Hey everyone.  Just wanted to post a quick note about my good friend Adam.  I don’t know if you have heard about the competition that the Murphy-Goode Winery is having, but let me just give you a brief rundown.  They want are looking to hire a social media correspondant and pay them $10,000 a month.  Applicants were asked to create a short video on youtube telling why they would be a good fit for the job. I just found out today that of the nearly 2,000 applicants Adam has just made the top 50.  This is really no suprise to me because I could think of no one better for the job.  So please take a quick second and visit www.tastethegoodelife.com.  You can also check out the video that he submitted below.

Ryan Nibouar › Edit Post — WordPress

Haven’t posted in a really long time.  Life has been busy as always and my adventures have been scaled back a bit due to an unfortunate bike adventure resulting in a broken clavicle.  Nonetheless here are a few pictures from a couple of my weekend projects.  On the left is a wheat/hefeweizen that I have been working on.  Basic rundown is 1/2 lb. 15 ºL Carmel Malts, 6 lbs. Wheat LME,  1.5 oz of 4.8 ? Mt. Hood Hops, and White Labs WLP320-American Hefeweizen yeast.  Should be pretty good, had a very active primary fermentation.  On the right is a raspberry braggot type recipe that I am fooling around with for Ruthi.  Consists of 3-1/2 lbs. Light LME, 1 lb. corn sugar/dextrose, and WLP720 Sweet Mead/WineYeast for primary fermentation.  Then today I added 3 lbs raspberry puree to the secondary fermentation.  It smells amazing right now so we’ll see what happens.  The process photos and the bottle picture are of  a West Coast American Pale Ale.  This recipe needs about another week to condition in the bottles and then should be ready to drink.  Here is what I did for this:

Fermentables:

US Caramel 40L Malt 8.00 oz 7.1 % 3.8 In Mash/Steeped
Extract - Light Liquid Malt Extract 6lb 8oz 92.9 % 4.2 Start Of Boil

Hops:
US Columbus(Tomahawk) 14.8 % 0.50 oz 25.9 Loose Whole Hops 60 Min From End
US Centennial 8.0 % 0.50 oz 7.6 Loose Pellet Hops 15 Min From End
US Cascade 7.5 % 0.50 oz 2.9 Loose Pellet Hops 5 Min From End
US Cascade 7.5 % 0.50 oz 0.0 Bagged Pellet Hops At turn off
US Centennial 8.0 % 1.50 oz 0.0 Loose Whole Hops Dry-Hopped

Yeast:
White Labs WLP001-California Ale

So I realized that I never finished talking about the cider that I made for Christmas.  It turned out pretty good.  Rather flat after a couple of weeks of conditioning then all of a sudden WHAM-O…super carbonated.  ABV turned out to be way higher than expected, probably around 12%.  Tasted more like a dry apple wine than a cider.  I learned a lot from this experiment and expect this year’s batch to be even better.

I don’t read as much as I one did and lately I’ve been missing it. When I was in school I used to love driving down to Long Beach and hanging out in the coffee shops just to read. Now I live in Long Beach and I am so close to these places but I never seem to find the time to just slow down. Maybe it is because I have a real job now and a number of other things to occupy my time.

Today I am trying something new. It is Friday and I am riding the bus to work. I got up about an hour earlier than usual and rode my bike to the bus stop which was not only a great ride but also provided for a little exercise. First bus had no room for my bike so I had to wait a bit for the next. Might be a bit late but it is Friday and I’m sure I’ll end up staying a little late anyway.

So yeah. Here I am sitting on the bus. I’m saving some gas which was one of my goals for the new year and I’m getting Zen! My book is patiently waiting on my lap as it has been waiting on my shelf for two years. The Little White Bird by J.M. Barrie is a book that I have started to read four times now. I shouldn’t keep it waiting any longer. Here are a couple pictures:

UPDATE:  After writting this post on the bus it began raining like crazy.  Biked about a mile in the rain to the office and showed up to work a little late and totally soaked.  I loved every second of it!

I should be sleeping right now, but my mind is a little bit restless tonight and seems to desire aimless wandering on the web.  I haven’t posted anything in quite some time and I promise I will do better in 2009.  We’ll see if that really happens.  Anyway, tonight I stumbled across a bike company that I have never heard of before which are crafting some of the most gorgeous bicycles I have ever seen.  The company is called Freeman Transport and they hand-craft their bikes in Montana.  One of the greatest features of these bicycles is that through the use of S-and-S couplings that have been able to successfully develop a bicycle that can be easily disassembled and packed into a leather and canvas carrying case.  Frame kits are currently being sold on their website for $2,475.00.  Doesn’t look like I’ll be buying one soon, but someday I hope to be a freeman.  Here are a few pictures:

One of their bikes and the bag that it fits in

Bike in the bag

The emblem may be reason enough to buy the bike