Priorities

I was traveling all last week and didn't really accomplish anything. (For Fork and Hay, that is.) I didn't even go on much of a beer walkabout. However, I did sample (and enjoy) some Magic Hat #9 for the first time, and I stopped at Home Brewing Supplies in Lilburn, GA as I passed through on my way back home from North Carolina. I got what I considered to be a pretty good deal on a case of blue glass flip-top bottles.

When I got home I started to fill some of the bottles using the approach recommended in this HBT thread. It worked OK, but the drilled stopper I was using wasn't small enough to fit into the neck of the bottles. I wasn't able to get as secure a seal during the process as I think it really needs for long term storage. However, since I was just bottling some samples to carry to a party Saturday it worked OK, and when the bottles were opened the carbonation was fine.

In bottling, I floated the 090702 Geordie Boy Ale. In fact, I was only able to get a bottle and a half before it started spewing. I filled another bottle with 090502 Honey-Brew List. I obviously could have filled several from that nearly full keg but the purpose was sampling, not storage.

At the moment I'm in the Birmingham airport on my way back out of town. The 090801 Geordie Boy fermenting at home had hit about 1.019 when I tested it Friday afternoon, after only being in the fermenter since Sunday evening. I think it will be ready to go when I get home after next weekend.

The brewmistress and I had a lengthy discussion about the kegerator during our drive to and from David's game in Montgomery today. She thinks that the taps need to be upstairs, and I don't disagree. After discussing the pros and cons of various alternatives, including getting another fridge and making a built-in kegerator in the wet bar area off the living room, running beer lines up into the bar from downstairs, and moving the current box into the closet off the kitchen, we decided to simply put some casters on the existing box and move it upstairs. We're going to put it into the little alcove just in front of the door to the screened-in porch. That will be a project for a couple of weeks from now, because between business travel and soccer travel there won't be a lot of time to brew or build for the near future.