Trick o' Treat

Busy weekend, where has the time gone. It's nice to be able to give my son a special lunch for receiving good grades. Now he's only in Kindergarten but his first report card had all satisfactory marks. Got a few areas to improve on but for the first official card that's not bad. There's a place called Kidtroplis down in Sanford Florida. Gotta say it's no Chuck-e-Cheese but it did save us 30 minutes on our drive.

Also had a chance to change the oil in our 2007 Uplander. Got it jacked up and down on the stands. Now I gotta tell you it was pretty nasty. My wife ran over a deer carcass about a month ago. she was at least 3rd in line when it happened. There's not much ground clearance so she heard that thing raddle around for a while. Let's just say it was bad and it's still bad. There was still a strong stench of dead animal and a few places I saw reminants of hair. Not pleasant to say the least. So I quickly dropped the oil plug and filter. Got a new Fram filter and 4 quarts of Valvoline back in the engine.

Then off to Grand-Ma's house for Trick-o-Treating. Now where did I put my chocolate bar?

Next week it's new oil for the Silverado. T-Ball. Doctor visits, at least 3. A parent teacher conference. And somewhere in there a full weeks worth of work. Phew I'm tired already.

First IPA Pour

Just cracked the top off my first IPA brew. Got some nice bubbling and head on the beer. It looks very clean and smells hoppy. I think the brew directions said it would be hoppy and arrogant. it's true.

Taste isn't too bad. You do have to have a taste for stronger beers. I'll put a 6 pack on ice and enjoy.

This week I'll start an Australian lager, its a Coopers so it should be excellent.

Oh and I'll be bringing some beer to my friends at work to enjoy.

Brew Photos

Almost forgot here are some shots of the brew process. Sorry I don't have the first 5 weeks. These were the last steps before enjoying the IPA! Next weekend it's gonna be good.

Changing the Sparks

I've been busy this weekend showing my mechanical side. Ended up replacing the spark plugs in my 2005 Silverado 1500. Everything went extremely well, no cuts or brusies.

I checked and I have 92,000 miles and almost 2,400 hours. Not bad for almost all highway travel. The plugs were OEM AC Delco and were really clean. I haven't had any issues driving. But I'm getting close to that 100k mile mark and the truck is going to need some work.

The one thing I need to invest in is a universal joint. I had one plug that was almost impossible to reach. Thanks to my think arms I was able to get it out with a little extra elbow grease ;)

Next week if I have time...oil in both the truck and the van. Then it's brakes and rotors for both.

The Brew is On

It's been a few months, OK almost a year since I've produced a batch of home brew. No not Mr. Beer, real honest to goodness home brew.

I dusted off the bottles, fermentation bucket, brew pot and accessories and started a boil for my first IPA. The Mother-In-Law got me the IPA for my b-day and I am just now getting around to setting it up. Ah the smell of wort boiling is great. My wife hates it, stinks up the place. But I know, in a few weeks it'll be ready to bottle.

It's been about 5 weeks since I completed the fermentation and moved the beer to the glass carboy. The beer was extremely clean so I'm really looking forward to this batch. I also got my 6 year old to help me cleanse the bottles and fill a few bottles.

In two weeks I should have about 45 bottles ready to drink and share. I'll keep updating my blog with my brew events, questions and thoughts. Have a recipe you want to share? Or want to ask a question...let me know!