Brief Update

I ended up buying a Kona Kula.
The Westvleteren was a disaster.
Munton's Carb Tabs are a joke and my beer is over primed.
I just brewed an American Amber today.
Beersmith is a great program.

Finally, a decision.

I am buying the Kona Kula.

Hard tails are lighter, reliable, and cheaper.

I'm pumped.

School's out for Summer!

It has been quite a while since I've gotten the free time to post on here. I like to jump around a bit anyway, so it's all good. I'll number my points of interest.

1. I started working at Fitzharris Bike Shop in town here. It's the best job I've had so far.
2. I test rode a Kona Ute and loved it. The bike is about a foot shorter than the Surly Big Dummy and half the price. Granted, it is not in conjunction with XtraCycle, so it doesn't have as many attachments, but it is such a great deal! I want this bike for my own. This year's copper finnish and huge saddle bags make it even more wonderful.
3. Gilly and I planted hops today in my back yard. I planted a Willamette and a Centenial, and Gilly planted a Fuggle. I am totally pumped to get a trellis up and start watching these little buggers grow. On a good sunny day, they are supposed to be able to grow over a foot! We also heard that they are nearly impossible to kill, so that is good news.
4. My next bike will almost possitively be a Diamondback Sortie 3. I wanted Hammerschmidt so bad, but the Sortie is way better for my application.
5. I set a date for my North Shore biking trip: July 16-19. Last year we ended up buying a house, so I didn't have the time or money to take this trip, but this year I am going for sure. Who else is coming with me is yet to be determined, but I know that I am going. I have spent the last couple days researching camping gear that I need to buy. I just bought a North Face Tadpole 23 tent online, and I have been researching backpacking stoves. So far I like the MSR Windpro because it has the convenience of a canister, but the safety of a hose. It seems to be simple and able to simmer food, not just boil water. Cookware has been another topic of research, and I think the GSI Pinnacle Backpacker is a really well thought out set. Spendy though.
6. The Westvleteren is still in primary. :( I am going to go straight to bottling - probably tomorrow.

If there is anything else that is noteworthy, I can't think of it. For now I am going to enjoy the beginning of my break from studying. I do realize that it is ironic that I have enjoyed my time off from school so far by studying... even if it is about things I am looking into buying.

Tweak the Dream

I posted earlier about the 2009 Diamondback Scapegoat... well it turns out that after a little research I have decided to adjust my sights just a little bit lower. The Diamondback Mission 3 is basically a less beefy version of the scapegoat, and it is $1,500 cheaper. The Mission 3 still comes with Truvativ's Hammerschmidt 2 speed internal transmission. The Mission 2 is also a good choice, and it is Hammerschmidt ready, but I would have to install it on my own; and it's another $1,500 cheaper. It is really between these two bikes. The Mission 1 just doesn't have as good of components, and it is red. The Mission 2 is white and the Mission 3 is black and both look way better than the Mission 1.

Westvleteren in Primary

The brew went really smoothly last night. Gilly came over to help and later Murph and Jen came too, so it was a lot of fun. My new intercooler that I made from copper tubing and some clear hose works great. I hooked it up to the faucet in the laundry room downstairs and it cooled my wort from 170° to 70° in about 15 minutes! I was able to dump my yeast starter right in (the yeast starter worked beautifully by the way).

Also bought a new brew kettle - a cheap aluminum one from Menards that is made for Turkey frying. I made a mashtun from a rectangular cooler as well. The strainer for the mashtun is a water supply hose with the inside rubber hose removed, and I put a ball valve on the outside to control the flow. It worked great, but I might build a manifold for it in the future.

The Erlenmeyer flask came in handy again tonight because the fermentation is getting pretty violent. I used my racking cane and some tubing and attached it to the airlock hole, then put the other end in the Erlenmeyer flask with some sanitizer water. It is bubbling like crazy so that is always a good thing. Go yeasties GO!

More updates will follow.

Westvleteren Abt 12 Begins!

I am trying to do a clone of the Westvleteren Abt 12. I have never tasted this beer before, but I like what I hear about it on the interweb.
Here is the recipe:
Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: WLP 530
Yeast Starter: 2-3L
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5
Original Gravity: 1.071
Final Gravity: 1.015
IBU: ?
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: ?
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14 days at 68
Additional Fermentation: Bottle condition for 3 weeks
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14 days at 68
Tasting Notes: See below

Grain:
17.5 lb Dingemans Belgian Pilsner
1 lb Caramunich (belg)
.44 lb Biscuit
.31 lb Aromatic
.25 lb Special B
.19 lb Chocolate

Candi Sugar:
1 bottle of the Dark Candi Syrup(this is key, use the syrup)
.25 Amber Rock Candi
Added with 15 mins left in the boil

Hops:
1.25 oz. Styrian Golding (60 min)
.25 oz. Styrian Goldings (15 min)
.25 oz. Haullertauer (15 min)
.25 oz. Styrian Goldings (1 min)
.25 oz. Haullertauer (1 min)

Yeast:
WLP 530 (probably gonna want to make a 1 gallon starter)

Single infusion mash at 149 for 90 min. Mash out at 170 for 10-15 min. Sparge at 170. Boil for 60 minutes.

I got this recipe from http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f73/westvleteren-12-clone-81698/.

I made a yeast starter last night with my new 2 Liter Erlenmeyer Flask. I did the boil right in the flask, but it got too active and then boiled over. Originally I had 6 0z. Muntons Dark Dried Malt Extract and .25 teaspoon of Yeast Nutrient in 2 Liters of water. After it boiled over, I added a little bit more DME to a glass of water and put that in the flask to bring it up to 1700 mL. I boiled it gently for 15 minutes and let it cool over night. I know I shouldn't have put the yeast in straight from the fridge, but I did. That was about 4 hours ago and no activity yet. Hopefully it wakes up because I am brewing this batch tomorrow!

Yet another

I found another bike I want.
Diamondback Scapegoat. Yes.
http://www.diamondback.com/bikes/mtn-full-suspension/scapegoat-09/
It retails for $5,200 so I better start saving my pennies! :)

SNOW

OK, it is March 31st and the snow needs to stop. It is really beautiful to watch from inside the nice warm library, but I really think it should all just go away. I want to ride my bicycles! I really wish I would have ridden to school today because my bus missed the transfer to the other bus to get to campus today so I had to walk from downtown to campus. I hate walking! Whenever I walk anywhere, the only thing I think about is how much faster I could be going on a bike. Snow is just such a bummer because now the single track is going to take even longer to dry out. Lame.
Well, I better get back to writing my 10 page paper that is due tomorrow. Haven't exactly written anything yet...

Duvel

My Duvel did not turn out as planned. It tastes like a mixture between a Belgian and Blue Moon. There is way too much sugar left, and the poor little yeasties had too much trouble and they just couldn't pull through. My target alcohol was 8.5%, but I think I'm at about 4.5%. Also, I did not mix the priming sugar enough and now some of the bottles are volcanoes.

I was hoping to enter this beer in March Mashness, but I did not. It is quite a dissapointment to spend a lot of time and money on a beer and have it turn out poorly. It is still drinkable, but not what I was planning on. I think I am going to take a simpler, cheaper route next time instead of getting too far ahead of myself. Still, for my second batch it wasn't horrible.

As far as the Passion Fruit goes, I haven't had time to rack it yet. Oh bother. I'm pretty sure I am not going to reach 25.5% though, because the yeast won't be able to survive that long. I will update.

Passion Fruit

My Duvel clone is in secondary right now, so I won't write about that until the time comes.

I started a passion fruit wine from concentrate last night. In a 5 gallon batch, I added 12 cans of passion fruit concentrate, 11 pounds of sugar, and the necessary chemicals. Today I added the yeast. My target is 25.5% alcohol. We'll see how that goes...

All the Bikes I Want

So I want quite a few bikes, but I only buy the ones I feel I really need. The ones I have an application for.

Here are the ones I want:
Raleigh Clubman - probably the next bike I will purchase, unless I change my mind.
Clockwork Bike frame is what I would like to upgrade the Clubman to, unless I change my mind.
Surly Pugsly - a tank for going where tanks go. I would have to build this one from the fram up.
Surly Big Dummy - now offered in a complete bike? Count me in!
Brompton S2L-X - a folder that I can get on board with.
Greenspeed, or other similar recumbent trike.
Bob Ibex trailer - best trailer on the market?

Here is what I have now:
Giant Yukon - full suspension, I think that's the right model.
Raleigh XXIX - 29" single speed. The link shows a powder blue, but mine is red. Much cooler.
Bridgestone RB-3 - They haven't been made for almost 20 years but mine works great!
Custom fixed gear - made from a Trek frame. Fixed gears don't coast, when the wheels are moving, so are you. The link is for the wikkipedia page on fixed gears.

Bikes are fun.

The Beginning

I am creating this blog in order to write about 2 of my favorite hobbies: biking and brewing. I got into biking Summer of 2006 and began homebrewing in January 2009. I'm sure there will be posts for both on this site, but I will start with brewing.

My first batch of beer that I brewed was a Murphy's Irish Stout clone from Brew Your Own Magazine's "150 Best Clone Recipies" and it turned out very well. Contrary to popular thought, I started with an all grain recipe. If you are not sure about trying it, my advice is to go for it and jump in! I had the help of my buddy Cory Porkkonen who is an experienced brewer, so that made the process a little smoother.

Here is the recipe:
5 pounds 12 ounces 2-row pale ale malt
2 ounces crystal malt
3 ounces chocolate malt
10 ounces roasted barley
12 ounces cane sugar (added @ 15 minutes left of the boil)
8 AAU Target hops (added @ 60 minutes left of boil)
0.25 ounces East Kent Goldings (added @ 15 minutes left of the boil)
White Labs WLP007 yeast
2/3 cup of corn sugar/dextrose for priming

Step by step:
Heat 2.5 gallons of water to 161 F
Mash in pale malt and crystal malt first, then stir in dark grains
Mash at 150 F for 60 minutes
Boil 90 minutes
Ferment at 70 F
Bottle with dextrose

The result:
The beer turned out great and I think I like it even more than the real Murphy's. This clone had more of a bitter taste and more carbonation than the real thing. The carbonation is because Murphy's is actually pushed with a CO2, Nitrogen blend that makes for smaller bubbles and a smoother taste. I love this in Guinness, but I like the bottle conditioned taste of the Murphy's clone. I took some of this to the homebrewing club that I joined, Cloudy Town Brewers, and it went over very well.