Holiday Travels

Wow, so it's been a month since our last post.  Time has been flying by - I just mentioned to Kathy tonight that it seems like Halloween was only a week ago.  But, in actuality, it was awhile ago and we did manage to keep busy between then and now.

We spent a week up in Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving and saw lots of my family.  I spent a couple different days doing some beer-related stuff with Mike and Scott at Gordon Biersch, BURP meetings, and the bottling of our Big Brew Day Barleywine (which we've actually decided is a Double/Imperial IPA) and Brown Porter.  Both are really tasty.  We also had the chance to see "Avenue Q" while it was here in DC at the National Theatre.  It was a great time and I think we'd both recommend it to anyone (just remember to take your sense of humor with you).  Kathy has been busy with end-of-the-semester events right up until the Marymount University Christmas Party last night.  Speaking of Christmas parties - I went down to Headquarters in Lexington, VA last weekend for our Christmas party which consisted of a luncheon and a "Tacky Holiday Sweater" Party which was a great time.

Now we're only two days away from our big Holiday Trip up and down the East Coast.  It all starts on Friday the 21st as we head up to Pennsylvania for Christmas with the Nay's.  Then it's home for a night on the 27th before heading back out on the 28th - headed for Venice, Florida.  The Florida leg includes stopping in South Carolina, North Carolina, Melbourne, FL and Venice FL over the course of 8 days.  If our plans hold true, we'll get to see lots of friends and family over the course of the 15 day trip.  We're excited to see everyone and to get out of the basement for awhile (even if that means listening to Dory "meow" constantly for 1000+ miles).  Luckily we've got 2 loaded iPods between us to drown her out.

We'll definitely have access to the internet during our trip so feel free to drop us a comment and let us know where you're at and how your Holiday break is going.  Safe travels, Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays!

An Impressive Lodge Night

Since moving away from Pennsylvania, I haven't been involved with my mother lodge (Penn-Morris Lodge #778 in Woodside, PA) and have been missing the Masonic fellowship that I enjoyed there. So I've been looking for a local Masonic lodge to get involved with and in the last few months I've found a lodge that I've come to enjoy visiting - Cherrydale Lodge #42 in Arlington, VA. I particularly enjoy the fact that there is a strong presence of involved, younger members, something that is lacking in many of the lodges I know of. Anyway, last night was a special meeting and I'm happy that I was able to attend. A member of Cherrydale Lodge, Bro. Stewart Miner, was receiving his 50-Year Pin. While I had heard his name mentioned a few times over the course of my visits to Cherrydale, I had no idea how involved Bro. Miner is and had been in Virginia and DC Freemasonry. Not only is he a Past Master of Cherrydale Lodge, he is also a Past Grand Master of all Freemasons in Virginia. I'm sorry to say I can't remember all of his past titles but they were numerous, having served the Grand Lodge of Virginia, the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, and in many other capacities for Masonry for 50 years. As Bro. Miner is also a member of another local lodge, Andrew Jackson Lodge #120, a joint communication was held in that lodge's room at the George Washington National Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, VA.












While I'm sure Cherrydale Lodge would have enjoyed hosting the event, the Masonic Temple has considerably more space and made for a great evening. While I had toured the building on at least 2 previous occasions, I had never been in the North Lodge Room, where Andrew Jackson Lodge #120 meets regularly. It was the largest Lodge room I've ever been in, with a fair sized first floor and a very large balcony all under a huge vaulted roof. Because there were so many visiting Masonic dignitaries (including the current Grand Master of Virginia, the Grand Master of DC, and a Past Grand Master of Prince Hall Masons in Virginia), the majority of us sat in the balcony where we were afforded a great view of the evening's events. Upon the closing of Lodge, I was able to get a couple of photos of the room.
Looking towards the East, with the Master's station just visible through the remaining crowd:










Towards the West, with a large portion of the balcony and organ station above:










It was a great night of Masonic fellowship and I'm happy I was able to be a small part of it. I look forward to attending more Cherrydale Lodge functions, especially December's 1st Stated Meeting when I will find out if my petition for plural membership in their lodge is accepted.

Big Brew Day - 11.10.07

This past Saturday, Scott, Mike, James, and I gathered together for a "big brew day." The idea was to use a lot of ingredients that we had leftover from previous batches. Because we tend to brew separately most of the time, we had a great range of grains, hops, and sugars to choose from. By the time we had all of the potential ingredients in the open, they completely covered Scott's dining room table. To get the most out of the day and our ingredients, we decided to do a parti-gyle brew day, which would mean running off two beers from the same mash. After taking some time to decide what we wanted to brew and how we would differ the second batch, we went ahead with our brewing.

In the end, our first batch ended up as an American Barleywine with a whole lot of hops (about 150-175 IBUs). Based on the small tastes we took before going into the fermenter, it's actually a really well balanced beer. If all goes according to plan, the barleywine should end up at about 9.1% ABV.

Here's a picture of the Barleywine in mid-boil:










To differentiate our second batch, we decided to add some dark grains to the mash before running off. We added just .5 lb of Roasted Barley and .5 lb of Chocolate Wheat and mashed for 15 minutes. When we ran it off, we were really pleased with the change we could see. In the boil, we added English hops to provide even more difference from the barleywine. Based on the numbers, this second beer will fall into the category of a Robust Porter and will come in around 5.2% ABV.

Notice the difference in color for the porter?










Just for fun, I took a quick video of the worts in mid-boil:


This ended up being a great brewday as we got 2 5-gallon batches completed, tasted beers all day, and smoked some cigars to close out the evening. I'm definitely looking forward to doing something like this again soon.

This is not Josh, it's Kathy! I don't brew, I knit!

Well since Josh has now given me access to our blog, I can write an update!

Josh has updated about our most recent vacation and his recent beer adventures. While he has been brewing, I have been picking up on the great art of knitting. I find it to be quite relaxing for someone who most likely suffers from ADD as it keeps me busy while doing other things (watching TV, riding in cars, waiting for Josh to finish making dinner). I got a lovely DVD from a kit I purchased at Target last year. The kit was how to make cat toys and the finished products were greatly enjoyed by the feline. Then I got inquisitive into knitting other things.

For a list of basic instructions and a good source of free patterns
http://learntoknit.lionbrand.com/

For those that need the guidance of visuals, this site is GREAT.
http://www.knittinghelp.com/
This woman does videos for many basic stitches and then advanced skills as well. I didn't even realize I was purling backwards until I studied more videos on this site. It was a good refresher for my hand placements because that can be the most confusing part at first.

I started out using my mom's old long aluminum needles from her brief stint as a knitter. I now recommend my Boye interchangeable needle set. I found it to be cheaper online than in the stores, but JoAnns Fabric store should carry in stock if you need to see in person.

It is great in that it includes waaaay too many different needle sizes that you can attach to different length plastic "cords" like those used on circular knitting needles. Circular needles are good because you can use them to knit in the round like sweaters or socks or flat like a scarf. It's cheaper than buying a dozen different circular needles! and the handy-dandy kit is great for travel.

Did I mention you can bring knitting needles on a plane! Just be careful about any cutting instruments you have. That gets to be the tricky part!!!!

Alright, back to work I go. Later I'll post about my real life or post about the projects I've completed (or partially completed) this year :-)

Mead Experiment

Last November (2006) I brewed up a 5 gallon batch of mead. I added 12 lbs. of Clover honey, 4 lbs. of Orange Blossom honey, and about 2 gallons of water into the kettle and brought the whole mixture up to about 160 degrees for 15 minutes. I didn't want to boil it as I've heard that drives off a lot of the aromatics of the honey. Once the 15 minutes were up, I cooled the must, racked into the fermenter, topped off to 5 gallons and pitched yeast (White Labs Sweet Mead/Wine). Fermentation took off as usual (OG = 1.114) and after three weeks (and a few additions of DAP yeast nutrient) I racked the mead into secondary where it sat from December of '06 through August of '07. At the end of August, I racked the mead (FG=1.012) into yet another fermenter with the addition of potassium metabisulfite and potassium sorbate to prevent any further fermentation. I did not add any clarifying agents but evidently the sorbate and metabisulfite did the job because just 72 hours later, my mead was crystal clear. I let the mead sit for about a month (end of September '07) and then split the batch into 5 separate fermenters. I added the following into the various fermenters:
#1 - 8 fl. oz. of maple syrup
#2 - 1 can of OJ concentrate
#3 - 1/2 lb. of raspberries
#4 - .25 oz of oak cubes soaked in Makers' Mark bourbon (thanks to the Mad Fermentationist for these cubes!)
#5 - The last gallon of mead was left unchanged
Here are a few pictures of the results (still in separate fermenters):

Immediately upon racking:
(Left to right) Bourbon Soaked
Oak Cubes, OJ, Raspberries, Maple Syrup)














After 2 weeks
front row (left to right) Raspberries, Maple Syrup
back row (left to right) OJ, Bourbon Oak Cubes


















The remaining 1 gallon (unchanged)


















I hope to bottle these in the next couple of weeks and perhaps crack a couple with family on Christmas.

A Carolina Vacation

After having seen a number of friends start blogs lately, I've gotten the urge to create one myself. I don't know if I'll actually have enough worth posting on my own so I think a blog for both Kathy and I is a better way to go.

Now is a good time to start this blog as Kathy & I just returned from vacation. We spent a few days in Oak Island, North Carolina with Kathy's parents, aunts, and uncles. Oak Island is a small, quiet beach community south of Wilmington, NC and just up the coast from Myrtle Beach, SC. Kathy's got relatives in Oak Island so it made for a convenient meeting point. Most of our time there was spent relaxing which was exactly what we had hoped to do. Kathy got to go shopping with her Mom and aunts while I went fishing with Kathy's Dad and Uncle Warren. And at the end of each day, we got to relax with Dory (our cat) who made the trip with us.

I also got to smoke a couple of good cigars including a Perdomo and one that I bought at a small shop in the Ybor City district of Tampa, FL where they make cigars right in front of you. Both had been sitting in my humidor for awhile and were well conditioned, making them really enjoyable smokes.

In order to make a contribution to the vacation, I had brewed and kegged 10 gallons of beer - 5 gallons of Oktoberfest and 5 gallons of Honey Raspberry Wheat. I had brewed the Honey Raspberry Wheat for what I assumed would be the ladies. But in the end, it was the Oktoberfest that was the hit with everyone. I tapped the Oktoberfest keg around 2pm on Thursday and it was kicked by Monday afternoon. Since everyone was busy drinking the O'fest, we only went through about 2.5 gallons of the Honey Raspberry. Before the O'fest ran dry, I managed to get pictures of the beers:

(The Oktoberfest on the left and Honey Raspberry Wheat on the right)


To go along with the beer, Uncle Gary made some great food every day. I only managed to get pictures of one of the dishes, but it was certainly the best looking one - the Paella - Uncle Warren's birthday dinner.


We didn't have to stress at all about the directions as "Karen" (the name for the Australian female voice on our new GPS unit) took us down and back in about 7.5 hours each way. Kathy was kept busy with her knitting and I had plenty of podcasts to listen to and we were home before we knew it. Our vacation only lasted 5 days but it was a great chance to get away, relax, and visit with family. I'm already looking forward to next year for more cigars and fishing.