Archive for January, 2010
Apfelwein – So it begins
Posted by bradinator in Hobbies, Home Brewing on January 24, 2010
I have made this once before so I have an idea of whats going to happen during the transformation process from apple juice to Apfelwein. It’s actually a pretty interesting metamorphisis when you think about it; It is going from a sweet smelling, sweet tasting juice. It then it switches over to something that looks a lot like curdled milk sitting atop of cloudy urine, with an odour that can only described as “rhino farts”. Finally in its final stage it becomes a delicious and tart, golden and clear fruit wine.
24 hours later and we have begun to enter stage 2: Curdled milk and rhino farts
Routine of the Day – Simple is Best
Posted by bradinator in Fitness, Routines on January 24, 2010
Warm Up – 2 Rounds of
- 10 Pullups, 10 Ring Dips, 20 Pushups, 20 Squat Thrusts, Samson Stretch (20 seconds each leg)
Routine of the Day – Complete for Time using as few rounds as possible, move to each different exercise after reaching failure on a set.
- 125 Pullups
- 250 Pushups
- 375 Squats
Finished in 15:32, though I did a few more pushups (265) and squats (405) just for fun which probably added an additional 30 second to my overall time. All of the above completed with the 14lbs training vest.
Bradinator presents Ed Wort’s Apfelwein
Posted by bradinator in Hobbies, Home Brewing on January 23, 2010
Once upon a time, way back in my early days of homebrewing one of my very first recipes I created was Apfelwein. I had prepared the batch so when I arrived back from my tour of Germany I would have a good idea of what real Apfelwein should taste like. The recipe I used was a modified version of Ed Wort’s awarding winning Apfelwein. This time around I stayed closer to his recipe, though I still made a couple small modifications to fit what was available for ingredients.
A Spin on Ed Wort’s Apfelwein -
Ingredients
- 4 x 3.78 L of Sun-Rype Pure Apple Juice (not from concentrate)
- 1.2 KG of dextrose
- 2 x WC-1118 Champagne Yeast (rehydrated)
- 2.5 L of RO Water
Directions -
1) Add the apple juice and dextrose to a cleaned and sanitized carboy. Make sure to stir it until all the sugar dissolves. Top it off with RO water.
2) Rehydrate the yeast and pitch it.
3) Wait.
I meant to add yeast nutrient, but as usual I forgot after pitching the rehydrated yeast. I double pitched my yeast this time too, something I have never tried before. I am hoping this will provide a lower final gravity without affecting the flavour too much. If it comes out tasting like hooch I will probably leave it bottled for 6+ months.
It may look like cloudy, gross apple juice but in several weeks it will be delicous Apfelwein.
The original gravity reading was 1.070-1.072. If I can get this to ferment out to around 1.000 I will be looking at some ass-kicking, 9%+ ABV Apfelwein. The total cost of this batch would be around $35.00 or around 90 cents a pint, give or take a penny.
Routine of the Day – Its Divisible by 3
Posted by bradinator in Fitness, Routines on January 22, 2010
Warm Up – 3 Rounds for time of:
- 10 – Pullups
- 20 – Pushups
- 30 – Squats
- 40 – Chinnies
Finished in 4:24
Routine of the Day -Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes of the following
- 3 Faux Muscle Up*
- 3 Handstand Pushups
- 12 Burpee Tuck Jumps**
Finished 8 rounds.
* Starting with knees on the ground, pullup on the rings and assist by pushing up with your feet to complete the muscle up. This is a progression exercise designed to train myself for actual muscle ups.
** It’s a burpee, except when you jump up, tuck your legs up and try to touch your hands together under your feet.
I can do 40 consecutive pullups, 30 ring dips, countless pushups, burpees, squats and their ilk, yet I cannot do a single muscle up. Not even one. I bought my sequence rings so I could begin training my muscle ups and I have yet to try one until today. On Crossfit’s website I found a great article and video on some progression training which I implemented in todays routine. Just like handstand pushups I had to practice, practice, practice until I was able to do them.
Needless to say I ache in places I am not familiar with and its only been an hour since I finished the routine. Migrating between the faux muscleups and HSPU’s really taxed my arms.
Routine of the Day – Tabata This! Round 8
Posted by bradinator in Fitness, Routines on January 21, 2010
It’s Tabata time!
Pullups 22 14 10 10 10 8 7 7 Total: 88 Best: 6
Squats 24 22 21 21 21 21 21 24 Total: 175 Best: 20
Pushups 33 30 26 23 23 23 22 20 Total: 200 Best: 19
Mt Climbers 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 Total: 184 Best: 20
Dips 30 25 25 25 22 21 22 22 Total: 192 Best: 20
Crunches 21 23 23 21 20 20 20 20 Total: 168 Best: 5
Total repetitions complete: 1007. All of the above, minus the Crunches were completed with a 14lbs training vest. Overall my scores were down slightly from the last Tabata This! round, though I opted for a heavier training vest this time.
Molasses Porter, final bottle, final update
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Home Brewing on January 21, 2010
I finished my last bottle of Molasses Porter just a couple nights ago after letting it age so several months in bottles. Unlike the Pale Ale I did the same with, the overall flavour did not improve vastly. It still had strong, overpowering molasses flavours, making it more akin to a molasses mead rather then a beer.
With that said I am going to mull over my old recipe and see if I can improve it for my next batch.
The last glass of molasses porter. RIP.
Though I have to admit of all my brews so far this one was by far the most attractive.
Routine of the Day – You have 20 Minutes
Posted by bradinator in Fitness, Routines on January 20, 2010
Warm Up – Building the Burpee
3 Rounds for Time of -
- 20 Pushups
- 20 Squat Thrusts
- 20 Squats
- 20 Jumping Jacks
- 20 Burpees
Finished in 5:17
Routine of the Day – You have 20 minutes to complete the following, using as few sets as possible per exercise
- 100 Close Grip Pullups (6 sets)
- 200 T-Bar Pushups (6 sets)
- 300 Overhead Squats (used two 10lbs dumbbells – 10 sets)
Completed with 3:20 seconds to spare using the 14lbs training vest.