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The Beer Watcher II: Blow-off!

From “the beer master” Bill HD comes news:

Well, some drama happened regarding our wort. I went down to check it last night and the airlock was blown off the top – it had clogged with hops and foamy beer stuff and there was some on the wall nearby too. So I guess we had a very vigorous yeast colony going. When I opened the lid it was quite foamy in there too. Not sure what that means for the whole process – I cleaned up the airlock and put it back on and it was hopping and popping normally.

This could be bad, I guess, if there was any contamination. Also, the beer guy says that if the yeast is too active for too long, they basically eat everything and the beer doesn’t have any flavors at all. I don’t think this is going to be the case since it was some sort of airlock clog that caused the mishap. But we’ll see come racking time, I guess, whether it is worth continuing or whether we have our first failed batch.

Bill further consulted his guru/master, “The Beer Guy” (aka the book he has), and discovered that this event is common enough in home brewing to have a name: a “blow-off.” Apparently, it isn’t as serious as we had originally feared:

If the fermentation is so vigorous that the foam pops the airlock out of the lid, just rinse it out with sanitizer solution and wipe off the lid before replacing it. Contamination is not a big problem during the primary phase. With so much coming out of the fermenter, not much gets in. If the fermentation keeps filling the airlock with crud and popping it out, there is an alternative, a blowoff hose.

Bill went on to add:

I cleaned out the airlock, sterilized it again, stuck it back on and it seems to be going along fine. It also smells very much like a normal batch, for what that’s worth. As for why, the books I have consulted say that it just happens sometimes when you get a vigorous ferment. They recommend having a blowoff tube for such occasions, or going to a 7 gallon primary fermenter. But it seems to be a minor issue by all accounts.

So, we’ll see what happens. I guess the beer master will be getting the first taste and the beer watchers will be watching not the beer but the master for the results.

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Summer "break" and just past half-way in my online class

There are two articles in Inside Higher Ed right now– this one and this one— about the academic’s life during the summer. Frankly, I don’t really relate to either one of them, but feel free to read if you’d like.

For me, summer (or really, at EMU, we call this “spring” and then “summer”– that is, there are usually two 7.5 week terms between the fall and winter semesters) is kind of the worst of times, and the best of times. The bad stuff first: whenever I talk with my non-academic-type parents about being done with the winter term, they always assume that I am on “vacation” from the last day of school in April until the first day in late August or early September. Hardly.

Technically, the faculty contract does allow for this kind of approach– that is, technically, I could just disappear completely for four or so months. But practically speaking, this never happens. Inevitably, there are various meetings, and this spring/summer, since I have taken over as the “writing program coordinator,” I am spending a fair amount of time doing various paperwork things and responding to emails from and meeting with future (hopefully) graduate students. I also have a couple of scholarly projects going on, a workshop on blogging coming up (more on that tomorrow or so), some projects having to do with writing.emich.edu, etc.

And then there’s teaching. Basically, I cannot afford to “take the summer off” from teaching, because of a combination of needing the money and the money for teaching at EMU in the summer being too good to refuse. Normally, summer teaching at EMU means working for 7.5 weeks, either the spring or the summer terms, which means that I’d still be “free” for about 8 weeks. But as loyal readers will recall, I worked out a deal where I am teaching an online class this spring/summer for 12 weeks instead of the usual 7.5 weeks. The verdict is still out and there are some “complicating issues” with this particular group of students, but I think that I actually might prefer “sucking it up” and teaching online in the usual 7.5 weeks. My wife is teaching in the regular 7.5 week term and the fact that she only has three class meetings to go has me envious.

But there are the “good times,” too. Work-wise, things are more quiet right now. Teaching only online is good, albeit a bit discombobulating since it makes that line between “work” and “life” even more fuzzy. I do get to play golf about once a week or so, though my game has been quite bad lately. The weather in Michigan this time of year is beautiful. And so forth….

Enough of that though; time to get back to work!

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EMU-AAUP Blog (sort of…)

The chief negotiator for the EMU-AAUP (aka the faculty union) is keeping a blog-like summary of meetings and events at this web site. I say “blog-like” because it’s really just a web site, it doesn’t feature most recent entries first, etc.

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Annette’s broken (okay, sprained) leg

So….

This morning, I was minding my own business in the basement, working away at my desk while Sophie was hiding underneath it because of the cleaning people, whom Sophie is afraid of, were busy upstairs. I was trying to settle in to a day of getting caught up on various projects. While sorting through various blog readings, I heard the distinctive noise of Annette and crashing bottles, followed shortly by her obviously crying out in pain.

Basically, what happened was she was taking out trash and bottles out to the garage, something that she’s done 1,000 times before, when she tripped and fell on the steps out the back door. Now, I’ve tripped on these steps before myself– even fell. The steps are kind of crooked and cock-eyed. But this time, Annette somehow managed to trip and fall and twist her whole leg under her. “God DAMN it!” she yelled,” which immediately attracted the attention of our nice but very religious neighbor.

When I came out, she was on the ground and certainly not happy about it. At first, I thought she had hurt her back or something, largely because of the way she was laying there and also because it just seemed to me that hurting her back was more likely. But no, it was her knee and leg and ankle.

So, after a small conference between myself, the cleaning ladies, and our religious neighbor, Annette and I were off to the emergency room. Fortunately, especially in light of recent news stories about how ill-prepared the US emergency rooms are, things weren’t that busy and Annette got cared for quickly. Ultimately, the verdict was not a break but a badly sprained leg– not just a kneee, not just an ankle, the whole damn leg.

They put on this strange quickly hardening cast thing and wrapped it all up so she has, basically, a “half cast,” which she’ll have for about a week. Ah yes, the fun of showering with a bag on your leg.

Here’s a picture of the damage:

sprained leg

She’s obviously unhappy and in pain about all of this, but I’m guessing that by the end of this week or so, she’ll be okay. It has already required quite a bit of rescheduling of various events both present (including a Steve visit to her graduate class– what a hoot) and near future (Annette will now be accompanying Will and me for a family trip to Wisconsin this weekend since it’s clear that she’s not going to be able to take care of herself with this thing).

And for me, it’s required many errands and some nursing. For example, while Annette was being x-rayed, I was trying to hunt down some crutches. I ask my honey what she wants for dinner, and when she says “lasagna,” I spring into action. And don’t get me started with dealing with dog care for the weekend, car repair, transportation for Will, etc., etc.

But even though it’s my blog, it’s still about Annette here. For example, take a look at this card from Will– click on the images to get some more details:

Will's card, #1

and…

Will's card, #2

Follow the links– they are worth it.

Anyway, get well Annette!

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I’m sure these sites aren’t legal…

… and probably won’t be around for that long. But in the meantime, two things I came across this morning:

A directory of each and every Calvin and Hobbes cartoon.

All about South Park, which includes (I think) every episode of the show.

The second one is particularly interesting to me. Given that high speed internet access is coming online fast and given all the other ways that there are television shows online for free or for a small fee, these two different boxes, the TV and the computer, are indeed merging into one. Heck, the stereo is already stuck inside this particular box….

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New Hammock!




Hammock 1

Originally uploaded by steven_d_krause.

In our backyard, we have two enormous pine trees– I mean like 5 stories tall– that are just the right distance appart for a hammock. In fact, we did have a hammock back there a couple years ago, but it was inexplicably destroyed in freak fight between squirrels and possibly a raccoon. But that’s a different story.

This story is, partly in honor of Father’s day, Annette and Will bought a new hammock. After the weeding this weekend, perhaps I’ll take a nap back there.


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The Beer Watcher II: Wheat Beer

We (meaning me, Bill H-D, and Steve B) started another batch of beer yesterday morning, a wheat beer recipe from “All Things Beer” called “Williamston Wheat.” Compared to the first season of the beer watcher, a recipe that involved moss, grain bags, multiple applications of hops, etc., etc., this recipe was ridiculously easy:

7 lbs Wheat/Barley malt extract
1 oz Saaz hops
Wyeast 3056 or Munton’s Ale dry yeast
3/4 cup priming sugar and caps

Directions:

Add the wheat/barley malt extract and 1 ounce of hops to 1 1/2 gallons of water and boil for 1 hour.

Cool down the wort, put it in the fermenter with 3 1/2 gallons water, pitch the yeast.

That’s it. Compared to last time, this beer practically makes itself.

I was late, and Steve B and Bill H-D already did the most active steps of this beer, which was boiling the water and adding the malt and the hops. So my roll here really was watching, especially since Steve and Bill spent a fair amount of time moving some furniture out to the driveway since there was a yard sale in progress. And actually, I only half-watched; I spent more time trying to figure out a new WordPress set-up.

Two amusing things happened in all of this that are photo-worthy, but unfortunately, the batteries in my camera died. One of the great fears of home-brewing (perhaps the only fear) is that of the dreaded boil-over, which is a danger when you add the syrupy malt extract. But Bill was really not worried about it because he had a new pot for cooking up the wort this time, a five gallon rig. The water wasn’t quite up to temprature, so he put on the lid, and, worry free with the largeness of the pot, we sat around at the kitchen table and chatted.

We heard the boil-over first. Bill and Steve B sprang into action, removed the lid, turned down the burner (we had some debate as to whether or not the electric element of a stove could properly be called a “burner”), and stirred. Tragedy was probably averted, but a lot of the hops boiled up and onto the sides of the pot. So I guess the test will be in the tasting, about a month or so from now (I think about a month).

The other photo-worthy moment involved Bill spilling enough of the ice water we were using for chilling the wort on himself to require a change of clothes before lunch.

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Fun with Flash (I think…)

I dont’ really know what this is, but it’s pretty cool. I guess it’s an example of the kind of stuff you can do with Flash and some other tools, and also an example of how web design that is not necessarily “user friendly” can be really interesting and engaging.