Independence & Ingenuity

Brew Day was yesterday: “Best Bitter” (original post here).  It was my first all-grain 5-gallon batch and, surprisingly, there were no major hiccups - a few inefficiencies here and there, nothing that can’t be solved for future brews.  I was psyched about that.  Quantity = 5.25 gallons, OG = 1.051.  Both pretty much spot on.

Please excuse the stupid filter on the pic of the copper mash tun manifold.  I wanted to include a shot of the finished piece (made from instructions from John Palmer’s “How To Brew”). I was really happy with the manifold performance, there wasn’t really any grain that made it to the kettle, just some powder that I can’t do anything about.

My Brew Day Beer was Schneider Weisse Tap 6 Unser Aventinus.  Whew, it was good.  

My Assistant Brewer was more interested in her rawhide bone than any actual assistance. 

The last pic is of all our beer to give away for XMas presents. We like to be generous with the homemade wares (my SO makes a pairing pie, amazing), but we also just like to brew (and bake) a shit ton so we used it as an opportunity to try some different recipes: Honey Ginger English IPA, Wheat Porter, Nut Brown Ale, Cognac-Infused British Mild, and ‘Murican Hopfenweisse.  The accompanying pies were Rosemary Sweet Potato Pie, Chocolate Pear Tart, Maple Nut Tart, Cranberry Orange Tart, and Pumpkin Beer Pie (feat. DFH’s Palo Santa Marron), respectively. RIDICULOUS.

Future Tropes | Volume Gallery

RO/LU

Truth Lies in Experience No Matter How Incomplete It May Be (man/desk/table) / 2014

I etched some volume markings onto a glass carboy yesterday.  After viewing some other peoples’ work, I decided I like the look of the negative image more than the positive ones I’ve seen.  The etching cream (Armor Etch) did bleed a little around the painter’s tape, but you have to be looking closely to notice the imperfections.  It was a great way to kill the evening and with Netflix on, the tedious cutting just flew by.  I’ll probably get the rest of the carboys done one at a time when I feel like it.  Procedure:

Wash the carboy surface well.  Wipe off the area you’re going to etch with rubbing alcohol.  This removes fingerprint residue and dries off the glass.

Apply vinyl (I used Con-Tact paper, which is adhesive on one side) to the area you want to etch, being careful to remove any bubbles.

Weigh the water and mark the volumes on the vinyl.  (1892g/half gallon)

Empty the water with a siphon.

Print your numbering stencils on a standard printer.  Cut out the stencils and line them up with your markings, holding them in place with transparent tape.

Using a craft knife, carefully trace the stencil onto the vinyl.

After removing the stencil, carefully peel the excess vinyl from the carboy.

Mask off a border for the positive (etched) area using more vinyl or painter’s tape.

Wearing protective gloves in a well-ventilated area, thickly apply the etching cream to the glass using a disposable shop brush or sponge.  When finished, start a timer for 7 minutes.

Halfway through the etching, stir the cream gently with the brush.  This helps the etched area appear more uniform.  Be careful not to push the cream under any masked edges, though.

When the time is up, remove the border first, being careful not to get excess etching cream anywhere.  Then rinse the cream from the carboy.

Dry with a lint free cloth and remove the vinyl stencils.