Last night Mike asked me if I would take diligent notes of his brewing. I THINK its his way of making me feel like I'm helping after the kneefiasco of 2011. :(.
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| Yay Dislocation. |
SO,
10:30am: Mike starts sanitizing the area using the spray bottle, and filling up the sink with sanitizing solution. Terri, starts roaming the internet...
10:47am: In an effort to figure out how to accurately measure 3 gallons. Mike goes through several options. Measure 48 cups using the measuring cup? No... "Babe!, can you finish the gallon of milk. Um, No" He then finds my pasta holding cup and says "THIS IS 1 liter!" Can I scratch lines in your mixing bowl to say where I gallon is?... No, I'll use tape. :)
10:53, we have measured 3 gallons. :)
11:14. We have decided that the grains smell amazingly like Coco Krispies which is now the only food I want. Mike is cracking the shells (with the Nalgene, we're straight up professionals in here people) and then pouring them into the cheesecloth pouch. He's also filling up the brew kettle with his excellent taped bowl from earlier.
12:08 The 158* temperature has been reached and the grains are steeping. We're supposed to not let it boil over (or let the thermometer die a boily death) I am still hungry and wanting cereal, Mike is studying "How to Brew." "I am saving this as a favorite place" in between scurrying to eye the pot.
12:15 This is a heavy pot. Mike wants to remember it. (He moved it off the heat) and has deemed the thermometer set up successful.
12:23 Mike has pulled out the grains, and is preparing to replace them with hops. I am searching for some way to support my Knee.
12:29 I missed the pouring of the goopy stuff (malt extract), to which Mike says "that woulda been a good picture." And sends me on a search for the "Cascade Hops"
12:32 Like a true idiot Mike says "get a whif of that" and sticks the hops under my hose. I cough until 12:34 when Mike finds a runaway hop and plops them into the water. Quickly declaring the pot "hypnotizing to watch"
1:00, we might have put the hops in too early. And it isnt quite rolling boiling like it should be.
1:38 I have acquired chick fila, Mike is boiling water to rehydrate the yeast, and is going to fill up the giant blue bucket from outside. The pots boiling nicely and things seem to be going well.
1:55 ice in the blue bucket and Mike's sanitizing everything to get ready to put it in the fermenter.
1:59, we have ice in the bucket, and ice in the beer. Mike's not content with the coldness factor. It has to cool down to below 80*, but between ice and the airconditioner, he's moving pretty fast. ALSO, the house smells of beer.
2:39. The beer was poured into the fermenter, and on the floor...and on my purse... LEARNING EXPERIENCES HERE PEOPLE!
4:40 and and a little behind schedule. but we're finally cooling down. The Hydrometer reads 1.047
5:00 perhaps doing this the weekend of one failtastrophe lead to others. it appears the rubber stopper has vanished, and Mike is trying to figure out how to seal the bucket. Parafilm has been mentioned, as has duct tape.
5:05pm Done. (for 2 weeks)
Thursday night, I went to Polka-Dot Palette in Cary. They had the most adorable dog in the history of dogs and offer a lot of different classes, starting from a completely blank canvas. It was a little bit scary. They had a lot of paintings I would like to go back and do. One of which is the koi you see in the corner.. :)
Saturday night, I ventured back out to Cary to Wine and Design. It was with the TWE so they had free wine tastings and everyone brought something delicious. This time, the paining was a bit more "paint by numbers" and they were a bit less "experimental" in terms of where to put your colors. I never listen to directions (and neither did B), so mine looked completely different. I had to make it match the other one! Obviously.. Anyway, W&D definitely had some more intricate paintings. I really want to go do the Raleigh Skyline, and the NCSU belltower.
