Category Archives: Hobbies

Bottling

by johannawoodman

After learning how to clean the bottles, Neil was interested in the next steps of the process.

He watched Marcel soak the bottles to sanitize them, and was upset to be told that he couldn’t play in the bleach-water.

He tried to help Marcel fill the bottles, but was quickly banished from the kitchen out of fear of him knocking over the filled bottles. He was not happy about this turn of events, but was cheered slightly when we banished Tora for the same reason (and other sanitary considerations) by putting cat nip in a box, waiting for her to jump in the box, then moving the box into the living room next to him.

Although most of the yeast and hops is left in the primary fermentor, and there is a limited amount in the secondary, Neil seemed confused about what was left, and why we would want to drink it.

Then the fun part! Cleaning the carboys outside was enjoyable for Neil.

Playing as the bottles empty out…

Getting his feet wet…

Helping clean the edges…

And especially stomping in the resulting puddle.

Posted 11.27

Future Brewing Assistant

by johannawoodman

Neil is at the age where he likes to help with everything, even when he doesn’t understand what you’re doing.  And if what you’re doing involves putting things in other things, and big containers of water, it’s easier to let Neil help you than try to distract him.

Marcel doesn’t usually bottle his beer anymore, thanks to our kegging system, which gets rid of a lot of the boring, time-consuming parts of brewing – collecting, cleaning, removing labels, sanitizing, filling, and capping bottles.  But we are planning on distributing beer for the holidays, so he spent an afternoon soaking the bottles and scraping off the labels.

Neil had no idea what was going on, but he was plenty happy to splash in the cooler filled with water, be told repeatedly not to drink the water, run around the driveway, mix up the cleaned and not-yet-cleaned bottles, and take the bottles in and out of the boxes, sometimes stacking them.

It’s going to be a while before he’s allowed to help with any other brewing activities, especially those involving open flames and gallons of boiling water.

Motorcycle Update

by marcelwoodman

For the past 2 months, my bike has been out of commission.  I had been having a few small issues getting it started, but didn’t think too much of it until it wouldn’t start at all.  It would turn over when I pressed the ignition, but wouldn’t quite catch and run, and on the odd occasion that I was able to get it running, it wouldn’t stay running for long.

My uncle and I tore it down, and began troubleshooting the electrical system using the step-by-step guide in the dealer manual.  After testing the wires, plugs, and ignition coils, we moved on to the rectifier regulator.  It didn’t appear to be putting out the correct voltage, and after a quick call to the dealership, they said it was a fairly common problem on a bike of that age, so we ordered the part.

This was when I learned that it takes 10-14 days to get pretty much any motorcycle part.  And it became even more important as the repair job went on. After finally getting the part in, we swapped it over, and checked for spark. Nothing.  So we began troubleshooting again, finally testing it down to the pickup coil. Another trip to the internet had the part on order, and the wait began again.

We spent some time marking out where all the bolts go, and removed the crankcase cover to replace the pickup coil.  We’d read a few guides online on how to do it, and were as prepared as possible.  The amount of locktite used to hold the bolt in was impressive, however, and we ended up snapping the first bolt as we attempted to take it out.  So we are stuck again.  Fortunately I work at a machine shop, and we were able to utilize those resources to get the bolt removed, but it still took some time to order the replacement parts and get it drilled out.

At this point, we really wanted to make sure it would run properly, even though the replacement gasket hadn’t arrived, so we used some silicone gasket replacement and reassembled the bike.  At that point, it was running, which was awesome, but I did have a small oil leak that dripped when it was running.  It was perfectly usable, I just needed to make sure I kept an eye on the oil level so that it didn’t get too low.  Since then, the gasket has come in, and everything is back to 100%.

Looking back, I had suspected that there was something wrong with it, as it would often take 5-10 minutes to warm up before I could ride it.  A guy at work has a 1500 Kawasaki, and after I started my bike and was gearing up, I watched him walk out, gear up, start the bike, and drive away.  Meanwhile, my little 650 was still cold.  I’m glad to say that with the pickup coil replaced, it runs MUCH better. I can start it and drive away, finally, and it even seems to run hotter, with the exhaust pipes getting too hot to keep my leg near, which never happened before.  Hopefully this is the only major repair I have to do on it, though.  Apparently pickup coils don’t fail very often.

2002 Yamaha V-Star 650 Classic

by marcelwoodman

Two weeks ago I decided it would be a good idea to go out and got my motorcycle license, and studied over the weekend by reading the book twice, and having Jo quiz me on various parts of the manual. The following Monday, I went in to take the 25 question test, of which I needed to get 18 correct in order to pass. I was immediately presented with a question like this:

If you are a minor and are caught riding after dark, how much is the fine? 
A) $100 B) $200 C) $250 or D) None of the Above

And then 3 more of the same.  So right off the bat I missed 4 questions.  Fortunately, the rest of them were easier (and stuff that I had studied) and I didn’t get any others wrong.  Weirdly though, I didn’t get many questions about riding a motorcycle, mostly ones about alcohol and driving.

After that, I started my Craigslist search for a bike, aiming to spend less than $1500 for a smaller, entry level motorcycle.  After talking with a few people at work, and family, pretty much everyone was recommending I get something in the 600-800cc range, as anything smaller would probably be outgrown rather quickly. With that advice, most of what I found was 25 – 30 years old, and not in good condition.

Someone at work overheard me talking about it, though, and mentioned that his son was looking to sell his motorcycle, but didn’t have the details.  After a few emails back and forth, I found out it was a 2002 Yamaha V-Star 650 Classic with a new rear tire, saddle bags, windshield, highway pegs and rear seat, and he wanted $2000 for it.  I went down that Sunday to take a look, and bought it on the spot. Because he was getting rid of the bike, and wanted other stuff out of his garage, I also got a helmet, ramp to load it into a pickup, battery tender, and motorcycle jack tossed in.  Overall, a VERY good deal.