Mudbarn Weblog

I’ve installed Alex King’s ingenious Twitter Tools to my blog. Now every time I add an entry, it will notify my followers and give them a URL to the latest post.

I know it’s been a couple of days since the last update, but things have been progressing more slowly. This is exactly as it should be! I’m just amazed that the process ran its course so quickly.

The airlock is bubbling about once a minute, so I moved the carboy to the kitchen counter to allow the sediments to settle for a day or so before bottling.

I will bottle on Saturday, and I’ll be able to get my first taste of the brew at that time.

If you’re following me over from Vox, welcome!

I just couldn’t deal with the constraints that were placed upon me. I felt boxed in without the ability to stretch my techie, geeky limbs. With Wordpress, I sink or swim on my own merits.

Now I have Gallery integration, Twitter integration, and access to many more themes than Vox. If I want to extend my theme, it’s just a matter of coding it up.

More foam settling and the airlock is bubbling once every 35 seconds or so.

First off, Happy Holidays to those who celebrate them.
I got a bit of a surprise today. The foam didn’t blow over and the bubbling slowed down to about once every 7 seconds. This means that the biggest surge of activity is past, and it should be smooth sailing until bottling. As you may be able to see from the pictures, the foam actually receded.
I was told that the liquid level seemed a little low. This will make for fewer bottles of richer beer. I can deal.

I can already smell the beer when I get into the same room as the carboy. It’s quite mouth-watering. There’s a good layer of foam that doesn’t seem like it’s getting out of control yet, but the wort is still young.
I’ve set up a camera on a tripod near the carboy so I can get consistent photos. I’m still experimenting with positioning and alignment, but expect some consistency in the photos to develop over the next couple of days.

I woke up to bubbles in the airlock today! The yeast is hard at work turning the sugary wort into alcohol. It’s currently generating enough carbon dioxide to bubble every 6 seconds.

I got together all the ingredients, and I’m about to start up my first brewing project. For starters, I’m making a German Hefeweisen. The kit came with:
6lb Bavarian Wheat
0.5oz Northern Brewer Hops
4oz Corn Sugar

I also bought some White Labs WLP300 yeast to complete the mix.
The combination should produce a cloudy blonde Hefeweisen with hints of banana and clove.

The pictures below show the supplies and the brew at various stages throughout the process. I will update as things change in the fermentation barrel.

you have sent me from you.

I’ve sat up all night wracking my brain trying to recall anything my brother has done that would be a good thing in his life. All I can come up with is that he was always in trouble and very angry. Up until the recent years he was my favorite brother.. he always made me laugh. he would let me cry on his shoulder and always wanted to protect me. But then he started getting into trouble. but even in Jail he said he would protect his “little sister” against anyone that would harm me. I guess that would be a good thing because it showed he did care. Though I can laugh about the stunts he pulled that got him in jail or prison the point is he never learned and was being rather stupid about trying to find the “fast path” to success which was not so fast as he thought. He was a genius in a lot of ways. he was very smart but all I can think is that his anger and such overrode his mind. But I’m not here to try to figure out what made him tick. I’m here trying to decide the way my life is heading if that is the way I want to be remembered. Is there something in my life that i’ve done that was a good thing and have I continued to be a good person and such? I don’t think so. So today starts a brand new day for my life and I am going to make the best of it as I possibly can. maybe i’ll find my little area that fits me to a tee and will have a strong ripple effect through out time. I’ve always believed that there was something “special” I was always meant to do but to this point i’ve not found out what it was. My long term goal is to figure that out. Short term goal is to get myself back in shape and start taking better care of myself again. I’m overdue in that respect and I feel it is time I started again to look ahead and decide where I want to be in 5 10 20 years from now. I think I want to be known for doing something really Special and succeeding in all the things i’ve attempted from this point on. instead of a “couch potatoe” who never finished anything. One thing I can say is my brother’s death has made me feel like i’ve been set free from some horrible pit of despair and now i’ve got the rest of my life to make up for the things i’ve done that I don’t care for and want to make right. who knows maybe i’ll discover the cure for the common cold or a cure for migrains. that would be good but what ever I do end up working on I will be successful at it.. just have to figure what that will be..

Cheers to my brother for finally setting me free