Installing a hitch on the Hub Bus

The project for the day was installing a hitch on the back of the Hub Bus.  There are 4 bolts that hold the bumper on the back end of a 1976 VW bus.  As luck would have it, one of those bolts had rusted inself into place.  For some reason, the engineers had spot welded the nuts into an enclosed box that has no access other than a tiny little hole in the side.

 

I purchased a custom made hitch from a guy named Jamie in Canada who welded them together when people ordered them.

 

After cutting the old bolt and drilling a hole in the bottom of one of those boxes, I was able to get the old welded nut out and placed a piece of flat bar that I tapped to 10 x 1..5  so that I could thread into it.

For the final project of the day, I needed to make a new locking pin to hold the rack in.  I pulled out the old lathe for this one and had a good time machining a piece of steal that I had found on the side of the road into a piece that would fit into the locking system that we had on our old Hollywood rack.

First day of spring???

To celebrate the first warm sunny day in quite awhile, Claire and I went out for a great tandem ride thru the West county. We wanted to make sure we were home in time to sit on the deck and enjoy the sun and a refreshment.   I opened up my last package of pork crackles that Claire got me over a year ago for my birthday. Her cousin in Yorkshire came thru with them. They do taste better when drinking uncarbonated beer in a dark pub.  I enjoyed this bag with a Pilsner I brewed a couple of months ago. 

A Double Batch Day

Yeast starter for 20 gallons of beer
I made this sour dough bread with some spent grain from my stout.
Starting the boil on my stout.
This was a long day of brewing.  I think around 9 hours total.

Beer recipe

Beer #

82

Date

Jan 5, 2017

Description This is a recipe that I came across for Pliney the Elder.  It was written by Vinnie, the guy who owns Russian River Brewery, so it should be close to his.  Lots and lots of hops.
Yeast CA Ale Yeast with yeast starter
Grain Bill

Quantity

Grain

26.5 lbs

American 2-row

1.5 lbs

Crystal 45 malt

1.5 lbs

Carapils

2 lbs

Corn Sugar
Hop Schedule

Quantity

Hop

Schedule

7 oz

Columbus

1h 30m

1.5 oz

Columbus

45m

2 oz

Simcoe

30m

2 oz

Centennial

0w

5 oz

Simcoe

0w

2 oz

Columbus

Dry Hop (12 to 14 days)

2 oz

Centennial

Dry Hop (12 to 14 days)

2 oz

Simcoe

Dry Hop (12 to 14 days)

1 oz

Columbus

Dry Hop (5 days to go)

1 oz

Simcoe

Dry Hop (5 days to go)

Alcohol %

OG

FG

%

1.070

Notes Went pretty smoothly.  Lot of hops, so by the end of the boil I had a nice green soup going.

Beer recipe

Beer #

83

Date

Jan 5, 2017

Description Imperial Stout..
Yeast CA Ale Yeast
Grain Bill

Quantity

Grain

28 lbs

American 2 row

3 lbs

Flaked Rye

1.5 lbs

English Black patent malt (620 l)

1.5 lbs

Chocolate malt (500 l)

1.5 lbs

Black Roasted barley (500 l)

2 lbs

Dry Malt Extract
Hop Schedule

Quantity

Hop

Schedule

1 oz

Chinook

Mashout

2 oz

Chinook

60 min

3 oz

Chinook

15 min

2 oz

Chinook

5 min

Alcohol %

OG

FG

%

1.072

Notes I made this same recipe about a year and half ago.  I had the exact same problems last time as this time.  I really clogged up the mashtun, so I had to dig some grain out and put it in a different mashtun.  Quite a mess.  Thankfully this was taking place before the boil, so I didn’t have to worry about the hygiene of everything.  This was the second beer of a two beer loooooonnnnnggggg day.  I did a IPA with a 90 minute boil first so it ended up being about 9 hours total.

Raisin Bread with a Run

Rock Crossing at the Park

Wohler Bridge

The Russian River
 

I went out for a nice run around Riverfront Regional Park yesterday while Claire hiked.  We actually parked near Wohler Bridge and went thru the Sonoma County Water Agency land to get there.  Except for some very slick mud, it was perfect.  Nice and flat with a little bit of rain in the middle.

 

 

 

 

Afterwards I made some raisin bread.  

 

Dough rolled out with egg on top.

Cinnamon and Sugar sprinkled on top before rolling up.

Ready to rise before baking.

New Years Day Mountain Bike Ride and Pliny

Scott on his Cannondale Trigger
Alan out on the trail

Today we went out over to Annadel for a bike ride and hike.  Claire went out and hiked for 5 miles while I went for a ride with Jim, Alan, and Scott.  These guys have been coming in the shop for a while, and they go out almost every Sunday and ride and then go over to Russian River Brewery for a beer or two and some pizza.  It was a great ride.  Up to the top of Marsh and over to Ridge Trail before heading back down.    We had to join them for the beer and pizza afterwards.

Pilsner

Beer # 81
Date Dec 12, 2016

Since our basement is quite chilly during the winter, I figured I would do some lagered beer for a change. It is 54 degrees down there, which is a little too cold for most ale yeasts.

Camping south of Bridgeport off of Hwy. 395

Yeast White Labs WLP810 San Francisco Lager Yeast

Grain Bill
20 lbs Distillers Malt 6 row Alcohol % O. G. F. G. %
1 lbs German Acidulated Malt 1.058
4 lbs Flaked Corn

Hop Schedule Quantity Hop Schedule
2 oz Saaz 1h
2 oz Saaz 30m
2 oz Saaz 1m

Another Saison

A loaf of bread using some of the spent grains from my last beer.

Beer recipe

Beer # 75
Date May 9, 2015

Description Hopefully a traditional Saison. Same as #73. One of my favorites of all time!!!

Yeast WLP #565 White Labs Belgium Saison Ale Liquid Yeast with yeast starter

Grain Bill Quantity Grain
12 lbs Belgian Pilsner Malt (1.5L)
10 lbs German Vienna Malt (4L)
3 lbs German Wheat Malt (2L)

Hop Schedule Quantity Hop Schedule
1 oz Golding Mash out
1 oz Golding 60 min
1 oz Golding 15 min
1 oz Styrian Golding 15 min
1 oz Golding Dry hop
1 oz Styrian Golding Dry hop

Alcohol % OG FG %
1.060
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Beer #74

An IPA on our day off.

Beer # 74
Date Apr 25, 2016

Description Same as #71

Yeast White labs CA ale Yeast

Grain Bill Quantity Grain
30 lbs American 2 row
1 lbs Carapils
1 lbs Caramel Malt 40L
3 lbs Corn Sugar

Hop Schedule Quantity Hop Schedule
1 oz Amarillo Mash out
1 oz Columbus Mash out
1 oz Simcoe Mash out
1 oz Amarillo 45m
1 oz Columbus Flame out
1 oz Simcoe flame out
1 oz Amarillo Flame out
1 oz Amarillo Dry hop
2 oz Columbus Dry hop
2 oz Simcoe Dry hop
2 oz Centennial Dry hop

Alcohol % OG FG %
1.074

 

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

A double batch with some lessons learned

We are taking some time off from the shop, so I took advantage of one of our days to make a couple of batches of beer.  These were #64 and #65.

#64 was a black IPA, which I have never attempted before.  I basically used some of my favorite traditional hops, but added some nice dark malt and the rye malt.  I usually do a yeast starter for my beers, but for some reason, I was feeling lazy and just bought a couple of vials of WLP #001 (California Ale Yeast).  With the yeast starter, my beer usually starts fermentation after about 4 hours or so, now, 16 hours later I am still waiting for some bubbling on both brews.  I’m not worried, but I like the faster starts.

The biggest problem with the first batch was the amount of grain.  It was too much for my mash tun.  I was pretty sure I got it up to the correct temperature, maybe even a little on the high side, but it was way too thick.  This caused a stuck mash, so I wasn’t getting any wort out of the mash tun.  This was a first for me, so I took my garden hose and shot it back up through the bottom of my mash tun and cleaned out the insides enough for a little more than a trickle.

I’ve also got to do something about straining the hops before transferring to the primary.  I have been thinking about making some kind of screen that would go around the outflow, but I haven’t figured anything out yet.  Right now I end up with lots of crud going into the carboys.  It is no big deal, since it cleans itself out during the transfer to the secondary, but it would be nice to not have it figure in the amount of beer I have in the carboy.

I was shooting for a specific gravity of around 1.070, but only got a 1.060.

Grain Bill
Quantity
Grain
28 lbs
Northwest 2 Row
5 lbs
Rye Malt
2 lbs
Caramel Malt (60L)
2 lbs
German Carafe (300L)
Hop Schedule
Quantity
Hop
Schedule
2 oz
Warrior
Mashout
2 oz
Warrior
1h
2 oz
Cascade
15m
2 oz
Citra
15m
2 oz
Citra
Flameout
4 oz 
Citra
Dry Hop
2 oz
Cascade
Dry Hop
My gravity feed system

 
 My second batch of the day was one of my old standbys.  It was an English ESB.  It went quite smoothly except for the yeast not getting going as quickly as I would like it to.  I also used whole leaf hops with bags, so it was much cleaner at the end.  I don’t think the hops are as efficient, but they don’t leave much of a mess.  I came out with a specific gravity of 1.044, which was perfect.

Grain Bill
Quantity
Grain
22 lbs
Northwest 2 Row
2 lbs
Caramel Malt (60L)
Hop Schedule
Quantity
Hop
Schedule
2 oz
Fuggle
Mashout
2 oz 
Fuggle
1h
2 oz
Fuggle
6m
.5 lbs
Brown Sugar
6m

On a different note, I wanted to put in a photo of our Christmas present from Aaron and Melinda.  They had these top caps custom made for all the employees at the shop.  If you look closely, you can see it is made with the “hub of Cotati” in the center.

New top cap.