Haiku Wednesday

Fresh, Dry Mountain air
Snow blankets terra firma.
The deep freeze is here.

Farwell to Zak

Our good friend Zak is movin' to Montana soon. This time He is moving there for good. I know what you may be thinking...Dental floss tycoon, right? Well no, he's a ski bum at heart and is moving out there to be with his college buddies, and enjoy the big mountain pow that Montana has to offer. Bye Zak we'll miss you very much. We hope you'll still make it back to Vermont around the holidays.

Saturday afternoon snowshoe adventure

There is no Saturday swim lesson video this week. Instead I have some prime footage of Grace to offer this week. We decided that after swim lessons we would have lunch and then head into the woods for a snowshoe adventure. We ended up hiking up to the tower.

By the way Manzo did show up Friday night. All fun and games til we drank the Vermonster.

Manzo threat is Orange

Manzo just called. He's on his way to my house from skiing at Killington. I'll let you know if he actually shows.

Rye it is

I have decided to pass on making the steam beer, and have opted for brewing a beer with 20% malted rye. This is a new malt for me, so I'm off into uncharted territory. I have been doing some research, and now the time has come the recipe formulation.

Coming out of both ends

Grace is home sick today. I handled the morning shift, while Izzy is pulling the afternoon shift. Make note to self: Do not let toddlers wear pants and tights at the same time if they are experiencing intestinal distress. There simply isn't enough time to dress down.

Snowshoe adventure

As it turns out we got a few more inches of freshies on Monday, and the girls had off from school. The enjoyed and epic nap, and a s a result had some energy to burn late in the afternoon. After we cleaned the snow up in the driveway, the girls and I headed out on a night time snowshoe adventure in the woods. We all had a blast. Unfortunately the camera battery died, so no pix this time around. They girls really enjoyed themselves. I think I found a new outdoor afterschool adventure for them.

Back to the brewing board

I took a few weeks of from brewing to enjoy some free skiing. A few days off from work, and making turns has been a welcome relief from the stresses of everyday life.
Recently I discovered that my conical fermenter will not fit in the lager chamber (airlock is too tall). I racked the beer out of the conical and into two five gallon glass carboy's. The conical is now free'd up and I'm ready to make an ale or possibly a steam beer depending on where I store the conical in my basement. If the brewery temps continue to hover around 58f then I may go for a steam beer, on the other side of the basement if the cellar room temps hover around 62-64f, I may decide to make an ale. Lagers are out right now since the chamber is full. Maybe I will be able to fit it in this weekend.

Evacuating the Fermenters

So about a month or so ago I set out to fill all my fermenters, and kegs in order to get to maximum capacity. I got close but failed. This only only due to the fact that I undermined my objective by investing in a 14.5 gallon stainless steel conical fermenter. So now that the holidays are over and are visitors have all departed, I'm left in a wake of empty kegs, which I have started to refill. I like the idea of brewing beer to keep up with consumption. I like the idea of brewing beer in order to keep all my kegs full all the time even more.
I ordered a few spare parts on-line yesterday in order to replace a pressure relief valve on one of my corny's so that I may get some beer in it. I'm thinking about possibly brewing this weekend. I may have to go with a steam beer since it's still pretty cold in the basement.

Swim lessons week two

Raining, Pouring

The temps have gradually gone up since a week ago Thursday. We have seen some unseasonably warm temps this week, which has caused a few raindrops instead of snow to fall. This morning along with the freezing rain it started pouring when I dropped Winty off at School. It's very disappointing to see all this snow disappear so rapidly. The good news is, there may be some some snow in the forecast for us on Monday, so cross your fingers, and hope for the best.
I'm going to be down in the brewery tonight filling up some kegs, and clearing out the fermenters for more beer. Yes, more beer. Here's to the 2008 run.

Impromptu dinner guests

I mentioned that We would not get to see my brother this week due to poor timing. I took a few days off over the past week, and was unable to schedule additional time off due to month end/year end stuff at work. Needless to say I was disappointed that I would not be able to meet up with my brother who was only going to be 24 miles up the road. Having a family and especially two small children can really provide for a logistical challenge at times. Enough rambling.
Thomas called me at the office just before 4:00pm to see what our dinner plans were tonight. Thinking quick I advised him that We would be dining with him tonight, and told him to pick up some salad on the way from Okemo. He obliged, and sixty-five minutes later he, and Hank were rolling into the driveway for a spontaneous dinner date. The girls as you see were delighted to have Uncle Tommy and Hank over for dinner. I was too!

Timing is everything

My Brother Thomas is visiting this week from NY. He is staying with our friends Astrid and Suzanne. Unfortunately we will not get a chance to meet up for turns on the slopes or dinner this week. The good news is he'll be back a couple more times this season, so the probability is high that we may actually get to hang out together. It's been raining and the weather has warmed up quite a bit, so all that great snow we have been enjoying is starting to melt rapidly.
Possible snow in the forecast for early next week.

Get out while the getting is good

The Manzo threat was elevated to orange last Thursday, and went to Green on Monday when he inevitably pulled a Manzo and never showed up. The skiing and riding was great this past weekend. Friday being my favorite day out of the three days that Billy and I made turns. Sunday was decent, and Monday was moist and ticky-tacky. I worked the volunteer gig at the mountain on Monday. Ripcord was inviting.
I think I have about fourteen days of riding in this season. I wonder if I'll hit the 40 day mark this year?

The Iversen Dantona visit

Here are a few shots from dinner Sunday night. After a hard day of skiing and riding on the slopes We surprised Billy and Lilith with a Babysitter, and they surprised us with dinner at the India Palace.
BTW Manzo flaked again today.

Footage from the pool

swim lessons

The girls started swimming lessons this weekend. This is Winty's second time around with structured lessons. Both girls have become increasingly comfortable in the water over the past few Summer's, and we have finally made that leap to get them paddling on their own.

Looking forward to a few days off

Our friends Billy and Lilith are visiting with their daughter this weekend from Chico. Billy is a friend of mine from my college days, that I re-connected with here in Southern Vermont. He and his family have since moved to Chico, California via Philadelphia. I'm taking a few days off so We plan on getting out to make lots and lots of turns up at Mount Snow this weekend.

Starting the new year out proper

We started 2008 out in style by getting eight inches of nice dry snow. I bailed on getting out to ride my snowboard and opted to spend the day at home. It was a challenging day, but we all managed to have some fun. Hope you are enjoying you new year snow or not.

Year End Lager Brewing

I'm working on two Lager recipes to try and wrap up this years brewing madness. I'm getting together with B Late Friday afternoon. We are going to brew up the Black Lager recipe that I have been working on. This will give me an opportunity to take the new fermenter for a ride. How much beer did I brew this year? Well all I have to say is FUATF!

Merry Christmas

What an extraordinary day it was today. As per usual I spent most of it in the kitchen getting the dinner together. Not unlike my Grandmother I truly believe that one of the best ways I am able to demonstrate my love for those close to me is through food and drink.
Along with the turkey today we also enjoyed some Chocolate Stout and Bohemian Pilzner.
I hope you all enjoyed your holiday. Next year I think I'll take the rest of the week off after Christmas day.

Early presents

Izzy is taking the girls to Chelmsford to visit Buddy and Maya this weekend. I'm off to the Mountain Saturday and Sunday to put in a couple Volly Days and make some turns. Saturday should be brilliant for turns, while Sunday may be somewhat firm and moist. We'll also be splitting the Christmas dinner shopping up. With any luck I'll have the bird in the brine by Sunday.

More Fluff

It snowed again last night. We received another couple inches of freshy last night. I have Friday off, but have a ton of work to get done at the office, and am considering coming in for a half day. I'm also considering making a black lager, or possibly getting out for early morning turns. Oh, decisions decisions. I do know I'll be hanging out with my daughters again this Friday afternoon. Perhaps there will be more sledding this week, not unlike last Friday's adventure.

Not quite epic, but it was nice

It started snowing late Saturday night, and puked all day Sunday. I was able to get out with my friends Mark and Murph to make turns until noon. The conditions were excellent. I can't really say that they were epic since there was only about a foot of freshy, but I must say it was the perfect adventure for a Sunday morning. All fun and games until Murph broke a ski pole and we had to go home.

Possible epic conditions in the forecast

I just started snowing. In fact it's puking out there right now. We are expecting another storm this weekend. If all goes well, we may be looking at epic conditions for December. OMG, I love the Winter and all it has to offer.

Semi-sleepless night

I have fermentation on the brain. All I could think about last night was coming up with ideas on reaching maximum capacity.
The new fermenter has raised the bar for my goal to reach maximum capacity in the brewery and I have been scheming ways of getting all the vessels shoaled. Ideally, I would like to brew the doppelbock that has been in the design phase for the past few days. The recipe is near completion. The only thing really holding me back is space. I simply don't have any room to make lagers right now.
Perhaps I'll go with making a Canadian style Golden ale. I brewed one a few years ago that turned out pretty well. Maybe it's time to get off my lazy bottom, and take the leap at getting that Belgian in the books. That just may be the ticket in taking this fermenter for it's maiden voyage. Whatever goes in there is going to tie up the fermenter for a least a month.
Any other ideas?

Celebration Ale

Those of you who know me are aware of my desire to design my own signature brews. I typically do not take any true joy in brewing up cloned beers. For me the only excitement in cloning is to see how close I can get to the real thing.
Personally I enjoy the product development side of things. Tonight's brew was very different in that regard. Tonight I brewed up a clone of one of my all time favorite beers: Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale. I had everything on hand for this except the Centennial Hops. I nailed my Gravity on this clone tonight, as well as the color. Only time will tell how the deviation from the true hop profile will shake out.
Five gallons of the Bohemian Pilz got racked to a keg tonight as well. So this now leaves me with two empty kegs, and one empty carboy, not to mention the big-ass conical fermenter. Don't fret I have plans to fill them soon.

A suprise for Thomas

Today we all went up to Suzanne and Astrid's house for a little holiday project. We also met our friend Cindy up there as well. I'll share the secret details sometime this week after my brother leaves for Vermont this coming Wednesday. Stay posted, as I will even have some pix to share from this exciting event.

A visit to Santa

Auntie took the girls to visit Santa Claus this afternoon. The visit was complete with Alfred the elf.

The Fermenator

I picked up a 14.5 gallon Conical Fermenter while up in Winooski on Tuesday. Isn't it adorable?

Ditched the yeast

So I made the starter for the Belgian Strong ale. It took off Friday, and fermented out. I left the foil on top, and have been letting sit out for a few days. I'm going to ditch the yeast. I'd hate to dump ten gallons of crap on account of sketchy lab procedures. I do have another Belgian strain handy. Perhaps I'll get another starter going,or maybe I'll continue using the strain 1056 that I have on hand that's pitchable immediately.

Small delights

It's dumping outside. I Friggin love snow. I wish I wasn't tied to the computer, phone, chair today. We are in the midst of a little storm that will probably leave us with at least 8 inches of pow. The local HDP discussions have already moved on to the next system which may be moving in on Friday evening. Oh yum!

Pale Ale V3.1

I love it when I am able to make a beer over, and over, and over, and have it come out the same. I brewed up the Pale Ale V3.1 today. In fact the wort is chilling as I write this up. I racked to Alt to a keg earlier this week, as a result this beer will yet remain 10 gallons short of reaching my maximum capacity.Guess I need to make some beer next week in order to fulfill this prophecy of maximum capacity. By the way the yeast starter for the Belgian Strong Ale finally took off Friday morning. Look like I'll be able to step it up again, and brew that Belgian. Now for the recipe. Think quick, any ideas?

Brewhouse Flexibility

How is it that life usually seems to get in the way of my brew plans? Last nights brew got sidelined due to the fact that I found out at 4:00 PM Thursday that I would need to make an unscheduled trip up to our Winooski office Friday morning to meet up with our engineers to coordinate deployment of our new soft switch which happened to arrive four days ahead of schedule. You are probably asking yourself, What the hell does this have to do with making beer?
In a nut shell: Timing.
I would have started running around like a madman as soon as I got home from the office last night. It wouldn't have ended until sometime Saturday afternoon between my other obligations. As a result I have pushed back the brew to Saturday when I will have a relaxing opportunity to spend some time down in the brewery. Brian stopped by last night so we did manage get the Alt and Stout racked. He also completed an updated Hops inventory. Three out of five is pretty good. Not to self: Get more hops!
So as it turns out my trip to Winooski got derailed this morning, and I'll now be headed up Tuesday. The upside to all this is that managed to get my ipod working again in anticipation for the car ride North.
Life is funny.

A hop shortage of a different sort

It would seem that my hop stash is getting low. I was down in the brewery last night getting the materials together for the House Pale Ale and discovered that I only had an ounce of Challenger hops in the freezer. Looks like I'm going to have to mix it up a little bit, as my stash is dwindling. So tonight I'll be brewing the Pale ale with Northern Brewers for the late additions.
The yeast starter that I put together Tuesday night isn't really doing a whole lot right now. I'm probably going to ditch it tonight if there isn't any krausen in the vessel.
Here's what needs to get done tonight:

• Brew the Pale Ale
• Rack the Chocolate Stout to secondary fermentation
• Rack the Alt to final packaging
• Finalize the grist for the maximum capacity brew
• Take hop inventory
  

Brew Schedule flexibility

I put together a yeast starter last night for a Belgian Strong Ale. The yeast had an expiration date on it of 11/30/06. While it is almost a year old, I'm going to try and harvest what is left, and try to step up a nice starter for an upcoming batch of beer. Ideally I would like to brew it this Thursday night, but given the potential high starting gravity of this beer (>1.080). I may need to rethink my plans.
Between the year old yeast and the high gravity of this beer, there will be limited margin for error in regards to pitching enough healthy viable yeast to start fermentation.
With that said, I may end up brewing the house pale ale Thursday night and save the Belgian strong ale for sometime next week. The fermenters will finally be at maximum capacity.
A kind word of thanks to those of you who have offered me solutions on my carboy dilemma.
May beer karma be with you.

Other fun with fermentation

We made Bagels Sunday morning. Well, actually we started the bagels Saturday night. Let them rest in the fridge overnight and then finished them off in some boiling water and a hot oven Sunday morning.
Uncle Hank was visiting from Boston so he joined us, as well as an impromptu visit from Suzanne and Astrid.
Grace is patiently watching the bagels as they bake.

A night out with Stanley

I spent the day Friday working over at the Mountain. I managed to enjoy myself despite playing the roll of traffic cop. I just don't understand what the story is with people today. What gives with the lack of respect on the mountain? Heck while we are at it, anywhere for that matter. What is the issue with people insofar as an inability to respect one another? Okay, rant over. Moving on, I had a chance to hang out with Gus Friday night. He is one of my oldest friends, in fact one of the few people that I still stay in contact with. After spending some QT with him this weekend, I decided that we really need to hang out more often now that are children are getting older, and it's getting easier to travel with them.
Anyway, he wants me to bring some beer to his son Charlie's B-day party. I'm seriously considering a road trip to Red Bank.

Thanksgiving

The Havilands stayed for a pancake breakfast on Thanksgiving morning before heading off to West Dover to spend the remainder of the holiday with Tina's sister and her husband. After breakfast we parted ways. I left Isabel at home to enjoy some peace and quiet for her birthday while the girls and I headed to Greenfield for some hijinx and mayhem with the Rose & Stoll Families.
It was a fabulous dinner. I felt like a sap due to the fact that my beer supplied is temporarily dried up. Yes, I'm still out of beer. Sounds crazy, but it's true. I have nothing on tap. The fermenters are full, and my taps are dry. This is all by design, in order for me to ramp back up to capacity. I may have mentioned that before. Oh, how I long to be at maximum capacity, but for now, I'll be happy at maximum density from all the Turkey I consumed.

Rowdies from Redbank

Gus, Tina, Charlie and Stanley came for a Pre-Thanksgiving visit last night. Shannon came over to watch the children while the adults adjourned to McNeill's for copious amounts of beer. It has been almost three years since I last saw Gus & Tina. Actually probably more like four years since this was the first time I met their lovely children.
We are off to Greenfield for some Thanksgiving fun with my wifes side of the family today.
Gobble Gobble!

Tuesday Evening brewing with B

Brian came over tonight We brewed the chocolate stout that I mentioned last week. I'm not real big on cloning beers but the Rogue's chocolate stout has quickly become a favorite with friends and family. We nailed the gravity, but fell a tad short on volume. Life goes on. Next week: Something Belgian!

First snow today

It's snowing out today. It's always a treat to enjoy the first snow storm of the year. There is already about an inch on the ground. Word on the street is that it's supposed to turn into freezing rain this afternoon. Ahh! Classic New England weather.
Click here to see the latest view from the train station in Bellows Falls. When prompted for a login and password type in "guest" for login. There is no password, so just hit enter.
Yes, I did see my first snow related car accident on the way into work today. It was a pickup truck flipped over on it's roof.

The great GF experiment

I'm in the process of designing a Gluten Free beer. Presently Isabel and I have been sampling different GF beers to get a feel for what one might come to expect from a beer made without malt. Last night we sampled two such beers. The first was Green's Endeavor brewed by Green's Gluten Free beers and the second was Redbridge brewed by Anheuser Busch. You may read my BA reviews if you click on the above links. I will say that these beers were very interesting, and it may take a few runs in order to get something that is going to taste good. I have a few more GF beers to sample tonight. I'll report back with my findings in an effort to come up with a good tasting GF beer. I've been thinking that a Berliner Weissbier might be the way to go here as far as finding the right fit. The sour taste of the Berliner Weisse may offset the sweetness that seems to come along with these beers. I think this path would be better served rather then concocting a hop bomb to balance it out.
Speaking of sour Gus will be arriving with his family for a short visit Wednesday night. It's been ages since I have seen him and his family. They are headed up here to Vermont for a long weekend.
I guess I should get on the phone now and let Alfred know that his favorite boy will be in town.

Making turns and cutting down trees

I got my first day of the season in today working the Rescue gig over at the Mountain. Schuey and I spent most of the day cutting down trees and dragging them back into the woods. Actually Dave did most of the cutting and I did most of the dragging. He's an expert with the chainsaw. I did manage to get some turns in during the day which was an absolute hoot. The new fan guns and the snow-makers did a wicked good job of making some really nice snow. Gotta embrace technology. It's nice to be back at the mountain.
This week will surely rip by at mach speed.

Ask and you shall receive

I was discussing my carboy dilemma with a coworker yesterday, and she suggested I borrow one of hers. I am so totally hooked up. So, this Tuesday night I'm going to brew up a clone. I'm not one to usually try and clone beers, but friends and family have been raving about the Rogue Chocolate Stout. I'll let you know how it turns out. I have a suspicion if it turns out well, that this beer will turn into one of my standard brews.

This will be the penultimate beer into fermentation in my brewery for the time being. One more after this and I'm at maximum fermentation capacity.
Clicky, clicky the ads to support my brewery.

Operation: shoal the vessels.

My brewery is approaching maximum capacity. With continued hard work I may achieve this goal and actually build up an incredible stock of beer. In fact in order for me to actually reach maximum capacity, I would actually need to scale back on my next batch, otherwise I'll be beyond my maximum capacity for fermentation. With that said I really could use another carboy, since I destroyed one by accident back in April. Please contact me if you would like to sponsor my brewery and have a five or six gallon carboy shipped directly to me.
I plan on lagering at least ten gallons of beer for en extended period of time, and put that stock in the basement of my friends brewery along with the Imperial Stout and Imperial Red that I brewed earlier this year.
Ultimately my plan is to have at least four kegs in cold conditioning at any given time to have stock to pull from.
Oh yeah, and feel free to click on those ad's up there. I installed ad-sense to see if I can muster up cash for brewery equipment.

Swiss time was running out

As I reported last week, the girls and I manged to pull off the solo challenge with precision Swiss timing. Today, however was a different story. We managed to make it to school on time, just barely moments before the last bell. We fell so far behind schedule this morning that I had to drop Winter off before Grace today. We are all adjusting to Mommy's return from Seattle.
Wisdom of the day: Choose your battles, and next time leave your Barbie at home.

Support your local CSA

Last night after I racked the altbier to secondary fermentation I decided to wander on over to Tim Flemings and see if our family might be enjoying one more week of the CSA. Sure enough there was a box with our name on it on the porch. It also included a note that said we'll have one more week of greens.
Akaogi Farm will have enough greens to provide through the end of the year, so we have the option to purchase one more month for 60.00. The veggies in the picture are an example of what 15.00 a week gets you in Vermont. Community Supported Agriculture is the hot ticket.
By the way everything is local, and organically grown. If you are looking to reduce your carbon footprint, eat healthy, and support your local farmer please consider joining a CSA with the next growing season. It's a win-win situation for everyone. Besides, how else would you learn about freaky new vegetables? This weeks box included kale, cabbage, Baby Bok Choi, turnips, santoh-sai. lettuce, tatsoi spinach, and carrots.

Solo Parenting Success

Iz's ride fell through so I had to go down to Hartford to pick her up at the airport last night. I left the girls in Greenfield with my in-laws and we all stayed there last night. Needless to say my little tail is dragging this morning.
I managed to make it a whole week solo with the girls while Iz was on vacation in Seattle last week visiting our friends Jen and Nick. I want to thank my most excellent friends that helped out this week in helping me keep it together. In retrospect I am quite pleased with the results of this solo parenting adventure. I have garnered a new perspective on what it means to be a solo parent. I say solo, because that's what it is, no one else to rely on. Really! As mentioned in last week, it was an absolute mountain of work to organize, manage, and execute with any success.
Obviously there are many different paradigms for parenting, so here are four thumbs up to those that are doing it all by themselves without any outside support.

Out of the woods.

I can't wait to get back in the woods. It's going down to 25f tonight. Iz gets back tomorrow night. I think I'd like to start riding my mountain bike again. I am also hoping to do a little more bushwacking on my skis this year.

SMP Success & First turns of the season

The SMP brew went off without a hitch last night. I performed a single decoction, with a single malt, and a single hop. How painfully simple is that?

I also made top to bottom turns Saturday morning, attended a wedding, and carried on like an adult. Don't worry I didn't get carried away. I was too busy chasing two small children around Michael and Lisa's house.
BTW, It's going swimmingly.

Modifications to the brew schedule.

It would would appear that my brewing schedule has been derailed yet again. I brewed the Pilsener and the Alt recently. That's as far as my plan will get me right now. My house pale ale will have to take a backseat to my latest creation called SMP. I'm brewing a single malt pils tonight. It will be a single decoction pitched on top of a nice healthy yeast cake that is left over from the Bohemian Pils I brewed back in October.
Sunday I'm going to brew a Farmhouse style beer. This will be my second rendering of a Saison. I'm scaling it back to a five gallon batch since I will be taking my show on the road Sunday for a brew session in the Berkshires.
The Sorghum beer is on the back burner until my sister gets me those samples to try, so that I have at least a general idea of what I'm getting into with a GF beer. After Sunday I will virtually be at maximum capacity since I will need to leave at least two carboys free for the SMP to be lagered.
The down side to all this is that I won't have much available to drink until this stuff is ready, which won't be until December.
On a side note I have Melanie to thank for all this since she has offered to take the girls for the evening. She is a most excellent surrogate auntie.

Into day three

We are at the start of day three with my solo parenting expedition. So far so good. I actually had an opportunity to enjoy more then one beer before turning in last night. The girls have been most excellent. I checked the gravity on the Bohemian Pilzner and it has dropped to 1.012. This beer will get racked to secondary fermentation tonight, and then lagered until it is ready to drink on Christmas day. I better read up on yeast washing so I can save this yeast for the next lager I'm going to brew. I see some serious issues coming up with my inventory...I may need to augment it with some commercial examples to get me through to Turkey day
Winter has a play date with Haim, today, so I will be able to linger longer at the office.

Pitching on the cake

Last night as I lay awake in bed, I had visions of brew sessions dancing in my head. Belgian Strong Ales, Saisons, Dopplebocks, and fast fermenters. It's amazing how a change in the season brings about a change in brewing style. Temperature is really affecting my desire to brew beer that requires very little energy, and effort to get it off and fermenting. With these cooler temps, I'm shifting my desire to brew, and I don't mean just any old ale....speaking of any old ale, the Alt is still going apeshit in the basement at 59f. I pulled the Bohemian Pilsener out of the lager chamber to raise it's temperature, and scrub the diacetyl before I send it off to secondary fermentation. We won't be enjoying this sucker until Christmas day.

I finally decided whatever it was that I brewed next, it was going to get pitched on top of one of the yeast cakes I have in the basement right now. I'm really leaning towards a dopplebock despite the fact that my lager chamber is cramped for space.

24 hours into it

I've been solo for twenty fours now. It's going well. Aside frotm the toothbrush incident, the girls seem to be doing fine. Grace & Winter slept in their bedroom all night last night. Winty came in around 6:30 for some snuggling, but other then that it was a quiet night.
Suzanne, Astrid & Suzanne's high school pal Diane hooked me up big time today by watching the girls this afternoon. Suzanne took them up to her house after school and we all had dinner. After dinner there were some pyrotechnics with some sparklers Diane brought all the way from Mount Bethel. Let's see how day number two goes tomorrow.
I spoke with Izzy briefly tonight, she is already talking about coming home early.

I'll have my hands full

Iz leaves for Seattle Tuesday morning. I'll be pulling daddy duty, practicing my solo parenting skills all week. Thankfully I have some friends looking out for me, who have offered to give me a hand. It looks like I won't be missing as much work as originally anticipated. This week will provide a great opportunity for some quality one of one with the girls while Iz is on the left coast.

Alt Success

I brewed my Alt recipe Saturday afternoon. I nailed the gravity, nailed the volume, and have that sucker fermenting in the basement at 59 f. This beer is going to rock. I cam so close to gettting another beer lined up for brewing first thing Sunday morning, but abstained after I realized I didn't have enough fermentation vessels available to make ten more gallons.
The Bohemian Pilzner is also still going to town in my lager chamber.

Happy Halloween

Here is a choice shot from Halloween. It's me, Klink, and Winty. Winty was a princess. I stayed in and got dinner together while the girls went trick or treating.

Boulder visitors

Klink and Noreen are visiting us this week from Boulder Colorado. It's been a little under a year since the last time I saw these two newlyweds! In fact the last time I saw them was out in Lyons for their wedding last November. They rolled in yesterday in the afternoon, and will be staying until Thursday this week.
We enjoyed a nice quiet dinner last night (the girls went to bed at 6:30). Grace, Mark, Noreen and Myself hiked Wantastiquet today. Tonight we have a double date. Did I mention we got our first hard frost yesterday, and this morning as well?
A sure sign that Winter is on the way!

Ratdog in New Hampshire

I went to see Bob Weir and Ratdog tonight at the Lebanon Opera House, a tiny venue with seating capacity of 800 people. Probably the most intimate setting that I have seen any member of the Grateful Dead play. I had originally planned on going with Heath but he bailed at the last second. My sister went along with me instead. Thanks for driving Pammy!

I: Jam >
Here Comes Sunshine >
Big River >
Queen Jane Approximately >
Slow Train >
Catfish John >
Wrong Way Feelin' >
Tennessee Jed >
Playin in the Band

II: You Win Again,
Me and Bobby McGee,
Black-Throated Wind>
Miracle >
Samson and Delilah >
Stuff >
Ship of Fools >
Playin in the Band (reprise)

E: China> Rider

The highlight for me was when they played Slow Train> Catfish John. It was also cool to see Steve Kimock playing with the band. Have I ever mentioned that His father Joe was my 10th grade American Government teacher? BTW it looks the Red Sox are going to sweep the Rockies!

Single decoction success

This morning I brewed ten gallons of my Bohemian Pilzner. Presently it's fermenting away like a champ down in the lager chamber. While the pilz is in primary fermentation, I think I may attempt to fit in another ten gallon brew session before Iz takes off for Seattle next week. I'd really like to get rolling on this Belgian, however I don't want to sell myself short, and get all my fermentation vessels tied up with aging beer for an extended period of time and be stuck with nothing to drink.

Busy in the brewery

Last night I racked 5 gallons of the blended 3CPIPA & Simcoe Ale to a log for conditioning. The beer turned out be a brilliant burnt orange color, and tasted pretty goodo. I'm finally getting used to that guava, pineapple taste of the Simcoe hops. While I have had some very good commercial examples that have generous portions of Simcoe included in the hop schedule, I'm personally not sold yet on using this hop in my brewery just yet. As a result, the Simcoe experiments will continue, just not this week.
I am postponing the Alt by a week, and instead I'm going ahead with the Bohemian Pilzner this weekend. I should have a pitchable starter ready for this by Saturday at the latest. In turn I'll need to culture some yeast from this brew when I rack it since I clearly do not have enough space in my lager chamber for more than 10 gallons of beer at time. Looks like I need to start looking for a walk in.

Life gets in the way of beer

I had originally planned on brewing up 10 gallons on Atlbier this evening, however life seems to have gotten in the way, and I wasn't able to properly prepare for tonight brewing endeavor. I'm putting the alt on the back burner so that I may get started on my Bohemian Pilzner. In fact I'm considering a little experiment this time around (if I can find the room).
The plan is to brew back to back batches of the Bohemian Pilzner. The first time around performing a single decoction, and the second time around a single infusion mash. I'll re-use the yeast cake, as well as harvest some of the yeast this time around as a cost effective measure.
I haven't really planned to far ahead with this in mind, but I'm pretty certain I'll be able to pull it off if I time it just right. The key to any good brewing operation is really good planning.
See I don't want to be without beer to drink, and it wouldn't be prudent to have so many fermentors tied up in the lagering process, which could ultimately tie up my resources and for me to go without.

Quick drop

Here is a quick vid of our patrol practicing lift evac this weekend.

Rainbow Connection

Instead of heading over to Suzanne and Astrid's to have dinner and pickup the girls I went straight home. Seems that Grace and Winter are under the weather and Iz didn't want to pass anything on to Baby Astrid.
Sensing that Iz would likely be very thirsty when I got home Saturday I stopped by the coop for some refreshments to bring home.
While waiting patiently in the check out line I spied a brilliant double rainbow. I left the coop and grabbed the camera, but by the time was able to snap off a shot, the second rainbow was totally washed out.

So, exactly one year, and one day ago I saw a magnificent double rainbow. Life is funny. This time I got a picture.

A career in performance art?

Until earlier this week the only blue girl I knew of was my friend Victoria. I guess I now know two, although truth be told I have never seen Vic with an improvised blue mask over her head.
I wonder if Blue Man Group is taking applications for toddlers?

Winter on the horizon

My annual OEC refresher is coming up this weekend. I'll be over at Mount Snow on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday busy getting refreshed on my skills, and spending both days outside.

Brewery Update and Scheduled Brews

While I was making the bed and folding wash last night I got to thinking about a brewing schedule for the next few months.
Here is my tentative brewing schedule:

• 10/22 Alt
• 10/27 Bohemian Pilzner
• 11/5 House Pale Ale
• 11/11 Sorghum Ale (5 gallons)
  
• 11/17 Belgian Strong or Belgian Dubbel
• 12/1 Double Bock

I am confident that with some smart planning I may be able to pull it off and get the fermenters filled with some fine ale and lager.

Presently I have the Imperial Stout and C3PIPA on tap. The C3PIPA is conditioning and won't be ready for another ten days.

Baseball and Beer

Some of my friends came over for the ALCS game two Saturday night. We ended up packing it in around midnight. The sox ended up losing in in extra innings against the Indians, and we kicked the keg of Simcoe Pale Ale.
I finally finished priming the West side of the house, aside from two small area's in the vicinity of the power feeds to the house which I'm saving for a larger ladder and a call to CVPS so that I don't meet an untimely death by electrocution.
Yipee, one side of the house is primed. Time for me to mobilize my resources and get some friends to help out, so I may button of the painting before the temps get to cold.

Stone in Vermont

Last week Stone beer arrived in Vermont. This has been one of my new favorite beers for quite awhile. They make quality beer that would give any brewer a run for their money. If you have an opportunity to sample some of their beers I would highly recommend it. They are pretty intense, and although a bit pricey....mostly worth it. How is it that I struggle with the concept of paying 15.00 for a six pack, but have no problem shelling out 5.00 for a bomber of this stuff. Perhaps it is the variety that I'm always looking for when consuming beer.
I hope their obscure stuff starts flowing into town soon!

Inventory is looking up

I think I'm going to brew a dopplebock or a Bohemian Pilz up for my next batch of beer. Presently I am building up a really nice inventory of beer. Here's how it is broken out at this time

• 12.5 gallons of Russian Imperial Stout (5 on tap & 7.5 conditioning)
• 5 gallons of Simcoe Pale Ale on tap
• 5 gallons of 3CPIPA in secondary fermentation
• 5 gallons blended Simcoe Pale ale and 3CPIPA in Secondary Fermentation
• 10 gallons of Simcoe Imperial Red Ale in Primary Fermentation

I think I have enough stock of Beer on hand that I can do some lagers. Hee Haw! So I'm thinking Bohemian Pilzner and Dopplebock to start. I amy try to keep my lager chamber full through the Winter if at all possible. Ain't life grand?

Yankee Ingenuity IV a success!

We had a great turn out this past weekend for Yankee Ingenuity IV. Several of my internet friends showed up and we brewed up 26 gallons of homebrew. A few people bailed last second, and some others just came to check it out so we didn't hit my originally anticipated overall volumes. The recipes ranged from Dopplebock, to 80 shilling ales, to some Imperial Red Ale, and West Coast Style Ale.
A good time was had by all. John and Dave enjoyed themselves and ended up doing the responsible thing by staying over. We ended up rocking out til midnight.

Family dinner

My mom and Darla have been in town since Friday last week. Needless to say our evenings have been busy with visiting family and friends. Last night we hosted dinner at our house. Some people bailed at the last minute leaving us copious amounts of lasagna!
It actually worked out better as we were able to enjoy a nice low key, intimate dinner. It was nice to relax at home. My mom, Darla, Hank and Astrid all had dinner with us last night.
After everyone left, I got to work in the brewery preparing for this weekends brew session. After sampling some of my Simcoe Pale Ale with Hank I got to thinking about improving upon this beer by making it bigger, so I'm going to max out the mash tun this weekend!

Yankee Ingenuity IV this weekend

I'm hosting Yankee Ingenuity IV this weekend. On Saturday the backyard will be magically transformed into a multi-participant brewing session which will include home brewers from northern New England. Approximately eight to ten brewers will be showing up at my house Saturday morning to collectively brew anywhere from 50-100 gallons of beer.
This should be a fun filled day of brewing and sampling.

My mom is visiting this week

Granny is visiting us this week from North Carolina. She arrived Friday evening and stayed at our house while we were out of town. She is over at my sisters for the rest of the week, until she heads off to my Brothers house in Oswego, NY on Friday.
Needless to say this week will be action packed with all sorts of family activities.
Dinner at Carl's Monday, Pam's on Tuesday, Our house Wednesday.

Winty said "It's like one big never-ending party".
On a side note Winty starts going to a full day of school this week.

Child free weekend!

Iz and I enjoyed a child free weekend in West Dover. Our friend Melanie took the girls for the entire weekend while we stayed at a friends ski house. We had an extremely relaxing weekend complete with two nights out for dinner. Friday night at the Roadhouse and Saturday night at the Doveberry Inn. We originally planned on going to Two Tannery Road Saturday night but unfortunately the earliest they could seat us was 9:00 pm, and that would have been way too late

Both meals were exquisite, in a truly bucolic Vermont setting. The Roadhouse had a pre-fix menu which was the hot setup for Friday, and the Doveberry was a quaint, yet elegant experience. During the day we basically just relaxed and got to catch up on our reading. I also managed to get some work related stuff done early in the afternoon which would prove to save me from some headaches on Monday.
I'm a firm believer that all parents should get away from their kids at least one night a month.

Happy Anniversary

If you asked me last September where I would be in a year, It's very likely that My eyes would have glazed over and I would have given you one of them 1,000 mile stares.... you know like an uber tweaked out middle of the second set between drums and space stare.
I honestly had know idea if if Iz and I were going to make it. I have seen a lot in the past year, and garnered an incredible amount of knowledge about myself, my partner, and what paths we have chosen. Luckily we are both on the same path now.
So we are celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary with for Oysters and Mussels from Gillies. We decided to play it low key since we are going to be out of town and child free in West Dover, VT this weekend. LOL!

3CPIPA

I brewed a new IPA today, I'm calling it the 3CPIPA. The three C's naturally being

1. Centennial
2. Cascade
3. Chinook

and the P, well P is for Perle.

I hopped the hell out of this batch, in fact this beer has over 12 ounces of hops in it. I actually missed my volume of 10 gallons due to the amount of trub in the kettle at post boil. So with a starting gravity of 1.056, and 60 IBU's I'm hoping that this will turn out to be a well balanced IPA with lot's of Citrusy notes.

The Manzo threat

Manzo came for a visit Saturday night. Manzo and my friend John the Hippie showed up around 6:30 and we proceeded to watch the sox game, eat pizza and wash it down with some beer at McNeill's brewery. We wandered over to Flat Street for a beer and the final out of the game. Looks like JD Drew is pulling his weight for the Sox this week.

More brewing & some commuting.

I have been trying to dial in the setting on my mill lately, and finally believe that I have reached a point where I'm happy with my efficiency. I have kept the mill settings the same for the past few beers, and for the last two beers I brewed, I kept the same grist. I'm planning a final brew with the same grist as the two previous beers this weekend. I'm going to make an IPA and I'm working on the hop profile right now.
My target gravity was 1.056 for all these beers, and if I get within the range 1.054-1.058 I'll be satisfied with the mill setting, and will move on to switching back up my recipes, and working on some different styles. I picked up a sixer of the Lagunitas Pils lately and that really got me wanting to make my Bohemian Pilzner, which has become one of my signature beers which I try to keep in rotation along with the California Common, and my House Pale ale.

I'm commuting via bicycle over to Suzanne and Astrid's today while the rest of the family is taking the car up to their house so we can have dinner together. I'm psyched for a great ride, beautiful weather, and fabulous terrain.

BHIC

I had an opportunity to catch some live music last night. Michael Fuller and I met up with my buddy Roddy for the Ben Harper show at the Palace. Despite my Albany friends bashing the place, it really is a nice theater. The carpentry in that place is amazing. Hands down it is one of the nicer places in the area to see live music. It was a ripping show, and as usual Ben was spot on. It was great to get out and enjoy some live music, not to mention beers with Roddy!
Hey.....Where's Roddy?
Here' the Setlist

Set I:

1. 11th Commandment >
2. Well Well Well
3. Take My Hand
4. Fight Outta You
5. Picture In A Frame
6. Fool For A Lonesome Train
7. In The Colors
8. Gold To Me
9. Whipping Boy
10. Younger Than Today
11. Welcome To The Cruel World
12. Say You Will
13. Put It On Me
14. Use Me
15. Where Could I Go

Encore I:

16. Paris Sunrise #7 >
17. Lifeline
18. Masters Of War
19. Like A King / I'll Rise

A call from the Kingdom, and a trip to the Palace

I spoke with Jay DeJesus last night. He was checking in from the Northeast Kingdom. This immediately brought back images of such great trails as Cupcake, Poundcake, Dead Moose Alley, Widow-maker, River Run, and East Branch. I honestly have not been up there in a few years. In fact I think my last trip up there was before we had children. This got me thinking it might be nice to do an overnighter to the Kingdom for some buff singletrack. Besides, I haven't even been on my mountain bike this year, that is unless you count that trip to the brewery a few weeks ago.
I digress... It was great to catch up with Jay. I had an opportunity to chat with him up at Mt. Snow during the USA cycling championships, and it was great to see him, Alive and well no less!

He has once again expressed his desire to leave the the Lehigh Valley and move back up to bucolic Vermont. It sure would be great to have him as a neighbor again. I promise this time around we will get together and make some turns.

Michael Fuller and I are headed over to the Palace Theater tonight to see Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, but before that we are going to meet up with Roddy at McGeary's Pub for some Yuengling and wings.

A parting view

Have a great weekend.
Photo Courtesy of Saul Groovy

Haiku Wednesday

Crisp, Clear Summer Day
Winds of change are upon us
How bout a cross race?

More apple picking

We picked apples on Sunday at Green Mountain Orchards. In all we collected about a bushel of assorted Mac's, Golden, Samsa's and Cortlands. We enjoyed some rather decadent apple sauce Sunday evening. I like mine with some vanilla and cinnamon.
Next weekend I'm going to make some pie.







Even the Reindeer enjoyed the apples

Road trip to Pennsyltuckey

Over the labor day weekend our family took a little road trip to PA. This trip included some of the essential components required to provide a positive memorable experience. For this trip they included the following:

• Family, Friends, and Fat-tires.
• Beer, Bikes & BBQ
• Lot's of leisure time.
• A party

I have been swamped and unable to provide the updates I would like to at this time. I'll be filling in the gaps as usual.

My dad turned 70 on Saturday

We celebrated my father's 70th Birthday Saturday with a cookout and some cake, all washed down with some fine Belgian beers. My brother and I raided my Father's sacred stash of Gouden Carolus Cuvee van de Kaiser and we all performed a little vertical tasting of our own. We enjoyed a bottle of the 2004, 2005, and 2006.

Big Dave 70th

Click on the pic above for the slideshow I created for his Birthday.
Happy Birthday Big Dave!

Lunar Eclipse this morning

I needed to be into the office this morning by 7:00 AM to facilitate the workers who are installing new flooring in our office building. Since I was going to be up before the sun today anyway, I decided to get up a little earlier and view the the Lunar eclipse this morning. Mostly clear skies made for great viewing. I observed it down by the marina where the West River meets the Connecticut.

It's all in the yeast

One of the nice things about one of your best friends owning a brewing is having supplies at your disposal to brew at a moments notice. Everything except the yeast that is. Unfortunatley when I am in need of yeast my brew schedule is dictated directly by the timing in getting said yeast. I am forced to rely on the brewer to get me the yeast. This doesn't always work out in my favor. Even with enough notice there is no guarantee that the yeast will be waiting for me when I show up at the brewery. So no yeast Friday. I am locked and loaded and ready to boil. I just need that yeast, With any luck maybe I'll be able to slip on the brew session this week before we head down to Pee-aay for my Pop's 70th birthday.

Brew session coming up Friday night

It's settled, I'm going to brew some beer Friday night. I will start the preperatrions tonight for this Friday's brew session. Since I don't have enough lager yeast lying around, I'll be making an ale. Likely my standard Pale Ale. This time however I'm going to up the gravity slightly, and use a new hop combination. I think We'll go with Simcoe, Amarillo, and Centennial. In theory this should turn out very tasty. Perhaps I'll consider turing it into an IPA, instead of the regular Pale Ale...I think I'm on to something here.

I was down in the brewery...

Tapping myself a pint of the Russian Imperial Stout that I brewed back in July and ended up blending the batches together on order to make something drinkable. Well, I must report that this beer is shaping up quite nicely. So nicely infact that I'm quite delighted that I'll have around 15 gallons around for quite awhile.
This beer is not unlike the IIPA that I kegged back in June...High Octane fun!

Birthday Celebration

Winty turned five on Friday. We baked scones for her to share with her kindergarten classmates. It would seem that the year has flown by rather quickly. We'll be celebrating down at my In-laws today. I baked Louise Darlington's famous chocolate cake, this time complete with Butter Cream icing.....Pink Butter Cream icing with Ponies on top.

The bistro

Pam watched the girls Thursday night while Izzy and enjoyed a date night. We finally made it to Alici's Bistro. The food was good, a bit pricey but well worth sitting outside on the patio, and enjoying the fabulous weather. It did end up pouring around 11:oo pm last night.

Racking requirements

I need to rack some beer. I have ten gallons of California Common Lagering away in the Lager Chamber, and ten gallons of Amarillo ale that I would like to cold condition since my basement is still holding at 70 f. No other new to report on other then I'm still priming the east side of the house. My assistant is is still on vacation, so needless to say. I'm swamped at the office.

Back to painting the house

Life has been getting in the way of blogging these days. I have been busy preparing the house for it's fresh new coat of paint. While there are some clapboards that require replacement, as well as some wood filler here and there the east side of the house is ready. I ventured up to the third floor roof yesterday and started to apply the primer. Why do those roofs have to be so high? On the Left is a picture of the rigging I set up to transition from ladder to ladder. Once I get this section done I'll be relieved to work on the lower area's on the east side of the house.

Darlingtons in town

Henry and Louis are visiting from Michigan this week. We all got together up in Townshend for a picnic. They really are a part of my extended family. The Darlingtons were my next door neighbors growing up, and we have managed to stay in touch despite the fact that most of the Darlingtons are in Michigan and most of my family is in Vermont.

Losing teeth

Winter lost her first tooth this morning. I freaked for a second, and then realized it was perfectly natural. Now all she wants to do is read The Tooth Book.
The Darlington's are in town visiting from Michigan. We'll be getting together again with Henry, and Louise as well as Hank and Astrid on Tuesday up at the Townshend Lake Damn. It's our favorite new family hang out.

Beer Humor

double click the image if you can't read it.

Date night rules

My loving sister took the girls to Spofford last night for a picnic so Iz and I had a date last night. It was an awesome time. We tried to go to Alici's Bistro, but they were closed so we ended up eating Sushi at Shin La. After dinner we stopped by Flat street for a beer, and topped the night off at Mcneill's. We really enjoyed ourselves. It was great to just kick back and relax without the children for a change. I made the gross error in judgment by tapping an Imperial IPA for myself when I got home. This beer is some high octane no nonsense stuff that requires handling with care. I was foolhardy and am certainly paying for it today.
B and I are doing a little tag team brew session today. I measured up everything earlier this week and mashed in at 6:50 this morning. He came by and is going to do the sparge, lauter, boil, and hop additions. How excellent is that?

Happy Birthday Jerry!

The original Fat man would have turned sixty five today.
Please enjoy a toast to celebrate Jerry Garcia's life today. Heck, while your at it enjoy this set from the Legion of Mary at the Bottom Line in New York City from 4/9/75.
Although I never quite made the 100 show threshold, I give thanks to my brother, and my college friends for exposing me to Jerry's music which became a very integral part of my life. This life experience helped to mold some of my present values as well as broaden my mind.

The sun will shine in my back door someday.
March winds will blow all my troubles away