Vienna Octoberfest "Lager" (it can't possibly be a lager, because I'm using ale yeast, but that's what the can said ( Read more... )

Racked batch 3 today - into the fridge for conditioning! It's supposed to be a wheat beer, which Lora and I both quite like, so I hope it comes out ok. I kept the whole thing in a cooler with regular infusions of ice (into the cooler, not into the beer!) to keep it at a pleasant brewing temperature. As a result, I suspect it brewed at a slightly ( Read more... )

Batch two was ready for conditioning last week, so we broke into it this weekend - it's good, but not as good as the first batch. Different mix, though - this was an American style lager, so not really to our taste. Lora says it's a lager on top and a hefeweizen on the bottom - it's got yeasties, which is ok. One of the bottles was a little sweet ( Read more... )

Batch 3 is started. I started it yesterday. Ideally, it will be ready to bottle at about the same time as I have enough bottles emptied from batch 2 to bottle it. Anyway, I've tucked it into the coat closet, and am using ice in a cooler to maintain a sufficiently cool temperature.

Batch two, bottled yesterday. I think my friends' basement is a little chilly - the initial brew phase took longer than the first batch. Now I'm debating whether our coat closet is too warm for a third batch - the living room hit 90 degrees earlier this week, but the closet seems cooler than the room itself. Perhaps I can see if the landlord will ( Read more... )

I'm beginning to suspect that the federal student loans administration doesn't really want anyone to pay back their loans. How else can I explain the bewildering and totally non-intuitive banyan tree of websites they have created? They're all related - they have the same logos on them and they use the same PIN to access them - but you can't go from ( Read more... )

First, need to note that we started a batch of beer on Friday. By "we" I mean me, and the Eldest, and her friend P - it was a home schooling project! In a month, we'll check it and bottle it, which is exciting. The plan this time around is to start a second batch almost immediately, because the first batch didn't take nearly as long as I had ( Read more... )

So, according to the instructions that came with my kit, my beer was supposed to be finished 3 weeks ago. Lora and I opened a liter of it, and it wasn't done. I went to the Mr. Beer forums, and confirmed that I was probably a little early, so it carbed for another two weeks, and then sat in the fridge at the new apartment for a week. Last night, we ( Read more... )

I gather that the local gladiatorial organization has achieved victory in a contest of wills against the gladiatorial organization of another region of the country. This explains why, even though such things are illegal, our neighbors are engaging in the use of pyrotechnic enthusiasms. Good show, lads! Way to hustle! And other such terms of ( Read more... )

You know what I like about moving? Nothing. I like nothing about moving. I don't like boxing up all of the stuff. I don't like wrapping china in newspaper. I don't like taking the furniture to pieces. I don't like loading things onto trucks, and I don't like unloading things off of trucks. I especially don't like moving really heavy stuff, like ( Read more... )