Small Thoughts for Small Minds

Joe & I, inspired by Bryan’s plans to make a Quad IPA, decided to push the envelope ourselves and make an "India Pale Barleywine".

We supplemented 30 pounds of grain with 13 pounds of dry malt extract to get a starting gravity of 1.110. (Should end up with about 12% alcohol by volume.) We had 16 ounces of whole hops and 6 ounces of pellet hops in the kettle, for an estimated (and likely meaningless) bitterness of 150+ IBU.

It was a nasty day - just above freezing with sleet and rain all day long. Joe (politely) asked his wife, Marsha, to get a tarp or something to keep us relatively dry while brewing under his deck. She found a cheap canopy which made it a much less miserable brewing session (didn’t warm us up any, of course…) Thanks Marsha!

Once we hooked up Joe’s pump (for the first time), we started the sparge and I ran back home to get a carboy. (Can’t remember everything - too bad I forgot a critical component…)

Here, Joe is stirring in the DME…

We needed inspiration in such an extreme endeavor, of course. From Chico, CA, Butte Creek Brewing Company’s Revolution X (10th Anniversary) Organic Imperial IPA seemed just the ticket - especially with its motto, "Go Big or Go Home"

The first hop addition (at 90 minutes) was the only bittering addition. Six ounces of Chinook hops at 12.8% AA.

The wind started to cause problems with the propane burner, so I improvised a bit and came up with a wind barrier. Not pretty, but effective…

While chilling out during the boil, Joe & Marsha had an early dinner (I was foolishly expecting to be home in time to eat with my family). Joe talked me into trying a bit of the wild boar that Marsha had cooked. All I can say is "fantastic!". They had cured it in brine for two days (changing the water once) and then let it sit in the fridge, seasoned, for another day before slow cooking it. Wow!

Extreme brewing means that you can’t measure your hops out in wimpy little bowls. You need buckets…

The second hop addition was six ounces of Galena hops (13.6% AA) at 35 minutes for flavor.

We continued seeking inspiration with Southern Tier Brewing Company’s (upstate New York) Unearthly Imperial IPA.

Perhaps the big beers contributed to our forgetfulness, but we were at the very end of the brew (after adding the last two hop additions - six ounces of Cascades at 10 minutes and four ounces of Amarillo at 5 minutes) when we realized that we hadn’t sanitized the pump and plate chiller. Oops.

Once we got that done, the wort had sat at near boiling for a few minutes longer than I would’ve preferred. Unfortunately, it got worse…

We were trying to recirculate the wort through the chiller, rather than just go into the carboys. Why? I was hoping to clear up some of the pellet hop splooge by establishing a whole hop filter bed. Well, enough splooge got through that the chiller clogged. So, with the wort still at around 150 degrees F, we had to unhook the pump and chiller, run high pressure water through it to de-clog it and then recirculate sanitizer for a bit.

Surprisingly enough, we ended up with less wort than expected AND a lower gravity. Sigh.

Joe and I each ended up with about 4.5 gallons in the fermenter with a gravity of 1.110 or thereabout (I don’t have the "score sheet" with me). We were targeting 1.120 and 5.5 gallons each. BIG difference! Well, as I always say, "It’s still beer!"

Not wanting to waste all of the beery goodness trapped in the hops, I tossed about three gallons of water into the kettle with the leftover hops and boiled for ten or twenty minutes. I ended up getting about three gallons of 1.040 wort into another fermenter. Bonus beer! Of course, it is COMPLETELY unbalanced - mouth puckeringly bitter without the big malt backbone to offset the bitterness. I’m sure I’ll get very few takers when I serve this one…

While cleaning up, we celebrated and commiserated with some other interesting beers. From Pennsylvania, Weyerbacher Brewing Company’s Double Simcoe IPA; from Belgium, Corsendonk’s Abbey Pale Ale; and also from Pennsylvania, Tröegs Brewing Company’s Nugget Nectar. (Well, I had a Nugget Nectar - Joe had a Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA…)

Joe and Marsha insisted that I eat something before I left. (Just because I skipped food all day long…)

I ended up getting home quite late. If I had only been courteous enough to give Kel a call at some point to let her know I would be late, I probably wouldn’t have gotten a bit of cold shoulder when I got home…

I need to work on my consideration of others…

Anyway, the fermentation closet (and half the basement) smells freaking wonderful. Pure hop heaven.

It’ll be interesting to see how low our combo yeast (Nottingham dry & a starter of WLP099 High Gravity yeast) can take it…

I’m not sure when I’ll dry hop it. Maybe just before I keg it (probably in a year or so)…

Next week Joe and I will tackle a much less challenging brew, a Classic American Pilsner…

I was in Charleston, SC, last week for a conference.

The first night, as part of the conference, I attended an oyster roast. Unless I’m blocking memories, I’ve never had oysters before, much less shucked them myself. They were better when I put Tabasco on them, but I still wouldn’t pay for ‘em…

The second night, the conference organizers gave us the opportunity to sign up for what they called, "Collaboration Dinners". There was a group for each of the conference topics. Each group, limited to ten or twelve people, went to a restaurant in downtown Charleston. The group I joined went to Tristan’s. The meal was "Dutch treat", but one of the other attendees bought wine for everyone… I had the "Hickory Smoked Lamb Ribs with Chocolate BBQ Sauce" for an appetizer and the "Kurabuta Double Cut Pork Chop". The chocolate BBQ sauce wasn’t anything special, but the double pork chop was really good.

The conference ended with lunch the third day. I poked about on the computer in my hotel room for a while, but decided that I couldn’t waste such a beautiful day. (The weather in Roanoke has been below freezing all month. The first two days in Charleston were rainy and cold but Thursday was crystal clear and in the mid to upper 60s.)

I had a convertible Mustang, so I put the top down and drove around the southern tip of Charleston. Then I parked and walked around the Waterfront Park.

I went out the little jetty in the picture below.

Some interesting views…

A container ship in the distance, coming into the Port of Charleston.

Across the water, at Patriots Point, is the USS Yorktown.

Between Charleston and Mount Pleasant is the New Cooper River Bridge, North America’s longest cable stay span. I was told that the bridge came in ahead of schedule and under budget. (Is that even possible???)

The seagulls and pigeons were buggin’ tourists for scraps. This one didn’t seem so motivated, though…

I saw a couple of dolphins* as well, but I couldn’t get my camera out and ready to click fast enough. Sigh…

*Or, maybe, I saw one dolphin twice. The second (dolphin/sighting) was swimming in the opposite direction of the first, ten minutes later.

A couple shots looking back at the marshland along the water side…

The centerpiece of the Waterfront Park…

Doing a little fishing in the marsh…

After walking around the park, I decided I had burned enough calories to "afford" a pint of beer and headed for Southend Brewery & Smokehouse. I had their Bombay Pale Ale. Not too bad. Realizing that I still had plenty of time before meeting with a customer for dinner, I had another pint, this time the chocolate porter. Nice, but not nearly as good as my own chocolate/vanilla stout…

The main spot for fleecing tourists is Market Street, capped at one end by the old US Customs House.

There were a lot of folks making sweetgrass baskets, using coiled sweetgrass held together with palmetto leaves. The baskets are really cool, but awfully expensive. Next time I’m in Charleston, I’m going to try to find a place to buy them that isn’t in the heart of the tourist trap area…

Here are some for sale so you can see them a bit better…

Horse-drawn carriages are EVERYWHERE in downtown Charleston…

Finally, a shot of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church. Just ‘cause it looks cool…

But then I ran out of time and headed back to the hotel to doll up for dinner.

We had dinner at Magnolias. I started with a wonderful bowl of "Elwoods Ham Chowder" followed by an excellent "Shellfish over Grits" (shrimp, sea scallops & lobster). Beautiful presentation as well as fantastic taste…

You really can’t go wrong having dinner in Charleston, but it ain’t cheap…

We just found out that Seamus has FIV - Feline immunodeficiency virus.

We’re assuming he got it as a result of fighting an infected cat. (He often comes in with signs of fighting - in the picture above you can see a scratch across his nose.)

So far, he’s not showing any symptoms.

To avoid spreading the virus further, we’ve decided to keep him indoors for the remainder of his days. He does not like this one little bit. (For a cat that spent his first six and a half years exclusively indoors, he’s sure adjusted to being free to go in and out at will…)

Oliver does not have FIV. At first, we were going to give Oliver away. Since then, Kel’s decided against that. We can’t practically keep the two cats separate, but they rarely interact. Hopefully they won’t fight, but they have done so on occasion in the past…

Keeping Seamus inside is a challenge - he’s fast and Kel’s parents aren’t. Since we let Barley & Oliver in and out, we have to keep a close eye on Seamus while doing so. Also, Dyson tends to be a bit forgetful about not letting Seamus out. It will be even tougher when the weather is nice and the kids are going in and out on a regular basis.

Seamus has made his displeasure known in an excessively vocal fashion. Throughout the whole damned night.

Ah, sleep is overrated, right?

Well, I’ve finally (hesitantly) stepped into the YouTube world…

Here are Dyson’s forays into the acting world.

I’ve added a new feature. At the top of the right side, there’s a wee bit that looks like:

Just put your email address in the box and click on "Join!". It’s that easy.

Once you do that, you will get an email from NotifyList.com - you actually have to follow the directions in that email, or you won’t get signed up. (Called "opting in", which keeps other people from signing you up without your knowledge…)

So, if you want an email letting you know that the site has been updated, feel free to sign up. (And no, I won’t sell your email address to Nigerian "entrepreneurs"….

(Note: Thanks to Donna for the pictures. I had my camera but I was too lazy to take any pictures…)

The day I got back from Hong Kong, Kel & the kids met me at the airport. We dropped my truck off at the airport and headed on down to Blowing Rock, North Carolina. (Near Boone - about 180 miles from home.)

We, along with a few others, rented a house within walking distance of Appalachian Ski Mountain.

We’ve been doing this every year for a number of years (although I’ve weaseled out of it once or twice - I don’t have any interest in being outside in the cold). For the past few years, we’ve been joined by a pretty constant cast of characters.

Of course, Donna is a given…

David, Anne & Julie have moved to Charlotte (N.C.) in the past year or two. As such, we picked Appalachian Ski Mountain instead of the ski resorts in West Virginia or Virginia.

Kel and Donna have known Beth for lots of years. Beth is joined by her husband, Paul…

…and her daughter, Catherine…

Friday night we hung out at the house. The ladies drank wine, and I shared my homebrew with David and Paul.

Saturday morning, everyone but me bundled up and braved the wind and the cold.

Dyson and Keira both had private (one-on-one) lessons.

Keira’s only comment about her lesson was, "the instructor didn’t care if I complained and whined." Oh, the things people put up with for their job…

Dyson seemed to really take to it. When he was going down the bunny slopes with Kel, he kept telling her, "Don’t hold my hand. I want to do it myself!"

He enjoyed himself until another little kid plowed into him and really knocked him down. After that, Kel made sure he tried one more time (the whole get-back-on-the-horse concept) but he was ready to go back in.

Paul didn’t ski either. But he, at least, ventured out to watch the others…

We had lots of snacks, spaghetti & garlic bread, and more beer and wine. I was mostly good about my diet while in Hong Kong. So much for that…

After dinner, several of them did some night skiing.

Dyson jamming to the music while stuffing his face…

The girls wanted to try out the karaoke, but there weren’t any karaoke CDs. Not to be deterred, they just put in one of Julia’s CDs and tried to sing along with it.

Julia, being the oldest, directed the show…

On Sunday morning, no one worked up the energy to ski before checkout. Watching TV seemed easier…

At first, Dyson was a bit nervous about the bear skin/head.

By Sunday morning, he was slyly sticking his fingers in the bear’s nose…

(And holding on to his "best friend", a feather…)

Apparently, the bear didn’t like Dyson’s exploration of its nasal passages and decided to rip out Dyson’s throat. I barely managed to restrain it…

We drove back to Roanoke and spent the evening watching the Super Bowl…

And this time, it’s Dyson not Keira!

Dyson dressed himself to go out this afternoon…

Before I took the picture, he had the pant legs stuffed into his socks. Nice look…

(No, I don’t understand the significance of the dollar bill…)

So, Kel redressed him. A little more presentable this time…

I was having a bit of difficulty getting them to cooperate in the whole pose-and-smile routine…

Our second meeting in Oakland ended around 6 p.m. Uno’s flight (from San Francisco airport) wasn’t until 9:50 p.m. Since we had some time, we went to dinner with the customer at Scott’s Seafood Restaurant on Jack London Square.

Following the customer’s recommendation, I had the lobster bisque and some kind of fish (can’t remember and it’s not on the online menu, but it was excellent). The customer picked a nice white wine and made sure to refill my glass…

Dieting on the road can be difficult.

Especially when my willpower is broken down by a couple of glasses of wine.

So, as an example of my weakness, after dinner I walked around the corner from the hotel to MoBev and picked up a bomber of Bison Brewery’s "single hop series" version of their Organic IPA - brewed only with Columbus hops. Yumm! (Bison is located in Berkeley, just up the road from Oakland.)

I also brought three bombers (other brews) home with me. I’ll hold off on trying them…

At least as long as my poor willpower allows…

The sun setting as we flew from Freeport, Bahamas, to Atlanta…

My big boss (from Sweden) and I were flying from Freeport, Bahamas, to Oakland, California (via Atlanta) (actually, we flew into San Francisco and drove to Oakland). We boarded the CRJ-200 (50 seater). There were only 8 people on the plane and all were seated in rows 7, 8 & 9. Once we spread out a bit, the plane taxied to the end of the runway. Then we were told that a small plane had a minor crash landing on the runway and we had to wait until the plane (and debris) was cleared away.

Luckily no-one was hurt.

Apparently, the plane came down a bit hard and the front tire got, umm, dislodged. I believe that the ends of the propeller blades broke off when they hit the pavement. The plane ended up about 100 yards or so from where the front wheel landed…

They pulled the plane off of the runway, cleaned up the debris and we were ready to go, right? Nope. We had to head back to the terminal to get more gas….

At least that gave me an opportunity to take a picture…

They put the front end of the plane on the back of this little vehicle so they could get it to the hanger…

(Sorry for the blurriness - we were moving a bit faster…)

We got to Atlanta about two hours late, but that wasn’t a problem as we originally had a four hour layover…

My great-grand-boss, when checking in, asked for a seat next to mine. As we were boarding the flight to San Francisco, I got an upgrade. He was stuck in a middle seat between complete strangers, while I got unlimited refills of wine for five and a half hours…

I almost felt bad…