growin' on "down" the line

Well, got some things done around the house and have been unable to share since we haven't had internet all week. We have it now, for how long ...  who knows?

Anyhooooo .... the weather finally cooperated enough this week where there was a 48 hour break of *no* rain AND no *wind*. For three weeks now, that has NOT happened once and I have been reluctant to concrete my poles in the ground if there was wind and/or rain in the forecast. It is imperative the concrete base for these poles cure with the pipe perpendicular to the ground.

So I got the poles in the ground, leveled up, and the concrete cured without issue. That was the easy part.

Okay well digging the holes wasn't. Yeesh rocks and roots really hampered the process and wore my little ass out. I intended to dig 3' deep, but settled with 20" instead because of the aforementioned rock and roots.

Aside from the digging, the -hard- part turned out to be what I had expected to be a "piece of cake".  LoL I had already drilled holes in the 1" and 1/2" pipe so that when extended fully I could bolt them together as seen here ...

It doesn't look it in this picture, but  the top of those poles are about 15' off the ground.

All I had to do now, was pound the stakes into the ground, string the lines, and raise the poles. Easy peasy ... or NOT!

I put the stakes in without a problem. I cut the lines, again without a problem. I should've known that things were going *too* smoothly.

I looped the lines around the cable (that runs between the poles) which was a little taxing since it was 10' high, but that wasn't even too bad. The problem came when I went to raise the poles and slip the bolts in.

The first pole went up and I tightened both bolts. The second pole, however, would NOT fully extend. I wrestled and wrestled with it but made no progress.

I called in for reinforcements (luckily, Melissa was home). It turned out that the lines had slid down the cable (the grade of the ground was sloped) and were putting enough stress on it preventing me from raising it.

This was going to have to be re-thought. The whole idea of this system was the simplicity of harvesting. Loosen and remove four bolts, slide the poles down, harvest, and done. If extending the pole was going to require that much fighting, then we need to formulate a plan B here.

I undid the pole at the top of the hill and figured to try it in reverse. BINGO! that's what it takes -- set up the bottom pole and then do the top one. I was glad of this since I didn't really have a plan B -- nor an idea of what it would be.

It's up for now, but still needs some tweaking. As you can see, the distribution of the lines is way out of kilter.

I intend on getting some clamps and clamping the lines in place so they don't slide down the slope of the cable, but in the meantime, the hops got something to train themselves on ...

Grow babies, grow!

gettin' pretty good at this ...

Last night was yet another brew night. Heh, at this rate I better get some more bottles -- soon.

This was another clone recipe but this time I have never tried the beer. It looked like it would be pretty good, though, so figured I would try it. It's called an Alpha King Pale Ale from Three Floyd's Brewing Company based somewhere in Indiana.

I am really getting the hang of this brewing. Lord knows I am getting plenty of practice.   ; )  

The preceding paragraph refers to how I got my timing down. I got everything cleaned up and sanitized and started one pot with 4 gallons of water and set that on high to boil. I put just under two gallons in the other pot and brought that up to 155* to steep the grains.

I steeped the grains for 30 minutes and that was about the time needed to get my 4 gallons to reach boiling temperature. I added the grain tea to the 4 gallons, added my extract and first hop addition, stirred, and let it boil away for 90 minutes. There really was nothing else to do with this one. Two hop additions at the start of the boil and one at the end.

This did require a late extract addition and I just added it when I put in my Irish Moss and Yeast Nutrient. Stirred it for 10 minutes, added my flavoring hops and stirred for 5 more.

I set it in an ice bath and got the temperature down to 80* within 20 minutes; then aerated and pitched the yeast. This morning it was already bubbling in the fermenter. Again, I must be getting pretty good at this.  ; )

there's nuthin' like live ...

So I got to take in another show last night. That's two in a month's time, it's almost like old times!

I love seeing a live show. The energy, the interaction between fans and the band, just the whole experience is a good time to me.

The headliner for last night's bill was a band that is far out of the mainstream and I think they like it that way. Their name is Fair to Midland and are from Texas.

Very odd, artsy music that is more like an acquired taste. I wasn't sure if I liked it or not the first few times I heard it, but after that it grew on me.   ; )

The doors were supposed to open at 6:30 and the last show I went to, I missed most of the opening act (partially due to them opening the doors late), because we were in line to get into the place. The part of the set we caught was great, but I was really bummed to have missed the rest of the act.

Well, they were put on this bill, so I made sure I was going to be able to catch *all* of their set this time! I showed up about 20 minutes after doors were set to open and again, they weren't. However, this time there wasn't much of a line, so I just stayed in the car jammin' to some FTM priming myself for the show.

The doors didn't open until 8. They must've meant 6:30 *Central* time! ; )  

Oh well, this time I managed to get inside before the band hit the stage. They are a TN band and I hope I get to see some more of them. Their name is ARC.

3 guitarists, a bassist, and a drummer. All instrumental and all out. They have quite a full and complex sound at a high energy pace.

At times, to me, it seemed a bit choppy, almost rushed, as some of the transitions weren't as fluid as I typically hear, but I think that was by design. Even though there were times when I didn't know where they were going, they sure did!

If you took the pieces of the song (guitarists, drummer, bassist) and separated them you would think there is NO way this would work when put together -- but it did!   Good stuff!

They were tight and had a great sound. They were selling EPs for a $1 so I picked one up  and jammed on it on the drive home.

The next band up was Scale the Summit. During the set change, my buddy was playing around on his internet equipped phone and informed me that this band *makes* their own instruments. Apparently, they had attended some musical institute.

So when they took the stage, I paid special attention and sure enough, the bassist had six strings, the lead guitar had 7, and the rhythm guitar had 8. 21 strings between three instruments! ARC had 22 between four!   ;  )      They didn't just know how to design their instruments, they could play them too!

They got to extend their set a few songs, since the band that typically followed them, a band called Periphery, had dropped off the tour the previous day. I guess that's why the doors didn't open until 8, but the venue still could update their website to let fans know. I could've found a better way to spend that hour.

Anyway, back to the show. I was glad they were able to showcase a few extra songs, as I thoroughly enjoyed their set. They were really talented and brought a good energy level to the stage (as did ARC).

They closed with what the guy called their "toughest" song. I think it was an excellent choice. They played a great set.

Next up was Fair to Midland. The lead singer is a f*cknut! He sure is one odd duck!

In between verses he did what looked to be an epileptic seizure. Now, I am afflicted with "white boy dancing" myself but he made *me* look good.   LoL     Still, he was amusing to watch. I think I laughed as much as I ever had at a show.

Their set was great, but again, they are an odd style of music. Actually, I don't think there *is* a style they "fit".

They were edgier than I would've guessed from their recorded stuff. The few fans that were there, were *real* fans and knew their music quite well.

The guy that stood in line behind me came over from Nashville, to see them. Apparently, they don't tour much outside of their home state.

It was a great show, and I must admit although I really enjoyed FTM's set, I was more impressed with the opening acts. I don't recall the last time that happened. Not saying FTM was not a good show, but the other two were  great.

Not sure when I will get to take in another show, but I can't wait. There's no substitute for the energy and interaction of a live show.

been busy lately ...

So I haven't wrote anything for a while. Some of it because I have been too lazy to bother, and some of it because, well, we have just been busy the past few days.

Dad has had me searching for an old classic car to replace the Mustang he sold because "we never took it anywhere". Now down to two vehicles, his truck and "my" Challenger (grin), he has a perceived void. Right now, even with but two vehicles, only the truck sees "regular" use. Sooo .... he wants a nostalgia vehicle to sit unused to, I reckon.  ; )

I have found him many possibilities over the past few months, but he always finds something wrong with it. I found a 65 Ford Galaxie earlier in the week, and Dad set it up with the gentleman to go look at it.

We got there and the thing looked every bit as solid as the picture

showed it to be. I looked it over and the car was solid.

Very little rust at all and what there was was only surface, so can easily be fixed. It's all original, has a 390 c.i. power plant, 3 speed on the column, and the interior looked as cherry as it did 46 years ago. This thing has been well cared for.

After looking it over, a test run was necessary. It has a pull to the right (probably just needs an alignment) but otherwise rides like it is on glass. What a smmoooootth riding car!

Dad made the man an offer and the deal was made. I drove it home (mostly along the interstate) and it just purred along nicely. No issues!

I pulled "my" Challenger out of the garage and went about parking the Galaxie in it. I pulled in as far as I felt comfortable (there is a 4-tiered shelving unit on the back wall) and the ass end was still sticking out. I checked and realized I could pull forward about 6" more, which is about what was needed.

That thing is 17' long and there is no room to walk around it when in the garage, without moving stuff around, which there isn't a lot of *extra* room in the garage to do so. It's a 20' X22' garage and it's packed pretty darn full.

Once that was parked, it was time to drink a few. I had been trying my Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat clone over the past couple weeks, but it just didn't seem done bottle conditioning as the flavoring addition at bottling time, was just too overbearing. I had set a six of 'em in the fridge to cool for a couple days and try again.

We tried them and they were finally "ready".

It was a nice clear pour, and quite possibly the clearest beer I have brewed yet. The flavoring was no longer as prominent as it had previously been. I gave Melissa a taste of it, and she said she could actually drink one of those of her own on occasion.

I also had a couple of the original lying around to do a side by side comparison. I never poured it to compare color, but the taste was what I was most concerned with.

The original had more of a sweetness to it. Mine still had "some" of that, but it had mostly mellowed out, which was what I was shooting for, but to match it better I should've tried them the previous week.

However, Melissa said she preferred mine to the original. I kind of liked it a  bit better that way as well (but then I may have a bias).

Yesterday, we went out to register the Galaxie only to find the tag office is closed on Wednesdays. Doh!

We also ordered a carport that will allow "my" Challenger to go back in the garage and the Galaxie will live under the carport. More importantly, I will be able to walk around inside the garage again as the Challenger is a  bit smaller.

Last night I bottled up my Highland's Gaelic Ale clone. It went pretty smoothly and the gravity sample had a nice flavor to it. I really hope this one comes out well as it is one of my favorite beers.

Sometime today, I guess, we will head out and title and tag the Galaxie. Later tonight, we are going to a "bike night" over in Knoxville. Tomorrow night, I am going to a show.

Busy, busy, busy! but I like it. I now have an empty carboy, have ingredients to do the next two batches, the "need" to brew,  but just cannot seem to find the time to do it.   LoL

out of the box

So tonight was the first time I have brewed that I didn't have a pre-existing recipe/kit to work from. Dad is a fan of Little Kings, which is a cream ale -- far from my style, but he is funding this venture, so I thought I would try something he prefers.

Only, I wanted to put a twist on it. I posed my idea to him, and he was game. I have seen others do a jalapeno brew, and ever since been curious. I wanted to make something that would have a good balance between hot and sweet though.

So my big idea was to create a cream ale that had some honey-sweetness to balance the habanero spiciness that I imagined will be noticeable. I perused some recipes and from them formulated mine own.

I have done over a half dozen kits now and feel quite comfortable with the process. What could go wrong?  Yeah right!

I took my time and made sure everything was cleaned and sanitized as usual. That is typical enough a process that doing my own recipe wouldn't interfere with it.

However, while I had my grains steeping, I took a minute (or two too many) to try and figure out how to measure out the fresh Mt. Hood hops a buddy gave me (which my scale was having a hard time registering) and meanwhile, my grain bag burnt to the bottom of the pan.

Sh*t! I was able to free it, but the damage had already been done. There were already two holes burnt into the bottom of the bag that was now releasing grain into the wort.  

I grabbed some clips (and sanitized them), clipped the holes, and managed to make it through. Sadly, part of making it through entailed burning the sh*t outta my fingers as I swirled the bag around to avoid any further holes in the bag. OWW, dammit .. OWW!

So I got through that snafu, and added half my extract and my first hop addition and meanwhile added the rest of my boil volume (that had been heating in another pot) to the wort. I soon had a vigorous boil and set my clock. I had already added the bittering hops and tried to make a compensation since they were put in a little earlier than when the boil occurred.

I added my flavoring and aroma hops at the normal time schedules. I also added remaining extract and a little more (4 oz.) honey as in hope that it will take a little bite out of the end product that will possibly be dominated by habanero heat.

I had read on a brewing forum that someone was using salted water to bring their wort down to pitching temps. Salt? isn't this what PREVENTS ice on roadways? counterintuitive indeed, but effective just the same. I don't know why, just know it works.

As you can guess, I tried this and was really impressed. I have been buying 3 bags of ice to bring the temp down and this time I had a LOT of ice left over. I probably could have gotten a bag less, as the temp was brought down to 75 within 15 minutes. mmmmmmm .... i like this new salting technique; i'm not sure *why* it works, but glad to have found that it does.

I transferred the wort, aerated it, and pitched the yeast. It was then set in Dad's closet where it will set for another week and a half before I add two habaneros and some more honey once I rack it over.

Now I have to figure out if I will add two habaneros or just one when I rack to the secondary. I will give it a taste before that determination, but I must admit this was the non-sweetest wort I have ever tasted. So am a bit nervous of how it will turn out. I want a nice balance -- not a sweet beer nor a beer that makes you want something else to quench a thirst!  

This one should be interesting!

a series of samples

It was time to bottle up my Mighty Arrow clone (a New Belgium brew) last night. I got things cleaned up after dinner and organized my equipment. Unfortunately, I was unable to get the racking cane of my auto-siphon clean after last use.

There were now little particles (most likely leftover hop sludge) in the tube that I had no way to get clean. I remember having an extra racking cane with the kit, I bought so got that out.

Only to find that it was not going to work as the bottom piece wouldn't fit in the siphon. Shit! I had already made up my priming sugar, now what? With leaf hops floating around in there, pouring it out of the carboy wasn't an option. Besides, it would introduce too much oxidation into the wort.

I scrounged around and was able to find some rubber  washers for a faucet handle that weren't exactly the right size, but I was able to fabricate it enough to get me through this racking session at least. Or so I thought.

About halfway through, it lost its prime. I had to get Melissa to hold the hose in the bottling bucket while i re-primed it. But, alas, it lost prime again with about one gallon left in the carboy. No matter how I tried I couldn't get it to start again without risking sucking up some of the yeast trub, which I didn't want to do.

Sigh! what a waste! That gallon equates to about ten 12 oz. beers!

The beer itself was rather clear as it was siphoned through, but had a very "estery" smell. Ester smells are typically the result of fermenting at too high a temperature. I didn't have it any higher than I normally have it, so was confused.

I set aside enough to take a gravity reading and got 1.010 which was pretty close to my targeted value of 1.013. Sweet!

I did take a taste of the sample but wasn't too optimistic after smelling it. However, it wasn't sweet at all and there was some of the cascade hoppy flavor manifest in it. This may well be a good beer after all.

I finished bottling and cleaning up without issue. I had been drinking (imgaine that!) a six of Flat Tire and was finally out but still thirsty.   ; )  

Luckily, earlier in the day I had taken two of my Chocolate Milk Stouts and two of my Sunset Wheat clones and put them in the fridge to chill for a couple days as I was expecting to taste test them in a couple days. Those four bottles had no chance!

I drank all four of them to quench that thirst I was experiencing. That stout was pretty damned good if I may so myself. I really figured it would have a  few more weeks before it would be that good.

So good, in fact, that I went ahead and put both cases into the ferment chamber (pictured here)

 <--- BEFORE
                              
                                             AFTER--->
                    




to chill them and "freeze" the aging at this point. I may pull a 12 pack out and let it age another month and then see how it conditions over that time.

The Sunset Wheat, however, which I fully expected to be ready by now, wasn't. Or if it was, it's just not as good as I expected. It was nicely carbed up, but the flavoring extract that was added at the time of bottling is a bit overpowering. The beer is just a tad too sweet. Hopefully, it's just not ready yet and will mellow some with time.

Yesterday, I got the temperature controller for the fermentation chamber and that was installed today. Now I am ready to brew any style beer. Woo Hoo!

AMAZING show

Back around September, I got tickets to see a show that was scheduled a couple weeks before Christmas.. I was soo psyched then to see this band and couldn't wait until the day of the show. The show wound up getting rescheduled and it wasn't until last night that my wait was over.

The band was Apocalyptica. It is basically four guys from Finland whom are very accomplished and talented classically-trained cellists that play hard rock. It is unlike .... well .... ANYthing else.

I first heard of them doing a Metallica cover and that was all it took. I was hooked and spent the next couple hours on their myspace page listening to their stuff. In the past couple years, the radio has started playing some of their music.

They consistently sell out stadiums in Europe. When I had heard that they were coming to the states, I was thinking it was time for a  road trip. When I heard they were going to be hitting clubs, I was in the "have to catch this" mode, and when I found out Knoxville was on the bill, there was nothing short of death that was going to stop me from going!

The guy who was supposed to go with me was unable to make it to the rescheduled show. However, I got in touch with another buddy of mine (we'll call him Jim, so I don't keep saying "my buddy"  all through this long dialogue) whom I haven't seen in three years and asked if he would want to go. He was all about it, so the ticket wasn't wasted at all.

We agreed to meet at 8:30 since the doors weren't going to open until 8:00 and the idea of standing in line outside, and then waiting inside on the opening act wasn't appealing to either of us. As I was parking the car, I got a text.

It was Jim, asking "u here yet?" He had just pulled in a moment earlier himself. What uncanny timing ... and  odder yet, *I* was on time!

We spent a couple minutes getting caught up with one another and headed to the building. As we did so, we were dismayed to see that the line we didn't want to stand in was still formed and not only that but stretched all the way around the building.

It looked like it hadn't moved. Yeesh! so much for "doors at 8"! Oh well, more time to get caught up before the noise level inside the building inhibits conversation.

By the time we had gotten in, the first band was about done with their set. We got to see one and a half songs. Which is a shame, because they sounded really good. The song we only caught the latter half of had  a decent little jam session and they were tight!

The band's name is ARC and they are a local Knoxville product. I will have to check them out. Jim  mentioned they sounded like Dream Theater and I found it hard to argue. The comparison was pretty solid.

Up next was Down From Up. Prior to the show, I was excited to see them on the bill, because I have heard some of their stuff when the radio station does their local music show. I had forgotten, that I have seen them before. Too many shows, I guess.

My buddy had talked them up because he had seen them play a long time ago and said they were really good.  They were okay, but I think the band opening was better. The lead guitarist got some solo time and was up there doing his thing, but it was all flash.

There was no "soul" to it. He was talented, but just didn't seem to have direction with his solo.

My buddy couldn't stand it and said they were no where near as good as he remembered. He went out for a smoke. I like to watch all of the show, so stayed where I was.

While he was out, the singer asked are there any Zeppelin fans out there? and then they broke into "Whole Lotta Love". It was funny, I remember thinking 'it's been done before' and wasn't too enthused, but they really did a great job with it and kind of made it their own.

It was about this point when Jim came back in and said "this is the Down From Up" I remember. They did a couple more songs, but the Zepp cover was the highlight of the set, in my opinion.

Jim wanted another smoke, so we headed out during the break between sets. It was kind of neat. I felt like a geek with the anticipation of finally getting to see these guys and while we were out there, Jim says, I can't believe I'm going to get to see Apocalyptica. Well at least I wasn't the only giddy one.    ; )

They took the stage and 800 people came to life! I was really impressed with the crowd. The show didn't get a lot of media advertising on the local radio station. The band isn't anywhere near mainstream popularity.

Yet, those that know of them and were close enough to make it, knew they would be in Knoxville. More importantly, the people there WANTED to see these guys and were definitely fans. That always makes for a good show.

It was within the first few minutes of them taking the stage that you knew this was going to be unlike anything else. I really am at a loss for words (how often does *that* happen?) to describe it.

I have seen hundreds of shows over the years, and I cannot come up with any adjectives or adverbs to do the show justice outside of just ABSO-fuggin'-LUTE-LY A-MA-ZING! that's all I got! I was blown away.

They played really well together and the set of songs was really well arranged also. They brought in a vocalist to sing the songs that have gotten airplay and do have singing to them. During the Metallica covers, the crowd would sing the words. It was really a great vibe and the music was just incredible!

Man, I hadn't seen a show in months and was long overdue! It was a great night and got to spend it with a friend I hadn't seen in three years. Perfect!