Monday, August 13, 2007
Jacquie and her parents left early Saturday morning for a two-week road trip to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, so I'm now living the bachelor life.
And what am I doing with my short-term bachelor life?
Well, I spent Saturday morning running around to the Oshawa Centre and Worlds Collide Games with my brother, and then after dropping him off at my parents' place, I headed into Scarborough to visit the Soda Centre, where an extraordinarily helpful and friendly woman named Rose helped me pick up everything I needed to get started in homebrewing (well, except for a big stainless steel pot, which I sought out on Sunday -- oh, and bottles, caps and a capper, which I'll worry about in a couple of weeks). All told, I dropped not quite $110 on brewing equipment, which includes a couple of brew pails, a hydrometer, brewing sugar, sterilizing cleaner and various other important things.
It also included a can of Thomas Coopers Brewmaster Selection Irish Stout extract (well, any extract can, but I chose that one), which will be my first real homebrew. I write "first real homebrew" because I also picked up three bottles (three for $15) of Big & Easy Bottle Brew, which is essentially homebrewing for complete idiots. If Loki had an opposable thumb, even he could brew this stuff.
Essentially, the Big & Easy Bottle Brew is a two-litre bottle of almost-ready beer. It comes with a yeast pill and a special cap that lets carbon dioxide out and keeps oxygen from getting in. Essentially, you open it up, drop the yeast pill in and put the special cap (I'm sure there's a proper name for it) on tight. Then you stick it somewhere out of the way where it won't get any light for two weeks, and then stick it in the fridge for twelve hours. Voila! It's ready to drink.
Whether it's any good remains to be seen, of course, but Rose at the Soda Centre said she tried some of the Mexican Cerveza and found it to be pretty good. So I have a Big & Easy Mexican Cerveza, Premium Pilsener and Red Lager (the three types available) sitting in the storage room carbonating. They'll be ready for the fridge on the day Jacquie gets back.
Anyway, the Soda Centre really got me hooked on homebrewing. Kevin at CABA got me very interested, but actually going into that store and seeing all the neat stuff on the shelves hooked me. Hell, even if I never progress beyond extract brewing, I think I'll be happy.
Saturday night was a barbecue at my parents' place for my father's birthday (which is actually today). I ended up crashing there and then returning to the homestead early the next morning. On Sunday, I was tired and turned down a trip to Casino Rama for breakfast and gambling. Instead, I headed home and watched movies most of the day.
I also ran around trying to find a reasonably-priced twenty-quart stainless steel pot, which I found at Zellers. I also kept an eye out for the new Marvel HeroScape game, but no luck. I read on BoardGameGeek that it was supposed to be in brick-and-mortar shops the first week of August, but I guess it hasn't quite made it yet.
This week, a couple of dinner get-togethers, some homebrewing and hopefully some gaming if the stars align.
And what am I doing with my short-term bachelor life?
Well, I spent Saturday morning running around to the Oshawa Centre and Worlds Collide Games with my brother, and then after dropping him off at my parents' place, I headed into Scarborough to visit the Soda Centre, where an extraordinarily helpful and friendly woman named Rose helped me pick up everything I needed to get started in homebrewing (well, except for a big stainless steel pot, which I sought out on Sunday -- oh, and bottles, caps and a capper, which I'll worry about in a couple of weeks). All told, I dropped not quite $110 on brewing equipment, which includes a couple of brew pails, a hydrometer, brewing sugar, sterilizing cleaner and various other important things.
It also included a can of Thomas Coopers Brewmaster Selection Irish Stout extract (well, any extract can, but I chose that one), which will be my first real homebrew. I write "first real homebrew" because I also picked up three bottles (three for $15) of Big & Easy Bottle Brew, which is essentially homebrewing for complete idiots. If Loki had an opposable thumb, even he could brew this stuff.
Essentially, the Big & Easy Bottle Brew is a two-litre bottle of almost-ready beer. It comes with a yeast pill and a special cap that lets carbon dioxide out and keeps oxygen from getting in. Essentially, you open it up, drop the yeast pill in and put the special cap (I'm sure there's a proper name for it) on tight. Then you stick it somewhere out of the way where it won't get any light for two weeks, and then stick it in the fridge for twelve hours. Voila! It's ready to drink.
Whether it's any good remains to be seen, of course, but Rose at the Soda Centre said she tried some of the Mexican Cerveza and found it to be pretty good. So I have a Big & Easy Mexican Cerveza, Premium Pilsener and Red Lager (the three types available) sitting in the storage room carbonating. They'll be ready for the fridge on the day Jacquie gets back.
Anyway, the Soda Centre really got me hooked on homebrewing. Kevin at CABA got me very interested, but actually going into that store and seeing all the neat stuff on the shelves hooked me. Hell, even if I never progress beyond extract brewing, I think I'll be happy.
Saturday night was a barbecue at my parents' place for my father's birthday (which is actually today). I ended up crashing there and then returning to the homestead early the next morning. On Sunday, I was tired and turned down a trip to Casino Rama for breakfast and gambling. Instead, I headed home and watched movies most of the day.
I also ran around trying to find a reasonably-priced twenty-quart stainless steel pot, which I found at Zellers. I also kept an eye out for the new Marvel HeroScape game, but no luck. I read on BoardGameGeek that it was supposed to be in brick-and-mortar shops the first week of August, but I guess it hasn't quite made it yet.
This week, a couple of dinner get-togethers, some homebrewing and hopefully some gaming if the stars align.
// posted by Chris @ 9:42 AM 
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