Mulled Spices?...Yes Please

I recently bought another batch of 22oz bottles at Fermentation Station so now I can have two batches bottled at the same time...that was the last step in really getting my setup to be completely cyclical. Now there should never really be a point where I will have to wait for carboys, bottles, etc. to get free'd up.

Today i started a Spiced Winter Ale that should be ready right around the same time my stout is ready to drink, so we'll have plenty of apres ski brews. This batch is probably going to be my most interesting to date. .75oz of mulled spices were added while boiling the wort and I have to add another .25oz when I transfer it to secondary. they smelled really good I cant wait to see how they affect the taste.

I'm guessing the boiling of the spices creates the nice spiced aftertaste and adding a bit extra during secondary gives it a nice aroma, but I could be completely wrong....either way its gonna be spiced up and delicious.


*UPDATE*: This batch is bottled and will be ready to drink in 2-3 weeks. I got a chance to use some of my christmas presents while bottling this batch...and they made it so much easier. Gina got me a bottle tree and some flip top bottles. The bottle tree makes it way easier to drain the bottles and it takes up a lot less space, which in our kitchen is a good thing. Flip top bottles are just cool and i dont have to cap them which saves time at the end when you just want to be done.

I dont think I have ever posted pics of the bottling process...so here you go.

we also got a new kitchen table from my lovely parents so our old one is now making the brew portion of the manarea quite epic (thats a lot of homebrew, I will need several cannonistas to help drink it all)

FYI I tried this beer and its ridiculous, def a Winter Warmer clone. 100% tastes like Christmas.

New Year's Resolution

Build a Winter Bike AND starting in Jan of '08 ride a mountain bike on trails outdoors at least once each month, every month of the year.

I have decided my old Jamis Durango SX frame (a.k.a the Chopper) is taking its next step in its hilarious journey of being every kind of bike there is. after this I think I will have to weld another frame to it and make it a tandem and then after that melt it down and use the metal to fashion jewelry that I will then wear to my grave.



I think this project is going to come together a lot faster than I had even hoped. 30 minutes before this pic was taken the chopper had been completely stripped. I was able to salvage the headset and fork off that Wahoo frame that Jomo found...it fit and the color even matches almost perfectly (like it was meant to be...) That alone is going to save me a lot of lead time...I have all the parts I need to finish this project free of any additional charge...minus the $7 i spent on screws for my home made studs

3 down...lots to go (rear tire).

finished tread pattern for the front tire

*UPDATE*: DUN. The ice bike is ready to ride. (unfortunately the weather is looking crappy tomorrow otherwise this thing would be shredding ice and snow within 24 hours. Finished the tires up today got them mounted and picked up some cables at Rhino and some booties to keep my feet warm when I head out.

lining the inside of the tire with old rubber and DUCT tape

It's time to get my two wheel Tundra on.

*UPDATE*: Got my first ride in this afternoon up at Smarts Brook...and I am hooked. Wasn't even really the best conditions but I still had a blast. Tires worked GREAT. cant believe how well they did. clipless may not really work in the long run I will have to try a few more times to see how it works in better conditions.

Mountain Track Rides Again

so this thread started as a dumpster bike that jomo found, that I then subsequently screwed up with an experimental seatpost operation...but then my rents came to town and my dad brought my old Trek Mountain Track 800.

Cleaning this ride back up brought back a lot of memories...mainly how retarded I was in the early to mid 90's...case in point the BMX mongoose seat I put on this bike seen in this photo:

I don't know what the hell I was thinking with that one.

This bike hasn't been ridden since probably the one time we went to snow mountain and did some lift serviced riding...if you have ever ridden a rigid bike down ski trails you can guess that right after that ride I decided I was going to buy a bike with suspension. Then began the long journey that has been my biking career that has most recently ended in me racing a rigid bike once again...full circle. And just like before after a season of that I promptly bought some more suspension.

It has been stored indoors since then and is in actually pretty good shape. cleaned up real nice. true'd the wheels, adjusted the dérailleurs and brakes and tweaked a few things so that it will fit jomo a bit better and then ditched that stupid mongoose saddle.

Aww NUTS!

It's almost halloween which means lots of things:

1. I need a costume
2. I'm another year older
3. We just had Squamtoberfest
4. It's time to get ready for Thanxmas

And my new thing is to prepare for events by brewing beer. Originally I had wanted to brew a 'winter warmer' type beer for thanxmas but I only have about 6 weeks and most winter warmer recipes call for 2 stage fermentations of at least 2 months. sooooooo I went with a Nut Brown (think Newcastle).

Action Shot

Brewing went well. I'm really starting to get into a routine now...cutting down on brew time, getting more efficient and organized. So organized that I can even multi-task while I brew.

Season 3 = Ridiculous

*UPDATE*: This batch was drank at Thanxmas to rave reviews. I think the general consensus was it was my finest batch to date. I would tend to agree...although I think my stout has quite a bit of potential, but we won't know for a while still with that batch.

See you in '08

First Stout = DUN.

Basement is getting close to being too cold for fermentation for most types of yeast / brew (except lagers, which is what I will be doing in a month or two) so I wanted to get this stout started so it could ferment now and then condition for a LONG time in a nice cold, dark basement (aka dungeon).

I have been told that stouts need a solid 3 months of conditioning to really take on the flavors they are supposed to so we wont be drinking this until the end of January. Hopefully it will be worth the wait.

This is the first time I have used a dry yeast...I'm fairly sure I did everything I was supposed to. I'm hoping I don't have to repitch to get this going, but if I do I can always just run down to Fermentation Station and get some liquid yeast or something.

pre-wrapped in blanket

Fermentation started within just 6 hours. Fastest I have seen to date. I checked it this morning at about 40 hours and fermentation was already slowing down and will probably be just about done by tonight or tomorrow morning. We may even be ready to bottle this during the end of Squamtoberfest.

Brew day +30hours

**Update**: I finally got a chance to bottle this brew during the snow day yesterday. It had been sitting in secondary for quite a long time (3 weeks maybe). I had been trying to read around to see if that was too long...but again like all things home brew there are two schools. Some say 1 week tops otherwise funky chemistry can happen but the other school says 'relax, drink a beer'. I tried a bit when bottling and I think I am leaning towards the later. More news on this batch in January when we drink it.