Archive for category Experiments
An Experiment in Brewology – Part 4
Posted by bradinator in Experiments, Home Brewing on January 14, 2010
Thought I forgot about this didn’t you? I wanted to give these a very long time to settle before trying them again.
I did not take gravity readings this time, though in hindsight I probably should have. I did take some tasting notes from each glass though.
Bread Yeast – Some of the funny off-flavours have dissipated from this cider. It smells like cheap wine and has a semi-sour, sweet taste. It seems to have retained its apple juice like qualities, including being completely flat.
Beer Yeast – Bleh. This one has taken a turn for the worst. That funny off-taste of yeast is stronger then ever in this cider. The yeast obviously did not do a very good job of cleaning up the flavours before they died. It is definitely the sweetest of the bunch, but has over the past 6 months become flat like the bread yeast.
WC-1118 – It smells like wine, it looks like wine and for all intensive purposes it tastes like wine. The driest of the bunch and the most carbonated, the WC-1118 yeast did an exceptional job of cleaning up any form of funky flavours. It was the cleanest, most enjoyable of the batch. It was so enjoyable I finished off the entire bottle of it with happy results.
I still have one more round which I will do way into the summer. Thumbs plus for SCIENCE!
Round 4 is finished with WC-1118 in the lead!
Routine of the Day – Tabata This! Round 3 of Tabata Training
Posted by bradinator in Experiments, Fitness, Routines on October 28, 2009
It’s another day and another 24 minutes of brutal exercise. But its just 24 minutes…
Tabata Scores (8 Rounds – 20 Seconds Exercise, 10 Seconds Rest)
- Pullups – 16 12 10 7 6 6 5 5 Total: 67 Best: 5
- Squats – 24 22 21 20 20 20 20 20 Total: 67 Best: 20
- Pushups - 36 26 22 22 22 22 21 21 Total: 192 Best: 21
- M. Climbers - 25 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 Total: 179 Best: 22
- Chair Dips - 28 25 22 22 22 22 22 22 Total: 185 Best: 22
- Burpees - 7 6 5 5 5 5 5 5 Total: 43 Best: 5
Total Repetitions Completed: 833
In comparison to my last rounds I am still down on Pullups for both best and total (I think doing 120 pullups yesterday may have had something to do with it), but up in Pushups, Mountain Climbers and Dips. My overall total repetitions up by about 15 as well showing that I am getting improved sustainability in these exercises.
Still I feel that there are several other factors that contribute to getting a better Tabata Score, including how I have been eating, how much sleep I have been getting and the time of day I do the exercises. Rest between routines is also important as you body needs to recover to perform at its best.
If I compare to some of my very first Tabata scores the improvements are amazing. I had a journal I kept for some of my previous Routines of the Day, before I began posting them on my blog and compared those Tabata Scores its mind blowing. I do not have total repetitions recorded, but I do have the best of the sets.
I will post the exercises I am doing for this Tabata Challenge only just for comparison:
Febuary 25th 2009 (first ever, no vest) – Burpees – 7, Pushups – 15, Squats – 17
April 1st 2009 (no vest) – Pullups – 4, Burpees – 6, Pushups – 11, Squats – 12
April 26th 2009 (no vest) – Pullups – 5, Burpees – 6, Pushups – 12, Squats – 15
Those are some pretty sad scores. Not even with my vest! I wonder how many I could do without that damned thing on? Hmmm…
| Tabata Scores | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Total | Best |
| Pullups | 16 | 12 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 67 | 5 |
| Squats | 24 | 22 | 21 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 167 | 20 |
| Pushups | 36 | 26 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 21 | 21 | 192 | 21 |
| M. Climbers | 25 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 179 | 22 |
| Chair Dips | 28 | 25 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 185 | 22 |
| Burpees | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 43 | 5 |
An Experiment in Brewology – Part 3
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Experiments, Home Brewing on August 28, 2009
It’s that time again. With it being well over a month since the last time I took the test samples from the original batch, I felt it was time to continue with my Brewology lessons.
Bread Yeast – SG: 1.000 ABV: 8.8%
Notes: This one is still as flat as ever and still carrying the funky it had last month. Its sweet, with some definite notes of caramel, but the off-tastes are far to apparent to make it enjoyable. Actually I think it may be worse then last time.
Beer Yeast – SG: 1.000 ABV: 8.8%
Notes: There was just the slightest hints of carbonation in this one. The SG has actually dropped some putting it on par with the Champagne and Bread yeasts. Some sweet flavours and the apple juice taste is still there, but it has some of the off-flavours that the bread yeast carried.
WC-1118 Champagne Yeast – SG 1.000 ABV: 8.8%
Notes: Its hard to believe they all leveled out at an SG of 1.000. This one had the greatest improvement overall, with some apparent carbonation and the least amount of funky aftertaste. Actually it was almost unnoticeable. It was the least sweetest of the batch, but easily the most drinkable now.
Round three is finished and this experiment is quickly turning into a disaster with two of the ciders still very unpleasant. It may be another two months before I try the next round which will hopefully allow any of those strange flavours to dissipate.
An Experiment in Brewology – Part 2
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Experiments, Home Brewing on July 9, 2009
If you remember from about a month ago I posted about an experiment to discover what would make the best tasting cider in the shortest amount of time.
Well the first round has come up and I have the results in:
Bread Yeast – SG: 1.000 ABV: 8.8%
Notes: Flat and dry with a strange funky taste that is probably yeast. It tastes like cheap wine. It was surprisingly clear though.
Beer Yeast – SG: 1.020 ABV: 6.1%
Notes: Fizzy and slightly sweet. You can still taste the apple in the background. I found this one to be the most drinkable.
WC-1118 Champagne Yeast – SG 1.000 ABV: 8.8%
Notes: Just as strong as the bread yeast, less clear and just a hint of carbonation. Very dry with none of that funky yeasty taste. All in all still not very drinkable.
So there you have it, after one month, the Beer Yeast is ahead of the pack being the most flavourful and drinkable. I have capped the rest of the ciders and will let them sit for later taste testing dates at the 2, 3 and 4 month mark.
An Experiment in Brewology
Posted by bradinator in Experiments, Hobbies, Home Brewing on June 18, 2009
The basic premise was devised while reading some cider recipes on www.homebrewtalk.com (an absolutely amazing resource for anyone interested in any form of brewing).
Here is the experiment in a nutshell: What kind of effect does the type of yeast and the amount of time allowed to ferment have on apple juice while creating cider. So to carry out this experiment as cheaply and as easily as possible started by purchasing 12 bottles of Minute Maid Pure Apple Juice, a package of Coopers Ale Yeast and a package of Lavalin EC-1118 Champagne yeast. I also purchased some balloons to act as inexpensive air bungs/locks for each bottle.
All the components of the experiment
Each bottle of apple juice had an additional 45 grams of dextrose (corn sugar) added to aid in fermentation and add volume to the cider. I then split the bottles into three groups of four; One for the Coopers Ale Yeast, one for the EC-1118 and finally one more for basic bread yeast. Approximately 1 1/2 teaspoons of each yeast were added to the bottles based on their respective groups. Finally I covered each with the balloons, taped them down, poked air holes into them and moved the bottles into the basement.
All the experiment is setup
The original gravity taken before adding the yeast was 1.066. The plan at this point is to test a bottle from each group at at set intervals – 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 9 weeks and 12 weeks. I will take the gravity and do a taste test at each period.
The purpose of this experiment is two fold – First is to learn how specific strains of yeast affect flavour and appearance. The second is too see which will create the best tasting cider the quickest for future batches. Updates will be posted at each time interval.
Multi-Vitamins – A multitude of ways to waste your money?
Posted by bradinator in Experiments, Nutrition on February 5, 2009
Until recently I have taken a multi-vitamin everyday, along with several other vitamins depending on the time of the year (for example – Vitamin D in winter) or the type of training I was doing (Brewers Yeast, a B complex during particularly hard training regiments for “improved energy and recovery”). The funny thing is I never felt any different when I took them.
Actually its not really that funny because I may have been wasting my money for the past several years. Do multi-vitamins really do anything? A lot of research out there shows they do not. And there is a lot of research that they do. Some say the reduce the risk of Cancer and some say the increase the risk of Cancer. Honestly, go Google it yourself. The World is Awash in contradictory studies on this topic.
I used to think that taking one was kind of like an insurance policy: They do not do me any direct harm and could be giving me the vitamins needed. When my girl friend asked me why I was taking them now I said “For my health”, but then she retorted “But do you feel any different when you do not take them?”
Thats when it clicked. No I do not. I have never felt any noticeably different taking a vitamin or not. When taking B vitamins for energy I never felt more energetic. When I took vitamin D to prevent SEDS I still felt just a lousy during the long dark winter months. I guess thats not totally true because sometimes I did feel sick to my stomach if I took one without food.
So my plan now is to cut out any form of vitamin supplement and just focus on getting my daily intake from food instead. Something tells me that in a few months time the only thing that will change is having an additional $30 in my wallet every month.
Home Made Cottage Cheese
Posted by bradinator in Experiments, Nutrition, Recipes on January 27, 2009
Never again will I buy a $6 tub of the sodium loaded cottage cheese from the super market. Not since I have learned how to make my own. And its so easy its a wonder I never did it before.
I eat cottage cheese like its going out of style, usually twice a day. It is probably the most expensive regular item on my grocery list. But for almost half the cost — About $4 for a 4L of 2% milk I am able to create anywhere between 1L-2L of fresh cottage cheese.
How does one do this? Just follow these super easy steps:
1) Turn the stove to medium heat
2) In a large pot, bring 2-4L of milk to a boil. It is very important you bring it to a boil slowly. I have found the slower I bring the milk up to temperature, the more curds I get.
3) Just as the milk begins to boil (before it froths up and explodes everywhere), add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of vinegar to it. I have not figured the exact amount yet, so I just keep adding milk until it begins curdling.
4) Stir slowly, watching the milk transform into a yellowish liquid (whey) and white clumps (curds aka: cottage cheese). It takes about 5-10 minutes until the curdling finishes.
5) Seperate your curds in whey with cheese cloth or a strainer. Rinse them with cold water and put them into containers for storage
This cottage cheese keeps for about 3-5 days. It has little in the way of taste, so I like adding a bit of salt to enhance the flavour. I hate wasting the liquid whey so on the advice of my friend I began freezing it for other uses including adding to my morning oatmeal and using it instead of milk for protien shakes.