Lambic mead is a go!

Finally got all the stuff I needed for my lambic mead experiment.  1.5lbs or raspberry honey.  Maltodextrin, oak and some wyeast Belgian lambic yeast.  Very exited about this one.  Now to get started on my Christmas spiced mead.....

Everything ready to go

Waiting begins

My 5 gallon traditional is under the coat in the background and is coming along nicely.

What happens when I get board on vacation.

With 2 weeks of vacation to use or loose I spent the week of Christmas through new years at home.  With an over abundance of free time on my hands I decided to give mead making a try.  Time will tell how it turns out but I have high hopes for this.  To bad mead is about a year process from start to ready to drink cuz I am very exited to try it.

12lbs of orange blossom honey

Mixin her up

Yeast: Check

Primary begins.

Next day bubbling away.

If all goes according to plan I might have to experiment a bit with this.  Have ideas for future batches in the works.

Homemade wine update #4

Ive been playing around with Inkscape to make labels for my wine.  Made two diffrent ones.  One for the bottle that I am going to cellar for a year to see what it does and then one for the rest of the bottles.  A quick trip to Staples for some appropriate sized shipping labels (which are WAY over priced by the way) and here is the finished product.

All labeled up

Warning for the back.

Wine Update #3

Over the holiday weekend I decided to bottle up my homemade wine since the gravity hadn't moved in several days.  Ended up with a little over a case of 375ml bottles.  It turned out better then I was expecting for just using Reliance table grapes and wild yeast that was on the grapes.  It kind of reminds me of a dry rose, boozy with a bit of grape flavor.  Its not going to win any awards but it is definitely drinkable which is all I could ask for.  It will be interesting to see how it develops over the coming months in the bottle. 

Im going to give it a go next year to see if I can improve on it, definitely some things I would do differently.

New Pellet Grill!

Well I stumbled into a deal that I could not pass up.  Got this new WiFi enabled Green Mountain Grill for basically half price.  I didn't need another grill, don't really have a place for it but I just couldn't pass it up, so over the weekend I christened it with a little standing rib roast.  Food porn below.

Heating Up

Baby Roast Smoking Away

Rested and Ready to Eat!

Turned out pretty damn good, not too smokey but it is only my first attempt at a smoked roast so I will have to work on the technique.

Its Here Its Here!

Well after a 5 month wait my new Subaru is finally here!  Picked it up last weekend and have just over 300 miles on the clock so far.  I'm still getting through the 1000 mile break in so I haven't really opened it up but it is plenty quick without getting on it.  The ride is definitely firm but not harsh by any means.  The seats are really pretty comfy for a sports bucket and there heated which has been nice since it has turn off quite cold recently.  Wholly balls can it CORNER!  Subaru really does know what there doing when it comes to all-wheel drive systems, its like its on rails.  The fuel mileage is just over 22mpg combined city and highway which inst much worse then my old forester at 25, it is a 300hp motor so I cant complain to much.  I'm quite pleased with it so far and it was definitely worth the wait.

My pickup got new shoes

After nearly 50000 miles on the old BFG All Terrains it was finally time for new tires for my pickup.  Since getting my commuter Subaru I don't drive the pickup much and when I do it is usually on gravel and dirt roads so I decided to go with a mud terrain tire.  Picked the Nitto Trail Grappler because it comes in what I think is the perfect size for my stock height pickup, 285/75R18.  That and everybody and there dog around here as Toyo MT and I just have to be different!  The only down side is the the price of 18" tires, $330 apiece.  Ford didn't do us any favors by going to such large wheels, seriously thought about going down to 17" wheels which is as small as I could go and fit over the brakes.  Anyway I am happy with them so far they ride decent and aren't any more noisy then the All Terrains were.  Every thing I have read about them is they ware pretty well too so well see.

Sporting new shoes!

Ready for my closeup.