Miscellaneous ramblings of an Irish American
We went on a family hike to The Bell today. There located off Indian Hill Road in Groton MA. Park at the end of the road, go left on the dirt road by the metal gate, hike in about 1/2 mile or so, just follow the yellow arrows. I’m not sure if the history but three cylinder type bells are hanging amongst the pine trees.
Old mill site on the hike.
Part of the mill equipment.
Ice and water.
GMan and JMan
JMan at one of the bells.
Pull man pull!
Pano in action.
I needed some snowboard racks in my basement to get our gear off the ground. I wanted to spend nothing so I went hunting in my garage for anything I could use.
I came across some cheap shelf brackets and as luck would have it I found six…..that’s two per board, for all three boards.
Here’s a shot of the top two brackets in place.
I used some pipe insulation held on with zip ties so I won’t have metal against metal which will dull our edges and scrape the board bottoms.
My board on the top shelf.
A few minutes later all three were in place.
What you need:
1. Shelf brackets.
2. Pipe insulation that will fit over the brackets.
3. Some wire ties.
4. Screw gun/drill.
5. Sheet Rock screws.
6. A Level, but you can eyeball it.
I found a few studs and screwed directly into them. I suggest you do the same if you want your boards to stay on the wall!
My work mate played a little office humor by rearranged my space.
JMan carving during his snowboarding lesson. He’s the one in yellow pant. Go here for a video.
GMan an I headed north to Bretton Woods today. He got a season pass free with his lease from Zimmermanns NH. I bought a few passes at the Ski show back in November……
I think I was here before but I can’t remember. Since it’s mid week we have the whole place to ourselves.
GMan at the top.
We even found some powder.
It was a great day of boarding and it was great to hang out him GMan.
Subu in the lot.
With the help of my two underaged assistants JMan and GMan I finally got around to making the beer kit I got last year.
Jess gave me the kit and it’s from the Brooklyn Brew Shop. The kit includes everything you need bar a few kitchen items.
The Mash
This stage is like making oatmeal. Add grain to water, stir every 15 minutes for 1 hour and keep within a certain temp. Keeping the temp was hard so I found it easier to remove from heat and replace when I noticed it dropping.
The Sparge
Strain the mash into a pot. Boil 1 gallon of water and pour over mash 2 or 3 times.
Two strainers and a size large pot should work.
Mash in strainer.
Boil 1 gallon of water and pour over mash, repeat 2 to 3 times.
The Boil.
This part is fairly easy. Boil the Wort for 1 hour and all the good stuff.
Like any good resturant if you knew what went on in the kitchen you’d most likely eat at home. This brew does not look too good but it looks just like the video on The Brooklyn BrewShop web site. So I must be doing something good.
JMan add the Hops.
Fill your sink with ice and cool down the Wort to 70 degrees.
Add Yeast, this is called Pitching, shake, cap, add blowoff tube, insert other end in a sanitized bowl.
Keep somewhere dark for 3 days.
Check back in 3 Days for more!
Last week was a zoo…..today is not as bad….so far.
Conditions are typical New England….which is to say ice on top of ice! But it’s here and more to the point I’m here.
The moon was red tonight.
On top of the world…..well, part way down Smith!
alan j quinn 