Kegerator v3

Finished up revision three of the kegerator today. This version will eventually have four or five kegs inside, and maybe a small one up in the freezer, if I can make sure it doesn't get too cold.

Had to buy a new barb for my distributor to match barb sizes with the regulator. Learned about plumber's tape. Learned that it's very hard to make a compression union hold pressurized gas. (That's why I bought the second barb, so I could ditch the union.)

I may end up drilling two holes for the distributor, so I can use bolts instead of screws. We'll see. I'll probably wait until I've got it loaded up with kegs, in case the position of the thing ends up changing.

Shoutouts to some great tools: My bench-vise did a damn good job of holding the distributor in place while I swapped out the input barb. Also, by big cartoony crescent wrench guaranteed that the barb will never, ever come out.

When Do I Change My Air Filters?

Seriously, how do you remember?

Well, I just replaced mine, and I wrote today's date on the edge of the air filter in permanent marker.

If the Nobel committee is reading, you can go ahead and just mail the prize to my house.

Curious Corgi Cherry-Smoked Porter

Steep @ 160 degress F for 30 min:
3lb Briess Smoked Cherry Malt
6oz Black Patent Malt

Malt:
6lb Amber DME

Hops:
2oz Fuggles, 90 min
1 oz Fuggles, 30 min
1 oz Kent Goldings, 20 min
1 oz Kent Goldings, 5 min

I used whole hops because they were out of Fuggles in pellets. One thing about whole hops: They're a heckuva lot easier to strain out. I scooped most of them out with a slotted spoon, and squeezed the liquid back in.

First Planting

I planted some onions and achillea today.

Achillea x1 Feb 20, 2010	Jalapeno x1 April	Chard x4 April	Radish x6 March/July
Cilantro x4 April	Nasturtium x1 April	Shallots x16 March	Radish x6 April/August
Marigold x2 April	Thyme x2 May	Shallots x16 April	Beets x9 May
	Tomato x1 per two squares Basil x1 per square April		Tomatillo x1 May
Trellis

Anaheim x1 March	Chard x4 May	Onion x16 March	Onion x16 Feb 20,2010
Zinnia x1 April	Marigold x2 April	Chard x4 April	Onion x16 April
Corn x1 June	Okra x1 May	Arugula x2 March/July	Arugula x2 April/August
Corn x1 May	Okra x1 June	Potato	Potato

Watered both just to dampness. Also planted some achillea by my mailbox.

Here's the fun part. Check out the wikipedia page on achillea. Some highlights:

In antiquity, yarrow was known as herbal militaris, for its use in staunching the flow of blood from wounds.

Several cavity-nesting birds, including the common starling, use yarrow to line their nests. Experiments conducted on the tree swallow, which does not use yarrow, suggest that adding yarrow to nests inhibits the growth of parasites.

In Classical tradition, Homer tells us that the centaur Chiron, who conveyed herbal secrets to his human pupils, taught Achilles to use yarrow on the battle grounds of Troy

Old folk names for yarrow include arrowroot, bad man's plaything, carpenter's weed, death flower, devil's nettle, eerie, field hops, gearwe, hundred leaved grass, knight's milefoil, knyghten, milefolium, milfoil, millefoil, noble yarrow, nosebleed, old man's mustard, old man's pepper, sanguinary, seven year's love, snake's grass, soldier, soldier's woundwort, stanch weed, thousand seal, woundwort, yarroway, yerw.

In the Middle Ages, yarrow was part of a herbal mixture known as gruit used in the flavouring of beer prior to the use of hops.

Hey, that last one sounds right up my alley. Maybe I'll make some gruit beer this summer.

Anyway, there's a lot of information about yarrow's use as an herbal medicine. I'm generally in agreement with Dara O'Briain on this point. Herbal medicine has been around for thousands of years. That means they've had time to test it all, and the stuff that worked became just plain medicine. The rest is potpourri.

But, that doesn't mean I won't brew up a cup of yarrow tea. I want to see what this "mild stimulant" thing is all about. Are they talking a cup of coffee, or a shooter of five-hour energy? Inquiring minds want to know.

Latest Beer

The beer I'm kegging today: Kyle's Shamaly Wham Pale Ale
6 lb extra light DME
0.5 lb Caramel 40 malt
0.5 lb Caramunich malt
1 oz Saaz - 2.8% - 60 min
1 oz Centennial - 9.2% - 15 min
1 oz Cascade - 7.5% - 0 min

It came to about 1.050 OG. I've not yet checked the final gravity. It spent two weeks in primary before kegging.

Hex Hop Planter

Because I figured it would be prettier than a square. The interior sides are about 8.4", which means the area is
((8.4/12)^2) * (1.5 * sqrt(3)) = About 1.3ft^2

So it's a little bigger than my 1 foot square box, but will probably provide way more room for the roots. I'm no gardener, but I figure roots branch out in a pattern that's a lot closer to round than square.

Garden Plans

Plants take research. I've scrapped the squash - it turns out those bushes can eat up about 9 ft^2. Shallots moved to their spots, and I'm planting potatoes in their space, as that's the deep end of the garden.