So the other night I bottled our beer! Mel was at class and tied up the next couple nights, so I went ahead and did it myself. It took a bit longer than expected, which was slightly expected... First I had to clean and santize all the bottles. There were 53 in total that we used. This took a while and was not all that exciting.
Then I boiled up some water and corn sugar, added it into the bottling bucket, and then transferred the beer into the bottling bucket by siphoning it out. This was the first time in my life that I've siphoned something, but I've always heard about it, and the fact that it works is actually pretty cool. I've been studying stuff like this actually, not exactly siphoning, but pumping things, and can actually see why it works, mathematically/theoretically. But who cares about that, it's just cool.
Then I attached the tube and wand to put the beer into the bottles. I had a close up shot of doing this, but I was slightly in the photo and my boxers slightly showed out my pants, I had no shirt on, and my tattoo was showing, so it kinda just looked really redneck. So sorry, no close up shot of this happening
I got the beer all way down to this level in the bottling bucket before I ran out of bottles. Probably could have done a few more, but oh well. Psyched!
Then I used a bottle capper and capped all the bottles. Sorry, no photo of that tool, but it's basically a two-handled device and you put it on top of the bottle with the cap in place, and then push the handles down and crimp the edges on the bottle. It's nifty. Then we put them in the closet as they're supposed to stay dark and room temperature for another two weeks. Unfortunately, though, a few days after bottling, we got a heat wave and when I came home at the closet was at about 83 degrees. It's not supposed to get about 80, or the flavor will be affected. But I'm sure it won't be bad, just slightly different. That's why it's called a homebrew.
I saw this the other day, out in the desert kinda. Coolest dentist sign I've ever seen. Not sure if buffalo have good teeth? Idk, wish this dentist was closer...
First few drafts/traces of other similar boards to get some general dimensions, wide points, and other details of what works, and go from there.
Here's a sketch of what it will be like. Gotta dial in the cross sections and get everything pretty well planned before starting, as the board is basically reverse designed when doing hollow wooden as opposed to foam.
So the other night I bottled our beer! Mel was at class and tied up the next couple nights, so I went ahead and did it myself. It took a bit longer than expected, which was slightly expected... First I had to clean and santize all the bottles. There were 53 in total that we used. This took a while and was not all that exciting.
Then I boiled up some water and corn sugar, added it into the bottling bucket, and then transferred the beer into the bottling bucket by siphoning it out. This was the first time in my life that I've siphoned something, but I've always heard about it, and the fact that it works is actually pretty cool. I've been studying stuff like this actually, not exactly siphoning, but pumping things, and can actually see why it works, mathematically/theoretically. But who cares about that, it's just cool.
Then I used a bottle capper and capped all the bottles. Sorry, no photo of that tool, but it's basically a two-handled device and you put it on top of the bottle with the cap in place, and then push the handles down and crimp the edges on the bottle. It's nifty. Then we put them in the closet as they're supposed to stay dark and room temperature for another two weeks. Unfortunately, though, a few days after bottling, we got a heat wave and when I came home at the closet was at about 83 degrees. It's not supposed to get about 80, or the flavor will be affected. But I'm sure it won't be bad, just slightly different. That's why it's called a homebrew.
I saw this the other day, out in the desert kinda. Coolest dentist sign I've ever seen. Not sure if buffalo have good teeth? Idk, wish this dentist was closer...
Went to Del Mar Fairgrounds this weekend to check out Sacred Craft - basically an annual surf/shaping convention. It was awesome!!!!!!
In the sustainable craft area, they were doing glassing demos throughout the day. Here's a Grain longboard being glassed. Pretty psyched to watch the demos and learn some stuff! Although not sure why they didn't invite Mel and I to show people how it's done... http://afedbearisadeadbear.blogspot.com/2010/11/teammates.html
Boards about to be glassed
There were a handful of wooden surfboard companies there, which were sick to see. On Sunday they had a board demo at a nearby beach where companies brought boards to let people try out! I tried three different wooden boards, and they were pretty sick! Pumped to get started on mine soon.
Some sick longboards on hand
Meyerhoffer boards - i don't know anything on the crazy shape of this guys boards, but I've read they actually are pretty sick, they just look funny.
Once again, not sure why Matt and Mel weren't invited to do some demos of how it's done.
They had some tarp surfing going on outside too
And shaping demos/contest going on all weekend. Yes, this event is freaking awesome. To top it off, I won a surfboard in a raffle! So flipping pumped. It was being shaped and used in the demo area of the sustainable surf area, so it basically was showcasing all the newer more sustainable materials to be used in this one board. So pumped to get it in a few weeks when it's done! Here's a link to the board and raffle - http://sustainablesurf.org/raffle/
