I haven't started brewing yet because after making the cool box I found that the temperature of the cold water in the tap was 26 degrees, four higher than the wort needs to be brought down to for fermentation. This means that I really do need to get a fridge and modify it with a temperature controller.
Once I get the fridge I will update the blog with details of my first brew.
Oh yeah, and the wedding venue are happy for me to bring along homebrew to serve on the day. I will e making some lager for the Aussies and some decent ale for us Brits. Finally I might give cider a bash midway through next year for a number of mates who like it - plus Chris who is coeliac and can't drink beer with the rest of us.
Monday, 12 December 2011
Friday, 11 November 2011
Brewing gear
Today I put together a box in which to ferment my first brew. I plan to place frozen bottles of water into the box to keep the temperature down and keep a constant 20 degrees Celsius.
The box is made from two plastic crates and it is lined with foam and then covered with bubble wrap which our sofa came wrapped in. I have gaffer tapes it all together to try and ensure that it stays relatively water tight as I expect there to be a fair amount of water condensed off the frozen water bottles.
The photos I am including in this post show:
A) the boiler placed on a work bench with a rope and pulley above for use with the 'Brew In A Bag' method - this will be used to hang the grain in the bag to drain the wort out after it has mashed.
B) the fermenting box
C) the fermenting box open with the fermenter sitting inside the box
D) the boiler
Since I am posting from my phone the order of the photos may get a bit mixed up so apologies for that.
The box is made from two plastic crates and it is lined with foam and then covered with bubble wrap which our sofa came wrapped in. I have gaffer tapes it all together to try and ensure that it stays relatively water tight as I expect there to be a fair amount of water condensed off the frozen water bottles.
The photos I am including in this post show:
A) the boiler placed on a work bench with a rope and pulley above for use with the 'Brew In A Bag' method - this will be used to hang the grain in the bag to drain the wort out after it has mashed.
B) the fermenting box
C) the fermenting box open with the fermenter sitting inside the box
D) the boiler
Since I am posting from my phone the order of the photos may get a bit mixed up so apologies for that.
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Second archery session and beer making moves closer
I had my second session of archery at the weekend and shot for about 3-4 hours. I was shooting 30m for a good while and probably had on average one shot in 10 go awry and miss the target but was consistently hitting with the rest and normally within the red although to be honest they didn't group very well.
I then moved up to 40m and 50m and bizarrely got better at the long distance than I was at the shorter distances! Next move is to try and figure out what type of now I should buy and then work out where to get it from. I'm currently contemplating importing one from the UK or somewhere else because they are pretty expensive over here.
On the beer front - I now have pretty much all the kit I need to brew my first beer. I still don't have a fridge for total temperature control but I shall experiment with the cardboard box an frozen water bottle method for now as the homebrew shop guy said he made a really good beer in summer using that method - got him a 4th place In a beer comp.
So I shall first practise by just boiling up some water - work out how to hold it at the right temps and then put into my fermenter to be kept as close as possible to 20 degrees for about 5-6 days. I will also experiment with agitating the water two or three times a day as I would with a Ringwood type yeast.
I then moved up to 40m and 50m and bizarrely got better at the long distance than I was at the shorter distances! Next move is to try and figure out what type of now I should buy and then work out where to get it from. I'm currently contemplating importing one from the UK or somewhere else because they are pretty expensive over here.
On the beer front - I now have pretty much all the kit I need to brew my first beer. I still don't have a fridge for total temperature control but I shall experiment with the cardboard box an frozen water bottle method for now as the homebrew shop guy said he made a really good beer in summer using that method - got him a 4th place In a beer comp.
So I shall first practise by just boiling up some water - work out how to hold it at the right temps and then put into my fermenter to be kept as close as possible to 20 degrees for about 5-6 days. I will also experiment with agitating the water two or three times a day as I would with a Ringwood type yeast.
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Archery
Yesterday I went along to a session at the local archery club for a 'have a go' evening. I really enjoyed it and soon started getting pretty good groupings of my arrows and even think I got around 50-60% golds which I was very happy with. Admittedly it wasn't a vast distance, probably 25 metres or so.
I shall be continuing and think I'll try and get into it properly, and possibly buy my own gear in a few months if things are going well.
I shall be continuing and think I'll try and get into it properly, and possibly buy my own gear in a few months if things are going well.
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
Mount Stuart ride
Today I decided to cycle to the top of Mount Stuart, a hill in the locality which has the television and radio masts mounted at the top, and is therefore visible from most parts of Townsville.
The ride to get to Mount Stuart Road is about 15km and this is then followed by a 9km uphill ride to the top. From looking at a few cycling websites such as mapmyride.com I have found that it is made up predominantly of category 3 climbs with some category 2 road towards the top. I have done category 3 rides before, most recently the climb up to the top of Castle Hill, but it turns out that this was not enough preparation for what I found when I got there.
So for today, I have managed to ride about one third of the length of Mount Stuart Road which got me pretty high , but there is still a long way to go to get to the top. I took a picture from a decent spot on my way down - apologies for the quality as it was just snapped on my iPhone.
Tomorrow I intend to get up another hairpin or two before heading back - I may possibly walk to the top if I feel able, but that may still take another hour or so!
The ride to get to Mount Stuart Road is about 15km and this is then followed by a 9km uphill ride to the top. From looking at a few cycling websites such as mapmyride.com I have found that it is made up predominantly of category 3 climbs with some category 2 road towards the top. I have done category 3 rides before, most recently the climb up to the top of Castle Hill, but it turns out that this was not enough preparation for what I found when I got there.
So for today, I have managed to ride about one third of the length of Mount Stuart Road which got me pretty high , but there is still a long way to go to get to the top. I took a picture from a decent spot on my way down - apologies for the quality as it was just snapped on my iPhone.
Tomorrow I intend to get up another hairpin or two before heading back - I may possibly walk to the top if I feel able, but that may still take another hour or so!
Monday, 10 October 2011
Brewing - it's a complicated business
Well it is if you are living in the tropics at any rate.
Since my last post about brewing I have received and extensively read Graham Wheeler's 'Brew Your Own British Real Ale', published by CAMRA (The CAMpaign for Real Ale) which details the technique and recipes requires to make a number of British Real Ale clones. Examples are Old Speckled Hen, Marston's Pedigree, Bass Draught and about 100 other ales and stouts.
The biggest thing I have learnt is temperature control. As I write this entry it is 28.4 degrees Celsius at 10:27am. Beer yeast works between 18 and 22 degrees and currently we only get that at night. Controlling the temperature is critical to prevent the yeast from going off which happens when it gets too hot (bad smells, tastes, and a tendency to induce thumping hang-overs) or from dropping into the beer if it gets too cold.
Following an introductory talk at the local brew shop at the weekend detailing how to make lagers (he called it English Ale but it was kegged with CO2 and was most definitely a lager) using Malt Extract rather than kits, I discovered that adding a temperature controller to a fridge is a relatively simple process and I can get a controller for $70 from the shop. I believe making an open ferment beer inside a fridge should be ok, so long as I open the fridge every day to release excess CO2 build up and to get a change of air inside the fridge to try and more accurately replicate the traditional open cask ferment used by the British brewers.
So the current item on the shopping list is a fridge - hopefully I'll find one for under $80 or so - fit the temperature controller and then I shall start the brewing! I also have a second demo to watch this weekend at the brew shop - very helpful people - which is giving an intro into all grain brewing which is what I intend to pursue once I have done one or two brews. So next weekend I may begin buying my first few bits of kit - boiler, fermenter, thermometer, hydrometer and possibly an extract, some malt and some hops in preparation for the first brew.
Since my last post about brewing I have received and extensively read Graham Wheeler's 'Brew Your Own British Real Ale', published by CAMRA (The CAMpaign for Real Ale) which details the technique and recipes requires to make a number of British Real Ale clones. Examples are Old Speckled Hen, Marston's Pedigree, Bass Draught and about 100 other ales and stouts.
The biggest thing I have learnt is temperature control. As I write this entry it is 28.4 degrees Celsius at 10:27am. Beer yeast works between 18 and 22 degrees and currently we only get that at night. Controlling the temperature is critical to prevent the yeast from going off which happens when it gets too hot (bad smells, tastes, and a tendency to induce thumping hang-overs) or from dropping into the beer if it gets too cold.
Following an introductory talk at the local brew shop at the weekend detailing how to make lagers (he called it English Ale but it was kegged with CO2 and was most definitely a lager) using Malt Extract rather than kits, I discovered that adding a temperature controller to a fridge is a relatively simple process and I can get a controller for $70 from the shop. I believe making an open ferment beer inside a fridge should be ok, so long as I open the fridge every day to release excess CO2 build up and to get a change of air inside the fridge to try and more accurately replicate the traditional open cask ferment used by the British brewers.
So the current item on the shopping list is a fridge - hopefully I'll find one for under $80 or so - fit the temperature controller and then I shall start the brewing! I also have a second demo to watch this weekend at the brew shop - very helpful people - which is giving an intro into all grain brewing which is what I intend to pursue once I have done one or two brews. So next weekend I may begin buying my first few bits of kit - boiler, fermenter, thermometer, hydrometer and possibly an extract, some malt and some hops in preparation for the first brew.
Monday, 3 October 2011
Feline Frenzy
Two days ago, after a decade of prevarication, permission denial, and debates about being in a different country, Emma and I finally became the proud owners of two playful seven month-old cats which were purchased from the local RSPCA shelter. Ever since we have been together both Emma and I have wanted to own cats but from initially being at uni and deciding the close proximity of students to cats, and the debts that go along with studying was a bad combination and that we should instead wait until we were working, it has taken until now for us to be living in rental accommodation that will allow us to own them.
Throughout our time in the south of England we were restricted to where we could rent, mainly through budget restraints, but also because when our leases were up for renewal there was never an advertisement with the hallowed words 'pets allowed' currently available. That finally ended when we moved in July to our new place in Townsville and Emma received notification that we could have up to two domestic cats in residence. Since we were heading off to the UK for a three week holiday we deemed it was rather cruel to take a cat (or cats) out of a kennel at the RSPCA, take them home and make them settled for a week, and then promptly return them to a kennel and disappear for 3 weeks; not an ideal start to any relationship.
So Saturday came and we were both up and at the shelter for opening time at 8:30am and headed straight for the cattery. We saw three cars which would have been suitable to re-home alone, and two pairs which had been dropped off together. So it essentially came down to whether we wanted to take two home straight away, or take just one and then get another later. We really wanted one on it's own, a lovely black and white cat which was about one year old, but decided we wanted to take two. The volunteer who was assisting us then said that I would be better for them (and by this I think she meant both the cats and the RSPCA) if we were to take one of the pairs as they could be assured that they would get on together and it would not mean breaking them up if someone else came and wanted to take one of a pair. So that brought us to one older pair, a five and three year old, and a second younger pair of seven month old cats. The elderly pair was a large black cat and a relatively large Siamese cross although it was completely grey and was Siamese in body shape but not colouring. The young pair was a small tortoiseshell and white cat and a larger, but still fairly small seal point Siamese looking cat with brilliant blue eyes. This Siamese didn't quite have the body shape of a true Siamese so was also crossed with something else.
Emma and I talked it over and two hours after getting to the shelter, finally decided that we would take the younger pair home named Rosie and Mr Bojangles (we have decided on Bo for short) as they were fairly playful but mainly because we thought the older pair would cope with separation better than the youngsters, although we hope they also manage to get re-homed together.
So our household is now a cat's home. It is covered in cat hair because they could do with a bath and a brush to get out their winter coat, and tiny claw holes on a large array of furniture which we always knew would happen, and thus we didn't get top of the range furniture when we went shopping a few months ago. They are still a little unsure and have found a number of hiding spots where they sleep during the day and they come out for food and manic playtimes two or three time a day - when we are about to get up (not too early so far) and just before bed time.
I shall put up some photos of them soon.
Throughout our time in the south of England we were restricted to where we could rent, mainly through budget restraints, but also because when our leases were up for renewal there was never an advertisement with the hallowed words 'pets allowed' currently available. That finally ended when we moved in July to our new place in Townsville and Emma received notification that we could have up to two domestic cats in residence. Since we were heading off to the UK for a three week holiday we deemed it was rather cruel to take a cat (or cats) out of a kennel at the RSPCA, take them home and make them settled for a week, and then promptly return them to a kennel and disappear for 3 weeks; not an ideal start to any relationship.
So Saturday came and we were both up and at the shelter for opening time at 8:30am and headed straight for the cattery. We saw three cars which would have been suitable to re-home alone, and two pairs which had been dropped off together. So it essentially came down to whether we wanted to take two home straight away, or take just one and then get another later. We really wanted one on it's own, a lovely black and white cat which was about one year old, but decided we wanted to take two. The volunteer who was assisting us then said that I would be better for them (and by this I think she meant both the cats and the RSPCA) if we were to take one of the pairs as they could be assured that they would get on together and it would not mean breaking them up if someone else came and wanted to take one of a pair. So that brought us to one older pair, a five and three year old, and a second younger pair of seven month old cats. The elderly pair was a large black cat and a relatively large Siamese cross although it was completely grey and was Siamese in body shape but not colouring. The young pair was a small tortoiseshell and white cat and a larger, but still fairly small seal point Siamese looking cat with brilliant blue eyes. This Siamese didn't quite have the body shape of a true Siamese so was also crossed with something else.
Emma and I talked it over and two hours after getting to the shelter, finally decided that we would take the younger pair home named Rosie and Mr Bojangles (we have decided on Bo for short) as they were fairly playful but mainly because we thought the older pair would cope with separation better than the youngsters, although we hope they also manage to get re-homed together.
So our household is now a cat's home. It is covered in cat hair because they could do with a bath and a brush to get out their winter coat, and tiny claw holes on a large array of furniture which we always knew would happen, and thus we didn't get top of the range furniture when we went shopping a few months ago. They are still a little unsure and have found a number of hiding spots where they sleep during the day and they come out for food and manic playtimes two or three time a day - when we are about to get up (not too early so far) and just before bed time.
I shall put up some photos of them soon.
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
Baking and brewing
Whilst on holiday I remembered the delights of eating home baked bread and drinking good old fashioned British Real Ale. Both of these things reminded me of home so I have decided to begin baking bread once more and through the generosity of my brother, have some cash as a birthday gift to set myself up in the homebrew game. (I believe that a large part of his decision to do this was so that he can enjoy a decent pint when he comes to visit late next year ... 12 months to perfect it then!!)
Part one was completed yesterday with a whopping 1.4kg (3lb) loaf being made to a pretty decent standard. This was a simple White loaf as finding good strong wholemeal flour in the local shops is proving a bit tricky. The results (so I am informed by Emma) are decidedly tasty. I am currently finishing off the last of the shop bought loaf so am yet to have a slice.
Part two shall begin later this week. I have placed on order a homebrew book made by CAMRA (the gurus of real ale) and have located what appears to be a pretty good homebrew supply shop locally. I think I shall begin with a kit and the intention is to progress onto a more 'expert' process of using differing hops and malts to produce a beer to our liking. My current conundrum is whether to barrel it or bottle it. As far as I can see barrelling is a cheaper and easier option (no outlay on bottles, caps or capping devices) but it requires drinking within a few weeks of opening. Possibly a bit tricky when it comes to a 40pt barrel! This may mean a few 10pt barrels if such a thing exists. No doubt the guys in the shop will help me decide the best way forward.
I just hope that my other plan of cycling a lot more will enable me to enjoy the beer without the consequences of gaining a portly figure.
Part one was completed yesterday with a whopping 1.4kg (3lb) loaf being made to a pretty decent standard. This was a simple White loaf as finding good strong wholemeal flour in the local shops is proving a bit tricky. The results (so I am informed by Emma) are decidedly tasty. I am currently finishing off the last of the shop bought loaf so am yet to have a slice.
Part two shall begin later this week. I have placed on order a homebrew book made by CAMRA (the gurus of real ale) and have located what appears to be a pretty good homebrew supply shop locally. I think I shall begin with a kit and the intention is to progress onto a more 'expert' process of using differing hops and malts to produce a beer to our liking. My current conundrum is whether to barrel it or bottle it. As far as I can see barrelling is a cheaper and easier option (no outlay on bottles, caps or capping devices) but it requires drinking within a few weeks of opening. Possibly a bit tricky when it comes to a 40pt barrel! This may mean a few 10pt barrels if such a thing exists. No doubt the guys in the shop will help me decide the best way forward.
I just hope that my other plan of cycling a lot more will enable me to enjoy the beer without the consequences of gaining a portly figure.
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Maggie and the start of the packing
Spent a good weekend with Freyja and Steve from Sydney who came up to visit us this weekend. Met them at the airport around 3:30 on Friday and after having a coffee on The Strand overlooking Magnetic Island whilst accompanied by much talking about how good it was to see the Sun, headed back over to our place to find Em waiting on the doorstep (she'd cycled in and had left her keys at home). Had a relatively quiet night catching up and having some food down at the local pub, and enjoying more than our fair share of laughs as the University Frisbee Team was beginning a night on the town dressed as TV/movie characters. Lots of Wolverines, an Iron Man, Mad Hatter and many, many others. Queue a fair bit of reminiscing about uni!
Em headed to the hospital with Steve on Sat morning - grit in the eye a few days earlier. Note to self: don't use a grinder on mortar when only wearing a pair of sunnies. After initially thinking they'd only be an hour or so, headed to grab a drink at the cafe after a couple of hours then walked around the river with Freyja until about 11:30 when we heard they were heading home with drop versions of the cream Em had in the house. Had a bite to eat and then headed off to Magnetic Island for the afternoon.
Steve hired a car and then we drove to Horseshoe Bay at the top of the island (about a 5 minute drive) and then decided to find Arthur Bay which the guidebooks said was good for Snorkelling.
Freyja and Steve Snorkelled, I took some piccies (trying to get back into the photography so spent a lot of the afternoon playing with settings and making lots of mistakes, but got a few nice shots) and Em sunned herself on a big rock by the water.
Arthur Bay, MAgnetic Island
Marlin Bar, Horseshoe Bay
Went back to Horseshoe Bay after driving around a bit first and had some food and a beer. Headed back home around 7 and then finished off by watching the All Blacks vs the Wallabies Rugby match. Australia managed to hold on for the win after a big NZ come back.
Went to the markets in the morning and had some brunch then went up Castle Hill to take in the view (unfortunately a tad cloudy so weren't able to see as far as normal) and then a final drink on The Strand before dropping them at the airport.
Em has now got into total holiday mode - we are both pretty much packed and just need to put in a few toiletries on Friday. Realised that I need to figure out how to put the hot water system on standby and a hoping that the Letting Agents get onto fixing the sprinkler system in the garden otherwise we may have a completely brown (rather than mostly brown) lawn when we get home!
Just spent a while crawling around chasing a Gecko (poor thing was terrified!) so I could put it outside. I don't fancy getting home to find Gecko poo all over the new sofa!
Em headed to the hospital with Steve on Sat morning - grit in the eye a few days earlier. Note to self: don't use a grinder on mortar when only wearing a pair of sunnies. After initially thinking they'd only be an hour or so, headed to grab a drink at the cafe after a couple of hours then walked around the river with Freyja until about 11:30 when we heard they were heading home with drop versions of the cream Em had in the house. Had a bite to eat and then headed off to Magnetic Island for the afternoon.
Steve hired a car and then we drove to Horseshoe Bay at the top of the island (about a 5 minute drive) and then decided to find Arthur Bay which the guidebooks said was good for Snorkelling.
Freyja and Steve Snorkelled, I took some piccies (trying to get back into the photography so spent a lot of the afternoon playing with settings and making lots of mistakes, but got a few nice shots) and Em sunned herself on a big rock by the water.
Arthur Bay, MAgnetic IslandMarlin Bar, Horseshoe BayWent back to Horseshoe Bay after driving around a bit first and had some food and a beer. Headed back home around 7 and then finished off by watching the All Blacks vs the Wallabies Rugby match. Australia managed to hold on for the win after a big NZ come back.
Went to the markets in the morning and had some brunch then went up Castle Hill to take in the view (unfortunately a tad cloudy so weren't able to see as far as normal) and then a final drink on The Strand before dropping them at the airport.
Em has now got into total holiday mode - we are both pretty much packed and just need to put in a few toiletries on Friday. Realised that I need to figure out how to put the hot water system on standby and a hoping that the Letting Agents get onto fixing the sprinkler system in the garden otherwise we may have a completely brown (rather than mostly brown) lawn when we get home!
Just spent a while crawling around chasing a Gecko (poor thing was terrified!) so I could put it outside. I don't fancy getting home to find Gecko poo all over the new sofa!
Thursday, 25 August 2011
8 days to go
In a little over a week Em and I shall be winging our way back over to Blighty for a 3 week holiday. I've got in touch with most people to arrange a catch up and hope we can see most people whilst back.
Ash is sorting out a weekend in the Lakes (mainly because I've been a bit tardy with helping to sort stuff) so we should have a good couple of days on the hills if the weather plays ball.
It turns out that it is another friend's birthday party that weekend, so the trip may be cut short to accommodate that, but even if it is, we should be able to see a few more people at that!
I'm hoping that the seats we were given when I booked are as good as they say and we don't get unlucky and stay awake all night. This is because although the seats are rated highly on seatguru.com they are also 'bassinet' seat. This means that there are baby 'tables' attached to the bulkhead in front of the seats and could well house some small people who will be intent on keeping us awake for the 13 hours we are on that flight. I shall be packing my headphones so that hopefully I can hear the films over any crying. It makes me wish that noise cancelling headphones were cheaper than the $260 that I've seen them selling for over here.
Well in 8 days I'll be able to say if I should have spent the cash or if it was money well saved.
I found some pennies in gathering dust ... Not sure what 1.20 will buy these days
Tuesday, 23 August 2011
Returning to the basics
I've lately started to take some photos again - to try and get into Photography once more. I've upgraded my lens kit to a 24-105 f4.0 L IS USM lens from one of Em's bosses who was upgrading himself (thanks for the early birthday present Em) and gave me a great deal, and a 50mm f1.8 lens to give me some flexibility with low-light situations and in preparation for our trip back to the UK as it should prove to be a good portrait lens on my crop-sensor camera.
I have also found and installed the 'Russian hack' for the EOS 300D camera which I own. My model has been out of warranty for a long time, so I had no issue with breaking the warranty by doing this. Obviously if you want to use it yourself, you should be aware that some people have reported problems with the installation resulting in it locking up during installation. This installs a hacked firmware so that it releases a number of functions that were available on the EOS 10D camera which was the number one 'Prosumer' Digital SLR at the time. This has given me access to some functions I think I will use a fair bit, notably selectable autofocus modes and a max ISO of 3200.
I plan to try and upload one or two photos to Flickr daily. I shall also try and improve my creative mind by deciding on subject matter and trying to create a set of photos based around a theme. I hope that this should help with my imagination for coming up with ideas for my paintings too.
If you have any ideas or subjects that you would like me to use as the basis for some of these sets, then please leave me a comment.
Footbridge on the Cudtheringa Track of Castle Hill, Townsville
This shot was taken on a walk with a good friend from NSW who was staying with us for a few days.
View across Townsville Port from Castle Hill, Townsville
More of photos can be seen on my flickr page here.
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