Leopard Arrived

Well, my Amazon ordered copy of Leopard arrived today, but there’s two big things that are keeping me from upgrading.

First, there’s the whole problem with Time Machine and Aperture. Since I’m not going to be jumping through the hoops Apple’s currently recommending, namely disabling it while you’re using Aperture, that’s definitely a show stopper.

Second, SuperDuper! doesn’t quite work with it yet. Since that’s my backup solution, I’m not going to be running without it. They’re working on a fix and I’m definitely not giving them a hard time about a delay. It’ll be ready when it’s ready.

Between the two, I’ll be waiting for fixes before upgrading. Though it is burning a hole in my pocket, so to speak.

Tearing Down The Sportster

In an effort to try to fix the valve that’s been hitting since Tennessee I pulled the rocker box covers and got the tappets and push-rods out. I’ve got new tappets on order and they should be in in time for me to button the bike up next weekend. I’m going to have to go out and pick up a universal extension for my socket though because there are two bolts for the rear rocker box cover which can’t be reached due to the frame being in the way.

The City Of Lewisville’s Water Analysis

Well, I just got off the phone with a really helpful person at the city’s water department who has given me the data on the tap water that I needed to configure BeerAlchemy. It really explains why my dark beers turn out so well and I’m having trouble with my light ones. Here’s the breakdown, in case any other local brewers need the info:

Component Concentration (mg/l)
total hardness 120
magnesium 25
calcium 105
bicarbonate 105
sodium 75
chloride 25
sulfate 50
alkalinity 105

BeerAlchemy

I’ve been looking for some Mac based brewing software for a while now and have finally found a good one. My needs are pretty simple, I just want something that will let me keep track of my recipes and batches and will help me design new recipes.

BeerAlchemy fits the bill and then some. It does all of that and also will keep track of supplies such as hops, grains, adjuncts, etc. Plus you can enter all of the data on the fermentation of an individual batch, including which mash you used, and more.

One of the more interested part of the program is the water calculations. It allows you to enter in the data about your local water and then helps you figure out the right mix of additives to get it to be like one of the waters used by famous breweries. I’ve got to call the city’s water lab to get the info on Lewisville’s water and then I can start making better beer.

Racked The Stout To The Secondary

I moved the stout to the secondary today, after about eight days of primary fermentation. The specific gravity is at 1.019, meaning that it’s got a little more cooking to do. I’m keeping the temperature where it is and letting it go a little longer. The yeast ought to be finishing off the last little bit of sugars over the next week or so. I’ll check it then and if it’s down where it should be it’ll go into the keg, if not I’ll let it go a little longer…

Loreena McKennitt

She’s on a limited U.S. tour and Dallas was one of the stops so I got to take in one of the best shows I’ve been to, ever. If you don’t know who Loreena McKennitt is, take a look at her site.

The whole band was there with her, including a hurdy gurdy, oud, cello, viola, harp, drums, and more. They played music from across her recording career including some off the newest album. She also talked a bit about the traveling she did while creating the music.

It was an extremely entertaining evening and I was sad to see it end. If she ever comes anywhere near this area I’ll definitely be going to see her again.

We’ve Got A Winner!

Before I left for work this morning I filled the airlock on the mead and saw what I thought was a little motion. Well… By the time I got back and checked again it was going like gang busters. Thank you Wyeast for making a yeast good enough to have a lag time of less than 24 hours when the package is a year old. I’m getting 3 – 5 bubbles a second out of that airlock. It’s almost a steady stream.

Started A Batch Of Dry Mead

I was going to start this one on Sunday but because I was in a hurry when I picked up the yeast I failed to notice that the pack was a year old. So it didn’t swell up like it should have. I let it go a while longer and Sunday turned into Monday. It never did swell up like it should have but I decided to go ahead and do it anyways.

It’s a simple recipe, just dissolve 12 pounds of honey and bring the volume up to 5 gallons. Pitch the yeast, I’m using Wyeast’s 4021 Pasteur Champagne strain, and wait. I used some persimmon/wildflower honey, native Texas stuff, from Round Rock Honey out of Austin.

Initial gravity was around 1.086 – 1.090.

We’ll see how the yeast does.

Kegged The Dunkelweizen

I kegged the dunkel today, it’s currently cooling down and carbonating. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow. The samples tasted really good so I’m expecting good things from it.

I also went up to the homebrew store and picked up the ingredients for a stout. I’ll be brewing that later on this week, since it looks like the cool box is actually working. I’ll post the recipe once I get it going.