Idiomatic Expression

I took a quick look at the Fairfax County Water Authority’s Inorganic and Metal Water Reports today and it looks like according to John Palmer’s How to Brew site that we are grossly lacking in Calcium, Magnesium, and Sulfates needed for all grain brewing. At least when I get to that point it should be easier to add these to water than to to take them out if the numbers were excessive.

I am also not quite sure which water supply is serving me in Fairfax Circle. I am officially on the City of Falls Church’s water system, but for areas outside of the beltway (aka my house) they buy the water wholesale from Fairfax County. The FCWA site says that Southern Fairfax is mostly served by Lorton and Occoquan supplies, while Northern Fairfax is served by the Corbalis plant. Fairfax circle is almost dead center of the county so no idea where that puts me. Luckily all of the sources seem to be about the same.

*All number are in PPM

With the help of James and Chris I made my first attempt at brewing beer at home this Saturday. Other than some numbness in my extremities legs and finding out how absurdly long it takes to filter 6 gallons of water through a brita filter, the process was relatively uneventful. The fermenter is bubbling away happily in my upstairs bathtub (the warmest room in the house at 64 degrees) so I believe it will turn into beer, perhaps bad beer, but beer none the less.

Now all I have to do is wait. I am planning on 5-7 days in the primary at 64 degrees, 10-14 days in the secondary at around 59 degrees, and priming with corn sugar prior to bottling. Then after only 2 short weeks of bottle conditioning I can get my first taste of the product.

More pics available in Petrilli’s flickr set.

Recipe and more details after the jump.
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Yesterday 10 of the members of my new group headed out to Allsports Grand Prix for a team building event. We raced a Mini Grand-Prix, which consisted of a 20 lap qualifier and a 40 lap race. I managed to qualify in third position with a top lap time of around 25.7 seconds. The person who qualified for the pole position had been to the track before and seemed to know what he was doing so I has hoping for a shot at 2nd place. The race started in a grid layout, in the third lap I was able to pass the person starting in 2nd position when he went a little wide around a turn. I was stuck about 1/4 lap behind the leader on the 9th lap when his engine stalled, and I took the lead for the rest of the race. I put up a respectable best lap time of 24.436. The person who had started in the pole position had an amazing best lap of 24.o4 (enought that he should qualify for a spot in the all time top 50 6.5hp laps), and ended up finishing just 12 seconds (1/2 lap) behind me.

This place is a blast, if you have the time and the money it is a lot of fun. Although part of the fun is going there and racing with friends, I don’t think being matched up with strangers or going around the track by your self would be as much fun.

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Way back in February of 2002 I took Katherine on a trip to Paris and popped the big question, the rest is history. We also had a great time touring the city, and I hope the photographic evidence will help dispel the rumors that it was overcast, cold, and rainy the whole time.

Now that I have emptied a case and a half of the first of the beer that we brewed at the Flying Barrel, I am planning to brew my first beer at home. After a bit of thought I have decided on a Belgian Pale Ale Extract + Mini-Mash recipe. It looks easy enough for my first time, and should produce a tasty beverage. The recipe is after the jump.
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5 years late, here are the pictures from the first vacation that Katherine and I took together. They are from Decemeber 2001 in Cancun, QR, Mexico. I sure look young and dorky in these, but then now I look old and dorky.

My nomination for the best quote of 2006 comes from an AP report on an incident in Pasadena, CA. after rescuing “Two dozen Caltech students wearing Superman capes, tutus and other odd attire” Deputy Greg Gabriel said “You’ve got to remember that common sense is not factored into the intelligence quotient.”