Priorities

I may have mentioned before that hubby is a good researcher.  So when it come to buying our third fridge he researched the heck out of it.  You see, this fridge had to suit a very specific purpose.

Our first fridge is boring and the purpose to which it has been put is rather pedestrian.  It keeps our food cold.  Too cold in fact.  The temperature of the unit has never been stable.  Our sandwich meats and cheeses regularly freeze.  There is nothing worse than waiting for a wheel of brie to thaw when the bread, crackers, olives, and dips are already out... And you're soooooo hungry!!!   Strangely enough, if this fridge was in charge of regulating the temperature of our beer it would have been 'fixed' a long time ago.  But since it only harbours our food it has been assessed a much lower priority.

Our second fridge is our kegerator.  It holds our two Cornelius kegs, filled at this time with a drastic attempt at an Abby Ale (more on that at a later date) and our 4 star single hop APA.  This beauty also has trouble regulating its temperature but too cold beer is not the worst of sins.  We used to pour jugs and then wait patiently for the temperature to come up.  This was never a problem in the summer.  Give it a few minutes and the beer was good.  Since the winter has set in our 'too cold' fridge became a real problem.  The beer was taking too long to warm up!  That fancy doomahicky you see on top of the silver fridge in the next picture is Hubby's creation. It regulates the temperature of our kegerator to within one degree! More on that another time.

Our third fridge, as I said, was bought with a specific purpose in mind.  As the temperature in our apartment varies wildly (from 13 degrees to 20 in the winter and 15 degrees to 32 in the summer) brewing under temperature controlled conditions was hard, neigh, impossible.  As you may or may not know, yeast get busy at different optimal temperatures.  And the temperature they get busy at really affects the flavour of the brew.  Hubby said we 'needed' to get this under control.  I still think we 'need' to get the cat to the vet.  But, like our first fridge, the cat was assessed at a lower priority level; somewhat more important than a new fridge (for obvious reasons) but less important than beer (also for obvious reasons?).

So Hubby researched the heck out of our third fridge and found three types that can hold the fermentor we currently own, with a fully removable freezer compartment, and space for a lamp, heat rock, heat belt or other fire prone concoction to heat the unit.  Getting one of these fridges was easier said than done.  Especially when you are as cheap as we are!  We couldn't spend more than $150.  That was the challenge.  We stalked the Trading Post, Gumtree, and Ebay.  We went to far flung nooks of this city and trudged through warehouses of unusable fridges. On a side note, I saw a great food fridge! But no! Food?  We aren't here to keep our food happy.  We are here to keep the yeast happy!

Finally, after many disappointing trips and one very confused man in a Bunnings car park, we found the make and model we wanted and it was only a few suburbs away!  After a short glimpse into the hipster lifestyle in trendy Carlton, we agreed on a price, lugged the fridge onto the street, and into our Ford Festiva.  Festevy is surprisingly generous in interior space and the fridge stood almost upright in the back.  It was done.  Weeks of disappointment after being outbid on Ebay, meeting strange men in houses, and explaining the odd use of this fridge, everything was sorted.  We had our fridge!

The Mistral fridge is home.  We had to move my sewing table over a smidge to fit it.  And yes, it may seem drastic to have 3 fridges in a 500 sq foot apartment.  But it will pay off.  We already have our first lager fermenting away!

But for every glass of beer that is half full there is another that is half empty.  Subsequent to getting the fridge home and paying $120, two identical fridges went up for bidding on Ebay.  One sold for $40, the other sold for $80.  Such is our luck!

Now I want to name the fridges.  Any suggestions?

Time wasted to date: 30 hours

Brewing and hopping

Well, I wasn't sure if my inaugural post would be on the subject of brewing and hopping or quilting... Brewing and hopping... Or quilting... I am flummoxed!

I flipped a coin in my head and brewing and hoping it is!

Last night Hubby and I stayed in and brewed a new American style pale ale. Lets say for the sake of my American brethren that it was in celebration of the Fourth of July. It wasn't. But lets just say it was.

Happy Fourth!

Hubby and I use the brew in a bag method. This means that after we get our water up to strike temperature we pop a huge voile bag in the Birko.



Then we add the yummy malted grains in a slow steady stream, stir to get out the beer clumps, and them clamp her up tighter then a bum on a cold bench. Ewwwww!

No, we wrap her up with towels, blankets and anything else to keep her warm.  Yes, even a housecoat. Then we let her sit and think about what she's done for 90 minutes.

Brewing in our apartment is an adventure in close quarters. Last night, as Hubby and I danced around each other in the 6'x3' galley style kitchen with a 40 litre Birko in the middle of the floor, I imagined us in a submarine. After burning his foot in a hot water accident some 3 months ago, I have this horrible fear that I might swing a hip with too much vigor and all that glorious steaming hot brew will come swishing out of the Birko and onto the floor. I imagine being at the helm of a nuclear powered submarine is very similar. The sticky heat and steam on the walls, the urgency of a well timed task on your mind and then, boom! You press the wrong button and its all 'Red October'. But no, we kept our cool. No one got burned. I think he and I would make very good submariners.

But I digress.  After 90 minutes we pumped up the temperature and got a boil going.  35 litres of beer at a rolling boil is an impressive site!  The sugars swirl around and as we add the hop bags the colour changes a little.  Soon our walls are slick with moisture and Hubby and I are commenting on how warm the little apartment has become.  We started brewing at an ambient temperature of 14-16 degrees.  After 90 minutes of a rolling boil the temperature in our little home is 21 degrees!

At 10:30 last night it was 'flame out', or in our case 'unplug'.  Hubby donned his big red gloves and we emptied the Birko into our two 'no-chill' cubes.  Its nice and cold outside so he put them out for the night and in the morning we had such chilled brew the gods let fly a chorus of angels!!   When next we meet, I will tell you about fermentation and the process of waking up those tired and cold friends of ours, yeast.  Or I may just post something about the quilted patchwork pillow case I made...  Decisions, decisions. 

Time wasted to date: 12 hours