Gendered Activities

Today is World Wide Knit in Public Day. Or as I call it, everyday, and also known as Embarrass Your Husband In Public Day. Again, that would be everyday.

I am also reading "American Nerd: the Story of My People" by Benjamin Nugent. And this week's alternative weekly paper, Creative Loafing, did a cover article about home brewing beer where the reporter attended a meeting of home brewing enthusiasts.

These three -- knitting, nerdiness, beer brewing -- are very gendered topics. Knitting is done predominately by women and an activity that doesn't get much respect, partly because it is "women's work." Nugent talks about how nerd is a label put on men interested in computers and science fiction, in contrast to the term jock, in a continuum of masculinity.

And the article on the home brewing specifically points out that there are very few women who are brewing beer, as opposed to girlfriends and wives who help their men brew beer. Beer drinking is very much a masculine thing. I don't know why, since I drink beer, enjoy beer, and have many female friends who enjoy beer too.

Brewing is cooking and cooking is "women's work." Unless somehow brewing is like barbeque and then that's acceptable male cooking? I don't know. Maybe because there's science involved with talk about hydrometers and acidity and conversion of sugar and yeast to alcohol. And if it's scientific, then that's manly, like nerds and their computers?

I don't know where I'm going with this post, but knitting, science fiction, and beer are things I enjoy and are very gendered activities.

You know what? forget it. I'm going to go knit on a cardigan that will emphasize my curves and maybe watch the episode of "Dollhouse" where Alan Tudyk puts on the tight, tight t-shirt. Or rewatch "Death at a Funeral" where he wears nothing at all.

eta: I ended up reading "My Own Kind of Freedom" by Steve Brust. Talk about nerdiness. It's a novel-length fan fiction for the space western "Firefly".

Second fermentation

Saturday we poured the beer from the plastic bucket, above, to the glass carboy so it can ferment some more but more importantly, clarify. This is what it looks like now. Who'd want to drink this?

This was what was left behind in the bucket:

Now it's sitting on the kitchen counter, wrapped in a towel to keep it out of the light.

Tonight we plan on bottling. That should be fun. It will involve siphoning the beer from the carboy, back into the plastic bucket. Then using the spigot of the bucket to fill the 40+ bottles.

No, making beer is not easier or cheaper than buying it, but it's fun to make your own things. Right? Right?

Second beer

I had a post all written but it's gone.

Anyway, Husband and I started our second batch of beer, an Imperial Blonde Ale. It boiled over and we got sticky stuff all over the stovetop and down into the triple glass paned oven door. Long story short, we now know how to take apart the overn door and clean it.

It's sitting in a corner away from direct light and in a few days we'll be bottling it. Then it should be ready for sharing with the friends and relatives coming for Fourth of July.

We have a name picked out for it, and will be having labels made. Will post pictures when ready.

Baby blankets and beer

This post is about 2 unrelated items.

First, a picture of the other baby blanket I'm working on, for another of Husband's coworkers. This will be their third baby and their first girl.

I was going to make it based on an African pattern, but I think I'm going to go with these alternating squares instead.

I've also started the Mondrian blanket, beginning with the red square. Today I went to a conference and took my knitting. Finally during the last workshop, I arranged two chairs in front of me and cranked away at the garter stitch. Tomorrow's the second and last day of the conference, so more knitting time!

And now the beer. On March 15, Husband and I bottled our first batch of homemade beer, a Dortmunder. According to the German Beer Institute, Dortmunder beer is:

A Westphalian lager that originated in Germany's steel and coal district along the River Ruhr in the 19th century. Dortmunder is the laborer's answer to the elegant, aromatic deep golden Pilsner from Bohemia and the straw-blond, brilliant, malty Munich Helles. Dortmunder is a full-bodied, moderately hopped beer of at least 5% alcohol by volume. It became the favorite quaff of coal miners and heavy industry workers in the first half of the 20th century.

Okay. Well, I can tell you it is hearty, a bit bitter and hoppy, and strong. Husband and I were happy to see that it was carbonated and Husband had a sip or two before I got a picture:

So, success!

48 Bottles of Beer in the Pantry,

48 bottles of beer, take one out, pass it around...

Actually not yet.

Last night Husband and I spent 2 hours bottling our first batch of homebrew beer. It's not a difficult process. The hardest thing was trying to keep all the equipment sanitary, because any contaminant would ruin the whole 5 gallon batch.

It took a lot of water to wash 48 beer bottles and I kept thinking that we're in a drought situation, couldn't I save the water for something?

We were concerned the caustic cleaning agent we were using would harm the plants, otherwise I would use it for watering. As it was, it just went down the drain.

In the end, we got 45 and 3/4ths bottles filled, capped, and stored in the pantry. We would have had 46 bottles, but Husband did a little sampling along the way.

The beer has to sit for 2 weeks for it to be carbonated and drinkable, and 5 weeks for it to be optimum. Husband plans on sampling each week, just to see how it goes.

Beer update -- First time mistake?

Two people have asked me for a beer update, so here it is.

This is the first time we're making beer, and not sure if we're doing it right, but we're forging ahead anyway. .

On February 14, I got equipment and ingredients to make beer. First up, a Dortmunder beer. This was Husband's birthday present.

On February 21, while my parents were still here, we boiled up the wort and put it in the bucket with the yeast, for the first step. We didn't see much bubbles coming up but let it sit for a while anyway.

On February 26 I got 48 bottles from Winecraft and they said that I should transfer the beer from the bucket to a glass carboy, to let the sediment settle some more. When clear, then I should siphon from the carboy into the bottling bucket with the sugar, then let it sit about 21 days and finally bottle up the beer.

Sometime the week of Feb 26, before we went to Miami at the end of February, I transferred the beer from the bucket to a glass carboy and it's been sitting there for a few weeks now.

I think this weekend we'll move it back from the carboy to the bottling bucket with the sugar and see how it goes.

We're not sure if we're doing this right because we haven't seen much bubbling and carbonation throughout the process. I think at one point we could have added more yeast to make it happen, but we didn't.

But it's the first time we're making beer, and mistakes are bound to happen. Worst case scenario, it's totally flat and undrinkable for humans. Therefore we would pour it out into the compost heap, which would probably love it.

Making Beer

Last night was our first attempt at making beer. It involves 5 gallon buckets and lots of boiling. Made the house smell good, like cereal and plant goodness, if that makes any sense.

For our first batch, we're making a Dortmunder beer and in a few weeks, we should be ready to bottle it up. And then where will we put 50 bottles of beer?

Nice dilemma to have, eh?