Beach Brew

It is now 0900. I have been going since about 0600. I got up early did all my cleaning and setup. Stopped for breakfast then started brewing. Didn’t get around to crushing grain last night so had to do that this morning. Missed my strike temp in mash in and was way too hot. Had to wait for a while for the mash to cool. But the mash is in and doing it’s thing, about 20 minutes to go. I am doing two batches today which should be a challenge as I haven’t done this before. All is going well so far. I have everything else ready so I am just having a coffee and taking it easy at this point. Maybe I will weigh out my first hop addition. Oh, I am making a Kolsch style beer and an Alt today.

0945. First batch, kolsch, is sparging atm. The hlt is heating up for the second batch. All going well so far. I am ahead of myself like usual with my first hop addition measured out. Promash is annoying when doing a double brew day as you can only have one recipe/session open at a time. Getting toward the end of the sparge. I already have the grains cracked for the second batch. As soon as I have cleaned out the mash tun and the hlt is up to temp i will be ready to mash in the second batch. Bloody miserable day though. Hopefully only a couple of guys if any come round.

1030. The kolsch is in the kettle and boiling. First hop addition has been made. Good sparge collected about the right amount of wort so things are still progressing well. Second batch, alt, has been mashed in. Hit the strike temp spot on this time so mash temp at 66.5C. Ninety minute mash for the alt also. Almost time for a beer I think.

1130. Batch 1 is currently running through the CFC and into the fermenter. Tap water is still reasonably cold so it shouldn’t take too long. About 20 minutes to go in mash 2. May have to run the wort off to a temporary container as the kettle may not be empty and cleaned by the time I need to mash out. Things are still going pretty well. I am happy so far.

1900. All done. Both brews are in fermenters and yeast has been pitched. All went well except I collected way more wort than expected so I have to redo all my efficiency calculations. Got a bit distracted as a few people turned up thus the huge delay in updates. Howveer, it was all finished by about 1430.

The Next Day. Just checked on the two brews. Both are bubbling through the airlock but not as aggressively as I would like. The temp had probably dipped a little lower than I wanted but is still in range. I have adjusted up the thermostat. Checked my efficiency calculations as my OG reading were well below what was expected due to collecting 3-4l more wort than expected. My efficiency for the two brews was 74% and 76%. Funnily enough the alt which had a bit of a stuck sparge came out higher. I think I’m starting to get the hang of this brewing thing.

Just an update on my brewing and recent comps.

On the competition front two national comps have recently been completed. You can check out the ANAWBS results here and the SABSOSA results here. I judged at both competitions and there were some excellent beers. There were a few ordinary beers too but generally the quality was high. Both days went very well and I am looking forward to being involved in both again next year.

As for my own brewing. I have not brewed for about three weeks. I bottled my Summer Ale today and have started drinking my American Brown which is fast becoming a favourite.

Next weekend I am doing a double brew day for the first time which should be interesting. I decided to do it this way as I am making an alt and a kolsch. These two have very similar fermentation and conditioning schedules so it makes sense. Still a double brew day will be interesting. I am expecting to be stuffed on Saturday night. Looking forward to it though.

Scientists build world’s first single-molecule car

This stuff never ceases to amaze me. I can only admire the people who have the original ideas and come up with these innovations. I guess there is no immediate practical use for this but the possibilities are endless. This is the where the cures for diseases and advances that can feed millions will come from. Pure scientific research for the sake of research and investigation.

Well what do I know about architecture? Bugger all really. For the most part it doesn’t really trouble me. Occasionally I see the odd building that really stands out one way or the other but for the most part it’s no big deal.

However, there has been significant housing construction in Australia over the last few years. Thus a lot of contemporary homes are with contemporary architecture are being built. A disproportionate amount when compare to other periods. The upshot of this is that we end are going to end up with the architecture of this period making a large part of our landscape for the future. I have no analysis, statistics or research to back this up other than my own observations. That said I think it is pretty obvious to anyone what is going on.

This doesn’t sound like such a bad thing. However, I am of the opinion the contemporary mass market architecture is awful. Can you imagine anyone thinking these places they pack into new estates or rip down old houses to fit three new one’s into are a desirable residence in 20 years time? They will be lucky to be standing then. Compare this to the old cottages and terraces you see around Australian cities. These building have a bit of character and class. Then there is the massive apartment buildings they are creating. These are Australian cities. We have a fair bit of room. Sure we don’t want to push urban sprawl endlessly but we have a bit more room to spare than Manhattan island so why mimic it? There is a beach suburb near me that has allowed apartment buildings to keep going up. The place is now almost permanently in the shade due to all the buildings, all the car parking is gone and really puts people off going there anymore.

Why does all this bother me? Well at first it was a minor annoyance as it was consigned mainly to the outer growing suburbs and not in near the city where I live. That and the fact I really don’t care that much about what other people do with their homes and buildings. I live in a beach suburb. This is not a particularly affluent area just a regular suburb. The house on the esplanade can be fairly flash and expensive but after that it is just another suburb. We just have the bonus of being near the beach. Since we moved here the face of the esplanade has been changing significantly.

Over the last three years and lat 12 months in particular there has been a real acceleration in the removal of old homes and the building of units. Now I have nothing against units. More people want to leave right on the beach, I know I do and would if I could afford to. Some of the houses they have taken down should have been taken down a long time ago. Nor to I begrudge people making out with huge profits by selling their blocks at the beach. What does bother me is the types of places they are putting up.

I’m sure you have seen these things. They are just massive concrete boxes with a bunch of glass at the front. All prefabricated and slapped up in no time. They are just plain boring boxes that are the current trend unfortunately. Couple this with the fact that it is a housing boom and you can see we are going to end up with a lot of these things as a blight on our landscape for a long time to come. They are even taking down some really nice homes now to put these things up. This is a real shame. Surely they could come up with building that still make use of their location but are a little more attractive. In my area we are going to end up with a beach fronted by a massive concrete and glass wall. Not really all that appealing.

So what is the answer? Unfortunately I don’t know. But surely there are some innovative architects out there with designs that will not cost the earth to produce. Anything is worth a shot at the moment.

Well we are full swing into competition season now. The ANAWBS had their presentation on the weekend and the AABC judging is on this weekend. Unfortunately I didn’t get around to putting anything in for the ANAWBS. I was lazy and didn’t get to it. I have two beers in the running for AABC though. I am also judging at AABC so I may even get to find out on the day how my beers do. The one I have the most hope for did very well at SABSOSA so I am quietly confident on that one.

Will be interesting to judge. We are judging at the Cooper’s brewery on Saturday. Hopefully I just get one category as the taste buds start to feel it after a few beers and it makes judging difficult. I’m just hoping to get a bit of a look at the brewery. I doubt we will get a chance but it would be nice.

Anyway keep your eye on SABSOSA ANAWBS and Aussie Home Brewer for results.

Jon Stanhope | Chief Minister, Australian Capital Territory

I have to admire this. He has really stuck his neck out on this. This is the way politics should work. The people should be able to see what is proposed and be involved in the debate. I have not read a lot of it yet but it doesn’t look good. He hasn’t taken it down despite a fair bit of pressure too. Well done John Stanhope.