challah! I love that word...

Challah bread! Made some for The Boss the other day, and it came out pretty well. Check it:

 

And there is is. I love the weight on the scale.. apparently, this is "The challah of the Beast" I've baked here. Hopefully, I've also baked at least most of the pure evil out of it. It tastes pretty darn good, at least!

A chicken update! Here's a couple shots of the chicks playing outside in the mulch along side the house, taken yesterday.

..crazy buggers, rolling around in the dirt like it's July out there! It was about 22 degrees or so at the time this was taken, near the middle of the day. They don't seem to mind the cold, but they sure have no interest in even touching the snow. In fact, I moved their coop overtop of the pavement in the driveway now for the winter, because if there's snow on the ground, or in their coop, they won't go near it.. effectively cutting their run size in half. At least if they're on the pavement, it'll warm up in the sun during the day and give them some room to move around on.  Plus, after morning egg laying is done, I let them out to roam.. and they go where they please, as long as there's no snow covering it.  ;-)

I also scored a heated watering dish for them, too.. that process of chasing after the iced over water several times during the day was really starting to drag me down.

I also re-started the sourdough project. Apparently, I read the directions wrong.. err, interpreted them wrong, from the start. What I *think* I did, was to effectively tell my yeasts that I was going to underfeed them every time, and that they should eat and then immediately go dormant. What I should have done, from the beginning while building my starter, is to (once the starter shows some activity..) throw half the starter away, and then feed the starter it's own weight in water *and* flour, in essence, tripling the overall weight of the stuff. What I was doing, was throwing away half the starter and then mixing in half it's weight in flour and half it's weight in water, doubling it in weight. When you read the texts online and such, it's a bit misleading, because they want your starter to double in size, but in order to do that, you have to feed the thing adequately to do that. I was basically taking 100 grams of starter and feeding it only enough to support 50 grams of starter beasts.. and then starting that process over the next time, again and again. I selectively bred sissy yeasts! So, I'm starting over. It seems to be going well right now.. we're on day #3.

KIA... "One Bean" Bitter

And that's all she wrote for the "One Bean" Bitter. Great beer! Brewed with Jody a while back in May, it didn't last long here cause I drank the tar out of it. Really tasty. My favorite bitter recipe yet. I'll definitely brew this one again.

Here's a shot of the new wheel and tire combo on the chicken coop. Couldn't move it before, so I had to stick some wheels on it. Dig this:



Sweet! Rolls like a charm now. Good job, me!

Updates and a few fallen soldiers..

As mentioned, there's a couple fallen this past couple weeks. The first, as the pic indicates, is the passing of the famed "1903 Wheat", brewed on the big brew day we had back in the Spring. Brewed up by me and Dan, it was a good beer and served it's term well. Another unit that went just recently wasn't even a beer. It was that damned orange Craftsman 3/8th's drill. I was using it to crush the grain for the Avalon Pale Ale and it was giving me all sorts of issues, but finally I had to take it apart to put the motor brushes back in (!) to get it running again. After that, I was going to us it to drill the axle holes for the coop, but she's since refused to fire back up. As such, I'm now int he market for a new drill. I'm not sure if I'm going to go cordless or corded... but I'll definitely need something before the next brew session, or it's gonna be a long, hand cranked crushing process.

The chicken coop is still working well with the new wheels on. Still haven't fond the camera, so I can't post any new pics just yet of that mod.. but it's much nicer to move now, and nobody gets hurt as a result of the effort. Sheesh.

Speaking of chickens, they're all getting on the big side now. The wander around the yard every morning now, for the past 4 days when I open up the door to change the water-er and feeder. It was my weekend, so I let 'em all out for pretty much the whole day for all three days and we had no issues at all. No hawks in sight, and no dog attacks. We had "Boo Boo" the cat next door come over for a look, but she didn't do anything with the hens.. plus, she didn't stick around long after I dragged out the Rustler with the big battery and started zinging that around the yard. The girls finally found out where the momma's veggy garden is, so they made the trip around the back and gorged themselves on ants and slugs back there. I think Sarah said they might have had a snack of parsley as well, but I'm sure that was just to wash down the taste of the slugs with and freshen up their breath.

And lastly in chicken news, that RIR chick that bashed herself into the cage last week or so and scratched up her ear? She's fully healed up now and back in working order. No harm no fowl! ;)

I also attended neighbor Franks' annual Uncle Mike's Lake house party this past weekend too. Third year for that, and third year we've had a great time. Me and Frank brewed up a 5 gallon log of a Pale Ale to bring with us, and that appeared to be a pretty good hit. It was tapped around 1300 hours and killed at about 1830 hours or so.

Also in beer news, the Avalon Pale Ale I've brewed up for vacation next month seems to have ground to a halt in it's fermenter downstairs. I've been monitoring the ferment temps with a thermometer and filling the ol' Styrofoam box the fermenter is in with ice packs to keep the temps down.. and seems to work pretty well. I'm pondering if I'm going to thrown a couple of oak chips into that fermenter for a couple days just prior to racing to give it something to talk about. I also might dry hop it a bit, but I'm a little low on volume as it is at 5.25 gallons, and I don't wanna push it too far with losses to hops. But then again, how much beer can one family possibly consume in just one week?

};-)

In radio control news, that new LiPo battery is still going strong like an animal. Love that new fangled cell stuff. My old Triton (at only 2.5 amps charge ability for LiPo cells) is really showing it's age and totally not keeping up with the times. A newer device is definitely going to have to be in my future if I end up playing with more LiPo stuff. Fortunately, there's some really nice, dirt-cheap chargers out there for Lithium cells only and some really sweet products from Accucell company. I think that's the name, anyway.

Well, I'm off to shape, boil and bake some bagels Ive got going right now.. now go click the Google link!

The BIG chicken coop aka "lawn gouger"..

So here's the finished (well, maybe..) coop, out in the side yard. With chickens inside! The feeder and waterer are underneath there, dangling from the bottom of the coop, right next to the exit door there on the lower left. Works out really well!















And here's what happens when you try to move the darned thing. Heavy!! And digs up the lawn. This 30 foot move from one spot to the next took me 15 minutes and two very torn up hands. I need some wheels on this thing in the worst way.















The chickens are getting smarter now, having been outside for 4 days now. Each day so far, one more chicken has been able to get into the box at night by herself than the night prior. And this morning, they all came out of the box by themselves, without any "help" by me pushing them. They must have been hungry!

Speaking of hungry, they appear to love the clover weeds in the lawn. They'll eat those bare and leave everything else alone for the most part.. so when I moved the coop, it left this weird rectangle in the lawn that had regular grass and a conspicuous lack of clover, which much of my lawn is made up of. Darned weeds.

Poultry netting.. What?

They call it poultry netting. Looks like wire mesh stuff to me. Whatever! It's up, it's over, it's covering my coop's wood frame! Ack!















Not the most elegant stuff on the planet.. but it'll keep the hawks out, I guess. Raccoons, that's another story, or so I hear. We'll see. That's why I've got a snipers nest set up in the 2d story bathroom window, I suppose... bring it, raccoons! I dare ya'!

And here's one of the beasts after her 4th birthday.. 4 weeks, that is:















Still small, the size of a pigeon. But most of the feathers are in there. I've decided to keep 'em indoors one more week.. the feathers aren't totally in place.. still some downy feathers still kicking around, and with the temps dropping into the low 50's outside, I'd just as soon not chance it. I'm ready to go, otherwise. Have all the big bird feeders.. just need to put 'em in place is all. More pics of that stuff as the days go by. What is with this June weather we're having?

Click the Google ads, you sissys!

Mike

Paint on the chicken barn, and a new brew..

Hey kids!

Got some new paint on the coop, with some sweet white trim. Check it out:















..still gotta put up the mesh netting to keep the birds in and the bad things out, but that should go up pretty easy this weekend.

..and a few pics of the babies themselves, now three and a half weeks old. We're dangerously close to putting 'em out in the coop this or maybe next week. Gotta see what the weather is like and how many feathers they all got. We'll make that call in a few days or so I think.















And in other news, I killed another keg. The Rambler v1.2 that was brewed with Will is a kicked one now.. was subsequently replaced with a log of an English style Ordinary Bitter that I made with Jody. I can tell you already, this beer is fantastic! I've been loving it recently.

Since I was a little low on reserves, it was good to get a call from my boy Geoff, who came by to brew up a Dark Wheat beer with me.. not sure it was any *particular* style, but it's a wheat beer, and it's gonna be dark in color. The main ferment is over now.. just waiting on it to wind down a bit before I keg it now. Here's a shot of us in action!



















For some reason, my hops are the saddest things ever to make an attempt to grow out of the ground. No pic for you, but man.. they're hardly 4 feet out of the ground. Really sad, I tell ya'.. I think I failed when it came time to dig 'em in there and didn't do anything with mulch or compost or peat moss.. etc, etc. My mistake. We'll fix it soon, with some spiffy new chicken poop compost nutrient!

That's all for now...

The roof!

Oh snap! There's a roof right there with shingles! *Shingles* kids! Thing is starting to get out of control now.. next thing you know, they'll be installing cable TV too. Hmm..

As it stands out there now, I've just got a primer coat of paint on the thing too.. no pic of that yet, but it's there. Should be gettin' a real coat of paint on there tomorrow hopefully, and then do the trim paint up the right color, and then she'll be lookin' good. last step after that is the wire mesh netting and then it'll be ready for chicks. About a week and a half away now.. lookin' forward to seeing them out in the wild where they can really stretch out.
















OK, that's it. Just a quick update there...

A little more of the same.. updates!

Chicks are still doing well. A bit bigger now and the Barred Rocks are finally getting in their tail feathers. Here, take a look:















Lots'a feathers coming in here. Most of the wing feathers are in, and the tail feathers are pretty good too.















This is a beer my Dad gave to me. Try it, he says. Better than most German pils than I've had recently, but didn't really stand out in a crowd. Didn't have that typical corn/almost skunk that a lot of these green bottles seem to have..















Speaking of winners, though.. went to Jody's yesterday and have a pint of the One Bean Bitter that we brewed together. WOW! What a beer! He's already got his on tap.. mine is still a few weeks away from comin' up here... but man, what a brew that was! Really spectacular. I'll get a better review when I get mine online and make it official.

In chicken coop news. Big news! Check this out:
.














A roof! And..















A window! Oh, snap! That window is actually a double pane of plexiglass that I stuck in there inside the plywood. the plywood is routered in to set the plexi in about 1/8th of an inch. Thanks to my boy Rob K. for the router! Couldn't have done it otherwise. Go buy lots of coffee from his shop there at Plymouth Roasting Co., eh?

Ok, I think that's all I got for the moment...

Go click the Google Ad link!

Where's my chicks!

So, Wednesday has come and gone, and still no call from the feed place for my birds. Sad, but whatever. They said the middle of May for arrival, and it's not quite the middle yet, so I guess I have to cut 'em some slack.

There's a great article on homebrewing in the May 13th, 2009 edition of the Republican American. And that's your link to it.. Wait a sec.. who's that guy in the picture? He looks frighteningly familiar, and damn fine! And I'm not talking about just the author, why, it's ME! I'm in the newspaper. Huh! In an interesting turn of events, the Rep-Am distributes a free edition f this newspaper up here to non-subscribers once or twice a year.. and what day did they pick to hurl that edition out onto my driveway? The day I'm in it! I'm sure Will Siss had to pull some strings to get *that* in effect. In other free newspaper events, the very front cover of this paper has an article about raising baby chickens. SHOCKING! I am, seemingly, at the forefront of every notable thing that ever goes on in the world.

In more coop news, here's the roll of vinyl flooring a friend fror work brought me. Unrolling and tracing out a pattern here:















And here's the installed floor. I'm not sure I'm going to do any more than just lay it down and leave it there. It seems to stay in place just fine, really. I might wanna take it out and replace it some day, right? Why staple it in if I don't need to, I figure.















I'm also ghetto insulating this thing, a bit, with some mega scraps I have leftover from a previous job I did... not enough to do the whole thing, but enough to make it more comfortable that it would be otherwise. That's not finished yet, so pics to follow...

Bagels.. and some coop updates. But no chicks!

So, like so many other things in my life I get involved in for the most minuscule of reasons, I took up baking today. What?!? How, you ask? Well, I like the bagels at Stop and Shop. I like Dunkin' Doughnuts bagels too. But the darn things only last for about 2-3 days before they turn to solid rock, so you really can't buy a good supply of them, and I just *need* a bagel for a bagel, egg and cheese sandwich in the morning. I live for those things. So, I get to thinking.. "what's it take to make a bagel?" and then it's all downhill from there. From someone who thinks it's a challenge to get more than one food group on a plate at the same time for a meal, this is really an undertaking.

As it turns out, they're not that difficult to make, really. And hell, it involves yeast, so I'm halfway through the battle.. my beer making skillz make yeast ranching a breeze for me! A bit of flour, some salt, yeast, water, mixing and.. wait, boiling? Damn, that works for beer making too. See? Bagels are a natural progression for a home brewer after all. Then, a short trip to the oven to seal the deal and you're done. I even poppy seeded, Kosher salted, and sesame seed the things to give 'em that "everything bagel" sort of theme. I should have taken some pics, but I failed. Next time! These didn't turn out perfect, so they're really not pic worthy, but the next ones, after a short tweak to the recipe, I think might be. Then, I'll post more on the process. Can't wait till morning to try these babies out!

In other news, this is a pic of the chicken coop door thingy for the chicken ingress and egress to the outside of the cage world.















This one is a pic of the caged in portion framework that's getting framed out now.. we're getting really close now. Got one of my boyz hooking me up with some vinyl flooring for the coop floor and then we'll bolt on the roof. Still no chickens, though. I was hoping this week, but it looks like it might be next week now.. rats.

Coop Pics.. the big build, 2009!

So here are some pics of the big build so far... not complete, but we're getting close now.

This is a nest box I built from leftover scraps..















Ah! The basic frame. Started off with 5-6 chickens in mind, so I wanted like 4-5 square feet of lawn for them to have access to. So, with a max of 6 chickes, they've got a hair over 5 sq each. Perfect for an 8x4 footprint for a coop. It's like throwing down a piece of plywood on your lawn.. that's the size of 'er.















Here's the basic frame, with a floor and the pitch of the roofline I was working out at the time. It's a 6" slope from the front to the back.



















Here's the thing with three walls up, as seen from the back side. The whole box is like, 4 foot by 3.5 foot square on the floor, and 3 to 3.5 inches tall, depending on the slope of the roof. I think.



















And here's all four walls! You can just see the hinges for the side access door on the right hand side of the box here..















This is the big side access/clean out door that's on one side of the box. Only purpose is to allow me total access into the box for cleaning and whatnot that makes it necessary for me to get my whole self inside there. A small access door right behind where the nest box will be situated (yet to be determined..) will be cut in later on..



















..this is a shot of the fancy sliding coop door thingy I build, with hopes of one day also installing an automatic door opener for this box. I've seen plans for a powered window blind motor contraption hooked up to a day timer that would work..