago we started our first batch of beer. A week ago we went back to the shop and bottled it. They said it would be ready after conditioning in the bottles for two weeks. Well I couldn't wait and tried one tonight after just one week. I was amazed at how much carbonation there was. I kind of expected it to be half flat.



I shot a video of me pouring it so you could see how much carbonation there was. In the video I say it has fermented four months. I meant four weeks. And it was delicious. I think I am going to the local homebrew shop tomorrow and buying my brewing gear.

Yesterday afternoon we went back and bottled our beer. We had a taste of it directly from the fermenter, not chilled and not carbonated, and even like that it was fabulous! They drew off one bottle worth and charged just that bottle with their CO2 system and chilled it while we were bottling. When we tasted it that way it was even more amazing. Maybe one of the best beers I have had.

We started out by disinfecting our bottles. They had a little basin that held an iodine solution with a little push activated squirter in the center. You put the bottle on top of the squirter and push down three or four times. With each push it squirts the iodine solution into the bottle. They have a special rack that holds the bottles upside down so the excess solution and drain out. In the picture below you can see Amy using the disinfector. The red thing with all the bottles hanging off it is obviously the drip dry rack.



The picture below is 5 gallons of our beloved beer in a 6 or 6.5 gallon carboy. There is flexible plastic hose already inserted to use as a siphon for bottling. There is a stiff plastic tube attached to the hose with a little valve at the very bottom. You stick the tube all the way into the bottle. When the little valve hits the bottom of the bottle the beer starts flowing. Lift up the tube and the beer stops. Very clever! You fill it up right to the very top. When you pull the tube out of the bottle the level of beer falls and leaves the perfect amount of head space in the bottle. I think I like bottling that way better than opening and closing a spigot on a bottling bucket.



In the lower left corner of the picture you can see a little plastic bag with white stuff inside. That is priming sugar used. We took a couple cups of beer and microwaved it and then stirred the sugar in and then added it back to the carboy. Warming the beer just makes it easier to dissolve the sugar. This sugar will be totally consumed by the still-living yeast and converted to CO2 to carbonate the beer and will not add sweetness to it.

We took home 50 bottles. We would have had 52 but we drank one there and broke one while bottling. Right now they are sitting in my basement at about 69 degrees and should be ready to drink in about two weeks.

From what I've read online as the beer ages after the two week period the bubbles will get finer and finer and the flavors will improve and mesh even more. They recommended, especially for beginners. To have one beer a week and pay attention to how it changes over time.

The beer was so good, and it is kind of fun and cool to do, I think I am going to buy some gear and try making some myself.

I think I mentioned in a previous post that Amy got me a two-session beer making class. Well yesterday was class one. It was a blast and I think I want to eventually give it a try myself at home.

We started off meeting a couple of her friends, Jed and Cindy, for breakfast at 9 AM that live near the beer place. They were really nice and I enjoyed their company.

The class started at 11 AM and it was just a few blocks from where we had breakfast.



It was supposed to be us and another couple, but the other couple didn't show up so it was just us. I liked that because we got more personalized attention.

He poured us different types of beer to sample throughout the class. We also sampled three types of mead which I was excited to try. It was delicious! I always thought it was like sweet beer. It is actually just fermented honey. Surprisingly it tastes most similar to a white wine. He uses locally harvested honey which is neat. We could pick up on the florals, some pine, and various spicy notes. Whatever the bees foraged on really came out in the end result. Much more so than you can taste in just straight honey.

The instructor started soaking some barely malt and then cooking it around 6:30 in the morning. This is Amy stirring it after we dropped a satchel of crystal malt into it.



Here we have transferred the fresh malt from the kettle into the fermenter and are adding some canned malt. We added a can of hopped malt and a can of unhopped malt. He also added some hops to the mash in the kettle early in the morning.



These are the two cans of malt we added, the satchel of crystal malt, the vial of yeast, and the package of finishing hops we added to the fermenter right before we sealed it up.



The blue barrel is just city tap water that the instructor pulled the day before and let it sit so the chlorine could escape.



The orange tub on the table is where he first soaked the barley malt in the morning. The black thing on the table behind it is the kettle where he cooked the mash after it soaked for a while. He cooked it at 180 degrees.



We will go back in about three weeks to bottle the beer and take it home. At that time we can adjust the beer if it is too hoppy, not hoppy enough, adjust the specific gravity etc. He said a lot of home brewers don't adjust their beer before they bottle it and said you miss the opportunity to make a really good beer by skipping this step.

We will also add some corn sugar before we bottle it. This is how you carbonate the beer. It gives the yeast an easily digestible food source which results in lots of carbon dioxide. He said they use corn sugar rather than table sugar because the latter can give your beer an off taste.

I think I could see myself doing it at home. You don't need nearly as much expensive equipment as I thought:

A five gallon bucket to use as a fermenter with an airtight lid and a water valve on top to let the excess gases out and keep bacteria from getting in.

A kettle to cook the mash and a turkey fryer burner. I have the burner, but I would probably want to use a kettle that hasn't been used for anything else.

A hydrometer to check specific gravity.

A bottle capper.

Some siphon tubing.

That's it! I have a friend that does a little home brewing who said I could borrow his gear before I invest in my own.

It has been WAY too long since I have posted here. I have a lot to catch up on, so for now I think I will just do a summary to get back in the groove.

Probably the biggest thing is I was in Florida the last week of March for a much needed family vacation. Mom, Dad, Sister, bro-in-law, niece and nephew all shared a really nice condo right on the beach! It was a long, tough, and cold winter and a week in Florida really recharged my batteries. I have pictures and some videos I will post later.

For my birthday Amy got me a really neat gift: a two-session beer making class! Here are the details:

We'll cover all major aspects of brewing in this two-session class. In the first session you will brew a 6-gallon batch using the latest brewing techniques that truly produce a quality brew. Beer will ferment in our temperature-controlled cellar for 2 to 3 weeks. When ready, you choose a date to come in for the second session and bottle 50 to 60 bottles of your beer. We have many beer styles to choose from.

First Session:
•Factors that make quality beer
•In depth discussion on brewing ingredients
•Brewing techniques
•Hands-on brewing
•How to evaluate quality beer

Second Session:
•Bottling techniques
•Bottling your beer
(You can bring in your own bottles or purchase new ones for $10.95 per case (24 bottles)
•Capping your beer
•Beer storage
•Beer labeling. Label paper is $9.95 for 32 labels. You can customize a label design for a $45.00 set-up fee and 35 cents per label, or have one designed specially for you (quotes upon request)
•(Optional) Brew another batch.

You can choose any kind of beer you want to make. Because of this I have been researching and sampling different kinds of beer lately. Because of this I think I have decided my favorite kind of beer is pale ale.

Side note: beer can be divided into two types, lager and ale. The kind of yeast lager uses needs cooler temperatures and therefore longer brewing times and the yeast lives at the bottom of the brewing vessel. Ale yeast needs warmer temperature, shorter brew times, and lives at the top of the brewing vessel. I am probably overly generalizing, but lagers are milder and ales have a more complex taste. I am sure I will be writing more about this as I learn more.

I got another off-leash permit for Mitch this year for the county's dog parks. I have taken him there a few times after work. It really tires him out. I usually make him wear a muzzle, not because he is aggressive towards other dogs or people, but because if I don't, he won't play but will scavenge for poop and grass to eat. The part that sucks is that people think he is aggressive or a bad dog when they see the muzzle. Maybe I will get a vest for him that says something like "The muzzle is just to keep me from eating poop."

(It's surprising how much easier the words flow with some Goose Island Honker's Ale in me!)

I just bought an 80 megabyte Zune MP3 player this week and love it. I ordered it from Amazon Tuesday morning and opted for the free Super Saver shipping option. The initial estimate was that I would receive it on May 9 which is 19 days. I received it in two days on Thursday! I downloaded and installed the Zune software before it arrived and set up a bunch of podcasts I wanted to subscribe to. When it arrived I was syncing the music, podcasts, and updating the firmware within 4 minutes (literally) of opening it up. It has built-in WiFi and I was able to set that up with my encrypted connection without reading the instructions in just a couple minutes. I can synch the latest podcasts anywhere in the house without the need to plug a cable into player. Neat!

Went to the doctor again this morning to get another shot of cortisone in my elbow for tendonitis.

I need to cut the grass today.

I am doing the neighborhood newsletter for a couple months while the woman that normally does it is on maternity leave. I am actually writing this post in order to procrastinate from working on it.

I use spoons a lot in the kitchen. One to stir the coffee grounds after I pour the water into the French press. One for my cereal. When I am cooking I will grab a spoon for tasting. Etc. It seemed that I was always running out of teaspoons. Amy had a great idea from watching a chef on one of the Food Network shows. I went to Wal-Mart and bought 4 packs of cheap teaspoons ($1 per pack) for a total of 24 spoons and keep them in an upright container next to the stove. Now I can grab a clean spoon without worrying if I am running out! Genius.

This is the great hand-drawn Valentine's I got in the mail today from my 7 year old nephew.

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I snapped this right outside my front door tonight after work.

My left elbow has been very painful since September. I finally mentioned it to my doctor today. He said it is just tennis elbow and gave me a shot of cortisone and Novocain. He was happy with my numbers. My A1c hasn't changed since last visit: 6.2.

After my appointment I went out to breakfast and then to an international grocery store just for something to do. I got some Bobak's Chicago style hot dogs and hard rolls, sauerkraut directly from the barrel, brown rice, Indian hot mix snack, Philippine soy sauce, eggs, and English muffins. The chica cashier flirted with me a little bit. That was nice.

I am off work today for Lincoln's birthday. I need to shovel the driveway in a little bit. The snow is letting up and there is just between one and two inches. It is fluffy too so it shouldn't be too bad.

This is a picture of the Freedom Train my nephew drew for me a few weeks back that I like.


Watched most of the Grammy's on Sunday and finally found out the difference between album of the year, record of the year, and song of the year.

Album of the year is awarded to the artist for the entire album.

Record of the year is awarded to the ARTIST for a particular song.
Song of the year is awarded to the WRITER for a particular song.

I am giving Mitch about a half ounce of salmon oil per day primarily for his dry skin, but it will also be good for his general well being (coat, joints, heart, cancer, etc.) He has dropped a couple pounds recently, but rather than increase his food right now I will see how the 136 added calories from the salmon oil does. He is 70.2 pounds. He was around 72 pounds. I would like to keep him between 72 and 75.

When I first moved to Chicago the first Chicago pizza I had was Giordano's and I did not like it. The cheese was so chewy it was like trying to chew a mouthful of rubber bands. It just would not break down, and it didn't have very much taste.

Then I found Lou Malnati's. Very good. Because it was nearby, one of the originals, and always got good reviews I never felt the need to experiment with other places when I was in the mood for Chicago pizza. On Sunday however we tried Gino's East. Excellent! The next time I want some Chicago pizza it is going to be a decision between these two places now.

On Super Bowl Sunday I watched the game at a friend's house from work and did not get in until late. When I got home the house was dark and Mitch did not meet me at the door. I figured he was upstairs already asleep.

I walked into the kitchen and turned the light on. As soon as I did that I heard a crinkling from the family room and then something popped up from the couch. It then made its way off of the couch and towards my general direction. This is what I came home to that night:


I snapped a quick pic with my cell phone before I rescued him.

It is a cheese cracker bag he dug out of the kitchen trash can. I have no idea how long he had his head stuck inside, but I am just glad he didn't suffocate.

I got a point-and-shoot camera this week (Canon SD1000) to compliment my full size digital SLR (Canon EOS 30D). One of the fun features it has is a time lapse movie mode. For your viewing please I present a time lapse video of me clearing the snow from the driveway this evening. I set the camera up on a tripod in a front bedroom.

Here is a quick video I shot of Mitch sitting on command!

Goliath used to follow me from room to room as I puttered around the house doing chores. Mitch follows me around the room as I do chores. It can bother people that aren't used to it, especially in the kitchen, but I have kind of developed a Mitch-RADAR and can sense when he is standing directly behind me ready to trip a less suspecting person. I like his attentiveness though.

Greyhounds are not really designed to sit, especially when they are right off the track because they are so tight and muscle bound, but I have been slowly working with Mitch and he can now sit on command! He still looks awkward doing it, but he doesn't seem to mind. I try to do it when he is excited, when he is jumping up and down when I pick up his leash, so he gets in the habit of listening to me when he is distracted. This so if he gets away from me on a walk or maybe in a fight at the dog park he can avoid injury or death by overcoming his natural urges to run or fight.

I had two days of training in the Loop for Python scripting. This is a link to a description of the class. I think it is going to be useful for me at work.

I bought a wide screen 22 inch monitor for my computer this week and I love it. It is a Samsung SyncMaster 226BW. I got it at Fry's for $270 after rebate. I can see column Z and row 46 on a spreadsheet! As I write this on Word I have it zoomed to 200% and I am sitting back in my chair about 4 feet away and I can see all the words perfectly without squinting. I will have to get a wireless keyboard now to make it even more convenient.

I have been wanting this saddle for my bike for over a year now, and everywhere I looked it was about $70. A few weeks ago I was wandering around the local Performance Bicycle store and they had it on sale for $50. I thought what the heck. It's a good price and I know I will buy it eventually so I might as well just get it. When I checked out it rang up for only $35! Yeah me!

I can't get this song out of my head. I find myself humming it to myself throughout the day.

"1 2 3 4" by Feist



One Two Three Four
Tell me that you love me more
Sleepless long nights
That is what my youth was for

Old teenage hopes are alive at your door
Left you with nothing but they want some more

Oh, you're changing your heart
Oh, You know who you are

Sweetheart bitterheart now I can tell you apart
Cosy and cold, put the horse before the cart

Those teenage hopes who have tears in their eyes
Too scared to own up to one little lie

Oh, you're changing your heart
Oh, you know who you are

One, two, three, four, five, six, nine, or ten
Money can't buy you back the love that you had then
One, two, three, four, five, six, nine, or ten
Money can't buy you back the love that you had then

Oh, you're changing your heart
Oh, you know who you are
Oh, you're changing your heart
Oh, you know who you are
Oh, who you are

For the teenage boys
They're breaking your heart
For the teenage boys
They're breaking your heart

My four favorite day-to-Day coffees are from Starbucks. They are:

Espresso Blend
French Roast
Italian Roast
Gold Coast Blend

Are these the absolutely best beans you can get? No, but the quality you get for the price are hard to beat, plus they are always easily available.

When I want to treat myself my favorites are

Black Cat Espresso Blend from Intelligentsia Coffee

Dead Man's Reach from Ravens Brew

I've found the best brewing method for my tastes is the French press.

I measure 5 tablespoons of unground beans for 0.5 liters of water or 8 tablespoons of beans for just under a liter of water and then grind them in a burr grinder at the coarsest setting.

After the water has come to a boil in my electric kettle I wait until I don't see any more bubble action in the water, put the grounds in the press, pour the water into the press, stir the brew well with a spoon, and then let it brew for 4.5 minutes. Don't let the coffee stay in the press after you have pressed it because it will keep extracting and give you a bitter and too strong coffee.

The most important thing you can get if you want good coffee at home is NOT the brewer, but the grinder. The little grinders with the spinning blades inside are not good for a couple reasons. The most important is because the particle size will not be consistent. Some particles will be smaller than average, others will be larger. The smaller ones will be over-extracted and the larger particles will not release their entire flavor.

What you want to get is a burr grinder. They are designed so all of the particles are uniform in size. I have the Braun KM30. Cuisinart also makes a good grinder. Both are in the $40 to $50 range.

One of these days I want to get the KitchenAid grinder. It is $200 which is why I don't have one right now.

Mitch told me to make this super-cool post.

Watch video

My new theme song.

Kenny Loggins
"I'm Alright"



I'm alright
Nobody worry 'bout me
Why you got to gimme a fight?
Can't you just let it be?

I'm alright
Don't nobody worry 'bout me
You got to gimme a fight
Why don't you just let me be

Do what you like,
Doing it nat'rally
But if it's too easy
They're gonna disagree

It's your life
And isn't it a mystery
If it's nobody's bus'ness
It's everybody's game

Gotta catch you later
No, no, cannonball it right away

Some Cinderella kid
Get it up and get you a job
(Dip dip dip dip dip dip dip dip)

I'm alright
Nobody worry 'bout me
Why you got to gimme a fight?
Can't you just let it be?

I'm alright
Don't nobody worry 'bout me
You got to gimme a fight
Why don't you just let me be

Who do you want?
Who you be today?
And who is it really
Makin' up your mind?

You wanna listen to the man?
Pay attention to the magistrate
And while I got you in the mood
Listen to your

Own heart beatin'
Own heart beatin'
Own heart beatin'
Own heart beatin'

Don't it get you movin'
It make me feel good

Wow, Cinderella kid
Then give it up and give it the job
(dip dip dip dip dip dip dip dip)
(Boom, boom, boom, boom)

I'm alright
Nobody worry 'bout me
Why you got to gimme a fight?
Can't you just let it be?

I'm alright
Don't nobody worry 'bout me
You got to gimme a fight
Why don't you just let me be

I'm alright
Nobody worry 'bout me
Why you got to gimme a fight?
Can't you just let it be?

I'm alright
I'm alright
Just let me be

Immediate Saturday plans: rake leaves, pick up dog poop, cut grass, rip up tomato plants and other annuals, cut off dead parts of perennials.

After that I will shower and run some grocery store errands, and then watch Ohio State play Illinois.

My A1c was 6.2 on Saturday. Three months ago it was 6.5.

I weighed Mitch tonight and he was 71.6 pounds. He is getting about 700 caleries per day plus assorted bits of plastic.