More Beer

Right, the same again this time more hops and hop schedule.  I've started another couple brews since last time.  I think we can say this is a rather easy beer to make well.  There are lots of wiggle room, so you can't go wrong.

First off some comments about the last batch, it is a complete success.  After 4 days in the fermenter wort cleared, and the wort, now beer, was transferred into another carboy for secondary fermentation, then 3days later I primed with 36g of corn sugar and transferred to a Cornelius kegs.  It was totally drinkable, right there and then and improved considerably over the weekend.  I've been pouring off a few glasses all weekend, from days +5 until today +7. Initially, it was flat of course but by day +7 it was really quite tasty with very small suspended bubbles and thin head. 

Rewind the clock at bit, whilst I was preparing to transfer the initial batch into the secondary fermenter I started yet another batch.  I endeavoured to make this batch even before than the first one, by boiling the wort harder to improve my sugar and hop conversion efficiency.  The higher gravity showed that this was indeed achieved and wort had the hop character that tastes very promising.


The ingredients are much the same but I've added some Fuggle hops and modified the hop schedule.
5gal Water
6lb Pale Malt Extract
1oz Kent Goldings (60min)
1/2oz Fuggles(30min)
1oz Styrian Goldings (1/2 oz for last 15min of boil and 1/2 oz for flame off)
Nottingham Ale yeast (started from initial brew)
1/2 Wirlfloc tablet

Same basic procedure as before, one step sanitize everything.  Heat 5gallons of water to 40C, flame off, add malt extract, stir til dissolved, flame on, heat til 100C, add boiling hops, boil 60 min, add finishing hops, insert chiller, boil 30min, flame off, add final hops, chill to 80C in 10min, then continue to chill to 30C.

While the wort was chilling I transferred the initial batch into secondary.  There was quite a bit of sludge at the bottom and I wished there was something I could do with it, well there was.  I pulled the lot into a tall glass and let it settle.  I poured off the liquid into a sanitized PET bottle and added a teaspoon of corn sugar (not completely sanitary), giving it a good shake to add oxygen as yeast needs oxygen to multiply.  By the time the wort chilled to 30C the yeast starter had a vigorous foam going already!  Add a bit of wort to the yeast starter then pitched it in.  I transferred the wort to the carboy and poured it back into the copper boiler.  I let the lot settle for 10min then siphoned the wort back into the carboy.  The pre-fermented wort had a really smooth hop ramp that goes on and on.  I could drink the wort in place of tea.

On Friday when I transferred the initial batch into a keg I started yet another batch. This time with a slightly different hop compliment and schedule.


5gal Water
6lb Pale Malt Extract
1oz Kent Goldings  (60min)
1/2oz Fuggles  (60min)
1oz Kent Goldings  (1/2oz 60min, 1/4oz last 15min of boil, and 1/4oz at flame off)

Nottingham Ale yeast (started from secondary brew, but pitched dry yeast after 3hr of no activity)


Nothing much to note here, forgot the Whirlfoc tablet in the last 15min of boil and the yeast starter didn't seem viable after 3hr in fermentater so I pitched in some dry yeast.  I wasn't about to risk infection.  That most certainly worked, as with 30min there was a healthy foam at the top.   I always try a bit of the wort, this one had a pleasant hop ramp.  I think the Fuggles hops may be more distinctive that the Styrian Hops used in the previous brews.  Can't wait to find out.

Brewing Babys

Started a Yorkshire Bitter this weekend.  It should be ready to bottle after just 4 days.  I'll upload the pictures later, but here are the brewing notes for now.

Ingredients:
5gal Water
6lb Pale Malt Extract
1oz Kent Goldings  (saved off 1/4 oz for last 15min of boil)
1oz Styrian Goldings (saved off 1/2 oz for last 15min of boil)
Nottingham Ale yeast
1 Wirlfloc tablet

The general idea is to clone my favorite Yorkshire Bitter, Timothy Taylor's Landlord (tm).  This a seriously tasty beer and there is simply nothing like it to be found here in the states.  I wanted to keep it simple so I used a Pale Malt Extract.  Ignoring the cock-ups, this was about the easiest brew I've ever done.  The total preparation time was about 4 hours.

Image source: http://www.timothytaylor.co.uk/

The procedure is rather simple.  I started by rinsing off the dust gathering on my equipment with warm soapy water, then rinsed it all with a no rinse sanitizer.   The fermenter was filled with 5 gallons of water then transfered to the copper.  The water was heated to 40C then the malt extract was added with the heat off, stirring all the way until the malt is fully dissolved.

The wort was brought to a boil in about 60min and the hops where pitched in, with the exception of the bit that was saved off.  The wort was boiled for 90mins then I pitched in the rest of the hops and full tablet of Wirlfoc, when I should have only used half.  The tablet fissed like an antacid tablet.

I also jumped the gun a bit and put the immersion chiller into the wort.  That quickly dropped the wort temp to about 92C and stopped the boil.  I've heard that 80C is the perfect temp of finishing hops so I decided to go with it and slowly reduced the temp to target temp of 80C over a 15min period.  After that the rate of flow through the chiller was increase and I continued to reduce the temp towards 30C.  I added some more liquor to restore the volume and measured the gravity ratio of the wort; 1040 at 35C which corrected for temp was about 1045, right on the target of 1046.  The wort tasted like a sweet version of Landlord, but lacking the nutty creaminess that hopefully the yeast will provide.

Some wort was spooned out to cool for the yeast starter and a teaspoon of corn sugar was added.  I didn't read the instructions for my yeast before doing this but it suggests adding to boiled water cooled to 30C and specifically not to use the wort as a starter.  Any road, I pitched in the yeast at 30C and let it sit on the top for 15min after which a health foamy cake had formed. 

The fermenter was rinsed with sanitizer and the wort siphoned off into it.  I wasn't quite sure what to do with the residue so I tipped into the drain.  In retrospect that's where on the Alpha acids from the boiled hops and the oils from the finishing hops would be.  After 3 hours of steady drinking, or should I say, research, I'm mostly operating on instinct. 

The wort was aerated by pouring it back in the copper with a swirl to get the vortex going in the carboy.  Some wort was spooned into the yeast starter to avoid temp shocking.  I pitched in the yeast and check the temp again.  The temp read 32C!  Quick panic!  I put the immersion chiller back in the wort and pump it up and down.  The temp rapid was back down to 30C and I hoped for the best.

I transfered the wort back into the fermenter and capped it with a vapor lock, then rolled the fermenter on to a rug and pulled it into the closet.  I shut the door with a heavy heart and concern about the high pitching temp and tipping the hoppy goodness.  I tried to distract myself with an episode of "All Creatures Great and Small" but when the pub landlord popped down to the coil 'oil for another pitcher of Ale, it was too much for me.  I went to bed and curled up into a ball.

I woke up in the morning concerned but optimistic.  I figured at worst I could pitch in some old yeast I had in the frig, but none of that was necessary.  I opened up the closet, flipped on the light and was meant by a delightfully rocky foam head.  The yeast was very much alive and active.   The wort was clear with giant churning chunks.  It was one of the most active batches I've ever seen!

In the afternoon, about 18hr into fermentation,  I couldn't leave well enough alone and gave it a bit of a shake.  What I've read about Northern British Yeast is that there are bottom fermenting and a bit slow.  Well, this Nottingham Yeast is a vigorous top fermenter and this shaking was probably not needed.  It was already bubbly with gas and smelled very much like the target beer.

The wort quickly cleared again, but by the next day (32hr of fermentation) the wort was cloudy with fluffy pillow of yeast 1 to 2 inches high on the bottom.  This yeast is supposed to have a high attenuation at a SG of 1008 after 4days.  We shall see.  I'm planning on correcting the errors in the next batch and we shall compare the results.

Sea Salvage and Restoration, Part Two

I skinned the fuselage with red "Monokote".  This is a plastic with a heat activated glue backing.

Unfortunately, I don't have any picture of the skinning process.  This was my first attempt skinning an entire plane and it didn't turn out bad at all.  I started by taping a couple sheets of paper together to create a pattern, before cutting the Monokote.  Paper is cheap and easier to cut than the plastic.

Here is the battery compartment that I scratch build to replace the missing one.  There are plywood formers at either end.  The formers where notched with a file along the curve of the former at regularly spaced intervals.  I glued bamboo skewers at the aft end and the magnets on the cowl hold the cover in place.  After the skinning was complete I cut vent to allow air to flow out and cool the motor controller and electric motor.

Finally, here the tail section.  I like how you can see the ribs through the plastic in this shot.

Das Boot

The original plan I had in mind was to build a boot.  Six planes later and I finally return to this idea.  What I learned about balsa wood construction building planes, translated well into boats.

The basic design goals for my RC sailing boat are speed, control, and stability.   I also wanted to experiment with a laminar flow hullform.  You don't see many boats with a laminar flow hull and there's probably a good reason for this in full scale boats.  However for this sized boat scaling factors make drag due to wetted surface area less of a issue.  The intended effect for the laminar flow hull to to provide roll and directional stability.

This a sailing boat so there is a keel to counter the heeling force of the sail.  The keel is comprised of balsa surrounding an metal core made up of an old 1/4in allen wrench and a 3in x1/2in diameter rod.  The keel mass was about 150grams.

Notice the strut for the hydroplane.  This also make a nice stand. It's a Popsicle with a piece of steel wire along the leading edge for rigidity.  I tempered the steel wire by heating red hot, wait ten seconds, and then dropping it into cold water.  I've determined that ten seconds makes perfect spring metal that's not too brittle.

Here is a front view of that very deep "V" hull.  Loaded to the gunnels, this hull displaces about 2lb.

Now to level the deck, so that I can have a watertight seal.  Later I'll add a plywood deck that will act as a removable servo tray and provide a mount for the sail mast.

The rudder is comprised of balsa around a bamboo core.  The top inch of the bamboo core is epoxied into a brass tube.

Another view with the rudder in place.

I build the hydrofoil around the Popsicle/steel core and the filed the top surface into a 6% thick foil.  Notice that bias of the wood on the bottom runs front to back and the bias on top is from side to side.  That makes the top surface easy to shape while the bottom strengthens the trailing edge so you make it sharp.

This project is a bit further along now but I need to take a few more picture.

Sea Salvage and Restoration

This plane was found by my beach combing friend, Greg.  The servos and ESC (electronic servo controller) were corroded badly, but the receiver, motor, wings and fuselage were mostly intact.

There where a few broken longerons, stretchers, ribs, and leading edge of the port wing.  I ended up striping the entire air frame to reach all the repairs and to prepare the surfaces.  A telescope tripod helped steady the frame.  Tweezers and an ice cube helped release the plastic.  While a hair-dryer only acted to reactivated the adhesive.  A few scraps of balsa and a dab of CA here and a glob of Gorilla Glue there it was ready for sanding.

The battery compartment was missing so I fabricated one by tracing the battery bay and cowl curves.You can't see it here because it's missing.

The elevator was broken on the port side but the starboard side was intact to measure and pattern.  The rudder and stabiliser we both badly broken.  I looked at a few photos from the manual and online, then measured the trapezoidal corrected images.  Measurements from three images matched within 5%, so I used these proportions to recreate these surfaces.

 The fibreglass cowl was cracked and I cracked it even more trying to remove a mounting bracket that was installed backwards by the original builder.  I sanded it inside and out.  Taped on a small piece of fibreglass over the most damaged area and applied epoxy to any exposed glass on the outside.  I use a bit of CA Glue along the edges of my patch to keep it from fraying. After drying, I removed the tape on the inside and applied a thin coat of epoxy.  I filed the outside smooth, filling any pits with Gorilla Glue, drying then sanding smooth.  I coated the entire cowl with a thin layer of epoxy mixed with black iron oxide for pigment.  The tiniest amount of iron powder makes normally brittle epoxy measurably stronger.

Learning to fly

My first time at the stick I took off and landed perfectly.  Ever since then I've threw caution to the wind and ditched as many times as I've touched three points.  I tell myself "these are experimental flying machines not pussy cat trainers." but the truth is that good judgement can be learned, and unlearned.

Learn good judgement here, then fly the surface vector:
Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying
by  Wolfgang Langewiesche 1944

This flying by the seat of your pants with sound old school Newtonian physics.  Also, seriously old school, being written in 1944.  Wolfgang's terminology is kooky, but no more than his knuty 1917 counter part Horatio Barber.

Dan Dare meets Steampunk:
The Aeroplane Speaks
by Horatio Barber 1917

A schizophrenic anthropomorphism of every component in a plane.  You will hear voices after reading the prologue.  Awesome illustrations throughout.  The last bit is rather poetic.  It was intended to brace new US Army pilots for the majestic beauty of flight but it almost conveys a hidden chapter on chronic fatigue.   

F4V vertical stablizer area reduction

I mentioned earlier about modifying vertical tail area to allow for tighter roll.  Here is a picture showing the modification.

The reduction of the stabiliser made this plane rather hard to handle.  What a wild ride this was.  The chequered circles were quite helpful in determining the last know position was over San Francisco Bay.  I wish I could share the video but its "gone over the hill".  Maybe for the better.  It was failure played out by the pixel. ;-(

The observations were:
1. the inverted "V" tail is a roll and pitch stable configuration
2. typically the vertical stabiliser is the roll stabiliser
3. the failure of either "V" tail control surface results in roll instability
4. don't fly when its blustery you'll be down field so far you don't know what even happened
5. cut the power and nose it in; you can build again from the salvaged parts, but only if you can find them.

One problem with this configuration was all the hang time.  It floats and floats and floats on a landing approach.  In retrospect I should've ditched into a shrub, but when you're flying youre flying, and sometimes you just can't stop.  You tell yourself, "One more pass will be the perfect one."

This plane was last seen circling up into the sky in a votex that carried it higher and higher and over the hill, over the highway and into the bay.