Beer and brewing

Here's another thing I haven't done for a few months now. No, I drink plenty of beer, I'm talking about brewing beer.

I started homebrewing the first time back in 1994 or so. It was a way to have a hobby at home with a new baby here. Cycling took way too much time away. I did 4 or 5 batches and they came out pretty good as I recall and they never lasted. You get about 2 cases per 5 gallon batch and while that sounds like a lot, well it just isn't. I could brew late in the evening, once my son was asleep. Bottling was done over a two evening stretch, one to sanitize the bottles by soaking in a bathtub full of bleach, the next to actually bottle. Each session, no matter which aspect of the process I was doing, somehow always ended up taking 2 hours.

This time around, I started up doing it as a science project for my daughter. Thinking I had all the equipment already, I'd just get an ingredients kit. But of course the years in the basement didn't do the stuff any good, and then I couldn't find a number of items so I had to go buy another brew kit. I drove out to Islip L.I. and bought everything I needed at once. We brewed the beer together, took measurements together, and she helped with the bottling. The science part was measuring the specific gravity and timing the bubbles, to show fermentation taking place. The beer was an English Pale Ale, and it was really good. In fact it was so good I started making more batches.

So far I've done the Pale Ale, an Extra Special Bitter, a German lager, an IPA, a Hefeweizen, and a nut brown ale. The nut brown was a bust but the others were pretty good. I'm running out of most of them at this point.

So my next brew is going to be ??? I may try another lager since it is getting cold again outside, which means I have the natural refrigeration needed to do one. This time I want to keep it very cold, the last one has a bit of a banana ester flavor to it because it was a little too warm. I'll have to go online and order a kit. It'll be a post-holiday thing to brew again.

Cycling, or not cycling

It is December after all. I haven't been on my bikes in over a month now, and I'm definitely having withdrawal. I like cycling. It is freedom.

I've been riding a '10 speed' since I was 15, or maybe even younger I can't quite place the date, when I bought that white Peugeot that was all the rage back then in 1969 or so. Since then I've owned an Atala Grand Prix, an Austro-Daimler Inter-10, a Raleigh Competition, a custom built Davidson, a bike from Italy built for Zilioli, a Trek 8000 MTB, a Kuota Kharma, and now a Kuota Kredo with all the parts from the Kharma. I still have 4 of the last 5 mentioned there, the Kharma I crashed.

My regular rides are in Prospect Park, around and around, until I can't stand it anymore. This I do on weekdays after work, sometimes on weekends too when I don't have the time to go further. The other favorite is going to Piermont and Nyack, just like almost every other NYC cyclist. The only difference is that Brooklyn is a bit further. It is 70 miles r/t to Piermont, 75 or so to Nyack. The ride always includes hills, at least one coming back, and throw in the Alpine climb for good measure.

I do the more casual NYC organized rides, like the 5 boro, and the Tour de Bronx. I've done the 5 boro with the kids and they always have that sense of accomplishment when they're done. My son used my Trek, which is mostly his now, and one of my daughters rode it on her Specialized Dolce Vita, an all out road bike. The TdeBx is one of my favorites, but this year it was a bust. Oh well.

I'm going to do the indoor computrainer class again this year. I'll have to get my partner to do it with me again, although we have the hardest time coordinating. It took two months to figure out a time to ride in the park in the spring. And now in the fall she bought a beautiful new bike, and we've been trying to coordinate a ride and after-ride homebrew, but it hasn't happened.

Plans for the spring include doing more of the NYCC STS rides, maybe finally giving up on being an "A" rider as I get older. Maybe I can do the Seattle to Portland ride this year, but maybe not. It costs a small fortune to get there, find hotels, etc... I'll register, and then sell the entry if I can't use it. It always sells out and there are people begging to get in. This is the longest ride I've ever done, and I did it fast, but I was much younger then.

Enough for now, I've wasted enough of your time, and my time too...

Piano, or what piece did I butcher today?

I'm an adult beginner piano player, playing now for almost a full year. I have a teacher, actually the same teacher my kids are going to. I only started playing when I bought a small grand piano (not a baby grand) for my kids to use for practice. I wasn't looking to buy a grand except that placement in my house was going to be difficult for an upright due to lack of wall space. Besides, once you hear one then the other, the grand will just win. Mine is a Yamaha G2, 5'7" in glossy black.

I started playing late last year using the Alfred Adult Beginners book, but was quickly bored. While I've never taken a music class and play no other instrument, I have more knowledge about music than I thought. It's really surprising at the low level these books assume. I then proceeded to attempt a piece that is considered difficult even for experienced players, Brahms Opus 119 #2 Intermezzo. I muddled through it and at least I could recognize the music.

I've picked up Mendellsohn, Diabelli, Satie, Katchatarian, Bach, Schumann, and of course, Chopin. Some, like Mendelsohn's 'Song Without Words' Op26#2 I think, I can play through fairly smoothly, others I still struggle with. None are particularly hard, except they all have at least one flourish to struggle through.

My current piece is Chopin's March Funebre, you know, dum, dum, da, dum. Pray for the dead, and the dead will pray for you... I wanted to play it for Halloween, since the piano is in the front of the house. I'm planning on pounding it out when kids come to the door. When I demo'd for my teacher, she was astounded that I learned the first part in a day. It didn't seem all that hard to me. She then had me play the rest, which has a few tough spots, but mostly just octaves. Some day I'll post a video of my playing.

I'm finally blogging and otherwise wasting someone else's time

Let me introduce myself. My name is Zac. I'm getting old(er), all of 53. I have a wife, 3 kids, a house, 2 cars. It sounds like a pretty typical American life, and it is. I have my interests, my pet peeves, my likes, dislikes. Maybe you can tell from the Blog's name what my primary interest is? Yes, that's right, I'm into Baseball. No, maybe that's not it.

I started cycling when I was in High School, Stuyvesant HS in NYC. Yes, I'm a Stuy grad. That and 30 cents would get you on the subway back then. My first real bike was a Peugeot UO-18, a 10 speed with some of the worst brakes you've ever seen. I would ride it all around Brooklyn, maybe to Manhattan, and even out to New Jersey. Back then, riding out to NJ on route 9W wasn't just another spin on the bike, but was considered a totally crazy thing to do, especially if you were only 16. I only wish my 15 year old son would have such an interest.

Cycling has had its ups and downs since then. I rode in college, and afterwards too, but slowed down a lot after I had kids.

My other interests, in no particular order, are piano, beer brewing, diy audio, trains (totally geeky), cooking, eating, drinking, the neighborhood and the rest of Brooklyn, politics (Obama!). As I go through these activities I'll post more about them.