Author: cdwan

Took my hydrometer readings.

We care about gravity (really, the density of the beer) because we’re trying to figure out how much sugar the yeast have eaten and turned into alcohol. The goal terminal gravity is the significant numbers in the original gravity (ignore the “1.0”) divided by 3.7. It estimates (for an average yeast) the change in gravity we would experience with “perfect” fermentation. After only four days of fermentation, I’m doing pretty well. I’m certainly well within measurement error, given that the hydrometer floats and bobs around, and bubbles from the beer attach themselves to it causing artificially high readings.

The alcohol content is a function of the gravity change. The rule of thumb is to (again) remove the meaningless “1.0” from the front of your gravity readings and then subtract them. That’s the amount of sugar that has been removed by the yeast. Multiply that difference by 0.1275 and you get your alcohol by volume. Interesting to note that wines can end up with a final gravity of *less than* 1, since alcohol is lighter than water, and the percentage is high enough to matter. When homebrewing, if I can’t do the math in my head, it doesn’t matter. If I ever make wine, I’ll get a calculator for the kitchen.

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) — Kid Rock was arrested Wednesday by Nashville police on charges that he punched a disc jockey at a strip club.

“Inside the establishment there was a squabble concerning, I guess, the selection of music,” Nashville police Sgt. James Smith told reporters.

When officers caught up with him, Kid Rock said he had dodged them because he wanted to sober up before being booked, Hullett said.

I have a beer question (Todd, I know you read this from time to time…): I made two batches of beer last Friday evening. Both have insane levels of fermentable sugars (1.08 and 1.05 specific gravity). I cooled them each to 80 degrees before filtering and pitching the yeast. The yeasts were highly active when I pitched them (smack packs from Wyeast, nicely swollen). Both are ale yeasts. The two buckets are sitting right next to each other.

The imperial stout bubbled madly through the airlock from about 12 hours after pitching. The barley wine has never been observed to produce a bubble.

When I visually inspect the barley wine, there is foam on the surface, and a smell of alcohol, but no matter how many times I reseal the bucket lid and reseat the airlock, it doesn’t bubble. My thought is that my lid for that bucket is getting old / deformed and it’s time to get a new bucket.

My plan is to sterilize the hydrometer and check whether the yeast have taken any of the sugars out of solution. If fermentation is proceeding, then I’ll get a new bucket and this can be the last batch for the old one. If fermentation is *not* proceeding, then it’s off to the brewing supply store to get another pack of yeast. How’s that for a plan?

Darn it. I cut back on coffee, and they publish this:

A study of more than 90,000 Japanese found that people who drank coffee daily or nearly every day had half the liver cancer risk of those who never drank coffee. … They were unable to compare the effect of regular and decaffeinated coffee, however, because decaf is rarely consumed in Japan.

Gah.

JWZ rants for a bit about that which is cool, and that which is not.

We got home this evening to a little party in front of our house. Verizon, and Naragansett Electric were contemplating the power pole that sits between our and our neighbors yard. It’s currently listing at about a 45 degree angle. I have no idea why. It wasn’t like that when I left this morning.

In “home repair” news, the honest, good contractors we found have been unable to produce a bid. See, they suffered a family emergency which resulted in them inheriting two children, ages 2 and 3.

Not to be selfish or anything, but couldn’t both of these things have waited until AFTER we got our plumbing fixed?

Today, unlike other days, I plan to be a total and complete geek. See, LinuxWorld is in Boston, and I’ve got me a pass to the exhibition floor. I’m ‘a gonna walk around and see all the cool toys. Here’s what I’m interested in:

my questions

I got to be a judge at one of the shows in the National Championship of High School A Cappella on Saturday. It was pretty cool. My friend Mark is the main organizer for the competition, and he was short a judge for this show.

I was dubious at first about high school a cappella in general, given the amount of truly bad a cappella I’ve heard in my life. This show amazed me for the uniformly high quality of the groups. I understand that they were pre-screened with audition tapes, but still it was impressive. Maybe there’s some benefit to having a music director with a background in music.

The groups ranged from five members to 20, and from vocal jazz and doo-wop to the vocal band styles that I used to do.

The very best part about the show was the energy and enthusiasm of the singers. They seemed to be doing this because they genuinely like the art form. It sort of inspired me to get back in gear and find a musical outlet in my current life.

Yesterday, I received a call from a nice young man who introduced himself as being from “the NRA,” and who asked for the use of a few minutes of my valuable time (his words). I said “National Rifle Association? Sure. You guys do some good stuff, what’s up?”

The Call

Article here

Section 102 of the REAL ID Act of 2005 seeks to expedite the building of a three-mile fence at the border near San Diego to staunch the flood of illegal aliens that travel through an area known as “smuggler’s gulch.”

Significantly, it also says courts are prohibited from reviewing the secretary’s decision.

Must hurry and make more beer.