48 bottle of beer on the...

Tuesday night had my dad and I bottling our creation during our second homebrewing session. I was relatively straight forward. First rule of bottling: SANITIZE. Our instructor, Bob, said this time and time again. He's a very laid back, soft spoken individual, so I determined that this was his way of shouting at us.

So we sanitized and hung the bottles on a rack, which we would come back to after we racked. HUH? Yes, I had the same confusion. Being the learned brewman that I am, I did homework. I read Homebrewing for Dummies. One section was called racking...I assumed that when we put bottles on a rack, that well, this must in fact be "racking". Politely, Bob corrected me. Racking is the act of siphoning out the fermented wort from the fermentation bucket. This process minimizes the amount of sludgy byproduct (mainly yeast) that gets bottled. So from the fermentation bucket to the bottling bucket our booze did flow.

Next step, bottling. The bottles were at the ready and the caps were, you guessed it, sanitized. The bucket had a nozzle that was place directly into the bottle and the magic happened - beer in bottle. Not yet bottled beer mind you, the next step was to crown (cap, if your a rookie) the bottle. My dad was a ninja on the crown crimper, and with much hesitation let his young jedi operate the heavy machinery.

Voila...we had two cases of beer. They are now bottle conditioning for another 10 days. We will pick the finished product up next Saturday during our final session.

BIKING - HAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA...um no.

Um...Yum

The mussels turned out delish...I didn't know how much two pounds of mussels were, but it appears to be over 50. The rosemary and garlic fries turned out great too. I think I rushed them a bit, I would have liked to had the fries crispier before I tossed them in the garlic and rosemary. But, all in all a great meal. The Grand Cru was an excellent, but different kind of beer. It is a sour ale, with hints of lemon and cherry...neither of which are part of the brewing process. It tasted almost more like a wine to me. We capped the dinner off with a truffle and wine (for her) and a DFH Shelter Pale Ale for me.

No spinnin' for me...I was too busy stuffing my face.

Oh, Snow!

So, this weekend brought us a ton of snow, the only outdoor activity I got was shovelling...ARRRGGGHHH! I wanted to get my ride on at Loch this Thursday, but I won't have a comrade and I don't want to challenge the night, cold and snow/icy conditions, solo...call me a sissy...I'll beat ya!

Trainin' again. Looks like I will be spinning indoors...again. Awfully boring. I plan to hit the road or trails on Saturday. Something nice and long!

V-Day. Tonight, I cook dinner (like usual) for my special lady. I plan on making mussels a la biere et frites. Otherwise known as mussels in beer broth and fries. It's a Belgian dish. The mussels call for a Flanders Red Ale, so I picked up Rodenbach Grand Cru - some for the dish, more than some for me. The rest of the recipe includes cream, butter and bacon - so I don't think I can go wrong. I would probably eat my arm if those ingredients were on it.

To compliment the mussels, I am attempting to duplicate the Brewer's Art Rosemary and Garlic fries...so good. If I master this recipe, the next time I leave the house may be during the Dr. Phil show when they knock down a hole in my house big enough to back an ambulance in and cart my big ass to the hospital.


Hammer Bar. I just got these bad boys today after waiting a couple months on backorder. I received 15 chocolate and 10 almond raisin. I sampled one for breakfast and one as my midday snack. They are both very delish. This will remain one of my go-to's for meal/snack replacement and pre-ride fuel. It's a great whole food, organic alternative, which will become a main staple for me. I need to knock out the sugar and processed-adled foods out of system...it is zapping the energy out of me...fo' shizzle! I am also looking to stock up on other Hammer/E-cap products for my commuting/race season. Indeed!

To all...Happy V-day...wrap your arms around yourself...you just received a hug from me...I'm out!

VERY IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ!!!

It has come to my attention that my blog has predominantly become the place where my friends and family have come to learn the "goings-ons" in my life. Apparently this has supplanted the need for actual one-on-one discussion. If you are reading this and sounds like the road you have been heading down, don't feel ashamed or disgusted with yourself. This is your "free pass", so go ahead, pick up the phone, give me a ring...we'll talk. Although I have a terrible habit of not answering or returning calls. Just leave a comment on my blog...we'll do lunch.



Other news...Olympics start tonight...Oh snap. I'll be eagerly awaiting the skeleton and snowboarding events. Okay, honestly, the figure skating...shut up.

Thursday Night Races

Hop and I may have started a new personal riding trend. Tonight is our first Thursday Night Race and I am hoping the first of many. Hopefully we'll add riders and distance as the season continues into the warmer months. Right now our course is set at Loch Raven - Seminary. It is nice to know where you are going and all of the escape routes, if necessary, during the cold, dark nights...coupled with the fact that your riding buddy may be racing ahead of you. We have a quick, 5 1/2 mile loop that we tackle. By the time we get to the lot and ready, it really is all the mileage we have time for (on most nights). So it's on...

Details to follow....

RESULTS ARE IN: HOPPE WINS THE INAUGURAL THURSDAY NIGHT CLASSIC
Right from the start he set the pace. Although Chesnik did all he could to keep his big bones rolling, Hoppe denied any attempt at a leading role in the race. At the mile marker, with slight trail confusion, Chesnik did some trail blazing which slowed hime down due to the old "stick-trying-to-rip-off-disc-brake" issue. Not that this was a deciding factor in the result of the race, but it sure as hell didn't help. To rub salt in the wounds, Hoppe waited...classy move, but still it burns a little. To add more salt in the wounds Hoppe suggested a re-route of the predetermined race route. Sweet! These races will definitely help us guage our weak points, which as of right now appears to be just me...but that's okay. With a ton of commuting (30ish miles round trip) and training-specific rides, I'll be a new machine. Hoppe is planning to get a new bike, which may be his only weak point right now...effin' scary.

At least we both got the same trophy at the end. A nice cold, but warming Stoudt's Fat Dog Imperial Oatmeal Stout.

Chesnik, Chesnik & Hoolehan

This is the name of our brewing team at our homebrew class at the Flying Barrel. After a bite of my mom's infamous mac&cheese, my pop and I headed down to Frederick to attend our first homebrew class. With 9 students and one teacher, we jumped right into the process.

Step 1: Select our beer. We chose a Pale Ale based on the other team's selection of a Porter.

Step 2: Measuring and Milling our grains. Pretty interesting process. We nibbled on the roasted crystal barley and flaked barley...quite tasty. After milling the crystal into our steeping bag, we added the barley flakes and headed over to the boiler.

Steps 3: Steeping the Barley. It took approximately 15 minutes to steep. Enough time to quaff a brew crafted by our fearless teacher, Bob. Throughout the process we had "spare" time to enjoy different samples.

Step 4: Boil, Boil. Time to add 6 lbs of Pale Mat syrup to the mix. Our team partner Mike got the pleasure of stirring with the world's largest spatula, while I poured the syrup into the boiler. After that we dashed in our first hops, which escapes me now. We waited for a half hour. Yes, more brew was consumed.

Step 5: 30 minues pass, time to add the Finishing hops, Cascade.

Step 6: 2 minutes later we release the beer from the boiler into our fermenting bucket. A strainer catches all the left over gobble-di-gook.

Step 7: Cooling the beer from 212 to 80 degress. We used a copper immersion chiller, which utilizes a water source (hose) and coiled copper tubing. The idea, cold water in through the copper tubing chilling the wort. The cold water turns into warm water which is used to clean the boiler. Pretty interesting process. I got the job of stirring the wort, which earned me a seat and a fresh beer from my bestest beer bitch, my dad :)

Step 8: Add yeast and stir! Pop got stirring duties this time while Mike dumped the yeast. This is my favorite part, because this is where the alcohol is born. The yeast eats the sugar with the byproduct being sweet, sweet booze.

Step 9: Sanitize the lid and pop it on the bucket. Add the aerator and VOILA!

I'm sure I missed a step or two, but that's okay. So did Bob, the instructor. He fumbled on a few steps, probably due to the number of batches going on at once. Our team was the first to go, so we were the Guinea Pigs...which will probably end up being the name of our pale ale (credit to my pop's for the name). Or we could call it "Shit..Sugar", a phrase Bob used when he made his first trip up.

It is a great class, maybe not everything I thought it would be, but it's definitely fun. I thought it would be more homebrewing (i.e., making beer in a kitchen) oriented. The facility they have is beautiful, but would be quite an expense to get up and running in one's house.

Oh, the Things I Have Done

Ride. The only rides I have done recently were on Wednesday and Thursday of last week. Both at Loch. Not too sloppy. With a momentary lack of judgement based on lack of saddle time, I rode in conditions that I typically object to. The more unfortunate part is that I'm not the only one. Loch Raven is starting to look like a sloppy, rutty motocross course...in some sections. So I pledge not to go down that road for a while.

I went to the Stop, Swap and Save in Westminster to check out any possible deals. I was mainly looking for SS cogs, but to no avail. I did run into an old PHH colleague who has become a distributor for a west coast frame builder...more details to come. I didn't pick up any gear, but I did have my eye on the wool cycling caps...maybe next time.

Football. Picksburg wins, yinz! My mom's side of the family rejoices. K and I hit the annual Munshaur Super Bowl Extravaganza. Food, Beer and Football...good times.

GPS. I'm not sure if I trust the Forerunner. Ithas given me different altitude readings on two separate rides (same trail). I will give it some more time before I dismiss it as a good tool for biking. It has been useful for trail runs though. Good pace setting and the GPS has proved helpful on one trail run.

Brewing. First homebrew class tomorrow!

THIS JUST IN... A good guage of sunrise/sunset times: http://mach.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/aa_rstablew

I'm trying to judge when my first 2006 commute will take place. I'm hoping on my birthday, Feb 28th.