Big Walmart Sale!!!

.......Or not so much.......

This week, the dealership is having a big sale here at the Walmart parking lot and so far it has been a complete waste of time. No one has sold anything at all yet so far. According to Jim, we need to sell 5 cars to break even on the money spent on the sale and it's looking like it might be a bust.

Hopefully I'm wrong though. I would love to make some money out here this week. It's been a pretty disappointing month so far for me. It's now the 17th of May and I've only sold 1 car. Kinda hard to get all the bills paid when I'm not making any money.

Oh well, car sales can only get better from here! I just hope it starts getting better sooner rather than later!

New beers please!

Anybody out there feeling gracious enough to do a beer swap with me? I'm looking to get some stuff outside the Manhattan, KS distribution ring and the brands and beers here are starting to get a bit stale.

Missouri isn't all too far away and they seem to have a much broader example of represented breweries, but I can't get away from work!! This week is going to be a 65 hour work week for me and all I want is a little excitement in my beer drinking!!

What do you say? Help a fellow home brewer and beer aficionado out?

Fruitless fishing

Went fishin again last night. This time, Jason Bird from work tagged along and it turned out to be pretty worthless this time. We got out there about 6pm and the fish just weren't biting.

It was a very nice evening in any case. The weather was nice, the water was cool and the beer was cold. Couldn't have asked for a thing more especially when this week is scheduled to be super long. Off site sale at Walmart and no days off for the sales force. Oh well.... At least I get off early enough tonight to give crappie fishing another shot! Hopefully things have turned around some from last night!

Mott's Hard Cider

Today, I have two goals. One is to make up a batch of hard cider and the other is to do some more crappie fishing. Can you guess what I've done yet? Here's a hint: I haven't gone fishing yet.

So far this morning, I got a batch of hard cider mixed up. I adapted a recipe that I found on www.homebrewtalk.com.
The link to the recipe I used is
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/grahams-english-cider-107152/

The couple small differences between what he suggested and what I actually did is pretty small. I used Mott's apple juice (because that's all I could find) and instead of using S-04 yeast, I got a sample tube of WLP775 from Zac out of his yeast collection. I also added about 1/2lb of white granulated sugar to boost the ABV just a hair. Over the past week, I've been building up the starter and gradually got it to where it could handle the higher gravity of the must and pitched it into my fermentor.

Yeast

 Plus Apple Juice

 Equals yummy fermenting cider!

It's amazing just how fast the yeast took off after pitching. About 30 minutes after initial inoculation, the airlock is already showing signs of life and slowly starting to bubble. This thing is gonna be a pretty quick turnover for a cider and hopefully Lindsey enjoys knocking them back as much as I will! This endeavor is for her just as much as it is for me.

As for gravity readings, it started out right at 1.064 so it is looking like it has a 7-8% potential depending on where it ends up. The WLP775 is supposed to be pretty resilient and vigorous, so hopefully we end up on the higher end of things!

That's all for now, but expect another post later after I get back from crappie fishing!

Friday Night Fishing

It's been a couple days since I've gotten a chance to blog, so today is gonna get a few different posts recounting what I've done the past few days.

Friday night, Lindsey, Derek, Zac and I all went fishing out at Tuttle Creek Marina and had a blast! We caught quite a few keeper crappies and even a pretty big walleye that Derek reeled in.  The banks were lined with people everywhere and everyone was catching fish. I don't think there was a bad spot out there.

The only thing that sucked was that we were cut short by some bad weather. BAD clouds came rolling in and literally as we got back up to the parking lot, the skies opened up and it rained buckets, but only for about 10 minutes.

Once we got back to Zac's house, we tallied up the fish and came out with 8 black crappie, 3 white crappie and 1 walleye. Not too shabby for an evenings worth of fishing!

Tonight, we're going back out again. Hopefully we're able to slay some more crappies!

Big Sky I.P.A.

Lately, I haven't been able to get enough hops in me and it seems that all I've done is drink IPA's and pale ales. Today has been no different and I just cracked open a Big Sky IPA. I haven't had one of these in quite a long time.

It's a very attractive looking beer with and amber/red color to it and a very thick creamy head to go with it. I wish the head would last a bit longer on it, but it is present throughout the whole beer. Lots of lacing around the edges and seems to hold tight.

It really doesn't have much of an aroma to it and what is there is citrusy and smells of grapefruit. Definitely not much on the nose.

As for taste, it tastes just like the aroma would have you believe. Many citrusy flavors develop with just a slight lingering taste of pine resin. Very quaffable beer and at 6.2%, it could get pretty dangerous awfully quick. Hops just seem to go down too easy. This one tastes of my favorite "C" variety hops.

Not the best on the market, but I would definitely give it 3.5 stars.

On a side note, tonight will involve more fishing. I think the plan is to go to the Wildcat Marina and slay some evening crappies. At least that's what we WANT to happen!

Chambord Stout

EDIT: I don't know how this post got moved up to the top of my blog. I added a title.... Maybe that was it....

Well... Here I am waiting for Lindsey to get home. I've been pretty busy so far today doing all kinds of things and I decided to have one of my Chambord Stouts while I wait...

WOW! This thing is aging VERY nicely!

Although almost all of the Chambord has fermented out, it really gives it a nice silky mouth feel. Very full bodied with about 1/2 inch of a tan head that lingers for quite some time. The lacing on the glass is quite nice as well. Very chocolatey with a hint of espresso and is a very satisfying beer overall. This would go great with a bowl of vanilla ice cream or even a cream pie of sorts.

As for fishing last night, I didn't get to spend nearly as much time out on the pond that I would have liked to, but it was very relaxing in any case.

I got a couple beers down me, and even managed to catch a small catfish. Now I just need to start reeling in the big ones!

Fishing tonight!

Man.... After the day I've had, I absolutely cannot wait to get out of the dealership. 11 hour workdays with no customer flow sucks! 100% commission and I have now worked ten days for free. We've hit rock bottom now, but it's okay because it means we can only go in one direction now.

On another note, tonight is gonna be the night of the catfish. I got all my gear loaded up and as soon as I can get out of here, I'll be on my way to the pond. Called grandma earlier and let her know I'd be up there and that the fish won't know what's hit em until its too late. I'll be headed out there by myself, but it will be a good time for me to chillax all by myself. The cooler's full, the worms are squirming and I can't wait to leave!

First post!

Here's my first post and entry to the world of blogging. I have a ton of plans for my blog, but first want to just get used to how it all works.

In the meantime, I'll be keeping my blog updated mostly daily with new happenings in my life as well as offering my own craft beer reviews and new info from the world of home brewing.

Also, hunting and fishing is a HUGE part of my life and I'll be using this as a log of my experiences in the field. Too bad my fishing outings so far this year have been less than mediocre! It will get better though.... At least I hope so!