Just give it a go!

The recent heat has played hell with my brewing. Beers that seemed to be almost finished have kick started themselves back into life and resumed their bubbling, and with temperatures hitting 35 degrees who knows what flavours are being produced. I don't have the refrigeration options to chill the fermentors down to sensible temperatures, and although I could have taken steps to kill the yeast and stop the fermentation I'm not happy adding anything like that to my beers.

Anyway, who knows - maybe something interesting could be produced? I think that in these days of 'always on' internet it's too easy to look things up on line instead of just giving it a go. There are a whole host of instant experts out there telling you what you should and shouldn't be doing, and with all those professional views out there it's easy to think 'Unless you can do it perfectly, why do it at all?'.

I say 'Pah' to the experts. There's no harm in reading up on something but don't get freaked out by all the things that you 'should' be doing. Just follow your gut, work on getting the basics sorted first and then start playing with the finer variables. If you fancy making cheese, cider, bread, beer, kimchi, lime pickle, knitted beanies or your own portable yurt constructed entirely of plaited body hair - just give it a go! It may not turn out to be perfect, but it will almost certainly turn out to be interesting.

Following on in the spirit of experimentation, my lemonade may not have turned out as well as it could have done and is falling on the side of 'interesting'...my garage looks like a BYO party for US Postal riders ten years ago.

 

It tastes very dry with a slight back taste of hop. I think the cloudiness is due in part to the use of wheat malt, in part to the cloudiness of real lemons and also due to a fair amount of yeast in solution.  I'm hoping that over the next couple of weeks they will fizz up and then it will taste tart and refreshing when served ice cold. We'll see but I feel that further experimentation may be required, possibly with a smaller batch...

Think positive happy thoughts...

A motivational message this week, something I like to watch on the plane before visiting a client...

 

My Sydney local

I escaped the 39 degree heat in Brisbane with a two day, one night visit to Sydney. I was based in Parramatta but managed to escape the client at 5pm on the first day, so it was a perfect time to check out the Sydney Local Taphouse. I've been to the Melbourne branch before but not the Sydney one, and so just over an hour after leaving my hotel I'd walked up to the station, got a train into the CBD and then found the pub. Maybe not so local after all!

It may not have been the easiest trip but it was worth it. Walking to the pub meant that I explored some new parts of Sydney - a city I know less well than Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and even Perth - and with a cool breeze and low sun I even shivered every so often. I tried to take some stealth shots of the pub - they didn't come out too well but you get the idea. The piece of paper is the beer menu

A pint of 'Women of Beer' Hildegarde's Bier De Garde and a plate of Chipotle spice chicken wings with a blue cheese dressing. On the company. That makes up for the early start....

The pub has 20 taps. They use around 5 for lager, 1 for a cider and the rest for ales - including 3 saisons but surprisingly only one IPA. I could have spent a long time sampling their selections but after a  few beers the selection board started to look a bit like this

so it was time to head back to the hotel.

I woke up the next day in need of a big coffee, and luckily there was one to hand

My 7pm flight home got cancelled in the afternoon and I got bumped to an 8pm flight, so instead of sitting around at the airport I amused myself going for a quick hoon around Botany Bay in my Holden SV6 hire car.

The last time I was down I had a Falcon XR6, and personally I think that the Ford drove better and had a better design. I think that makes me a Ford man. But I still got to drive past my boss, wave out of the window, honk the horn and rev the engine as he was getting into his tatty hire Kia Sorrento. It's the little things.....

It's so hot!!!

There's an old joke about summer in Brisbane which seems to be appropriate right now. We've had a whole week of high 20's / early 30's midday temperatures - and then we had the first day of summer. Tomorrow looks to be even worse, with potential temperatures of 39 degrees in Brisbane and hotter further West. Pretty much every conversation you have will include the comment 'but it's sooo hot', although luckily I'm in Sydney for the next two days so I miss the worst of it.

It's also getting near Christmas, which is still a touch alien for those of use bought up with cold damp festive periods. This is Christmas Queensland style -

 You could go Christmas shopping, but the pool is much more appealing

 Although old traditions are still maintained with a Christmas tree in the city square

Just in case you're wondering, that frost effect is fake.....

Normal service is resumed

It's been a fun week back at work, with a 'project manager' (who is also my boss) who has told someone else in the team that he "can't do the job and only said he would to get me off his back". He's now not talking to me and instead asks other people to tell me things. *sigh*. It should be a fun Christmas party - alert the Office production team, they could get some inspiration.

Anyway - on to the interesting stuff.

Cranes were a band from the South of England that were around at the same time as last weeks 'feature artist', Slowdive. I was lucky enough to see them both play at a double-header gig in Leeds back in the day, and it was one of the best gigs I've ever been to. So good that I followed them to Sheffield the next day and watched it again. Turn it up, spook your neighbours and enjoy.

Ripping up the pennytrack

Best photo* of the year?

Good work, you crazy loons. It may be a Penny Farthing but riding it on singletrack makes no cents.

*Regretably not mine....

Pennywise

There was a Penny Farthing stack in North Brisbane at the weekend. That's not an accident but a gathering of Penny Farthing owners, of which there are a surprising number around (helped by a local TAFE college that runs a 'Build your own' course).

Here are a few proud builder / owners

 A few months ago these were just unshaped lengths of steel

 The workmanship was great - is it any wonder they look so proud?

The 'stack' part of a Penny Farthing stack is where the riders mount in a line and hold their balance for three minutes or more.

 At first it seemed fun

 But as time went on there were more than a few wobbles and the knuckles started to whiten

Scary though the stack looked, actually riding the things looked far worse. I was thinking of giving it a go but got spooked by the size of the wheel and the height of the saddle.

 Although after a few runs Gordy was looking relaxed

 and even styling it up

 

Soon it was time to leave the bike and grab a coffee - although the bikerack wasn't really up to the task

 but it was obviously hard to stop...

Great work guys, we are all seriously impressed.

If enough people ask I reckon we can convince Gordy to do another guest post on the build - anyone interested?