Making Beer Batch #2

My first batch of home brew turned out really good. Very pleased with the results. I have a few photo's from my first attempt, but my camera stopped working so I decided to document my next try.

I'm not ready to do beer from scratch, so I bought an ingredients kit from a local home brew place.

I filled my 8 gallon pot with hot water and started heating it on high. We have to bring it to a boil. Notice that I have a large lip to allow the liquid to rise. This is important - you'll see.

Here's what's taped inside the kit.I have a floating thermometer. This is important for the first step of this process. . .

A close up of all the stuff in the kit. This kit's nice because it says when you add each packet to the wort (that's what we're making)
First step is put the specialty grains/grain bag in the hot water.
This kit includes a "tea bag" for the special grains. I put the grains in and knotted the bag.
Then I put the bag in to let it steep until the liquid is 170 degrees.
Then I take out the bag.
The next step is to let the mixture come to a rolling boil, then put in the stuff in the container (which is the malt). Here's what the malt looks like when you lift the lid.
Now you pour the whole contents into the liquid. This is where you are glad you have a lot of room to let the mixture rise. See this photo. This is when your one hour starts.
Boil for 45 minutes. After a while, the mixture will settle down. At 45 minutes, you add the Irish Moss (a clarifying agent). At 50 minutes, I added the Favormatic Hops. At 55 minutes, the Brewery Honey, and at 58 minutes, the Aromatic Hops. At one hour, you're done with cooking the wort. Next step, cooling process. The instructions say that it's important to cool the wort down to 75 degrees as quickly as you can. The pot I use is too large for my sink and the last time I schlepped the hot pot all the way to the garage to use my utility sink. Since the pot is SO hot and full of about 5 gallons of water, it was really tough the last time I did it. So, I bought a galvanized tub that's 24" in diameter. It worked like a charm as all I had to do was to bring the pot off the burner. . .
and into a waiting 10 pounds of ice. . .
I ended up adding over 40 pounds of ice to cool the wort down to 75 degrees. This was done really quickly as I added some salt to the ice 'ala ice cream making. (I also saw on Myth Busters that salt and ice was the quickest way to cool a can of beer - hense, I thought it would translate to cooling wort quickly. I'd say it took about 20 minutes to cool the boiling mixture to 75 degrees. I'm happy with that.
Once cooled, I siphoned the wort off into my primary fermentor. The last time I did this, I had a simple siphon. For some reason, the suction would break and I'd have to try to fill the hose with fluid and get the suction going again. I was really worried that I had introduced "bad" bacteria to the beer batch. So I bought a new type of suction apparatus - and it's worth the $12 I paid for it - it starts the suction with one pump. If making beer is something you're planning on doing, I suggest you spring for this. It's great. Here's a photo of the bottom of the pot after I suctioned the wort into the primary fermentor - there's a lot of junk on the bottom. Suctioning kept me from putting this in the primary fermentor.
The next step is to "pitch" the yeast (sprinkle it on top).
Finally, I capped the primary fermentor and put the airlock on it. Now all I have to do is wait. . .

Daring Bakers August 2008 Challenge

Always trying new things, I stumbled upon Daring Bakers last month and decided to join in the fun. Basically, someone picks a challenging recipe, it's secretly distributed to participants at the beginning of the month. We're allowed to reveal our results on a predetermined date (usually the last day of the month).

This month's challenge is Chocolate Eclair's.

The pasty dough is done on the stove top. Here's milk, butter, sugar, salt being heated to boil.
Add some flour
And the dough turns into instant mush.
Dump in mixer with the paddle and add eggs one at a time.
Then it turns into a really nice paste.
I'm not terribly coordinated, so I put my pastry bag in a large cup.
Then piped out each on parchment lined cookie sheets.
I didn't use the defined chocolate because it would have cost $22. This hunk was about $8
To melt the chocolate, I cut it up and then hit it in the microwave for about a minute. Stir till it is all melted (I know that some of you would NEVER melt chocolate this way, but my bowl heats up and retains the heat fairly well, so it doesn't get scorched).
Here's what the pastries looked like coming straight out of the oven. Puffy!
The filling is next. I have the egg yolks, sugar, and corn starch in the sauce pan. The instructions say to sift the corn starch - I just used my colander.
Wisked up with a couple of table spoons of hot milk (tempering the yolks).
The milk and melted chocolate added. I did a quick ice bath by plugging my sink, running cold water & dumping ice in it. This is to stop the cooking phase.
Making chocolate sauce for the glaze.
Heated and thickened.
Here's the beginning of the glaze (chocolate sauce not added yet). It was a little bumpy.
The tops are glazed.
I piped the filling on the bottoms.
Sprinkled some hazelnuts on the tops and put them together.

The puffs really collapsed after they cooled down. These are truly delicious and gooey.

I won!

I won four ribbons at the State Fair of Texas!!!!

Whoop!

First place: Captain Underpants (Stuffed Toy, Original)
Second Place: Flamingo (Stuffed Toy, From Pattern)
Second Place: Bar Harbor purse (Felt Craft, Any)
Fourth: Girl's Babydoll Halter Top (Knit Original Design, Any)

I think all items are now going to be on display at the fair!

Wordle

Calendar

We got a package in the mail and it had the 2009 Knitting Calendar in it. My husband was about to ask me WHY in the world would I buy the calendar now? We traditionally wait till mid January to buy our calendars because they're 50% off.

I told him that I remember sending in a submittal a while ago, but never heard from them. I guessed that I must have a pattern in the calendar.

I do.

I'm September 11th & 12th, 2009

I couldn't even make that up. September 11th!!!! (It's the striped baby halter pattern)

FO: Captain Underpants #2

Note added: I won a blue ribbon at the 2008 State Fair of Texas with this entry!!

I forgot to show my second CU. I actually entered this one into the Texas State Fair.
I'm starting to think about making a super sized CU for a school auction in November.

Sad News

I'm sure everyone has those moments where they wonder if they're adopted and I've had those moments, too.

But then you meet the one relative that makes you feel sane.

My Aunt Myrtle was one of those relatives to me. She's my Grandmother's older sister and was a wonderful woman. She married when she was 36 (deemed an old maid) and married a man whom she dearly, dearly loved. She lived and worked on a REAL farm in Ohio. Uncle Willard was so great with us as he'd take us around and we were able to ride on tractors, combines. . . you name it, he would allow us to check it out.

When Myrtle was 90, she broke her hip. Six months later, she was walking around with no problems. She didn't go to an "old folks home" until she was 95 years old.

Well, Aunt Myrtle died last night in her sleep. She was 101 years old with her 102nd birthday looming in September.

When my Grandfather was sick in the hospital, Myrtle came down from Ohio to help Grandma through all the hospital hell. I was able to spend some really great adult time with Myrtle and came to find out that we were a lot alike. It was just one of those moments where you're super happy to realize that there was sanity bred somewhere in your family.

This in no way is meant to be a knock against my family. I love my family.

I'll miss my Aunt Myrtle.

I'm back

Whew it's tough to go on vacation. Between the stress of working up to the time to make sure everything is taken care of while you're gone and the subsequent frenzy when you come back, I just haven't had time to blog!

Oh the horrors!

Seattle was really very nice - it was wonderful getting out of the heat of the D/FW area. We certainly were not prepared for the weather, though, and I usually dwell on what type of weather to expect when going on vacation. M & I ended up buying some Seattle sweaters to keep the chill off of us. On Tuesday it was 100 degrees when we left town and 57 degrees when we flew into Seattle. We were cold. It's also amazing to note that the hotel room kept the internal temperature at a freezing 60 degrees. Seattle-ites turn on the air conditioning when the temps climb up into the 70's!!!

I'll post photo's later as I do have some more work to get to before the end of the week. I just saw that it'd been quite some time since I blogged and wanted to say hi!

The Moon transits the Earth as seen by EPOXI

Very cool - actual photo's pulled together showing the earth and moon spinning. According to BAB, this is the only time anyone's seen the earth and moon move together like this.

Solar Oven

We got another toy in the mail yesterday. Meet, the hybrid Solar Oven:
It's considered a hybrid because it can plug in (in case you lose the sun and need to finish cooking your stuff). When I first got this set up, I plugged it in (you're supposed to) and let the oven heat up to season it. The cooking area got up to 270 degrees with it plugged in - it was a cloudy morning.

Here's what it looks like all set up.

The oven comes with some special pots - they're black so they absorb the heat better.
We're experimenting with cooking some chicken - barbecue in one, and Parmesan and butter in the other.
I'm not sure if you can see this, but the oven, with just the solar part, has reached 250 degrees.

We heated up a children's TV dinner straight from the freezer - and it got hot!

Reading

I forgot to update my list, but I've been in a bit of a non-fiction kick lately.

I read Infidel by Ayann Hirsi Ali. Wow. What an incredible story. She had over come SO much. I'm so glad I was born in the US. Really good read.

Next I had to get my fill of trash reading. Kusiel's Mercy by Jaquiline Carey is the sixth novel she's written in this "universe" and I've enjoyed each book. This one is no different. Surprising. Most epic book series tend to get stale. She's done a great job keeping it up. I think then next three books will be written from Melisande's point of view and deel greatly with the Unseen Guild. I think we're going to see her become a much more simpathetic character that will ultimately bring Phedre' and her son into the fold to "save" her. We'll see.

I just finished The Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell. I love reading her stuff because she folds in pop culture references that only a true Gen X'er can apreciate. I also like that she writes about her atheism, too. She's a history nerd and it's fun to see how nerdy she gets - and really revels in her nerdyness.

Currently I'm reading Where in the World is Osama bin Laden? by Morgan Spurlock. Spurlock is the Supersize me guy who does a great TV show called 30 days. He's got a movie coming out by the same name as the book. The first chapter deals with a brief history of Islam and how it's being perverted and by whom. It also goes into the history of Osama. I like that Spurlock mentions in the book that my generation has been geared to fear - something. During the cold war, it was nuclear war and the Russians. Now its the Terrorists. I like that he's putting a face to something that we're being trained to fear. Makes it not so scarry.

You have to understand, I lived briefly in Turkey and saw a secular Islamic state up close and personal. It worked and the women of Turkey (granted, I ran with the upperclass when we lived there) were educated and liberated. After reading Infidel, I began to really dislike the Muslim faith because of how the author really has been terrorized for most of her life. But I think back to good friends from Turkey and former co-workers here in the US and know that just like Christianity, Muslims have their fundy's too. I know this, but it's so hard to separate it out.

I'm worried for Turkey right now. The Parliment is run by Islamic fundamentalists, and recently there was a movement by secular supporters to bring the current government ousted because they were directly violating the church/state separation clauses in their charter (or whatever). The fundies in turn jailed the secularists and are trying them for treason because they were trying to overthrow the government. I'm afraid what's going to happen is that the generals are going to step in and the country is going to descend into turmoil. I have a fondness for Turkey and their people. I don't want to see it destabilize.

Solar

I'm answering a comment made from an Aussie reader.

Yes, we know about solar here in the US, but it's not widely used. I have a unique situation as I have a solar panel on the top of my house - which is used to heat our water.

I also have a laundry sink, but it's terribly small.

But your comment reminded me of our sink out in the garage - we rarely use it. This would be perfect for icing down the beer. I also like the idea of having an outdoor burner, but need to figure out how I can get that done.

Thanks!

Socks

I have outfitted my CSM with my 72 needle cylinder and it's knitting quite well. It's not terribly happy with the large needles, so I went back to the original needles I had.

Size 13 mens
50 rows 1 x 1 rib
10 rows pre-heel
78 rows foot

Then I have this Men's 10.5 - need to make the match tonight:

leg: 50 rows 1x1 rib
pre-heel: 10 rows
foot: 68 rows

I have been adjusting the tension on the fly. The ribbing I tend to have about three thread showing, then adjust the tension down to one thread in the pre-heel/foot area. I'm trying to keep that area from flaring out too much.

I do love the mock fair-isle. I think it makes a pretty impressive sock.

I've become one of "those" people - Part Two

Here's a photo of the beer brew kit I bought ($40). Its supposed to taste like Shiner Bock (my all time favorite beer).
Here's what's in the box:
Next I have to boil all that stuff for an hour and I have to make 5 gallons. I went back to Foremans to buy a big pot, but I'm worried about it because it doesn't fit on my burners. Next to the black pot is one that I own. I could make a smaller concentrated 2 gallon batch and add water to the mix to make it 5 gallons.
The other problem I have is that the black pot doesn't fit in my sink. A real problem because right after you boil the mix for an hour, you have to cool it down FAST.

Ugh. Until I can visualize all this, I'm not going to boil a darn thing. I think I need to read up more. Honestly, this looks like a simple process with the kit. It also takes 30 days.

We need to also get some good beer bottles. So I'll have to buy some Sam Adam's bottles .

I've become one of "those" people - Part One

My latest foray into trying to do things from scratch (noodles, bread) is now bleeding over into homemade beer.

J & I always had a small distain for people who would come up to you and say, "try my homemade beer - it's much better than the stuff you can buy at the store." Invariably, it's not as good as they push it.

But I recently tried making my own ginger ale and it worked. It did get a little stinky after a while, but I now know it's because I had some bad bacteria in the bottle.

The friend who turned me on to making the ginger ale mentioned that she made some root beer and that the extract can be found at Foreman's General Store in Colleyville. I visited their website and found out that they have lots of home brewing tools. So, last weekend, J & I ran over and spoke to George Foreman - the guy in charge - and thought about it. We bought a kit. Here's the hardware kit (it was around $50).This is the primary fermentor.

It has a hole in the bottom for a spigot (which comes with the kit).
The lid has a hole that will allow the CO2 to bleed out while it's fermenting in the secondary container (I think).
There are more things that came in the kit (bottle capper, hydrometer, thermometer). I'll post photos of those as I use them.

J's new toy

I've been encouraging J to get a hobby and he'd had a "man crush" on strumsticks. He finally pulled the trigger and bought one:

We knew that when the strumstick arrived that M would want to play with it. It's too expensive for this to become a kid toy, so J bought a cheaper version. Here's the low end strum stick - basically the same thing J has but with a can at the end of the stick.

M was beyond thrilled. She's already announced that she's going to learn the Spongebob theme and play it at the school talent show.

Speaking of M. She went to her first day of Jump Rope Camp. She got her own jump rope and came back incredibly happy. She can't jump an individual rope very well and liked jumping the larger ropes. The class was made of ALL girls (surprise) and she had a great time.

The Infamous Double Slit Experiment

I knew from college physics that electrons travel in waves, but this is really a great video talking about the quantum conundrum of how when you look at the electron, it's a discrete location when you look at it, but it's potential acts like it's all over.

J calls this physics porn. It still blows my mind. Who needs Jesus for signs and wonders when you have quantum physics! No offense meant to the believers out there - just explaining where I get my "whoa, that's deep" moments.

New Neighborhood Bully

The house next door to us has had three and a half different families in it over the course of the four years that we've lived here. It was initially rented, then the people who owned it moved back in. They sold it to a family who renovated it, never moved in, and put it back up on the market (hence the half). It finally sold about two months ago to a bachelor with two young teenage boys who visit on various weekends.

I baked some cookies to welcome them to the neighborhood and it seemed like they were going to be nice enough neighbors.

But then. . .

On morning when we were hanging clothes out on the clothes line, I heard something hit the side of my house. It was an arrow. The kids next door were playing with their bows and the arrow misfired - into the side of my house.

I was pretty pissed. I picked up the arrow and went over - Dad was asleep. I insisted they wake him up. Dad just looked at the boys and told them they were being irresponsible with the WAY they were using the bow. That may be, but my kid plays outside and there is a horse trail behind us. I basically told him that I wasn't happy and I trusted him to fix this.

Not bad, right? (C.O, my super cool neighbor said she would have called the cops)

The other problem I have been having with him is that he has been watering the hell out of his lawn. He can water his lawn, he's just been doing it in the heat of the day. We're in a drought and the city has an ordinance in place that we're not to water the lawns between 10 am to 6 pm. He doesn't just water his lawn, he drowns it - for hours. Really. He waters the street in front of his home - for hours. Turned on the water and left - I finally just turned it off - he wasn't home. Another time when he left the sprinkler on all day, I went over to ask him to turn it off and he wasn't home - his oldest son was. I politely asked him to the water off because it had been going all day long. He was nice and turned them off.

Then there's the blaring music. He plays it so loud. I'm just glad we're sunk into the ground. It's really loud - every night. (C.O. also tells me I need to call the cops)

New Neighbor turned the sprinkler on today around 10 am. As I write this at 8 pm, the sprinkler is still going. It's his "fuck you" to me. I went over and asked him to turn off his sprinkler - That was at 1 pm - the sprinkler had been going for three hours.

Why should I care, right? Well, I care because the neighborhood is on a communal well. We all pay the same rate for the water - it's not metered. We've run out of water the first two summers we lived here (last summer was unseasonably cool). It sucks when we run out of water. No showers until late in the afternoon. It's always on days when the temp goes over 100 degrees.

Well, New Neighbor must have been waiting for me. He came out and told me that he was tired of me coming over and telling him to stop watering his lawn. (mind you, I've never talked to him about this - we've just been dancing) I told him that even though we're on a well, we're still bound by city ordinance. He basically told me that he was going to water his lawn and I wasn't going to stop him. I told him that he had never been in the house when we ran out of water and that he really needed to consider that the well was communal. He told me that he thought we were going to be "cool" neighbors. He's never over at our house bugging us. I asked him what have we done to bug him. No answer. He then proceeded to tell me to not come to his house ever again. I said fine and left.

I was really upset about this. I don't know why, but he made me cry. I really was trying to be a good neighbor asking him to be considerate of his neighbors.

The ironic part in all this was J told me just before I went over there that the likely outcome was going to be New Neighbor telling me that I couldn't tell him what to do.

I don't like conflict, and this episode really has upset me. I don't like that my neighbor is mad at me - but I've been mad at him for quite some time. I've been obsessing about how I could get back into my New Neighbor's good graces. Should I bake a bread and send a note apologizing?

Apologize for what? I did nothing wrong. What really bugs me about these types of guys is that they feel the rules don't apply to them. Everyone else in the neighborhood complies with these rules because it keeps water cheap and everyone generally are good neighbors to each other.

So, I guess the next time he does something ass-holy, I'll have to call the cops. I hate that, but bottom line, the guy is just a big bully. There was no reason for him to treat me the way he did today. None whatsoever. I just hate not being able to solve my own problems.

The nice thing I've learned is how nice it is to have great friends. C.O. found out from J what happened. She's a member of the water board. She's going to start step one in the "don't use water irresponsibly" rules. As J said, C is going to drink his milkshake.

Wisdom of a six year old

M just announced that if she had $4, she'd buy a snow cone and some juice.

What would you buy?

Second Bread Batch

Mixed up the Deli Rye recipe from the ABIFM book (J's all-time favorite bread).

Not kid friendly. M took a bite and politely declined. The bread definitely has a sourdough taste to it. I think it's the rye flour that was added.

Next time I'm going to bake this in a loaf pan to see if I can get a nice sandwich loaf out of this.