Bar Project

It's been a very busy month and I've been wanting to post on several topics for over a month.  Now that I have some time off, I'm going to catch up with several all at once.

My buddy Derek bought a new house recently which has a nice built-in wet bar in the living room. Since it shared a wall with the garage Derek had an idea to run draft lines through the wall and install his draft towers directly on the bar top.  Sounded like a damn good idea to me so I took it as a project to help him out. 

Below is a photo of what we started with.  It's not the best photo but it's the only one I had.  The bar top and backsplash were covered in lovely white 1970's formica and the sink (covered by cardboard boxes in the photo) wasn't attached to the countertop.

The renovation plan included replacing the bar top and backsplash with maple and finishing it with a thick coat of epoxy so it looks like a commercial bar.  We decided to remove the formica backsplash but not the bar top since Derek wanted the job to get finished in less than a month...

I went with laminated maple strip flooring for the top and 3/4" soft maple to trim out the front edge and make a new backsplash.  The flooring was glued directly to the formica then wrapped with the maple boards to finish the carpentry. Holes were cut in the top to reinstall the sink and place the draft towers.  The beer lines were run under the counter and directly though the wall into the garage through a collar we added to Derek's kegerator. 

The epoxy proved to be a bit of a challenge since it doesn't flow like typical oil based finishes but after 2 coats (and quite a bit of sanding) it came out quite nice.  Below are two photos of the finished bar.  The epoxy ended up placing as 3/16" layer of high gloss clear protection over the maple.

Brewing News - Good and Bad...

First the bad.  I poured 10 gallons of beer down the sink this weekend.  Found out the oatmeal stout I brewed a month or so ago went horribly wrong.  It either got infected or was made with a bad pitch of yeast.  I re-pitched the 1056 cake from my last IPA (which turned out great) so I'm not quite sure where the snafu occurred.  The beer had a telltale medicinal taste to it, which points to a bacterial infection.  Regardless, that batch has been scratched from my memory forever and this is the last I will speak or think of it.  Besides one last point... I have made a decision to no longer harvest yeast for future use.  Despite my successes in the past with this practice, I'm come to the realization that I'm too busy (and too lazy) 

Now the good. The sour cherry batch came out fantastic!  The amount of tart cherry juice I added (24 oz per 5 gallons) tastes just right.  The beer is beginning to show more Brett flavor now as compared to the lacto tartness that came out first.  It will likely continue to change as it matures and as the bugs have more time to eat the cherry sugars.  However, I doubt the keg will be around long enough to document much more change.  Think I will start another batch soon since this one took 5 months to make!

If you really want to know how I feel about religion...

Read this.  The End.  :)

Oufitting the V-Strom, Part 1

Since buying my V-Strom, I've discovered an entire subculture of people devoted to these motorcycles and their ability to be customized.  Tons of valuable information can be found on the following forum-based websites:  Vstrom Riders International and Stromtroopers.

One of primary reasons I bought the V-Strom was its ability to carry a weekend's worth of gear and still handle reasonably well, unlike other super-heavy 2-wheeled RV's that are marketed as 'touring motorcycles.'  With it's factory installed luggage, my bike is already able to tour as-is but it would be a lot more comfortable and user-friendly with a few upgrades. This is where those forum websites and my engineer-self came together and hatched a plan.

My overall goals are two-fold:  1) Have safe access to my phone and other entertainment while riding; and 2) Be able to ride my bike in just about any weather (sans heavy rain and snow).   The forums noted above have tons of examples of other riders that have installed power outlets, gps units, bluetooth helmet speakers, heated grips and gear, etc. to help make the riding experience more utilitarian and comfortable.  

First step was to buy and install a fuse block that could serve as a power distribution center for running accessories.  Since factory-installed 12-volt power outlets only come on a select few motorcycles these days, the rest of us have to install them ourselves.  After reading many of the forums, I went with the Eastern Beaver PC-8.  It's relatively simple and the manufacturer provides an install kit taylor-made for my V-Strom.  And with it's 8 circuit capability, I figure I'll have ample room to run as many accessories as my little heart desires.

I followed the install instructions provided on the website and it went amazingly well.  Here's a few photos of my installed PC-8, which is installed under my seat.  The first is without the cover installed so you can see how the internals are wired.  What you can't see is the harness connector where I tapped into switched power under my gas tank using wires that control the turn signals. 

 

The orange wire is the main battery power which powers two "always on" circuits as well.  Most of my accessories will be switched so they won't drain the battery when the motorcycle isn't running.

And here's a photo of the finished install.  The whole process took a little over an hour.  And the best part?  All of the bike's electrical functions still work!  Whoot!  My first connection (wires at the left of the PC-8) is for my battery tender cable.  Next on my list are Powerlet 12-volt power outlets (ASO-001 and PSO-002) to run my phone and a bitchin' pair of heated glove liners for cold weather riding.  :-D.

Cheers!

I have finally made it to the Promised Land!

More Kegs!!

Saw a post on the brew club forum yesterday that a friend was getting out of brewing.  Despite my sadness that a friend would no longer be brewing, I had the good fortune of purchasing some of his equipment that he no longer wanted.  I picked up 6 used 5-gal ball-lock corny kegs at a very good price.  For anyone famliar with homebrewing, finding used corny kegs in decent condition is getting harder and harder since Pepsi has all but sold their past inventories.  I now have 12 kegs total (10- ball-lock & 2- pin-lock), which should satisfy my brewing needs forever.  I'm thinking of selling the pin-locks though since it's a hassle to have full sets of each type of dispensing hardware.

I also brewed my Oatmeal Stout again yesterday.  Had a great brewday And picked up 4 gravity points due to increased efficiency in my sparge (77.5% for 1.064 OG).  Decided to use whole Delta hops in this beer since the English Bitter recipe with them turned out so well.  This beer should be ready by Thanksgiving, just in time for our dinner guests to try.

So much for my optimism

It became abundantly clear last night around 9 PM that Obama was going to be re-elected.  However troubling that fact was to me, it still wasn't as nearly as important as why he was being re-elected.  He and his campaign staff pulled off a masterful job of bait & switch, completely convincing millions of Americans that Romney wasn't likeable enough nor trustworthy enough to be president.  What what what?????  The Republicans also failed to realize (again) that you need more than white men to elect presidents these days. 


One of my co-workers summed it up nicely this morning.  If you're not a likeable guy, you have no chance of ever becoming president.  Last night proved this point.  Our gullible, under-educated electorate would rather have a clinically arrogant rock-star than a solid, results-oriented businessman.  Unfortunately, these same people likely won't bear the brunt of the impact his incompetence will continue to bring over the next 4 years.

Now I'm willing to entertain the possibility that I will be pleasantly surprised over the next fours.  Please pardon me while I hold my breath...