And just in time, too. Mr. Scout is dropping off a load of bottles he got second-hand, so I can start brewing this batch as soon as I get some free time. This one is a pale ale, and should be perfect for late summer/early fall.
I’ve been doing some preliminary research into kegging my beer now that I have a keg and a workable refrigerator in the basement. Pricing for the equipment I need is pretty standard across the two vendors I’ve researched with, and goes something like this:
- A refrigerator thermostat: $80
This converts any chest freezer into a fridge at a constant temperature. - A Co2 system for a soda keg: $200
I’d like to have a real sidemount tap so that I can pour from the front of the fridge instead of opening it each time. - A keg cleaning kit: $50
I suppose I’ll need something like this if I’m going to get serious.
I got some good ideas from Mr. Scout’s setup, as well. In order to fit standard soda kegs, most chest freezers need a height extension, which is usually just a 2×4″ frame around the top of the freezer. This is how mine came to me. Mr. Scout used vinyl decking 2×4″ on his, and insulated it with pink foam around the inside, which is what I’m going to do with mine (as well as moving the tap to the front).
One thing is for sure: I’m excited to sample the Hefeweizen this weekend; it’s had two weeks to finish in the bottles and hopefully it’s ready for consumption.
* * *
Meanwhile, the list of non-brewing things I’d like to purchase gets longer while the amount of ready cash remains small. In loose order, they are:
- New sunglasses—I will be stapling them to my forehead.
- Roof rack for the CR-V—we need this before leaving on summer vacation.
- A new watch—hopefully I won’t crack the crystal in two weeks’ time.
- A set of Scout manuals—they finally rescanned the originals, so they’re worth the money. And long overdue.
I got about 50 bottles of Hefeweizen laid up in the basement this evening, after a second full day of parade preparation. I’m going to need a vacation after this vacation…
Thanks Mr. Scout! Now I have a ton of research to do on regulators, hoses, couplings, and carbon dioxide…
Another busy weekend is behind us; highlights include 10 bags of mulch deposited around the yard, a batch of Hefeweizen brewed and bubbling in the basement, a rear bench seat installed in the Scout, and various errands run. An unexpected Father’s Day bonus was a dozen and a half crabs for $15 from the guy across the street, something I could get very used to.
Wow, I had no idea National Bohemian wasn’t available on tap until recently. ‘Natty Boh’ Drinkers Tap Into Nostalgia at Frisco Tap House in Columbia.
Presumably, our drywall guy is right on schedule, which means that when he says “5:30 tomorrow night,” he actually means “6:00 the day after tomorrow.” Which means he will most likely show up tonight to sand the den when he said he would be there last night. Either way it sounds like I won’t have a whole lot of time to spend out there this weekend, because Mama has a ton of work to get done and needs me to take over childcare. I have a bunch of errands to run—food, supplies, and tools—so my shopping buddy and I will have plenty to do.
Also on Saturday Mama has us signed up for a big play date in Columbia, which sounds like a blast. Best of all, I got in touch with my old college friend Tim and asked if he’d meet us there with his daughter (who’s just a little younger than Finn). They live 10 minutes away but inexcusably we haven’t seen them since last year, so we’re going to be making some firm plans to get together in the coming months.
Depending on how scheduling goes (and how many empty bottles I’ve got socked away), I may also try to fit in brewing the Hefeweizen kit I’ve got stored this weekend. The American Amber has been going down right smoothly over the last week (one an evening is plenty) but it would be nice to have a lighter beer on tap for lighter weather.
Mr. Scout stopped by on Friday and, among other things, got the upstairs bathroom ready for lights, cooked us a delicious dinner of coq au vin, and helped me bottle the american amber that’s been bubbling in the basement. The gravity reading we took was a lot higher than we’d been expecting, so it may be that the beer got infected, which would suck.
Pressing on, we added sugar and bottled two full cases, figuring it will be extra-sweet when it’s ready.
Saturday, our electrician neighbor knocked at 9 and we got started working on the remainder of the electrical projects both upstairs and down. There’s a newer, larger subpanel on the first floor with correct breakers for the office, working cans in the ceiling, a heater mounted in the bathroom, outlets on the chimney wall, and 3-way wiring at each end of the room. I also added insulation in the wall gaps and down under the threshold of the outside door. Upstairs, we got the wiring run to the bathroom, cans in the ceiling, a run for the 3-way switches, holes cut for the sink outlets, and runs for the floor heater and bathroom fan. This evening he’s going to stop back out to fish a wire through the living room ceiling for a fan before we close everything off. Once I know that’s going in, I’m scheduling the drywall delivery and installation.
Update: All of September and October 2003 is entered into WordPress. Next up is August.
When I started this weblog in March of 2001, I did it for a couple of different reasons. The first was to keep some kind of record of what I was doing from day to day. The second was to learn more about HTML and coding. The third was to create something each day, whether it was a page design, a photograph, a drawing, or writing.
As I approach the ten-year mark, I’m looking back through the archives and realizing that updates have been spotty over the last year, due to work, life, sleep, and motivation. I’m not going to blame anyone but myself for a lack of focus. That having been said, I’ve been wrestling with finding new ways to post at least something each day this year and get back into the habit of writing, as well as reawakening a routine of finding at least one thing each day to photograph.
The other thing I’m going to work on, with the anniversary as a target date, is getting the rest of the static content from the old weblog into WordPress once and for all.
In the meantime, electrical work on the side porch is stalled while I wait for our neighbor to get back to me. I was going to schedule drywall delivery and installation for this coming weekend, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen right now.
Mr. Scout stopped over to look at the beer in the basement, and we took a gravity reading to see how things are progressing. While the numbers were close to the target, we figured it would be better to let it sit for another week and finish fermenting.
