Things that go bump in the night.

Again it's been a while since I've posted. Lame, I know, I'd whine about having legitimate reasons like my young children keep having to have spinal surgery and what not... but the truth is that everyone is busy in their own way. At any rate, onto the real reason I'm hopping back on here to spew some random beer funnies into the ethernet. The man has been so busy brewing that there is no way for me to catch you up on the complete immersion he's made into the home brewing world, lots of beer, lots of experiments, lots of fun. Last night, however, was verrrry interesting. In the middle of the night we hear a noise akin to a gun shot that startles both the husband and I from a deep sleep. Immediately he darts up and goes to check on what? The kids? I think not. The husband charges to the space beneath the stairs that happens to house his little beer babies (at optimum temperature for steady fermentation).(Maybe too optimum.) The lid SHOT off the carboy. We've heard the music of yeast toots often enough but they've never been so veracious as to pop the top off like a speeding bullet. Funny how having been startled from sleep makes the man smile. He even called today from work to check on the little fellow. For those of you who may be wondering, fermentation has mellowed out to a dull roar, steady but safe from knocking someone off their feet for now. :-D In a few weeks we will have to see what this lavender beast tastes like. Until next time!Ashley!

Beer time.

It's been a while since my last post. Almost a month, but that's like a millennium in beer time. We now have six varieties bottled and three more fermenting. This week we've bottled, labeled, waxed, and he's experimenting an on lees technique using champagne yeast for his latest beer. It's a Belgian pale that's a little darker than expected so it's going to be a "brunette" which he thinks is incredibly whitty. So now we are at the point that we need more bottles, and how. The husband is a major lover of craft beer and so he had a lot of bottles to strip and use and it lasted him almost six batches... but now we are filling them faster than we can empty them and it's becoming an expensive problem. I am about to start calling bars and putting ads on craigslist for amber colored crownabls bottles, but it all feels kid of silly, what a sticky mess my life is becoming. I guess it's all a part of it.

I also recently joined a group on meetup.com. Michigan Micro-Brew Aficionados. It looks like a lot of fun with like minded people. I am looking forward to our first outing in Feb. 


What I will leave you with today are a few pictures of the labels that I've created :-) (I'm kind of proud) We just used gum paper and some trial and error but I think they look kind of neat! ENJOY!