Alyssa and I leave for our vacation tonight! We'll be spending the night in Seoul tonight before flying to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia tomorrow morning. Woo hoo!!!
From there, we will make our way up to Phuket and Bangkok, Thailand. The last leg of our trip will be Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We've been looking forward to this for a long time and it's finally here!
I'll be sure to share the experience upon our return.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Friday, July 26, 2013
Bottling, Mud Fest, and Music...
Bottling:
So after 13 days and several "gravity readings" the beer is ready to bottle. We started with an original gravity of 1.058 (right before we pitched the yeast). Our final gravity is 1.008. It has remained at 1.008 for 3 days...so we know fermentation has stopped.
Gravity (in the context of brewing) is a ratio of the density of a sample (beer for example) to the density of water. The difference between O.G. (original gravity) and F.G. (final gravity) essentially tells us how much sugar as been converted to alcohol and CO2 during the fermentation process. There is a lot more to it, but I'm not a scientist. Using our gravity readings we were able to calculate our ABV. It's 6.5%, and it tastes delicious already!
The next step is to siphon the beer into our bottling bucket and mix it with some priming sugar. This will reactivate the yeast and carbonate the beer in the bottles over the next few weeks.
We are leaving for vacation in a week, so the beer will be ready when we get back...I seriously can't wait! Apparently they should be ready in about 2 weeks, but I've heard the longer you wait the better...we won't be back from vacation until about a month from now...so it should be EXTRA delicious by the time we're back.
Mud Fest:
We signed up for this trip a LONG time ago. It was really nice to have something to look forward to, but neither Alyssa, myself, nor any of our friends had any idea what to expect.
When I envisioned this mud fest, I thought there would be giant mud pits stretching out into the ocean on the beach (I don't know why I assumed this...I just did). When we arrived, we found out that the mud is actually trucked in from somewhere and put in various containers around the venue. There were stations where you could use a paintbrush to smear the mud all over yourself and your friends, there were giant inflatable slides and inflatable obstacle courses covered in mud, there were giant barrels full of mud with bowls you could use to pour mud over yourself or your friends, and finally...there was a giant inflatable mud pit. Honestly, the pit was a little obnoxious...you couldn't take three steps before being tackled by a stranger, or slipping and smashing your knees or ass on the ground. I suppose that type of thing is to be expected in a mud pit though. All things considered, it was a lot of fun.
After the mud activities, we went swimming in the ocean for a few hours. The water was warm, beer was cold, and the mood was awesome.
We spent the rest of the day on the beach before heading to our "pension" to hang out.
We hung out on the roof of the building until the wee hours of the morning before we went to bed.
The next morning, we all spent a few hours on the beach before heading back to Daegu.
Music:
My band Colours is going into the studio this weekend to record a 3-track EP. It's been a long time since I've gotten to go into the studio as the artist, so I am very excited. I've engineered other projects, engineered my own projects, but I rarely get to just go in and play.
We had plans to practice almost every night this week in preparation for the recording session, but I got sick after Mud Fest, so I had to bail on practice yesterday to catch up on some much needed rest. I still feel like crap, but I am too excited about recording to care.
The songs we will be recording are a pretty good mix of what all three of us bring to the table. One of the tracks was written by Ali (bass player), while the other two tracks are a good blend of ideas we've all had stirring around in our brains.
The goal is to gig around Korea as much as possible, and we are hoping this EP will open some opportunities for us to play in Seoul, Busan, Daegu, etc.
So after 13 days and several "gravity readings" the beer is ready to bottle. We started with an original gravity of 1.058 (right before we pitched the yeast). Our final gravity is 1.008. It has remained at 1.008 for 3 days...so we know fermentation has stopped.
Gravity (in the context of brewing) is a ratio of the density of a sample (beer for example) to the density of water. The difference between O.G. (original gravity) and F.G. (final gravity) essentially tells us how much sugar as been converted to alcohol and CO2 during the fermentation process. There is a lot more to it, but I'm not a scientist. Using our gravity readings we were able to calculate our ABV. It's 6.5%, and it tastes delicious already!
The next step is to siphon the beer into our bottling bucket and mix it with some priming sugar. This will reactivate the yeast and carbonate the beer in the bottles over the next few weeks.
We are leaving for vacation in a week, so the beer will be ready when we get back...I seriously can't wait! Apparently they should be ready in about 2 weeks, but I've heard the longer you wait the better...we won't be back from vacation until about a month from now...so it should be EXTRA delicious by the time we're back.
Mud Fest:
We signed up for this trip a LONG time ago. It was really nice to have something to look forward to, but neither Alyssa, myself, nor any of our friends had any idea what to expect.
When I envisioned this mud fest, I thought there would be giant mud pits stretching out into the ocean on the beach (I don't know why I assumed this...I just did). When we arrived, we found out that the mud is actually trucked in from somewhere and put in various containers around the venue. There were stations where you could use a paintbrush to smear the mud all over yourself and your friends, there were giant inflatable slides and inflatable obstacle courses covered in mud, there were giant barrels full of mud with bowls you could use to pour mud over yourself or your friends, and finally...there was a giant inflatable mud pit. Honestly, the pit was a little obnoxious...you couldn't take three steps before being tackled by a stranger, or slipping and smashing your knees or ass on the ground. I suppose that type of thing is to be expected in a mud pit though. All things considered, it was a lot of fun.
After the mud activities, we went swimming in the ocean for a few hours. The water was warm, beer was cold, and the mood was awesome.
We spent the rest of the day on the beach before heading to our "pension" to hang out.
We hung out on the roof of the building until the wee hours of the morning before we went to bed.
The next morning, we all spent a few hours on the beach before heading back to Daegu.
Music:
My band Colours is going into the studio this weekend to record a 3-track EP. It's been a long time since I've gotten to go into the studio as the artist, so I am very excited. I've engineered other projects, engineered my own projects, but I rarely get to just go in and play.
We had plans to practice almost every night this week in preparation for the recording session, but I got sick after Mud Fest, so I had to bail on practice yesterday to catch up on some much needed rest. I still feel like crap, but I am too excited about recording to care.
The songs we will be recording are a pretty good mix of what all three of us bring to the table. One of the tracks was written by Ali (bass player), while the other two tracks are a good blend of ideas we've all had stirring around in our brains.
The goal is to gig around Korea as much as possible, and we are hoping this EP will open some opportunities for us to play in Seoul, Busan, Daegu, etc.
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Home Brew Day 1
Day 1
Today we are starting our very first brew. Our good friend Jed has brewed before, so he has offered to help with the process. He's been my go to guy for questions and suggestions. We also have our friends Warren and Derek joining us to help. Like Alyssa and me, they have never brewed before, so we thought it'd be fun to learn the process together.
Sanitize, sanitize, sanitize:
One of the things I've come across during my research on home brewing is the importance of sterilizing ALL of the equipment. Needless to say, I made sure to sanitize EVERYTHING. I'm treating this like brain surgery (admittedly, I think I may being going overboard) but I just want to make sure we do this right.
Today we are starting our very first brew. Our good friend Jed has brewed before, so he has offered to help with the process. He's been my go to guy for questions and suggestions. We also have our friends Warren and Derek joining us to help. Like Alyssa and me, they have never brewed before, so we thought it'd be fun to learn the process together.
Sanitize, sanitize, sanitize:
One of the things I've come across during my research on home brewing is the importance of sterilizing ALL of the equipment. Needless to say, I made sure to sanitize EVERYTHING. I'm treating this like brain surgery (admittedly, I think I may being going overboard) but I just want to make sure we do this right.
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| Soaking the equipment in an iodine solution. |
The boil:
This part was pretty straight forward. After steeping the cracked grains for about thirty minutes, we added the malt extract and boiled for an hour. We added different hops at different times during the boil.
This part was pretty straight forward. After steeping the cracked grains for about thirty minutes, we added the malt extract and boiled for an hour. We added different hops at different times during the boil.
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| Alyssa and Jed are cracking the grains. |
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| We put the grains in this net to steep for thirty minutes. |
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| Steeping |
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| The hops smell SO good! |
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| Boil for 60 minutes. |
Time to chill:
Without a wort chiller to bring the wort's temperature down to 70 F, we decided to make an ice bath in this giant container I bought at my local kitchen supply store. This thing is HUGE. I actually don't even have a place in my house that is big enough to store it...except for under my kitchen table...which is fine since we usually eat on a few mats on my floor which is pretty common in Korea.
After a short adventure trying to buy ice, Derek, Jed, and Warren returned with a few giant frozen bottles of water. It took a lot longer than expected to bring the temperature down, but as soon as we finished, it was time to siphon the wort into the sterilized fermenter.
Without a wort chiller to bring the wort's temperature down to 70 F, we decided to make an ice bath in this giant container I bought at my local kitchen supply store. This thing is HUGE. I actually don't even have a place in my house that is big enough to store it...except for under my kitchen table...which is fine since we usually eat on a few mats on my floor which is pretty common in Korea.
After a short adventure trying to buy ice, Derek, Jed, and Warren returned with a few giant frozen bottles of water. It took a lot longer than expected to bring the temperature down, but as soon as we finished, it was time to siphon the wort into the sterilized fermenter.
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| The ice bath. |
The transfer:
This was interesting...I've never actually siphoned anything before so it took a few tries, but we eventually got it. Once the wort was in the fermenter, we "pitched" the yeast.
This was interesting...I've never actually siphoned anything before so it took a few tries, but we eventually got it. Once the wort was in the fermenter, we "pitched" the yeast.
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| Siphoning the wort into the fermenter. |
Let it burp:
Now that the lid of the fermenter is screwed on nice and tight, and our airlock is properly attached...we wait. We will let the magic happen for about 2-3 weeks before we bottle. I feel like a little kid waiting for Santa Clause to come on Christmas morning or something...except I don't think Santa gives 5 gallon buckets of beer to little kids.
Now that the lid of the fermenter is screwed on nice and tight, and our airlock is properly attached...we wait. We will let the magic happen for about 2-3 weeks before we bottle. I feel like a little kid waiting for Santa Clause to come on Christmas morning or something...except I don't think Santa gives 5 gallon buckets of beer to little kids.
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| Victory!!! The first batch of Kim Jong Ale is fermenting! |
Monday, July 1, 2013
Listen to the rainbow...
My new band Colours just played its first show on Saturday at Urban Bar in Daegu. We were one of twelve different bands performing in celebration of the owner's birthday. The owner of Urban Bar also owns a place called Horus Music Garage, which is a rehearsal/recording studio just down the street from Urban. All of the bands who performed are bands who rent the rehearsal space regularly, so it was cool to get to see the bands we hear so frequently actually perform. It was pretty intense getting up on stage after almost a year hiatus from performing live. Not to mention this is a completely new genre of music for me, and a new country to perform in! The best way I can describe our sound is "sloppy, experimental, math rock." We were all nervous for our Korean debut, especially since this type of music isn't generally appreciated in Korea as much as it is elsewhere, but we had a surprisingly good response and we look forward to continuing to write songs and gig around Korea.
All of our Korean and expat friends came out to show their support and they made us feel like rock stars. Thanks guys!
All of the other bands were extremely talented and it really turned out to be a great night of excellent music...and free beer :)
All of our Korean and expat friends came out to show their support and they made us feel like rock stars. Thanks guys!
All of the other bands were extremely talented and it really turned out to be a great night of excellent music...and free beer :)
.JPG) |
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