Nothing Witty, Only Wise.

Bottled the first batch of homebrew last night. Now, to wait 2-3 weeks for carbonation and conditioning. Sent about 1/3 of the batch back to Ohio.

Brewed up some "Holiday Cheer*" and some Apfelwein** today. Apfelwein has started fermenting, I'd imagine the "Holiday Cheer" will catch up sometime in the morning. The Apfelwein already increased its temperature by 4-6 deg. F today. By itself. So cool.

So, around New Year's, I'll have 10 gallons of hooch ready to distribute. Saving your empties? I hope so! BTW, did you know that over 15,000 gals. of this Apfelwein have been made?


2009 Grand Total: 15 gal. homebrew.
- 5 gal. Orly's "Old Speckled Hen" extract/steep clone.
- 5 gal. EdWort's Apfelwein.
- 5 gal. Holiday Cheer.


* Thanks to Charlie Papazian & his book "The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing"
** Thanks to 'EdWort' at www.homebrewtalk.com.

In other brews...

Racked my lovely 'Old Speckled Hen' clone to the secondary fermenter this weekend. Two weeks 'til bottling, five weeks until it's carbonated in the bottles. Can't wait!

Thinking about starting an Apfelwein this week. I have the apple juice, just need the yeast. And maybe, possibly maybe, I'll try to run a new batch of beer this weekend for the new year. Maybe some of Esoderica's "Körnläger..."

USC(IS) ya later...

Here it is. The "Adjustment of Status" paperwork that The Osita and I had to file in order to get permission for her to work and continue living in the USA. Wave a flag today. I sure will, because there's no more "green" around here to flaunt.


Total price tag: $2,495.

From Now to There.

It's been an interesting month. Lightning seems to have struck twice. Ok, maybe not lightning, but at least some nice sparks.

First, on a whim I emailed an old friend of Osita's. For those who don't know, The Osita's professional life has centered around contemporary dance, much of it in Mexico D.F.. In my brief travels to D.F., I had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with several of her dance comrades. Introducing: Mr. Ricky.

Seeing as The Osita and Mr. Ricky were good friends, he got introduced to some of the short recordings I've done. Thing is, he liked them. So, Mr. Ricky and I have exchanged pleasantries over the past couple of years, keeping loosely up-to-date about what's new and exciting.

The last email I sent to him garnered an unexpected response. He has started his own dance company and will be choreographing a new piece that he has titled "AQUA." Reading through his initial production notes, a flood of ideas immediately began filling my mind. Long story short - Mr. Ricky has apparently aggressively marketed this performance and has since received funding for production. AQUA is slated to be performed in D.F., and somehow, in Poland next year.

And I've been commissioned to write the score. 45-minute long composition to accompany this production. And it's a paying gig. What? Needless to say, this has been a dream of mine for quite some time and I'm jazzed to do it.

So, that's spark #1.

The other: $500+ of homebrewing equipment popped up on Craigslist for $150. The first batch, which was supposed to be an Old Speckled Hen clone, isn't quite turning out that way as I mashed some grains instead of steeping them. What does that mean? I extracted fermentable sugars instead of mere malt flavor. The result: a much stronger final gravity. What should have been a delicious 4.5% ABV OSH clone will end up being a 6.5% ABV mystery.

So, however it turns out, cheers!

And Heeeere's the Pitch!

Behold; the night-train! First batch of homebrew is already gurgling signs of life. Provided I managed not to infect it (looking good as fermentation has taken the lead) some nice ESB should be ready in about a month.

Also...1st post from the mobilio.

More soon!

Laid Bare: Build a Bridge.

From Things Laid Bear

Moving on to the next things required a bridge, which, thankfully was provided.

More soon.