FST3 Lecture

Here is a lecture from one of my classes, FST3 Brewing and Beer taught Charlie Bamforth. The lecture is rather funny and well worth your time to listen to. The sole picture on the video is of Dr. Bamforth. Thats right a guy with his Phd. in beer.

A Prost to Yeast

So I haven't posted in a while, shame on me. This will be short as I am headed to bed I have early morning lab tomorrow. So today I made a nice loaf of bread. I think it is one of the best looking loaves of bread I have made so far, so I took a picture of it to share with the world... of people who read this blog. My roommates approve of the bread which is good, because I probably wouldn't eat the who thing before it got hard.
I am working on a new batch of bread, some sour dough bread. I got some sour dough starter from The Cheese Board in Berkeley CA. The Cheese Board has just about every conceivable cheese which can be imagined. A really unique place. I had the opportunity to visit the store when it was closed and had a private sampling of various cheeses. Absolutely fantastic, I wish the friend of a friend who made it happen many thanks.
Having no idea how much starter to used in a batch of bread I used about half of my container of starter, or about three fourths of a cup or about a 175ml, how ever you want to kick around the volume. I took the remaining starter and split it up into two containers, one rather big. I mixed up three cups of flour water for the big container and about a cup of flour water for the small container. I added them to the culture mixed them up and put them on top of the bookcase in my roommates room (the warmest place in the house) They have been there since two this afternoon. I just moved the smaller container to the fridge as it was showing signs of a strong fermentation.
Yeast and a few strains of bacteria are the work horses of sour dough starter. You probably already knew that, worth mentioning though. Now I don't know what yeast does to produce the sour part in the mixture. Possibly the bacteria act on the by products of the yeast's respiration, or possibly a combined effort. I really don't know, but I intend to ask my brewing/food science professor this very question and I will get back to you. Yeast is just one, and the major thing that make bread kick ass in my book. Fermentation done by yeast is so cool, with the production of alcohol and CO2 from simple sugars, yeast is the unsung hero of modern society. With out it there would be no alcohol (well for the most part) and bread would be flat, which is not a bad thing but would get a bit boring after a while. Next time you eat a sandwich or imbibe a beverage of a refreshing nature, think of yeast!

A red fixed gear parked by the math building. I took this picture yesterday. Good news, I get the Puegeot back on monday, to bad I will be out of town. I cant wait to ride it again.

All Moved In

Currently I have a keg of Widmer Hefeweizen on tap in my kegerator. Did I mention I moved
last weekend. It has been a while since I lasted posted. Thursday the 30th I made the trek from my appartment in South Davis to my new duplex in West Davis. A friend of mine who I am now living with in West Davis rented a UHAUL which was most effective for moving all of ones crap from one side of town to the other. The new place is really nice, it is a duplex, we have a garage and a nice back yard, where I have placed a medium sized bug zapper. There is nothing like the sound of bugs getting zapped. I have made a few trips to Ikea, Costco , Winco and Trader Joe's to pick up a couch and some more food. I picked up a few fine bottles of liquor at Costco. My purchase incuded a bottle of Bombay Gin, Baileys Irish Cream, Jameson and some vermouth. It is not like I am going to drink them all at once, they will last a long while. When I was a Winco I found cans of Guinness for a buck a can, I bought twenty. You can't deny a good buy on Guinness. Now I can introduce my housemate a to Guinness Car Bomb. I bought a new couch at Ikea, it is blue and fits three people. I was amazed we were able to fit it in my parents car. Well they did have to tie the back door down as it would not close. In the garage I have started to hang up posters and signs. I'll try to keep the actual house details to a minimum, other then to say the house is great.
What I will focus on is the little bundle of joy my parents brought down from Chico for my housemates and I. My kegerator, as you can see from the photos my kegerator is a black fridge which contains a keg of fine beer. Currently the beer on tap is Widmer Hefeweizen. In my opinion Widmer Hefeweizen is one of the best American Hefeweizens. I find it to be tasty and refreshing. A keg (a half barrel, 15.5 gallons, 58.67 liters) of Widmer Hefeweizen is a semi expensive keg, not as much as Spaten or Guinness but more then a keg of Sierra Nevada. I have noticed that Sierra Nevada is quite a bit cheaper in Chico then it is in Davis. Also most places in Davis only seem to carry Pale Ale and not much else in the terms of a selection of Sierra Nevada kegs.
I am sure some might be interested in my kegerator its self. Here are the specs; the fridge I bought of of craigs list for twenty bucks, the black oil based paint from Lowe's cost more then the fridge. My current set up includes a ten pound CO2 tank with a duel gage duel keg regulator
a CO2 filter and a D system keg coupler (tap) the beer runs via a food grade beer line through a stainless steel shank into a stainless steel faucet. I also have a complete Guinness set up including a forty cubic foot bevgas (Guinness Gas, 75% Nitrogen 25% CO2) tank a U system keg coupler and a stout faucet. This set up allows me to dispense Guinness and other nitrogen beers. I have a second D system Keg coupler and a S system keg coupler (for beers such as Heineken.) To keep tabs on the temp inside my fridge I keep a centigrade thermometer inside of a glass of water. I am sure it is to cold but my fridge stays around one degree Celsius. Ideally the fridge should be at around three degrees Celsius. Here is a picture of the inside of my kegerator. Not the Keg of Widmer Hefeweizen, the keg coupler. The red hose is the CO2 hose, and the clear hose is the beer line. I keep all my cans of Guinness in the bottom of the kegerator.
On the outside of my kegerator I have an assortment of magnets and stickers. Most notably is a French license plate from Provance, note the thirteen.
The CO2 filter is my newest investment in the kegerator. I bought it with the hope that it will protect my beer investment from contamination by stuff in the CO2 gas. The filter is supposed to be good for a year. If anything it looks sharp so I cannot complain.
I really enjoy my kegerator and I feel that the beer inside really brings people together. Most everyone like a good pint of beer and even if you don't I find everyone can apperciate the kegerator, even if they don't drink. I find beer and draft beer dispensing to my incredably interesting and will be undoughtbly interested in them for the forseable future. Making this only the begaining in posts about the kegerator and draft beer dispensing.
In bike news the Peugeot lives. I found someone to remove the bottom bracket and it is being replaced along with new cranks and chain ring. Currently it looks like I will be getting the Peugeot back mid week. I am really looking forward to riding it again, it has been a really long time. I will post pictures of the new cranks and chain ring once I get the bike back.

Math Test Tomorrow

Yes, as you might have guessed from the post title I have a math test tomorrow. For this reason I will be keeping this post short. I may have found a guy who might be able to fix the Peugeot. He is going to try to pull out the fused part of the bottom bracket. If he does I will have to see how much it will be to get a new bottom bracket and cranks put in. There is some hope for the Peugeot yet, but there is still a cloud of doom floating over the frame. It may yet still be an art project.
I bought a rode bike the other day. I found a trek I liked at FreeWheeler Bicycle Shop at the corner of 2nd and F street. I also bought a New York Fahgettaboudit five foot lock and hardened chain as well. I don't want anyone to barrow this bike and with this lock I don't think they will. I have not abandon riding fixed gears, I am still going to ride my fixed gear as a daily driver. I just need to get it fixed, so for a while I will be riding around town on a bike with gears, but only until I get my fixed gear running, then it is back on the Peugeot, or so I hope. Currently I am in the process of joining the cycling club on campus, this is where I will be riding the road bike. I am waiting for them to get back to me with more information.
I have a few of pictures, the first is of a fixed gear parked downtown. I think it was parked at the conner of 2nd and D street, I might be wrong on that. The next couple of pictures are of a car that was parked in front of my apartment which happened to have German tags on it. Really strange, as I have never seen a registered European car in the states before.
I am currently drinking a Butte Creek Organic IPA. This beer is very pleasant and very strong. My description is a little vague but I don't really feel like try to describe in depth the mouth feel of the beer and such, maybe another time. Thats all for now...

Saying Goodby

This will be a short post as I am pressed for time. I will give you an update on my Peugeot. Basically as a bike frame it's finished. I couldn't just replace the crank because the point where the new crank attaches to the bottom bracket didn't match up. The bottom bracket was to big, I am sure I am using bike terminology incorrectly. I then tried to have the bike shop replace the bottom bracket and cranks with an identical 40 tooth crank. Unfortunately the right side of the bottom bracket was fused to the frame and could not be removed. This is the end of my Peugeot, it was a great frame and I really enjoyed riding it around Chico and Davis. I will be donating the frame minus the handle bars to the Davis Bike Church where hopefully someone can make use of the fork and seat post. Maybe someone will use the rest of the frame for an art project. One can only hope. I have a Schwinn frame at my home in Chico and I will head up there to fetch it this weekend and then switch all the components from my Peugeot over to the Schwinn Frame. I am going to put new handlebars on the Schwinn frame because the current bars are cut off drop offs and I don't like them. I'll probably use the old handle bars off the Peugeot if they fit. Well thats all for now... Oh ya I am currently enjoying a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, always a tasty choice...

Crank No More

Bad news for my bike, I broke the crank. I mean really broke the crank, take a look at the pictures below. I was waiting at a stoplight about a half a mile from my appartment. The light turned green and the car in front of me started to go, I pushed down on the peddle and the peddle gave way but it felt very odd, as though it suddenly became easier to peddle. There were popping sounds fallowed by a cracking sound. My bike came to a stop and I looked down to find my outside crack completely bent out of shape and my inside crank broke into three pieces. All but two or three of the bolts holding the inside crank to the outside crank had sheared off and the crank was broke into as I said three pieces. My bike was clearly not ridable, so I pushed it back to my appartment. Where I further inspected the damage and took these pictures. B&L Bike Shop here in Davis is fortunately open until eight pm. After loading my busted up fixed gear into my car I drove to the bike shop. Needless to say the people at the shop where impressed with the damage this was probably not a good sign. The shop quoted me eighty bucks to fix my bike. I can't fix it myself because I don't have the tools. They are putting on a whole new crank and peddle arm. The old crank I was ridding was a forty tooth, the new one is going to be a forty six tooth. This forced me to have my back cog changed out. There was a fifteen tooth cog on the back tire now I am moving to a seventeen tooth cog. The new cog is a better brand so I can't complain. Apparently the work on my bike might be done by Friday, but most likely will be completed on Monday. While I am without my bike I have been fortunate enough to have the roommate of a dear friend loan me their bike. I couldn't been more delighted with this, and I throughly appreciate their generosity in loaning me their bike. So for the next few days I won't be ridding fixed, I am going to be on a mountain bike. Who really cares so long as I have a bike to ride!

Clicking Crank

Here I am again back in chem lecture and it is about to start. I am happy to report I didn't have any water/flat related problems on the way to math this morning. Although one of the bolts connecting my crank to the bottom bracket broke off. It didn't fall out, it literally broke off. Half the bolt is still screwed into my crank, but the part of the bolt connecting it to the bottom bracket is gone. I noticed this the other day. I am not sure how I am going to get that broken bolt out without damaging the threads. The reason I mention this is that my crank is clicking every time I complete one rotation of the crank. One can feel the click in the peddle and I am not sure what this means. Considering there is a metal on metal grinding sound coming from crank/bottom bracket, this cant be a good sign. It would probably be best to find a new bolt for the crank. A visit to the bike shop is in order. I'll have them take a look at crank. Maybe I will have them put in a new bottom bracket and a new crank. New parts are always exciting. Any ideas on what I should do?

A Puddle In My Bag

So my water bottle broke open in my bag on the way to math this morning, or rather the cap came loose and half the bottle spilled out. Now there is a puddle in the bottom of my bag. The good news is I had my notebooks in the laptop pocket so they did not get wet. This was fortunate as those notebooks contain all my notes and I would have been lost without them.
Sadly though the water seeped out of my France bag and now my butt is wet, a bit of a pain in the ass. I think most of the water was soaked up by my bag of bike parts I carry in my France bag. As I am writing this blog as I sit in organic chem lecture I would like to purpose a prost, "to blogging while in lecture!"
The photo include with this post is of my France bag, the picture was taken earlier this year, but this is the bag that is quite wet right now.

Paying the Bill

For the last the last two days I have been without internet at home. Yes it has been a long two days, yesterday was just a bit of a pain in the ass. On my way back home from school (after writing my last blog entry) my back tire went flat. I chose to push my bike the last half mile rather then fix the flat on the side of the road. A good choice considering at home I can fix the flat while sitting in the shade drinking a beer.
Today I had math and chem lectures. Let me tell you the chem lecture was just dreadful. I will go in to more depth on my growing distaste of my chem professor in future posts.
The fun began after class when I headed to the bike shop, which is always great because there are so many tempting items. Lately I have been going to B&L Bike Shop at 610 3rd Street. I have found the staff to be knowledgeable and very nice. Not rude and uninterested to the needs of the customer as was the case at the Davis Wheel Works just down the street from B&L. Maybe the case was simple the guys at Davis Wheel Works didn't care about me because I only went there for a couple of tubes and some valve stem adapters. Either way they should still treat you politely.
After visiting the bike shop I ran over to Ace Hardware to buy some drain clog remover. The drain in my shower has been clogged up for the last week or so, it is very bothersome.
I made it home to began my next quest: fixing the DSL. Fortunately the lady who use to live at my appartment before I moved in called me back and provided all of the AT&T account information for the appartment. I got on the phone with AT&T and we all know how that goes. Fortunately I didn't have to wait in the queue to talk to a living breathing person. After speaking to a few people I found out that my hunch was correct about the DSL. No one had paid the bill, so I paid it. Now I just have to get my roommates to pay me back, which I am sure they will they are all good people. Now the DSL is back on, which is good, as it is nice to have DSL. AT&T said it was going to take four hours for the DSL to come back on and it only took about a half hour. I was most pleased.
Sadly I have math homework to do tonight. There is a quiz tomorrow morning which should be just delightful. Needless to say I am not looking forward to it.
When I arrived at Hunt Hall for chem lecture, I parked my bike right across from another fixed gear. I had photographed this one before parked outside the memorial union. It made its first appearance on the blog post "No Internet Today." I took a higher resolution photograph of it today, and I have posted it here, enjoy.

Fixed gear parked in front of Hunt Hall my bike is visible in the photo also

While writing this post I was enjoying a bottle of Butte Creek Organic IPA brewed in Chico, CA. Always a strong and refreshing beer with a ABV of 7.1%