Tell me metal isn't pretty (more acoustic metal)

1. Iron Maiden - Wasted Years. Very, very pretty. For contrast, here's the original.


2. Mastodon - Pendulous Skin. I might've posted this before. Whatever. This is just some dude playing it on acoustic, so you can appreciate what he's doing. The actual, much better, song is here. I recommend giving it a listen, not just to see the contrast between the solo acoustic and the real version, but because it's really pretty even if you don't like metal.


3. Blind Guardian - Bard's Song. I actually just found this right now. Straight out of a medieval-themed musical with music composed by Queen. This is how this song always sounds, even when performed live. For contrast though, this is another typical Blind Guardian song.

Once again...

... about two weeks since I've updated. I promise I'll start updating more. Even if no one reads this (except Naomi), I still like having some sort of diary to look back on and see what I was up to in the past. This post is only to resolve to post more.

And to put this picture up:

Man, I never should have cut my dreads. I miss them so, so badly. And now, my hair isn't as curly, and I don't know when I'll ever have a long enough interval to grow them back without looking temporarily crazy in front of patients. Maybe I could start them over board study period.... not cutting or combing my hair for a month might help keep some knowledge in there.

Cockpit Change 2.0

I wanted to pickup a new set of bars to put on the KHS for quick around town riding (99% of my riding). I always liked the narrow risers I had on the Fetish... a bit impractical in terms of climbing big hills, but really fun to ride on. So I picked up some used bars from the local bike shop for $17 (that coincidentally has the exact same gloss-black finish as the KHS), chopped em down, and put em on. Alot of fun, and pretty cool looking I think. Took em out for critical mass and they worked really well.

Wow...

...it's been like 2 weeks since I've posted. I have just been very very busy. Nothing too new around here.
1. Beer keeps getting better with age. Gotta start rationing it now to give to people back in Wichita (Tiffany, etc) and Texas (Mitch).
2. Dr. M seems pleased with my research so far. Presenting in San Diego, and they're paying for the trip : )
3. (and the reason I decided to post now). Anne had to do a scratchboard project for her art class in school, and needed a subject, and I had previously told her I wanted a painting or something of my bike... here's a tiny picture of the work in progress and then the original picture:
I'm really excited to see the final product!

First Taste Test After Bottling

So, I just talked to Bjorn a bit, and his friend tries his beer 5-6 days after bottling, and will continue trying it every few days til it's drinkable, and then “it’s open season.” So, since it’s been bottled for 5 days now, I’m going to crack a bottle and give it a taste. I anticipate pretty flat beer, but we'll see.


Wow. Doesn't appear to be too flat : )

Smells pleasant, just like bottling day, but livelier.
Will let the head settle a bit and then taste.

First reactions:
Carbonated pretty decently. A bit more acid than I would've liked up front, but then pleasant, dark, typical Porter flavors. Hoppy finish.

Overall, not half bad. I wonder if the champagne yeast I had to add might have contributed to the acidic bite up front. It's also room temp, not chilled at all, which I think detracts a bit from the experience.
Thin head composed of very sharply defined bubbles that doesn't leave much lacing, but that which it does leave it pretty tenacious.

On second thought, I think the citrusy/pine effect of the extra hops might be responsible for a lot of the tang I taste.... One would expect this in a hoppier beer, and I knew it might be a little unconventional in a Porter, but I wanted to try it anyway.

Alot of sediment left in the bottle, I could've let it clarify for a bit longer perhaps.

You know, I find myself going back for rapid sips, so I think the drinkability is pretty good. Leaves you wanting more. I like the aftertaste a lot.

Alcohol content seems appropriate. Empty stomach since breakfast, I'm almost done with the beer and I can feel it.

So, overall, very nice, especially for first beer. Hopefully with a bit longer in the bottle the flavors will mellow a bit. Might have test taste session with Alex and Kyle tonight.

Thank you Naomi : )

Bottled!

So last night, Naomi and I bottled my (our) first batch of beer : )

It ended up being a relatively short period from the intial steps to now, because of the temperature variation that really speeded up the fermentation. However, I still got to clarify the beer pretty well, and the taste tests have all been very nice.

Yielded 46.5 bottles; 1.5 short of what my brewing book said we should get out of a 5 gallon batch.

In 2 weeks, I'll crack one open and test it out. Carbonation might be adequate by then, or it might take a full 3 weeks. Hopefully two, since we'll be done with our midterm then.

Cockpit change

It's amazing how much swapping the bars changes the look and feel of a bike.

The drops look better, I know. I can sprint in them faster too. Can't climb in them quite as well, though. If I put brake hoods on them, I'd have the best of both worlds... at the expense of some aesthetics.

Brewing Update 3.0

As of yesterday, gravity hadn't dropped to much from previous measurement, and is approaching final gravity estimate... so I added the gelatin finings to help precipitate out proteins. In 2-4 more days I should be able to bottle, after it's cleared a bit and finished fermenting.

Brewing Update 2.0

Gravity is still dropping, indicating additional fermentation. Good to see the additional yeast is doing it's job. Mouthfeel of the baby beer has improved a bit by sitting a bit longer, and the initial chocolate flavors are mellowing nicely. Slight dry pine flavor on the finish, which I attribute to the additional hops I added : )

Brewing Update

Well, due to some unintended temperature swings, I think I shocked the yeast in the fermenter... so today, I transferred to my glass carboy and added a bit of champagne yeast as per the instructions of a seasoned brewer. Looks to have restored the previous rate of fermentation and shouldn't really add any time to the overall process... and it shouldn't really mess up the taste too bad. Lesson learned. Tomorrow I'll sample the gravity again... I expect a few more days of dropping gravity before it really levels off and then I'll start bottling.

Brewing!

Alright. First batch of beer is now in the fermenting stage. 8 days before the next step, then 5 more days til bottling, then 3 weeks to age.

I decided to start with a Porter. I made some substitutions to the stock Porter recipe to produce a particularly rich, dark brew. I hope it works out. Here are some pictures.

Sterile Tools.


Steeping the grains.


About ready to add the malt.

Ready for first addition of hops.

Hopped.

Hopped again (3rd time actually).

Siphoning the wort into the fermenter.

Wort.

Mess.


Yeast added, this is now baby beer.
In light of the fact that it's a Porter, and the expected rich, dark, exciting taste, I've decided to call this brew:
(That's a picture I took on the beach during our vacation to Puerto Rico 2 years ago.)

And I've decided my "brewery" will be called:

Update!

Long time, no post. Will start posting again now that I'm back in KC with more time.

In short, great break so far. Went to Texas, shot a huge wild boar, went to Iowa, had a good New Year's, got to spend a lot of time with Naomi.

Today, I will start my first beer batch.

Here's a picture of a picture of the boar I shot. Sorry for poor quality. Not sorry for the forced perspective though ;-). In all seriousness, however, it did weigh probably 250 lbs.

New bike parts day!

My birthday present from my mom finally arrived (well, she let me buy it with her credit card).

SRAM Courier GXP Crankset w/ 48t chanring.

We'll see how well I can push 48:16. Pushing a gear a bit too big for me back in Boston (46:16 when I first started riding fixed) is what made my quads get huge... so maybe now that I'm used to 46:16, stepping it up a bit will produce further hypertrophy. Sorry Naomi. (She already thinks I look disproportionate).

Hooray for new bike parts day!

Old Music...

So I was looking through my iTunes library, and found a bunch of old.... "songs" that I have made over the years. Some are pretty entertaining and interesting, although you can tell my musical skills are pretty pathetic, and three funny ones.

The Funny Ones:
Study - Techno Remix. A mind-blowing techno masterpiece I designed for people to listen to while they're studying. It's inspiring, and increases focus. (It should be noted that when I made this, it was supposed to be funny. I never thought it was good.)

pseudotalent3. This one might drive you insane. It's such a cacophany.

MothersDay. A joint effort between B(1), B(2), and M(the). I wrote the amazing lyrics.

The Others:
new welcome. I recorded this for a pseudotalent intro. I actually really like it. I think it's really catchy.

rock. Another pseudotalent one. I like this one too.

Bunch. One I made with Acid, a loop-based music package... it sounds pretty polished because it's built entirely from precorded loops. Kinda neat.

Asada. One that involved some actual instrument playing; I ended up using this in a slackline vido that Bjorn and I made.

work in progress. Another one that included some basic "I can pluck a string" guitar playing, with alot of artificial distortion. I like this.

darkbeat. An experiment in beatboxing.

5 track throatsong. And this one again, just cause I'm proud of it.

Naomi is the best girlfriend ever.

My homebrewing kit arrived in the mail today : )

I'm not even going to think about starting a batch until I'm done with this test, but I'm still very excited : )