Only Ya'all will understand this...

...but I feel strangely complete...

I just tossed yeast on a Cooper's Irish Stout pkg, in my new second brew vat (# Two-I know, an ominous name). The original (now named # One) being reserved for the next starter kit of Cooper's Lager (light ale, as ya'all pointed out to me). As my original brew is now in week 2 after bottling and Cooper's is out of bottles (giving me the excuse to purchase their kit at a reduced price plus a 10% off coupon), I'll wait another week to start #One. I figure to drink at week 3, and take maybe a week drinking it, to clear my bottles for # One's next run.

I understand why Cooper's makes the vats clear, now: so "we" can watch as our precious' do their thing. Suddenly, I realized that I had been standing and watching (with a beer in hand) for about 10 minutes, after I set the Kraussen and lid, waiting to see my lil yeasties start to chew. (I imagine that septic tank enzyme commercial...I see lil "almost Pac-Man-like" enzymes munching on my precious ingredients striving to give me a beautiful stout)


What more could a man ask for? Ya'all know that I'll be asking a gazillion questions before this is through, so I thought I'd warn ya'all and share my happy and content state-of-mind. I reckon this post wil probably make ya'all think of that happy, warm feeling that ya'all get when ya'all toss yeast. At least, I hope so...

Welcome!!

My first kit and ingredients should be on my doorstep when I arrive home today. I'm sure I will be just as entranced as you are. Loving your hobby is a good thing.

Maybe this is blasphemous, but I have never stood there watching my beer ferment. I always use opaque fermenters. I have seen other people's carboys actively fermenting, but never my own beer. I just have to be satisfied by airlock activity.

weirdboy said:

Maybe this is blasphemous, but I have never stood there watching my beer ferment. I always use opaque fermenters. I have seen other people's carboys actively fermenting, but never my own beer. I just have to be satisfied by airlock activity.

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I bought glass carboys with my first kit, mainly so I could watch the fermentation. Stuff like that just facinates me.

weirdboy said:

Maybe this is blasphemous, but I have never stood there watching my beer ferment. I always use opaque fermenters. I have seen other people's carboys actively fermenting, but never my own beer. I just have to be satisfied by airlock activity.

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Ditto. I wrap my Carboy with a towel and a navy snuggie, since I don't use the damn thing. Keeps light out, and the temp steady. I never see the yeast at work. I have to settle for air lock bubbles, and thats good enough for me.

Oh, I should add that I moved my 2 vats to an upstairs bedroom vacated by my eldest son, oh...10 years back. It has a dark shade over the window, now, and I have a small space heater to keep my temp more along the proper lines. With ya'all's help, we're gettin' smarter about this! Thank you!

HEHE My FV stayed within the proper temp range, this time, and Kraussen (a good 6 inch foam at peak) fell late on day 2. I removed the collar, this morning (Day 3) and it smells like I have Stout! Smells just like a good Murphy's! (or Guinness, if you perfer) I can't wait to see what my FG is, and bottle. This is a hoot! Tomorrow, I get to sample a 2 weeks in the bottle light ale from my 1st brew. Fellas, I'm hooked already! Brew 3 (the starter kit of lager/light ale from buying the new kit) starts up, sometime, this next week. 30 bottles at a time...I'm trying to hit it so that I never run out of beer! hehehe!

Yay! 3 days with SG @ 1002, so I bottled the Irish Stout, this morning. A little confused, tho. My 1st brew, the Cooper's lager package mixed to a total of 23 litres gave me 30x750 ML bottles of rich, golden light ale, that I (and my Bros) are thoroughly enjoying. It's 3 weeks in the bottle, today. This Irish Stout? It gave me 32 bottles, and could have been 33, but I tossed the dregs as it was a bit mushy from leaning the kv over to get the last couple bottles filled. Did my Stout grow? hahaha I mixed another Lager package Saturday, as well. This sure is fun AND addictive...

weirdboy said:

Maybe this is blasphemous, but I have never stood there watching my beer ferment. I always use opaque fermenters. I have seen other people's carboys actively fermenting, but never my own beer. I just have to be satisfied by airlock activity.

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your right it is blasphemous , but so is asking for a receipt at the

home brew store

74 shovel - eh

EH! EH???! What, and you ride a Twinkie? Or a Sportster? At least my 74" 1978 Shovel has a kicker and points. As does my 1936 WL 45" Flathead, and a 3 speed/reverse tranny...You say "eh" to a Shovelhead? THAT is blasphemy! hahaha!

they didnt make the knuckle back in 74, unless you meant a 47. Nice bikes

OP

You spelled "Y'all" wrong......

Sincerely,
Concerned Texan

Ya'all (meaning you all as in Ya all= ya'all; and what would a Texan know about that? hahaha!) is the way I usually spell it, maybe I goofed? Anyway...he means 74 cubic inch Knuck, I'd say, as '47 was the last year of the Knuck. Most Knucks were 61"s, but there were alot of Big Twins. The Knuck is my Holy Grail! I've had everything BUT a Knuck. I believe it to be the most beautiful engine ever designed, with the 45" Flathead (SV) being the 2nd, then the Shovel or K. I am on my 2nd 45, now. 1st was my Great-Grandfather's WLA, but it was stolen back in 1985. Funny story to that, maybe I'll tell it, someday...

Back on the Knuck, suicide shift is a misnomer. The clutch is actually the suicide part. If you let your foot slide off, you shoot out into the intersection. The shifters are Tankslapper, Jockey, and Police Jockey. Meaning tank mount, seat pogo mount, and under tank on the leg mount. I am a bit of a bike nut. haha Laid my patch down a few years back, back not the scoots. My Flathead is a suicide clutch, tank shift, in this itteration. I am making it into a WLDR, now. All I need is a full-time job so I can afford to re-finish. hehe It's been a trike, a chopper, a loper, all kindsa things over the years. Same engine and tranny, just diff frames and front ends. Gonna cut down a 20" over Springer to make the WLDR. The Springy has the last 8" bent from a railroad track incident. hehehe

3rd brew in the vat! Irish in the bottle! WOO HOO!

Oh, and as a sideline, me and my Shovel made a few trips in 2010; she hauled my arse from the Miss/Ala line to Northern kentucky, then Denver, then back to home, then to savannah, Gawgia, then all of my normal 3-400 miles weekend trips, all year long, as she does every year, so I can laugh at the newer bikes. Also, I picked-up a '77 84" shovel in payette, ID for my Bro. Rode her home thru Los Angeles, as I hadn't been there in 34 years. All of that on a Shovel that I met the day I rode into Oregon on it. Soooo, ya can't really turn ya nose up at the old Shovels. They keep on a goin', if ya take care of 'em. We're turnin' that 77 into a FLH, as someone had cut it up and made an FXR out of her. THAT is blasphemy! Skinny tire on the front of a Shovel! SHEESH!

Sounds like some interesting bikes, id love a knuck, but those are way out of my price range, for now ill stick with my buell

Cool. Back in the old days, we always tried to make the old Ironheads sportier, then Buell came along and stuffed it into a true sport frame. What could be better? THAT'S how ya haul arse on an HD.

Congrats on the brews!

Y'all is an actual word, it is short for "you all."

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/y'all

Y'all just figerin' that out? hehe

OH! TTB-J, Your signature says mead! Do you make mead in a beer-type brewery kit? My bestestest Bro loves mead and started drooling wanting to make some when he saw my Cooper's kits. He doesn't like beer (SACRILIGE!) but loves mead. Can we do that in a Cooper's?

TW1Kell said:

Y'all just figerin' that out? hehe

OH! TTB-J, Your signature says mead! Do you make mead in a beer-type brewery kit? My bestestest Bro loves mead and started drooling wanting to make some when he saw my Cooper's kits. He doesn't like beer (SACRILIGE!) but loves mead. Can we do that in a Cooper's?

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Oh yeah, all of the same equipment. I just stick it in a bucket and leave it - don't even worry about temperature control or anything. Hard core mead makers have their own techniques (e.g. reserving some of the must for back-sweetening, pitching at various times, aeration method, etc.) - I did a lot of reading up on it back a year or so ago, but I thought I would try it with basically just throwing it all into a bucket and seeing what happened. Turned out pretty well! So now I always have a batch of mead going on the side because, heck, why not? That Light Lemonade Mead is from the recipe section here at HBT - it's a really easy first batch and it's remarkably quaffable.

Cool, cool! Thanks for the info. My bro will be very excited about that. I can't drink mead. I tried it once and it messed my blood sugar so bad, I thought I was gonna die! hahaha! YAY! Another thing we can all do and not have to buy! HAHAHA!

MotorcycleMatt said:

they didnt make the knuckle back in 74, unless you meant a 47. Nice bikes

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It was called a 74 because it was 74ci knuckle head as pop & my biker brother told me. And a guy down the street from my parents had one he customized real nice.

Yup, it was referred to, by H-D, as the 61" and 74" OHV, and Knucklehead was a nickname applied by all of us. The rocker arm box resembles a fist aimed at yer face, well...kinda sorta. HAHA! ALL H-D's are usually referred to as a "something-head". Many people are referred to as a "something-head", as well. hahaha!