Beers, Bikes and Broncos

Congrats to that Nutter up in Denver and his buddies for sending the Steelers home for the rest of the season. But don't get your hopes up Bronco's fan. It was close and a better running team will beat them. Will it be New England? Maybe.

Had some excellent beer this weekend of note, but no pictures.
Widmer's Galaxy Hopped Barleywine - On Draft - Wow it was good and smooth, excellent balance for a 10%. Good malt flavor not overly alcohol forward.
Legend Barleywine - on Draft - Only had a taste but it was super impressive, but at 15% ABV it's an asskicker. That puts it in wine range, meaning a pint is like drinking about 3 glasses of wine aka - legally sloshed. Even a snifter is pushing it.
Founder's Porter - On Draft - The coffee notes seem bigger on draft, more roasty, but still my favorite porter.
Founder Imperial Stout - Bottled - This was just crazy awesome, I'm glad I picked up 2 4 packs so as to stretch out my supply into summer along with Breakfast Stout, however I think that the Imperial is better. Breakfast is almost too complex to drink at all but breakfast honestly.

On the homebrew front tonight I'll try and roast the peanuts for my PB Choco Stout. I've got plenty of supplies so I should be able to make a mistake or two. Green peanuts are NASTY! Honestly waiting for Snow for doing the next beer. 2nd gen Snow Day IPA. Gonna half and half it I think half normal, half raspberry.

Biking wise I didn't do as well as I wanted this week but I did get in 2 rides, a bit longer one at Wakefield running near 2 hours total with pre-ride on Thursday. The trails were pretty good. Then Sunday it was a Laurel Hill day, got in a full loop with return via Giles Meadow in just over an hour for near 12 miles.

Riding this week is looking Paved. Possible rain today, possible rain on Wednesday. Ugh. Double UGH even. Busy week at work and around the area this week. Though I am successfully managing my current nerd addiction pretty well (SW The Old Republic).

Down with the wetness

It was still pretty wet in most area's of WF last night, about the only stuff in GOOD shape was one area of the creek trail and the powerlines stuff where the wind worked well to dry out stuff. The trails under the trees are holding a water still in part due to all the wonderful leaf cover, that is starting to come down. By Saturday I think WF will be decent. So we ground the CCT mostly. Visited 495 and did the powerlines and parts of the creek trail. ugh.

495 is in for issues, looks like the construction company is starting the stormwater drainage work in the area and with the size of the pipe going in some lines/stuff there is probably going to get taken out. The building there also seems a bit haphazard currently, some stuff is huge now but it blows out the lines, and the beginner line stuff isn't being maintained really at all.

And my shifting went to SHIT last night about half way thru. Ghost shifting plagued me in many gears on and off the rest of the night,first really shifting issues I've had with the bike. It was pretty damn grubby and I didn't really inspect it in detail in the lot afterwards. We went pretty much to some PLB's after getting back and changing. Then right to 'Roy's. Nice having a small group we got to hang out and really shoot the shit. Good times.

Tonight I may go pick up ANOTHER brew kit and some brewing gear. Not sure. Part of me wants to F'off, clean the bike and take it easy. But another part KNOWS I need to get the secondary ready for the brew, get ready for the next brew and pick up the new HOPNOG 2011 kit. The 2009 was my basis for my Snow Day IPA that everyone loved.

Boards Beers and Rides

Busy Busy week continues from the Brewing on Friday, Sunday's brunch/planting/etc blitz, yesterday I got in a good ride at Schaeffer Farm smoking my best previously recorded avg pace by .8 miles an hour. When I adjust the rate to the true distance it puts me at 9.4 mph. That's flying for me, no wonder the legs are feeling a bit gassed. Did the full white loop, then did the other side. Was running out of daylight at the end, that kinda sucked.

Then we had a MORE Board meeting. It was good, covered a lot of stuff including MOCO Epic related, tasks, strategic vision, and info on the new site. Looks really good.

The beer is fermenting well, surprisingly it hasn't overflowed into the drainage bucket. Who knows maybe today?

Tonight I'm into DC for the Pearl Jam 20-20 movie with a buddy who's a big PJ fan. Thursday we should have some sort of ride baring storms. And I'm hoping for a Friday Night Lights ride, but that depends on just how much rain we get over the next few days. This weekend I may be working a double in prep for having the following Saturday off.

A Brewing Headache.

Brewed some stout finally last night, but it's a long drawn out tale of misery, annoyance, shattered life and sweet completion.

I intended to kick off promptly when I got home with the water just a bit after 4. I get chanced into ratty warm weather clothes and head down start getting stuff together when I realize I only have my empty'ish small tank and the old taken from the old grill. I hook up the old tank and see what happens. The gas is not flowing well. I suspect the valve is going/gone bad. Grrrr. Oww to the nearest Blue Rhino exchange. By the time I'm back and ready it's nearly 5:30. In we go. Using a kit from Northwestern Brewery Supply for Choco Stout. Steap some grains, enjoy some Troegs fall Perpetual IPA. Damn good. Eat some pizza, time to add malts and other things. Add malt and 1 container of PB2 - powdered peanut butter (De-oiled also). Start gathering things for racking to the fermenter including sanitizing my 6.5 gal glass carboy. Water and iodine in, let it sit. Bring it into the garage before dumping it in the sink in the house. I set the thing down. Carefully as usual, but on concrete. Crack! Out pops a piece and out goes the water! Well at least it wasn't in the house. Mop all the water I can out into the driveway. New plan. Use the secondary for now and either use blow-off hose or normal valve till I can get a new primary and re-rack the beer. ugh. Off to the HW store. Get some new transfer tubing as my current one is a bit nasty. Pick up some hopefully right hose and back to base.

Oops only 15 minutes left and I'm late adding the final hop addition. Oh well. In go hops, final bit of PB2 and the wort chiller. Start prepping other things. Time's up and I'm cooling the wort. Ugh sanitize the secondary. Get everything set. Start the transfer.

Trub city with all the PB2 in the mix. ugh! Terrible. Almost 4 cups in just racking the beer almost took an hour. I need a new pot, with a simple drain. Oh well. Gravity kept changing, started off near 8, but an hour later I rechecked the meter/reading and got 5.2 Oh well we'll see. Clean up. Damn. I like having my own brews and doing stuff like this PB Chocolate Stout is very cool (if it comes out alright).

But damn stuff like this sucks. Bottling Sucks. Cleaning Sucks. Oh well back to work and dreams of rich peanut buttery chocolate stout.

New Hydration Bladder

Got the new hydration bladder I ordered only on Wednesday! Damn. Love the new quick connect on the hose at where it hooks to the bladder, makes draining/drying easier for sure. No more funk-i-fied bladder usage that I've been ingesting who knows what little germs/critters, for the last few months.

New set of pads should be in for the rear brakes in the next few days.

BOD Meeting this Monday up in G-Berg. Hoping to get out of work a bit early and hit the Schaeffer pre-ride.

Weathers looking crappy for next Thursday. Enough with the rain! GO AWAY!

Also took advantage of the Back Country Research deal on 2 straps and a Tuhl-Bag for fall riding. I love being able to ride without the hydration pack, at least in area's where I know I'm close to the parking lot like Wakefield or Accotink if I park up near there. Rides where I'm liable to get further out I still carry a pack usually if riding alone. In a group I may try and cheat out of it and have others carry a spare tube. I'm lazy. Almost time to remount the flask carrier also.

And I think tonight I shall brew. Not sure if I'll do the Raspberry IPA or kick of the stout finally.

Okay, Enough is Enough

I'm sure the Transylvania Epic Riders would agree with me in saying "Enough is Enough Ma Nature, take this heat back to where it belongs....Tex-ass."

My car registered 103 yesterday in traffic at one point and is low as 96 in the shade/low traffic area's. So thats my official reading for the high. We'll see how today goes. Ended up riding Rosaryville in the dead of the heat, but as it wasn't humid and is 90 to 95 percent shaded it was awesome, felt maybe 10 degrees or more cooler when moving. Being stopped sucked but when you rolled again it was almost chilly as the sweat evaporated away. Nice casual pace, as Jen doesn't ride MTB much so the first half she was struggling to handle the hills/climbing/pedals but the 2nd half she kept up much better.

So instead of staying in the nice AC today I've determined I shall go ride again today. Maybe not a ton, but I will try and rack up another 90 minutes. Trying to ride more regularly in prep for the trip south. It looks like more and more that's where I'm going. In another 4 days I should have the long range forecast in hand, and after that I'll make a call to go there or re-plan to go north.

Enjoyed some awesome brews this weekend, at a BBQ I unexpectedly got to try Long Trails Centennial Red, it was really good with an un-expected coffee finish! Smooth, well balanced. Last night I relaxed while playing some Black Ops with Long Trail's Imperial Porter - it was very imperial. Dark, smooth, well balanced, bitter and sweet. No noticeable burn to it, but still a whole big boy of it put me on my ass and out of the game :) Also had an Old Rasputin, and Jen has described my latest Hefeweisse as closer to Leffe. And to me thats a compliment. Leffe is one of my favorites, though I do prefer the Brune to the Blonde. Oh well.

Order kits to do the Peanut Butter Chocolate Stout and for the Mild Raspberry IPA based of Rogue Dead guy, which is actually a Maibock, not really an IPA.

Now I just need to pick up a spare fermenting bucket.

Patapsco = Goodness, Pressfit = Dumbness

Sunday I got to do a good tour of a fair amount of the Howard Co side of Patapsco, and it was a blast. Tough climbs, a few tough rock sections, nice downhills. Yum. Felt good and strong for most of the 10 miles and i really could have done another lap of the whole thing if I had another pair of dry socks to put on but my wet socks were driving me nuts. Several crossings were at least bottom bracket deep.

Victor who was leading commented that it was at the wet-est part of the year and the deepest he had seen in a few years.

Got to hit the new location of Frisco Grille, now know as as Frisco Tap Room. Had a damn good chicken sandwhich. And a Flying Fish Exit 9 Red IPA thing. Yummy!

The a quick detour over to Race Pace in Ellicot City to see if they had the rubber replacement sole parts for my sidi's. NO luck but they are trying to order a set. Hopefully I'll be able to get the old one's off fully. Some are WAY worn down.

So the new IPA I brewed on Saturday is already fermenting pretty well but definetely hasn't peaked. I need to rough clean the secondary I guess. Maybe Friday I'll go pick up a porter or stout or both to prep for the next beer run. Also need to buy more bottles I guess, as I think I'll have the IPA's also all in 12's. I think the porter/stouts will be 50/50 bottlings of big boy's vs 12's. Really thinking the stout will be a 50/50 brew of 2.5 gal of Peanut Butter/Dark Chocolate and 50/50 brew of PB&Jelly.


So while JRA on Thursday I noticed the @#$@#$ cranks were creaking again. I was like WTF?!?!?!?! REALLY??!?!?!?!

So last night I did the deed and pulled the cranks back off, except when I pulled the crank side the pressfit bearing set on that side came with it. ARGH!

So on Saturday I bought the parts for a Make Your Own Headset press. And it worked. But I forgot these pressfits are cheap and I cracked the outside seal edge of the bearing when putting the drive side back in. So I will be ordering one of those bad boys up later this week I'm sure.

Back to work.

Beer, Glorius Beer!

Finally bottled my Hefe I brewed 2 weeks ago last night. It went super well with help from a buddy, and I think I had my most efficient EVER bottling with the least loss. I ended up with 54 bottles, and I could have done 1 more of Devil Brew with what was in the Final Gravity meter tube, the drip cup and the remains. But I was short bottles, and I was extremely stoked to get even 54. Previous best was I think 49 or 50 (or equivalent as I use 20's a LOT typically). To get my final 2 bottles I used the beer I drank while setting up and then I poured another beer for dinner that was the final bottle, that really wasn't sanitized much at all. So for now I'll call that one the DB.

Estimated ABV - 5.9% at the high end of a Hefeweisse. The yeast and temps have yeilded a more complex beer I think than my first one with a solid balance of fruit and spicy-ness.

Got it all cleaned up except the fermenter, which I need to pick up some brushes to clean fully. ugh!

Biking looks a bit iffy again this week due to the Whack Weather of DC we are suffering. 80 today with t'storms possible, rain tomorrow am, nice Thursday, rain Friday and possible.

Hopefully ride some dirt on Thursday. May try and sneak in another 'round the hood ride tonight, if the storms don't show or come in early.

Oh and following my hero, The Dark Lord of Single Speed Rich D, I've picked up some Ergon GX1's to replace my current grips that seem to think they are for motorcycle twist throttles.

Also picked up a new pair of gloves, as I seem to have lost one of my current fox gloves. Time for a trip to Cycle Powersports in Falls Church soon to get some summer gloves, etc.

Clip and Ride and Walk

Did my good deed part 2 for April. After riding a fun lap at Laurel Hill yesterday I retrieved the trusty hand clippers and went out and clipped back the Giles Run trail from say Too Cool Hipster Length to more like slightly Shaggy Pretty Boy Length. Took a couple of hours, but when I re-rode it after wards it made a huge difference in not having to twist myself like a pretzel to avoid thorns, leaves, etc. Though I did see 2 spots that needed improved trimming. However I was done. 15.24 miles of Riding and probably 3 miles of walking with back and forth trimming on the trail.

Thursday was a good ride in Accotink land with a good pre-ride and a solid regular ride. 15.63 miles. So probably about 34/35 miles last week plus the clipping. I'm down with that.

Gonna have to sneak and peak rides in this week as we have lots of storms/rain. Thursday isn't looking good at all.

And taking the un-frickin believable award for the month? Dicky ate found shot blocks while riding down at Amelia Island. Scroll down about 2/3'rds of the way.
Dicky loves found food!

Beer fermentation has slowed to a couple of bubbles a minute from its rapid ferment Thursday. But it's still going.

Tonight I disassemble the cranks and see just how annoying these new press-fit bottom brackets are going to be. The guys at the bike lane (At least burke) haven't had to service one yet. Hopefully mine won't be first. But I'm not counting on it. Grrr. Best case scenario is that I can clean the grime/stuff out, re-grease the crankshaft and it will be G2G.

Bring that Beer Back

Well for the first time in over 2 years I brought out the brew gear tonight and performed mad science on malts, green goodness and yeast. I think the batch may turn out pretty good, it had aI' super quick chill thanks to cold ass water still in the lines/ground maybe 5-6 minutes to sub 100 and 8 or 9 total to near 70.

2 3.3lb Briess Wheat LME
1 Oz MT Hood 6.1% Hops for bittering
1/2 oz Mt Hood 6.1 for Aroma
Wyeast 3333 German Hefe Yeast in a smack pack.

I'll check it's fermentation in the morning.

Names Options are so far:
Summer Day Wheat
82Deg Day Hefe
Hefe #Duex
Glorius Weizen.

Damn warm today wish it would be that temp tomorrow for the ride really.

I'm off to bed, brewing is a ton of work!

Well it's not perfect but it's better than nothing.

Finally did labels for the homebrew. The only thing currently unlabeled is the Good ole Hefe, but as it has the golden BB cap it shall remain unlabeled, as now I always use the silver Ox barrier caps.

The new labels alas are just bottle cap round labels but it's way better than the nasty old sharpie letters. P and D are no longer confusing.

Avery 5472 - 3/4th Inch Round Labels in a 4x6 sheet.
Label Sample Here

Now to really plan my next 2 beers, with the IPA down to 1/3rd of original stock.

Favorite new beer title - Drunkle Weizen.

3+ weeks off the damn bike now. ARGH. Did run yesterday on the canal doing intervals for an hour with the wyf. Weight is creeping a bit towards 200 so this week will be a push-back week.

Wakefield Thursday Night Ride

Last night was another WF TNR. Alas, it was too soft at the normal start time for any trail riding so we spun out for 50 on the CCT. It was a good ride, though small only 4 of us for most of it. We kept a pretty stead but slow pace due to moderate headwind on the way out. The way back we stopped to do a hill that was a pretty good spin up and busted my lungs WAY Tooo Much. I gotta build more base miles!

On the way back we hit the Creek Trail, the lower half of phase 4 to the lower half of phase 1 and out Salamander. Good times.

It was sooo windy. PLB's and PLBE's were enjoyed before we departed for kilroy's.

One of the guys on the ride who is home brewer is going to hopefully hook me up with the plans for a simple cheap chiller for lagering/summertime brewing.

Beer Abroad

Well I've got a trip to England/Amsterdam coming up in January. And it should be a blast. We're going to be out in the York area for 4 or 5 days in England first for a wedding, with a bit of sight seeing if the weather cooperates. I was hoping to visit some english pubs and sample some of the brews there, fortunetly the chap getting married is a fellow home brewer and he'll direct me I'm sure to where appropriate ale's etc may be obtained once we dry out his cellar.

My real question here is about Amsterdam and where to hit for beer. Have any of you all spent any time there not in one of THOSE bars. Due to work drug testing requirements, my imbibe-ments must stay in the realm of booze. Also any cool things not to miss are also in my interest.

I'm looking forward to doing some rainy pedaling around Europe. :)

Homebrew vs Coors

In a close match homebrew has defeated the kinda evil and mostly just tasteless Coors conglomerate as America's Favorite Brew.

Photo by B. Ramsey

Tonight we shall drink Stout to Celebrate. And maybe a few Celebrator's also.

DoesNotKnow Brewery Open - Dunkelweizen 1.0

Well, tonight I've finally reopened the brewery. And on tonight's menu, is my home grown Dunkelweizen. It's a bit of a mix in that I've taken some pieces from various recipes and a bit of advice from the local Homebrew Store.

I started out with this recipe

3 Gal - Distilled Water
6 oz - Muntons Crushed Crystal Malt - Lovibond 64.0
4 oz - Weyermann Chocolate Wheat - Lovibond 500/EBC 1000
6.6 lbs- Muntons Wheat Malt Extract (2 Cans)
1 oz - Mt. Hood Hop Pellets - Alpha's at 5.0 - Full Boil, 60 Mins
.7 oz - Mt. Hood Hop Pellets - Alpha's at 3.7 - Final 5 Mins
19 IBU Total

1 Gal Distilled
1 Gal Spring
+ Additional Distilled for 5 Gal after boil loss, spills, etc. - 3 Quarts plus a half cup.
Waste - 3.25 Cups of Wort/Hop Residue/Tube Flush
OG Sample - 1 Cup
Plus I may have overfilled originally by a cup or two.

Wyeast 3056 Bavarian Wheat BL (15Apr08) - I am a bit worried about this as this packet sat in the fridge during a 36 hour power loss, it stayed cool, but not 40's. Unfortunetly I didn't apparently slap hard enough to break the nutrient pack. Lesson learned, final temp of the wort was 74 degree's F.

OG unadjusted is 1.049. Gotta adjust for temp