What R you doing today?

[ceeaton]

Getting back into the saddle after almost a year, like riding a bike...batch of English bitter. Boil about to commence.

 

[Boatboy24]

An interesting ‘event’ occurred this afternoon. We have a lot of air traffic to/from Dulles Airport over and near the house. But this afternoon, I heard something coming in low, loud and fast. I was fortunately sitting near a window and looked out to see a fighter jet buzzing by at probably 200 feet. He was hauling ass. About 60 seconds later, another (or maybe the same) jet flew over. Kinda freaked me out a bit, to be honest. I later learned that the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum (on the Dulles grounds) is getting a Blue Angel and it was a Blue Angel F/A-18-C on it’s way to Dulles. That particular aircraft has flown in several squadrons and missions date back to Operation Desert Storm. It was turned over to the Blue Angles in 2015. Pretty cool, and I was glad to learn we weren't under attack.

 

[GreenEnvy22]

We moved one of my daughters into the 'spare' bedroom in the basement last month. It has no windows though as it's behind the porch/cellar.
She (tween) loves this at its pitch black in there but we didn't like it from a safety standpoint.

So last week we had an egress window cut into the house right beside the end of the porch.
Now I'm building a new wall, 4 ft over from her existing bedroom wall, so that window will be in her room.
Got the new wall electrical, insulation, and drywall mostly finished today. Tomorrow start demoing the old wall.
The kid is going to have the biggest bedroom in the house, by a lot.

Our rec room is now 4 ft smaller, but we plan on opening up the other end and making a bar/ kitchenette at some point.

 

[Boatboy24]

Finally got the class of 2020 racked and sulfited this morning.

 

[Sage]

Finally got the class of 2020 racked and sulfited this morning.
[/QUOTE]

On my today list. Debating filtering it as I rack.

Did it....

 

[Sage]

First 3 carboys, back left side, were filtered. 2 carboys on the right side and 2 jugs were not filtered. I've never filtered on the first racking. It'll be interesting to see how it goes.

 

[jswordy]

Watching snow flurries and feeding the wood stove.

 

[Ajmassa]

Racked a whole bunch of wine. Had a new 50L barrel (55L actual vol) filled in august with a Chilean cab sauv cab franc juice blend w/ petite Verdot grapes. Emptied and filled with a Chilean Malbec for about an 8 month run.
Need another one!

 

[mainshipfred]

By the conversion they should hold 13.2 gallons but mine are also holding more, a bit over 14, and we all thought the variance in carboys was bad. For the volume of wines I've been making 50s are the perfect size.

 

[ceeaton]

Woke up normal time, got my walk in between the rain and the wind (rain earlier this morning, wind due later this morning). Heating up my water to make my 4th batch of beer in 4 weeks. Haven't bought any beer since I started making it. Trying to save some money as I can make a 5 gallon batch for around $20 and have it ready to consume within a few weeks, plus it tastes a little better than a Bud Light, LOL.

 

[my wine]

I got the bug today ... the country wine bug. Took some leftover cranberries and apples, added more cranberries and have a 3 gallon batch of wine started today. Also had some over ripe bananas that would normally go in the compost heap. Today they went in the freezer. Having fun!!

 

[jswordy]

Oh baby! Two three-cheese, Italian sausage, light pepperoni, onion and mushroom from scratch pizzas cooling NOW! The smells! THE SMELLS!

 

[jswordy]

Woke up normal time, got my walk in between the rain and the wind (rain earlier this morning, wind due later this morning). Heating up my water to make my 4th batch of beer in 4 weeks. Haven't bought any beer since I started making it. Trying to save some money as I can make a 5 gallon batch for around $20 and have it ready to consume within a few weeks, plus it tastes a little better than a Bud Light, LOL.

I want to make a good knock off of the old Rolling Rock, the way it used to taste. The A-B version has a hint of that old flavor but it is not full profile. I really liked that beer in its day. So far, no luck. The proprietary yeast strain contributes much of the profile, I'm told.

 

[ceeaton]

I want to make a good knock off of the old Rolling Rock, the way it used to taste. The A-B version has a hint of that old flavor but it is not full profile. I really liked that beer in its day. So far, no luck. The proprietary yeast strain contributes much of the profile, I'm told.

We used to go to a neighbors lake house that was near Latrobe (also about a mile from where the plane went down in 9/11 in Shenksville). I know one of the boys visited the brewery when it was still in Latrobe (many years ago) and got to know the brewer at the time. I think they used a Canadian 2-row pilsner malt if I remember correctly. It was not as high in protein as the US malts. Let me reach out to him and see if he remembers any of the details or not.

Was also a favorite of mine, we used to get kegs of it at our fraternity house occasionally. I have problems making a good clean lager since my wife put her foot down about me keeping the house temps down so low, so now my basement is hovering around 58*F. Need to get me a cheap fridge to lager in, I still have the temperature control unit, used to make a mean Munich lager in the old days (before kids).

 

[jswordy]

We used to go to a neighbors lake house that was near Latrobe (also about a mile from where the plane went down in 9/11 in Shenksville). I know one of the boys visited the brewery when it was still in Latrobe (many years ago) and got to know the brewer at the time. I think they used a Canadian 2-row pilsner malt if I remember correctly. It was not as high in protein as the US malts. Let me reach out to him and see if he remembers any of the details or not.

Was also a favorite of mine, we used to get kegs of it at our fraternity house occasionally. I have problems making a good clean lager since my wife put her foot down about me keeping the house temps down so low, so now my basement is hovering around 58*F. Need to get me a cheap fridge to lager in, I still have the temperature control unit, used to make a mean Munich lager in the old days (before kids).

Thank you!!!! Please message me if you find anything out, seriously. I am using a pilsner malt. I tried a liquid cider yeast after looking at some purported knockoff recipes and got something good ... and close ... but not right on it. Man, I wish someone would make a yeast that was spot-on to it. If I ever came across some genuine yeast, I'd have to try to keep it going forever. I keep trying. I only lager in winter, like the Germans did way back. I have a farm shop heated to just 50 degrees and a utility room that gets cool enough if the door is kept shut. Not a problem so far and low tech. I really miss the old Rolling Rock. The A-B version is all about cheap and it really is like a Bud Light with just a hint of the old taste in there. Still, I liked the old stuff so much that I buy it! Good luck!

 

[Rice_Guy]

number one project is to wait for a new plain white gas stove ,,, the old one has an issue with a control board which is not available in 2020 ,,, this replacement has been on order for three months due to a 2020 supply issue.
missed thanksgiving by a few days, ,,, aw honey let’s do turkey on the grill this year

 

[GreenEnvy22]

This week I finally got around to building a dedicated area for homebrewing, and also for fermenting wine.
The bottom of the cabinet is a climate controlled box (so far just heat) to control fermentation temps.
I can fit in my 32 gallon brute and two 50L kegs, or the 32 and a 20 gallon brute. Or could do a whole lot of carboys/pails.
I'll have to see how I want to add cooling in the summer. I do have an old window AC unit I could use.
Not in the photo is the 240v outlet or the pump, just added those today.

 

[GeoffMcG]

Just got myself a 50L Oak barrel to age my pinot noir in. I started fermentation back in May and it had been in glass carboys since. Just wondering how long to leave it in the barrel?

 

[Boatboy24]

Believe it or not, yard work. Sunny and 60 - a beautiful December day. Mowed, mulched and fertilized. Also a good opportunity to throw the baseball around with my oldest for a bit.

 

[cmason1957]

Drove the two hours there, ate lunch with my dad (93 years old), drove home. It occurred to my wife and I that we hadn't seen him since August. Much to long. When we walked in, he was busy balancing his checkbook, first by hand, then using Quicken on his computer to double check. I can only hope I am sharp enough in 30 years to use a computer (or whatever the latest thing is).