Makin' Stuff

Here are a few things I've been keeping busy with while Mother Nature gets her seasons figured out.

This is a batch of Pale Ale that I brewed about 2 months ago.  It's drinking very well right now.   As an experiment I stuffed whole hops into a four bottles.  Two bottles of Willamette and two bottles of Cascade.  I put 3 cones of each in one set of bottles and 6 cones of each in the other pair.  

I'm also trying my hand at wine.  This one is completely from a juice kit.  The kit was WineExpert Vintners Reserve Mezza Luna Red and it yielded 29 bottles that are now resting in the cellar.  We'll see how it turns out.  Reviews on it are pretty good so hopefully this fall we'll have a nice supply of red to be enjoying.  With any luck maybe we'll give some sort of fruit wine a try this summer.  

For Christmas, Kerry got a rock tumbler.  She is interested in expanding her jewelry making skills and is curious about wire wrapping.  Both of us like to collect rocks so she decided it'd be fun to polish some of them up and see how they look.  My parents had quite a few sitting around so we tumbled some of theirs also.  End result turned out pretty neat.  These were done with the basic 4 step grits that were included with the kit.  Next time we'll get 'em even shinier with 5 step abrasive and buff.  

I've been collecting parts for almost a year now, with the intent of building up a new mountain bike this spring.  It's been a long and fun process and now it's time to start assembling some stuff.  Front wheel #1:  Stans Crest rim, XT 15mm CL hub, Wheelsmith 14/17 spokes with alloy nips.