First Ride for 2009

Yesterday was one of those spring days that you live for. It was sunny and warm without being hot. The humidity was low so you didn't sweat standing in the sun. The warm sun just felt so good. The weather forecast had called for such a day so I had planned on hitting the Occoquan for my first row. However, Ann indicated that she wanted to go on a bike ride so I changed my plans and we decided to go for a ride on the W&OD Trail. Come the actual day, Ann backed out on the ride so I changed my plans again and planned to go for a row. I had originally dressed to bike so the change in plans necessitated a change from bike shorts to rowing shorts. I started grabbing everything I needed to go for a row. Usually as Spring rolls around, I manage to forget a thing or two until I'm use to the new routine. So I grabbed the keys to the boathouse, my seat pad, a bottle of water, cell phone, wallet and car keys. Right before I was to drive away it occurred to me that I might want to check the Internet to see if George Mason was hosting one of the two Regattas they run in the Spring. I sat down on the computer and checked in with Row 2K and lo and behold, the Occoquan Sprints was being held. Oops. No rowing for me. So it was back upstairs to change back into my bike gear. It was also getting to be late morning making the ride out to Dulles to get out on the Trail a no go. So I pumped up my tires and took out the Felt on a local ride. I did about 15 miles and it felt pretty good. I didn't have any real problems getting my feet in and out of the pedals although I did almost have an accident just waiting at a traffic light. I had my left foot out of the pedal with my right foot still clipped in. I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but the bike started leaning to the right and I felt it slowly move past the point of no return. By this time a car had pulled up behind me and I'm screaming inside my head "Get your foot out! Get your foot out!" I did mange to get my right foot out, but just barely. I'm sure the driver behind me thought I was a real spaze. Except for that incident, the ride was uneventful and enjoyable. Finishing up my legs did feel a bit sore and tight. I'm not sure if it's because I'm not in mid-summer shape yet or it's because I'm using different muscles as I pedal. Time will tell I suppose. After the ride, I had a a lunch of leftover beanie wienies (yum) and then went out on our deck to enjoy the sun. This weekend marked my switch over from the darker beers/ales to lighter beers, specifically Corona. It certainly hit the spot. Ann joined me for a bit, but she's the type that always has to be doing something. The idea of just sitting enjoying the warmth of the sun on your face is just foreign to her. Her loss. I certainly believe in the slacking off, especially on weekends.

For dinner, Ann whipped up a Thanksgiving type dinner with a turkey breast (it was suppose to be a whole turkey, but I grabbed the wrong thing at the grocery store), mashed potatoes, gravy, the whole deal. Between the big dinner, the bike ride, the sunning and the beer and the fact there was nothing on TV, I ended up going to bed by 9:00 and I was still tired this morning. I cut some major Zzzzs on the van this morning on the way to work. I expect more of the same on the ride home.

Friday was my day off, but didn't manage to do anything "fun". I paid bills and made a run to Target and watched some TV on the DVR as it was getting very close to being full.

Saturday was warm but very windy. Not counting gusts into the 30s, it blew steady at 17 ro 18 MPH. Not conducive to rowing or bike riding. I did go the grocery store for our weekly groceries. Not too exciting. For our evening I tuned in to watch the Final Four games. I was pleased to see Michigan State eliminate Connecticut. I can't really put my finger on it, but I just don't like Connecticut. Maybe it's all the hype they receive year after year. Not that it isn't deserved, but it gets old. So it was good to see them go. Go Spartans! The second game was over pretty quickly. Villanova was cold and UNC wasn't. I fell asleep before half time.

That was my weekend. What did you do for fun this weekend?

Whose Woods Are These, I Think I Know

Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods On A Snowy Evening" is one of my favorite poems and seems just right for December and Christmas. The reason I bring up poems and poetry is today was get the Christmas cards done day. It's not a task I look forward to as it seems boring and tedious. However, once I get into it, it draws out memories from the past. The first card ( I do them alphabetically going through my address book) is an old friend from my high school/college days in Severna Park. Smart kid (Physics major and then law school) and decent athlete. We had some really fun times. Even though we only live about 50 minutes apart now, we can't seem to make time for each other as our lives have diverged over time. There are others like college friends that live in Georgia. Our two nannies that we hired right out of high school. One still lives close by and the other is in Wisconsin. Both have families of their own now. We also have new people on out list as Daughter#2 In-Laws have been added and now Daughter#1's fiance's family. It's an interesting trip down memory lane.

The glass of beer is from the first bottle from my batch of Scotch Ale that I brewed about 5 weeks ago. Seems to have turned out pretty well although, while clear in the bottle, its hazy after being poured. I assume its from sediment in the bottle. I thought this bottle also tasted a bit watery at first. It might just have been me though. The second bottle tasted fine. I'm going to save most of this batch for Christmas to share with the rest of the family.

The gifts continue to be delivered. A few a week. Now we need to get with the wrapping.

The Scotch Is In The Bottle

Well the Scotch Ale is anyway. I spent yesterday afternoon bottling up the ale that has been fermenting away down in the laundry room for the past two weeks. It always amazes me how long it takes me to bottle two cases of beer. Like 3 1/2 hours. Granted most of that time isn't spent doing the actual bottling. Actually most of that time is spent cleaning and sanitizing the equipment and bottles prior to bottling and cleaning up afterward. Lets begin. This is the parts of the bottle tree being sanitised. Two minutes and no rising!

More cleaning and sanitising. Here it's the bottles being sanitised and hung out to dry. I do about 54 bottles. Note the paper towels around the bottle tree. Bottling beer is a very messy business. The paper towels also kept sticking to my sneakers and I would drag them around like some dofus trailing toilet paper coming out of the bathroom.

Right prior to bottling the beer, I prepare the priming sugar. You boil the sugar in a pint of water. The sugar will carbonate the beer.


Here I am siphoning the beer from the fermentor into the bottling bucket. Turns out I used the wrong size tubing for the siphoning and I had to keep priming the siphon. I'm glad I combed my hair for the picture. I transferred about five gallons of ale into the bottling bucket.

Ann helped me bottle the beer. She filled the bottles while I capped them. Somehow we forgot how we bottled from last time and made one heck of a mess what with overfilling bottle after bottle. As I said, it was messy business. I ended up bottling about 52 bottles. I broke one so ended up with 51 bottles. The beer should be ready in about two weeks. I'm sure we'll enjoy it with the family over the Christmas holidays. The finished product, bottled and packed.

Scotch Ale

Back in September when we attended the Scottish Festival, we enjoyed some Scottish Ale so I thought I would try brewing some of my own. I ordered the requisite materials and they arrived last week. As Sunday dawned cold and windy, it seemed a good day to do some brewing. I broke out the goods and heated up some water and started seeping the speciality grains. It's like making tea.

After seeping the grains for 15 minutes it's time to bring things to a boil and add the goodies - the malts and hops.

Boil the the mixture, now call wort, for an hour, cool down in an ice bath and pour the wort into the carboy and add yeast. Let ferment for two weeks before bottling. The ale in making is now sitting down in the laundry room fermenting away. It should be ready to drink around Christmas.

I can hardly wait.

Oh boy the weather has taken a turn for the worse. It feels more like winter than fall. The temperature on Saturday was in the low 70s. Today on the way to catch the vanpool, the temperature was a chilly 30 degrees and the weathermen were calling for snow flurries. So much for outdoor activities for the foreseeable future. Good napping weather though, which I did yesterday. Nothing like a late afternoon nap.

I've been a big fan of the TV show ER since it came on the scene 15 years ago. This is its final season. As part of this last season, they've been bringing back some of the series regulars from past years. Seeing Anthony Edwards reprise his role as Dr Mark Green last week, was a reminder how good this show has been over the years. I will definitely miss it when it's gone.

Friday Ride

Daughter#2 drove up from Harrisonburg Thursday night to see and old high school friend that was back in town and stayed Thursday night with us. She brought her bike so we could take a ride on Friday. Friday was cold and we waited to lunchtime hoping it would get onto the 60s as promised. By 11:00 it was still in the upper 40s so we bit the bullet and bundled up for our ride. We wanted to stay close to home so we decided to go on the bike trail that runs along Rt 123. We parked the car in Lorton and rode up to Fairfax, a distance of about 11 miles ad had lunch at Noodles and Company. Ann drove up to Noddles (slacker!) to join us. Lunch really hit the spot although eating a bowl of Japanese Pan Noodles with hot sauce and then riding back to Lorton may not have been the greatest of choices. Daughter#2 right before we headed off on our ride:


With Daughter#2 visiting, it seemed the perfect opportunity to see how the latest batch of home brew turned out. Its British Pale Ale and it turned out quite tasty if I do say so myself. Daughter#2 liked it and wanted to take some home, but we both forgot to pack her some when the time came for her to drive home. I'll hold a few bottles for her and the Son In Law until the next time we see them. Next up I want to try some Scottish Ale.

It's Alive and I Wish I was Too

When we last left things, I was to take care of getting our car battery replaced. Besides giving your car a jump start, AAA will actually come to your car and replace the battery for you. This seem to be the easiest option, as opposed say to going out and buying a battery myself or jump starting the car again in order to get it to a repair shop. The service representative showed up fairly quickly and I told him what I wanted (a new battery). Rather then just replace it, he checked it out first and his meter showed the battery was fine. Turns out there was some corrosion on the positive battery terminal that once cleaned up allowed the car to start right up. He did mention that the terminals that attached to the battery really should be replaced sooner than later, but he would clean them and it should work fine for a while. As he was cleaning the negative terminal, lo and behold, the terminal broke off. He was a lot more calm about it then I would have been, but he said he would go buy the terminals and install them. It took him a while to locate local auto parts place (I'm not sure where he was located, but obviously not the immediate area), he returned and installed the new terminals. Cost - no charge. He said since he broke the terminals there would be no charge. Sweet.

Since Thursday I had been feeling like I was coming down with something flu like. My shoulders and neck were feeling achy and stiff and I was getting chills and headaches periodically. As we got into Saturday, I was feeling pretty shitty after rowing practice. I started popping Tylenol, which helped me get through the day. By Saturday evening though, I was feeling pretty bad and went to bed around 8:00. I couldn't fall asleep. I tossed and turned all night long. I even got up around 2:00 and watched some TV hoping it would make me sleepy. I eventually fell asleep around 5:00 and slept for a few hours before I had to get up to go race. After the races (more on that later), I came home feeling even worse adding dehydration to my list of woes. I again turned in early on Sunday to again sleep for about an hour and then was up all night long. Ann finally took pity on me and went and got me some OTC medicine to help me sleep. Needless to say there was no way I could face the prospect of work on no sleep so I called in sick. Something I almost never do. As it turns out, the guy in the cubicle next to me was also out sick so maybe we picked up the same thing. Whatever, it sucks. I'm feeling better, but only about 80%. Hopefully things will continue to improve.

Saturdays in the fall are usually reserved for college football. However there were no games on at noon or 1:00 on TV that interested me so I decided it was time to bottle the English Pale Ale that has been brewing down in out laundry room. One of the more surprising aspects that I've discovered about home brewing is the amount of cleaning involved. Everything has to be cleaned and sanitized. Since I was about to bottle, it meant cleaning 50 or so empty bottles, bottle caps, bottling bucket, tubing, etc. It sort of sucks some of the fun out of it. Below is a picture taken about halfway through cleaning the bottles. I just bought a drying tree to let the bottles dry out.

And Volia! The finished product. Just over two cases. It will take another 2 weeks or so before it's ready to be enjoyed. It has to carbonate in the bottles. I've had some doubts how this batch will turn out given the slow start it had with the yeast. I did taste a bit of it while bottling and it tasted fine (if not carbonated yet) so hopefully it's not a wasted effort.

Daughter#1 is in Quebec this week with the fiance as he gets "trained" on a new line of office furniture. Her agenda makes it look like one fun trip and I hear Quebec is a beautiful place and probably more so in the fall. I'm jealous.

I'll skip my races on Sunday for now as this post is long enough and I'll do it tomorrow.

Pictures from a Weekend

Daughter#1 e-mailed me today and said to put something up on the blog that was a bit happier than the last post and I am way overdue for a new post anyway. I do have some pictures from the weekend. Here is a picture of Ann at Madigan's Waterfront as we wait for our lunch on Friday. The bridge behind here took about five years to complete and at best it's about a quarter mile long. What a work project. The bridge straddles the Occoquan River. This isn't the section we row on, however. That's further upstream and on the other side of a dam. We were very enamored with the boat behind her also.

This was me after Saturday's practice right before Hanna really dumped on us. It's hard to get the full effect of how wet I really am since my shirt is dark to begin with. Believe me I was soaked. Like I had jumped in the river. I'm leaving puddles on the rug as I stand there.

I had started brewing some beer back on Labor Day weekend when I was home alone. A gift from Daughter#1. After it went into the carboy it just sat there for days. Nothing happened. I thought I had goofed something up or the yeast was too old. I was ready to throw it out. It just looked dead. Case in point. Dead looking beer:

But I am a procrastinator. I didn't get around to throwing it away, After about five days, I notice the water had moved a little in the airlock above the carboy. I thought lets wait a few more days. Now I can report that it is busy fermenting away. Notice the foam on top and the much lighter color. Its suppose to be much like Bass Ale when it's done. It should be ready for bottling in a few more days. That makes a mess of the kitchen so i have to pick a time when the kitchen will be empty for a while.

It seemed strange this week not be rowing on Tuesday evening. The weather was perfect. It makes my evenings a lot less hectic what with rushing to make practice and all, but I know I'll miss it. I had a complete brain freeze today working from home. It would have been a perfect time for a lunch time row, but I didn't think of it at all until lunchtime was over and done with. Maybe next week.

How I Really Spent My Weekend

Ah the planned bachelor weekend. No wife, no kids let the hi jinks and partying begin. Ha! Lets review how I really spent my weekend.

Rowing - I did attend my rowing practice on Saturday morning. We took out three 4+s and rowed down to the race course and took turns racing each other around the Occoquan Challenge course (mostly the 180 degree turn). I felt like crap after the practice. I don't know if it was from lack of sleep or dehydration or both. I never did go out in a single over the long weekend.

Biking - I did go for a bike ride, but I did not go to the W&OD Trail and do a 50 mile ride. That ride would have taken me about 5 hours to complete and with travel time I would have been gone almost 7 hours. My old dog's bladder won't hold out for that long. Instead I did a local ride through the neighborhood and out to Bacon Race Road and the Prince William Parkway bike path. Overall it turned into a 25 mile ride that I finished in 2 hours. I rode about 5 of those miles on the parkway and they about killed me. Those miles came toward the end of my ride as I was looking to add a few more miles to my ride. There is a good reason I've avoided riding the Parkway even though it's the most convenient bike path for me. It has killer hills. After riding 20 miles already, they feel even bigger and steeper. It will be a while before I try that again.

Football Game - I didn't go to the game. After rowing practice I felt like crap (see above). My morning coke and lunch didn't make me feel much better so I decided just to stay home. I watched bits of the VA Tech-ECU game in between napping. I did watch most of the Maryland-Delaware game before napping again until 10:00 PM. I got up and ate dinner and went back to sleep until 8:00 AM.

Ball Game - Nope.

Movie - Nope.

TV - I did watch some TV. Parts of a few football games, including VA Tech-ECU, MD-Delaware, Alabama-Clemson and Tenn-UCLA.

Beer - I did make a batch of Pale Ale on Sunday. It is sitting downstairs. Alas it looks dead as a doornail. Not fermenting at all. I think the yeast I use wasn't any good. What a waste of good beer. I shall try again however.

Sleep - I did sleep a lot and loved it.

Ann and Daughter#2 returned Sunday evening. We couldn't agree on where to go for dinner so we stayed in and ate whatever we could dig up. Monday was spent running errands and taking naps. Wonderful.

It's in the Bottle

The beer that been fermenting away in our basement as documented here, finally was bottled and hopefully should be ready for consumption when the daughters return for Thanksgiving. I have no idea how it will turn out or whether it will be drinkable at all. I should try a bottle to see if its carbonating, but I suspect I'll just wait and find out on Turkey Day.

After fermenting away for two weeks in the basement, we dragged the carboy back up to the kitchen. With 5 gallons of beer inside, its quite heavy not to mention awkward to try and carry up the stairs. Good thing I have a young strong helper.

One of the things I learned in this whole beer making process is how clean and sanitary everything needs to be. Not necessarily because there's any danger in drinking it, but the wrong bacteria could lead to some bad tasting beer. So clean we did. Here we are sanitising the bottling bucket.


The it was on to brushing and cleaning out the bottles and bottle caps. It was all pretty messy.

After getting things all clean and sparkling, we siphoned the beer from the fermenter to the bottling bucket. This took a while. While the beer was transferring, I put some in a glass for a taste. It actually tasted pretty good considering its flat beer at this point. Hopefully the finished product will taste even better once its carbonated.


After siphoning the beer into the bottling bucket, we decided we were hungry and left to go eat pizza. I covered the beer with some Glad Wrap.


The bottles clean and ready to be filled.


Filling our first bottle. Using the bottle filler turned out to be a pain because the tubing kept slipping off it. Eventually we filled the bottles from the tubing directly and didn't use the bottle filler. That worked out well although we still got beer all over. Considering we just had the kitchen floor cleaned the day before made Ann doubt the usefulness of this new hobby.


We ended up bottling 55 bottles of beer. Here is the first case. Our German Quality Inspector checks it out.


We'll see how things turn out and I'll let you know in about a week and a half.

Irish Red Ale

Its well known to most of my family and friends that I enjoy a good beer. That being said, I've often toyed with the idea of trying to brew my own, but for various reasons I've never tried it before. After a very generous gift from my Dad for my birthday and reading about others trying their brewing skills for the first time, I decided to give it a try. So I ordered a beer brewing starter kit and a beer ingredient kit for some Red Irish Ale from Northern Brewers. Not long after I ordered it, these boxes arrived.

Inside the smaller of the two boxes were the ingredients for the Irish Red Ale. In front of the box are the hops, the malt is in the brown bottle, the yeast is in the package to the right of the malt and the grains are on the far right. Also included were instructions.

The bigger box contained my beer making starter kit with such things as a big pan to cook it up in (which turned our to be warped), tubing, a fermenter jar, bottle brushes, etc.

The first step is to fill a pot with water and not quite bring it to a boil. While waiting for the water to heat up, I drafted The Son to help me crush the grains.

The water was suppose to be around 170 degrees to seep the grains in so I drafted my other assistant brew master, Ann, to take the water temperature.

After the water was ready, we steeped the grains much like you would making a cup of tea with a tea bag. The grains turned the water a deep Carmel color.

I was constantly looking over the instructions trying not to mess it up.

After letting the grains soak for about 20 minutes or so, they were removed and the water bought to a boil. Once it came to a boil it was time to add the malt. The malt had a honey type consistency.

After the malt was added, the mixture, now called wort, went back on the stove to bring back to a boil. Once it reboiled, the first of the hops were added. The mixture was left to boil for another 60 minutes. In the last minute of boiling, the second group of hops was added.

The mixture is then cooled down to 70 degrees in a ice water bath and then poured into the fermenter.

It was difficult at this point to figure out how much water we were suppose to add to the mix. The instructions weren't too clear about it. I hope we didn't add too much.

The beer is now down in our basement fermenting away for the next week when I'll test it to see if its ready to be bottled. I sure hope it doesn't end up tasting like garbage, but we'll see. Stay tuned.