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Friday I bottled some of the beer I’ve been making. Last week I had racked the beer to the secondary fermenter, but I had five gallons of beer, and only a 3 gallon secondary fermenter. How this had slipped past me before I am not sure. Needless to say, 2 gallons of beer had to remain in the primary fermenter. This in itself isn’t a bad thing, since many people advocate not using secondary fermenters at all, and just bottling straight from the primary.

One problem with leaving the beer on the primary fermenter is that is that beer likes to condition in bulk for as long as possible. Conditioning is the part of the fermenting that takes place after all the sugar has already been consumed. Most of the yeast goes dormant, and the little that is left runs around cleaning up byproducts of fermentation, many of which aren’t very palatable. This improves the flavor over time.

However, only a small portion of the yeast is doing the conditioning work, most of the yeast has gone dormant and fallen to the bottom of the fermenter. If you let beer condition for a long time in the primary fermenter, then all this dormant yeast and precipitated protein on the bottom of the fermenter (called the “trub”) can cause trouble. The proteins can get shaken back up into the beer, potentially adding undesirable flavors. These proteins can also be eaten by yeast that hasn’t gone dormant yet, which produces unpleasant flavors. Also, the yeast can autolyze, which is a form of yeasty suicide, which releases so much disgusting stuff into the beer that it usually becomes undrinkably bad.

Moving the beer to a secondary fermenter keeps only the small amount of active yeast that is still in suspension, and leaves behind the potentially trouble causing trub. Now conditioning can progress unhindered. I had to bottle the beer that was still on the primary fermenter this weekend, before something bad happened. However, the beer that I got into the secondary will be bottled next weekend, benefiting from another week in fermentation. My hope is that the two sub-batches will both be of equal quality. Theoretically, the beer that made it to the secondary will be a little better, but that is just theory. This is actually a good thing, because it will give me an opportunity to directly compare beer that had a chance to ferment on a secondary fermenter with beer that had gone straight from the primary to bottles. With something as variable-rich as brewing, theory sometimes has to take a back seat to a simple taste test.

Anyway, I’ll probably be using the bottles as gifts for people who aren’t in St. Louis, because of their universal portability. For the St. Lunatics, I’ll be kegging the beer, saving me the trouble of saving up, cleaning and washing another 30 bottles. I’ve ordered a small keg-like system, called a Tap-A-Draft that uses 6 liter bottles and a small CO₂ injector system that is used to keep 15 PSI on the beer at all times, keeping it fresh and carbonated. Instead of using big tanks like real kegging systems, this one uses 8 gram cartridges. The system is pretty cheap, and has gotten some very good reviews. It looks ideal for someone like myself who wants to keg beer, but doesn’t have the money or the space for ‘real’ kegs. It can theoretically ‘force carbonate’ beverages, which means taking an uncarbonated beverage and exposing it to high CO₂ pressures while chilled in the fridge, with the effect of carbonating the beverage overnight. However, its ability to do that is suspect, because typically more pressure and better regulators are required for such a process. However, I will be keg/bottle conditioning my beer anyway, which means adding a bit of corn sugar to the brew immediately before bottling or kegging. The few remaining yeasties eat the sugar and make a tiny bit of alcohol and some CO₂. Because they are now sealed tight in the bottle or keg instead of being in a fermenter with a bubbling airlock, the CO₂ they create carbonates the beverage automagically. The process takes between 2 and 3 weeks. After that, the beverage is either consumed all at once, as in a bottle, or consumed in a system that can maintain CO₂ pressure on the container so that the carbonation isn’t lost, like the Tap-A-Draft. I’ll let people know how the system works once I get it.

Like every other damn blogger, I’m going to review the Matrix: Reloaded, just because I can. The full review will contain spoilers, so only read the extended entry if you don’t mind them or if you’ve already seen it. If you haven’t seen it, here is my mini-review and commentary just for you.

Don’t listen to all those people saying it doesn’t have the magic of the original. If you take a book, and open it up one third of the way in, and read it until you are two thirds of the way through, it won’t seem very magical. In a story, there is an introduction, where the story is set up, the characters are introduced, etc. Its called the exposition, I believe. Then there is the continuation of the story, then a climax and a denouement. The Matrix trilogy is not a series like the Naked Gun series, or Diehard or anything. Those are essentially movies that are just different films with different stories, they just happen to have the same characters and occasional transparent references to the previous films. The three movies of The Matrix are linked so closely that you can’t watch one without seeing the ones before it. It would make no sense at all (even less than when you actually watch them together). They are actually parts of one huge six hour film, broken into three pieces so that short attention span consumers can take it. Keep that in mind, because it is a critical distinction from many of the ‘sequels’ American cinema often produces. The Lord of the Rings trilogy would be another recent example of the same idea, and the Star Wars movies as well (though their success as creating the interwoven stories is debatable at this point).

But I digress. The second movie is the continuation of the whole story. There is a lot of meat here, and a lot of great movie, but the ‘magic’ isn’t the same, because exposition ended in the first movie. The exposition is where all the great discoveries and revelations come, now we get to the heart of the matter. If each movie was just mystery after mystery, then there wouldn’t be any deep story. It would be easy to just throw curve ball after curve ball and keep everyone in the dark, but it wouldn’t be a good story. Don’t get me wrong, there are some amazing ideas, discoveries and mysteries in Reloaded, but they aren’t of the same character as the mysteries from the first movie. This isn’t a bad thing. In fact, its a good thing.

So don’t worry, and go enjoy the movie! My strong recommendation to you is to go watch the first Matrix shortly before seeing the new one. Madalene and I saw The Matrix eight days ago in a theater by our house that was showing it as a midnight movie. Seeing it so recently made me think of the sequel as just a continuation, jumping in right where the last left off, rather than a different movie that was somehow supposed to stand on its own in competition with the first. The Matrix is a movie in three two hour acts, not three separate movies. Remember that, and many of the artistic decisions will make more sense to you.

Also, stick around for the entire credit roll. At the very end, after the credits are done, is a trailer for the final movie in the series, Revolutions. Its a neat thing to see, and a good way to psych up for the next one.

So, if you dare, read on for a more detailed review and thoughts that will contain spoilers.
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Lazyweb, I invoke thee. We are looking for a book Madalene remembers from her childhood. The book contained photography of women’s breasts, and then a story about the woman, her life, her experiences, etc. on the next page. It was paperback, though hardcover versions may exist. The title was something like “Breasts” or “The Breast”. She would like to get this book for inclusion in the Washington University’s Women’s Resource Center library. If anyone remembers or has a book like this, that would have been published earlier than 1994, we would love information on it, such as author, title, ISBN number, etc, so we can hunt down a copy. Thanks!

UPDATE: The book has been found! Good suggestions in the comments yielded some very interesting books, but the exact book we were looking for was finally revealed to us by Madalene’s mother who was actually able to produce a copy for us. She’s, you guessed it, a librarian! Here is the information on the book, in case anyone is curious:

Title: Breasts: Women Speak About Their Breasts and Their Lives
Editors: Daphna Ayalah and Isaac J. Weinstock
Published by Summit Books, New York in 1979
ISBN: 0-671-40021-5 hardcover and 0-671-40095-9 paperback.

“Andrew”:http://www.andrewsw.com requested more information on Set Theory, a branch of music theory that Forte Night deals with, in a comment to my last post. I was going to email him, but figured I’d post about it instead, so that anyone else who is curious can also partake of the information.

Now, IANAMT(I Am Not A Music Theorist) (I Am Not A Music Theorist, to those of you who aren’t hip to the latest in Internet acronyms), and what I know is mostly from the perspective of having to write a program about it. Hence, I’m quite clear on the mathematics behind Musical Set Theory, but not very clear about the practical applications of it. However, I have a few friends who are very clear on it (they are composers) and I’ll query them for more information which I’ll add to the post later. I’ll also forward specific questions people have about it along to them, just post them in the comments. Read on if you dare, things will get a little complex as we go.
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…So I guess I’ll have to rent it! Three points to whoever gets the reference.

However, it is true that money can’t buy the things that truly make us happy, those things being compassion and empathy for all living things. However, it is helpful for maintaining a standard of living that limits suffering that stems from poor nutrition, poor housing, poor sanitation etc.

Also, there are some services that one often must pay for, but that can bring contentment and happiness. For instance, say that happiness to you includes being tied up and spanked by a man in clown make-up and leather underpants, then you can rent the Professional Adult Clown services of “Ouchy the Clown”:http://www.ouchytheclown.com. Though, for those of us who need something other than the irreverent antics of a scantily clad clown wielding a riding crop to make us happy, the search goes on. It is my hope however, that someone out there reading this thinks to themselves, “I’ve always wanted a naughty clown to take me to the limits of desire,” and is able to partake of Ouchy’s services. Such a person probably feels pretty alone, since I can’t imagine that a very large portion of the population desires such treatment, let alone from a clown, but folks, Ouchy is here for you. Ouchy understands. Ouchy cares.

It would be fun to have him DJ at a party though.

Tonight I had the pleasure of seeing Dennis’s concert. Him and several other new composers had written music that was being premiered at the fabulous Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis. The cathedral is a massive structure, over 130 years old, with a mighty pipe organ, and an amazing acoustic presence. Dennis had two pieces, one was based on a set of four ‘glosses’ which are short poem-like additions added to ancient texts, usually written in the margins. Think of them as Irish haiku. They describe things like the wonders of nature, the meditative peacefulness of reading a book in the forest, the song of a bird, things like that. His second piece was theme and variations on a traditional Irish tune, written for flute, string bass (which Dennis played himself) and harp. The piece was beautiful, utilizing all the best parts of the various instruments, and even using some parts that you wouldn’t expect, rapping on the wood, tapping and clicking the keys, etc.

There were also fabulous organ pieces, wonderful choral works, piano pieces, and more. It was a great concert, set in a great hall, and a wonderful opprotunity for some new musicians to get their pieces performed. I feel confident that there is a new generation of composers and performers coming into their own that will please and astound everyone. Its great to be a part of their beginnings.

While Madalene was shopping on Amazon, she took this interesting screenshot. Apparently their automated system of suggesting related products to you has taken an interesting turn. Apparently they now differentiate customers based on whether or not they wear clothing. Customers who go naked get offered other products, you might think. I find it particularly amusing that the first entry is “Clean Underwear” which is clearly the staple of any clothing wearer’s wardrobe

The pomegranate is a very special fruit. The original ‘fruit of passion,’ there are many who believe that the fateful apple mentioned in the Book of Genesis, the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, was actually a pomegranate. Apples were not available in the area of the world at that time, and the pomegranate has many cultural connotations as a passionate fruit. A fruit of wild abandon.

Eating a pomegranate is an interesting experience. First you must pierce the outer shell. I used a knife to hack it open, which earned me a squirt of bright red juice. Then, I pried away the outer layer, exposing the tiny red seeds like so many amphibian eggs. I don’t know about you, but I eat the entire seed. Some people spit out the little white inner seed, but I crunch it up, and enjoy it with gusto. Prying open the pomegranate with too much vigor will cause the seeds to burst, spraying you with juice. This happened to me several times while eating this pomegranate. I’m now covered in tiny droplets of red juice. My clothing is surely stained, and my face is sticky from the repeated spritzing.

I enjoyed it though. Quite a bit of delicious excitement for a small fruit.

There are lots of wonderful things made from pomegranates as well. Such as pomegranate juice. Or Grenadine syrup. Or even colorful dyes. A friend of mine once dyed her hair red with pomegranate juice. Another friend of mine inadvertently dyed his pants red by placing a pomegranate in his rear pocket, forgetting about it, and then sitting on it later. The color was quite vibrant however, and looked quite well on him.

I’ve been getting messages sent to the entire library by one of the staff members who is compiling a recipe book. They intend to make the book out of recipes from library members, then sell the book and donate the money to charity. I probably get an email every day requesting more and more recipes. So today I finally broke down an gave up my secret family recipe. Now that it is out in the open, I might as well let you folks see it as well:

I’m not much of a cook, but here is my one soup recipe.

Ingredients:
One can condensed soup (any variety).
One glass or bottle of cold water.

Remove the label from the soup can. This will prevent it from catching on fire, which may taint the flavor of the soup.
Open the can of soup. If you do not have a can opener, a screwdriver or large knife can often be of aid.
Turn a stovetop burner to medium, and place the can directly on the heated surface.
Use a spoon to stir the soup frequently, to prevent burning the soup.
When the soup is warm, remove the can from heat. You may need to use a hot pad, or a pair of pliers, because the surface of the can will be very hot.
Alternatively, you can simply turn off the stove. The burner will continue to put out heat for a few minutes, but you won’t have to touch the hot can. This is especially useful if you do not own a hot pad, and can’t find your pliers.

Enjoy your soup by standing over the stove, putting a large spoonful into your mouth, and then washing it down with a swig of water from your glass. The hot condensed soup will mix with the cool water in your mouth, forming a warm, delicious and convienent mixture, ready for immediate swallowing.

Enjoy!

Since everyone is doing it: The Friday Five.

1. How many TVs do you have in your home?
One, and its only 13″.

2. On average, how much TV do you watch in a week?
Probably about 30 minutes worth, on average. About once every two weeks I’ll catch an episode of The Simpsons (great stuff), and every so often I’ll watch part of Friends with Madalene, because she watches it periodically.

3. Do you feel that television is bad for young children?
I don’t think that TV is inherently bad for them, but I think that too much TV can be. I watched TV some as a child, but I knew lots of kids who did nothing but watch TV. I think that if you do any single activity for a large portion of your day, then that will shape who you are as a person. This goes double for impressionable kids. I would prefer not to be shaped in the way that TV shapes people, consumption oriented, passive receptacle for entertainment, violent, emotionally unstable or overly dramatic (soap-opera effect), and things like that. I would would not like my kids to turn out that way. The TV is not a babysitter, though too many people do that (my boss even calls the TV the babysitter in all seriousness. She just plops her son down in front of it and lets him stay there all evening while she does other stuff). Too much TV watching by kids is also bad for their development. Childhood diabetes is at all time highs because many children have a totally sedentary lifestyle. I was told by a doctor the other day that he has 10 year old children come in all the time who are 30 pounds overweight, are beginning to develop diabetes, and who have lower back problems because they aren’t on their feet for more than 20 minutes a day. They get driven to school, sit through school, get driven home, do their homework, and then sit in front of the TV till bed. These children are going to have severe health problems later in life because of this. Kids need to get out and run around and play and climb trees and roll down hills and stuff. Partly for their mental development, being creative, etc, but also for their physical development. If you start out with childhood diabetes, overweight and with back problems, it will be almost impossible for you to recover complete health later in life. Whew, sorry for the rant.

4. What TV shows do you absolutely HAVE to watch, and if you miss them, you’re heartbroken?
None.

5. If you had the power to create your own television network, what would your line-up look like?
I’d probably try to take a sort of public TV approach. I’d host discussion shows like Politically Incorrect, art oriented shows about galleries and musicians, a few off the wall humor shows, like Mystery Science Theater and The Simpsons, and educational shows about the human body and nature, like what you sometimes get on the Learning Channel and Discovery Channel. I’d try to have limited advertising, and wouldn’t fight for ratings by sacrificing my ideals. I probably wouldn’t make it in the business.

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Have you ever thought in great detail about how walking works? You sort of toss yourself forward, while kicking a foot out to catch yourself. Shift the balance, toss forward, kick the other foot out. Its a really delicate balance. The, when you want to turn, you just shift your balance too far. You start to fall over sideways, but since one of your feet is planted, and you are still being tossed forward, you pivot around the foot, relying on your other foot to come down and catch you before you crash into the ground. If you forgot to move that other foot, you’d just fall over sideways instead of actually making the turn.

I find that if I think about it hard enough, I actually have a hard time walking, because I’m objectifying it too much. All I need to do is let my instincts take over, and my body can walk, turn, run, climb, navigate stairs, jump, navigate difficult terrain, etc. But if I try to pay too much attention to it, it doesn’t work! I almost fell over coming back from the bathroom because I was paying so much attention to each little motion.

Walking is a very zen activity. Try to grab it too tightly, and it slips away. Less talk, more walk. Ahh..

I already got a response to the post below about Medical Professionals with blogs! Chris, a Dentist, has a nice Photo Blog. He is a good writer, with some very high quality photography! He also cleans teeth and enjoys Nutella. Two fine qualities, if I do say so myself.

So I just heard a doctor tell this joke, and I thought it was funny enough to post:

A man comes into the hospital with some chest pain, and so one of the floor interns and a nurse come and take him into one of the exam rooms. He seems to be stable, so they decide to monitor him, and give him an ECG. The nurse hooks up the electrodes while the man is sitting on the bed, and then goes back to the nurse’s station while the intern starts taking a history. Suspecting myocarditis, he asks the man, “Do you drink large quantities of alcohol?”

Just as the man is answering, “No, never touch the stuff,” one of his electrodes comes loose. The nurse sees the ECG go flatline, and thinking the man’s heart has stopped, she runs into the exam room, grabs the defibrillator, and gives the man a huge shock to the chest, trying to start his heart back up. The man falls off the bed onto the floor, and as he is staggering to get back onto the bed, he says, “Ok, Ok! I do drink a little…”

Hehehe.

Prompt is a very cool project similar to WeeklyDV, but with drawing! Each week, Lagomorpho puts up a ‘prompt’ that might be a short phrase, a single word, a small image, etc. Your job is to draw a picture in less than 15 minutes that you were inspired to draw by the prompt. It is like word association games, but with drawing.

My drawing was done on my desktop using Desktastic and my Wacom tablet. It incorporates various aspects of the desktop as well. I just got an email back from Lagomorpho, so my entry should be up later this afternoon in The Gallery, and I’ll post a direct link later when I see where its posted.

Hopefully we’ll see some more interesting drawings coming in, as Josh, after I told him about the project over ichat, had to immediately run off and start drawing. It will be hard to keep him from submitting multiple entries per week. He already vowed to finish a hand drawn one, and a digital one last night, and who knows what he’ll do later in the week. He’s a great artist though, so I’m sure the influx if interesting art will be appreciated!