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.
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