Sunday, March 27, 2011

Tsunami Engulfs Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture

I think this will be the last post on the tsunami for a while. I've been glued to too many media outlets. It's been very hard on my psyche but I can't stop looking. I can't wrap my head around this enormous catastrophe and the more I try the harder it gets. So with that being said, the below video is a home video shot from a roof top in the  fishing town of Kesennuma.

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Its been there for 58 years but in a matter of 5 minutes 45 seconds, it's gone. I'm praying for the families affected by this and other towns like it. Even my 7 year old son has been very concerned and even asked his Sunday school teacher to pray for everyone affected.



It's so eerie the way the water just crept in and took everything.

Kasich's Ohio Budget Disaster

Matt Mayer via Reason.TV explains what's going on with Kasich's new budget. Spending our way out of debt is not responsible, it's stupid. At least Kasich can bring D's and R's together in this issue right?


Saturday, March 26, 2011

Libya 'Conflict' or Whatever You Want to Call it

Seems like this operation is getting better guidance than Operation Iraqi Freedom. Of course I say this in jest.
Chief of Naval Operations - Even though we're supposedly handing over control soon they have no idea who and the US will still be doing most of the work. Foreign Policy
US Defense Secretary - No timeline when we'll be done. Yahoo
German Forces Are Separating from NATO coalition - Daily Mail

Where are all the war protesters and reports of quagmires?

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Go Navy! Operation Tomodachi

This reminds me of helping victims of Hurricane Hugo. I remember helping in a lot of clean up efforts around Mt. Pleasant, power restores, and even the cute college ladies below my apartment that needed some light. We shared some of our emergency supplies and even partied, I mean parted with some of our whiskey.


Go Navy!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

UPDATE: 18 Rad Rye IPA

The 1st runnings were boiled for 90 minutes and OG turned out to be 1.072. I was shooting for 1.090 so my efficiency was around 60%. I have to get some iodine. (If a little iodine is poured on a sample it will turn black when the sugars have been converted - don't put the sample back though :) ).
It's been a week and the fermentations been slowed down enough to test. I came up with 1.018 which is almost finished. I'd like to give it another couple days to try to get it down to around 1.010. The other "second runnings" have an OG of 1.020. Not so hot but we're mixing the two together to get closer to a session beer than an Imperial Rye Pale.
After tasting the sample of the 1st runnings I'm starting to have second thoughts about combining the two. It's going to be a very good beer. Adding the second runnings into it may stretch the taste too far. I'd like to call a meeting of the High Order of Peculiar Zymurgists to see what they think. The 1st partigyle may be a failure. If it is I'll learn from it and move on.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Some incredible sights and sounds from the tsunami. Its so hard to even grasp the terror and helplessness these people experienced.


This is some more but thankfully a happier ending. An awesome display of teamwork and heroism by strangers.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Best Friends

This is hilarious!

Gilbert Gottfried Fired from AFLAC | "Fitty Cen" a MONUMENTAL Ass Hat

Not that being the voice of a duck is a huge gig (how is this talent?) but good old Gilbert Gottfried has been fired from AFLAC for the following tweets:

"Japan is really advanced. They don't go to the beach. The Beach comes to them."
and
"I just split up with my girlfriend, but like the Japanese say, They'll be another one floating by any minute now."


I also read that 50 Cent tweeted “Look this is very serious people I had to evacuate all my hoe’s from LA, Hawaii and Japan. I had to do it. Lol,”

But beyond the utter stupidity of the these two (and even some idiot UCLA student named Alexandra Wallace) There has been some good news.

A four month old has been reunited with her parents after 3 days under the rubble. I can't imagine what those parents had been imagining. Miracles happen.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Surreal Tsunami Moment

But wait...there's more!

The following are actual posts from FaceBook and Twitter.
"thesulk" is a writer for Family Guy.

Peace, Love, and Save the Whales

 Just when you think the world pulls together in times of tragedy, the internet provides a medium for the mentally disabled. 
Wow, just wow.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

18 Rad Rye IPA - The Creation

Grab your paddles and pints it's brew day! Chris and I are doing a partigyle, a first for me (and Chris) but with any luck this'll create a double batch of rye ipa. I was trying to base this off Cromwell's IPA but the hops I needed just aren't available. I'm using Citra and Magnum in place of the Horizon and Centennial. Citra's a fairly new hop with lots of fruity flavors so this should be pretty cool to do. There's a lot of 1st's in this brew but with any luck it'll be a kick ass ale. As always I try to share my recipes for everyone to look at and tweak. I can't wait to make some bread out of this grain bed. I love rye bread. What's in the name? 18 is from the percentage of rye. Rad is a unit of radiation measurement. I always try to input something "submarine-like" into my names. After all it's Fairwater Brewing. We'll be outside most of the afternoon so come on by and grab a seat. I have plenty on tap and if the weathers nice I'll grill up some doggies.


Grain Bill
15lbs Pale
3.75lbs Rye Malt
18oz Crystal 80
4oz Roasted Malt


Hops
Magnum - 1.5oz @60
Citra - 1oz @60
Simcoe - 1.5oz @5
Amarillo - 1.5oz @0
Citra - .5oz @0

Yeast
For the yeast I'm using the Wyeast 1056 American Ale I harvested from the last Eric Stout I made. I have to admit I'm a little nervous about adding a harvested yeast from a stout but I'll throw caution to the wind today. It seemed to work well with my HoneyBell Hefe (to be blogged later).

According to Beer Smith I should have an OG of 1.089 which should be plenty for second runnings.

Now what am I doing and what's a partigyle? I'm running hot water (approximately 167 degrees) over the grains a second time to collect more wort. I'll collect 7.25 gallons of wort off the grain bed for my 1st batch. After I get that I'll continue to collect  6.5 gallons of wort for a second batch of weaker wort. Basically it's like running water over a tea bag a second time for another cup of tea. It'll be weaker but it'll still be tea.
After the initial fermentation of both batches I'll mix both together to create more even keeled ale. I'll have no idea of what the alcohol will be but I'll take an average measurement from both batches. Should be fun!

Dogfish Head Brewing is Leaving!

It's unfortunate but it seems the residents of Tennessee, Indiana, Wisconsin and Rhode Island will no longer be able to grab a pint of Dogfish Head at their local pub or even store. According to the Dogfish blog it seems as though the expansion has gotten ahead of production. Canada and the UK will also be suffering. Why those specific states? I don't know but I'm wondering if Ohio will be next. 

Friday, March 4, 2011

High Order of the Peculiar Zymurgists Calendar

I need a New Template

I'll be changing things around here soon. New layout, logo, background, etc..I need to do a lot more work here so over the next couple weeks you'll notice some changes. Some may be ugly some may be cool and from time to time it may look like an elephant came over and stomped this place in the jewels. Just be patient and know that in good time this place will be a lot better.