Well Issues

It never fails that when I am away, things happen. When I arrived at home wifey told me of losing water pressure on the second floor when the garden sprinkler was running. after mulling over the possibilities I was panic stricken for a moment as I watched the sprinkler stop sprinkling.

Saturday I went in the basement to check the pressure switch and gage. The switch seemed fine but the gage was stuck on 30. It had dirt plugging up the Bourdon tube, which seems to happen every 5 to 6 years.

I placed my hand on the copper pipe and I could feel surging and when water was flowing the pipe would get cold. The well was slug flowing so there are two possibilities: 1. the well is going dry or 2. there is a pump problem.

So I called the well driller whose number I got from the well cap and was referred to the pump guy. I called the pump guy and he said he could be right over, on a Saturday, on a holiday week end.

The problem turned out to be a seized pump which was determined in the basement by taking a clamp-on ammeter readings. Normal current flow is around 6 amps and the failing pump was pulling locked rotor amps of 22.

While he was changing the gage I asked him if he observed holidays and he said not usually and that he went where the business would takes him. 

Here is the contraption to pull the 400 foot of black poly pipe out of the well case. I paced off the diameter of the circle on the ground to be 20 foot and counted 4 loops and told the pump guy you probably have about another 100 feet to go. He said you must be an engineer. I said guilty even though my math was way off. Then He stopped the puller and looked at the foot markers on the wire and said yup.

 You can see the old pump is in the lower left corner and the new pump is on the end of the pipe.

While I was receiving my tutorial on pump pulling he gave me a word of advice. Don't drop pebbles down the well the see how long it take to reach water. This is the first thing I did to determine if I had problem #1 or #2. He said if a well case has a liner it can cause a jam when pulling the pump. Use ice or chlorine tablets instead.

When the pump was pulled I went in the house and got a few ice cubes. When I dropped them in, it took around 3 second to hear the splash. It was later confirmed the water table was at the 60 foot mark using the wire footage markers.

So our well is back in business which means the clear cold mountain spring waters of Virginia will be perpetually flowing into my mash tun.

Mixing Business with Pleasure

I spent time in Pembroke Florida earlier in the week so I stopped in at my favorite place, Aficionados. After hanging out she said to me 'What do you know about electricity?' I said 'We'll what do got?' Then he came over and said a couple of dead smoke eaters.

This is an electrostatic precipitator for cleaning smoke out of a room where you want to clean the air but without introducing outside air. 

Here is the problem, or at least one of them. Burned off electrical connections. 

If you were to make the analogy to miles on a car, then these two units have a million miles on them. But fear not, with some work under the hood, we can make them go a couple of hundred thousand more. 

We got the fan running on unit #2 by connecting the neutral wire. It appears these units were menaced by an unqualified person who masquerades as an appliance technician. He or she removed the molex connector, thereby rendering the unit inoperable. 

The next time I am in Florida we will take the unit down so we can work on it on the bench. 

Then, we can all burn one, and still breathe air like it came in on the breeze, from a mountain, in Virginia. 

Side By Side Comparison

#30 next to the commonly available variety.

Early indications are that this batch will not last long and that recipe #30 is a keeper. I am in the habit of under charging the stouts in order to keep the head down. There is nothing worse than opening a bottle, only to have half of it end on the counter because it bubbled up like champagne. Adding a 1/2 cup of sugar to 5 gallons works out about just right so the last bottle will have the perfect head. The other benefit to under charging is that it allows you to aggressively pour the beer into the glass. This is what I had to do in order to coax the tiny bit of head for the one on the left. This also 'provides a smoothness and a drinkability that you will find in no other beer...', you know the drill.

Batch Number 30

Brew Date: 3/22/2014

Today I had to go over to Roanoke on a mission and I happened to be in the neighborhood of the brew store. So I stopped in and picked up some supplies. Based on the last batch and some new equipment, I am starting to brew in six gallon batches. If I could find larger Better Bottles I would adjust accordingly.

So this is an early birthday present to myself.

6 Gal Better Bottle

This recipe was made up on the spot. I am thinking Breakfast Stout.

12lb Two Row
1lb Carafa 1000L
1lb Choc Wheat 1000L
3/4lb Caramel 20L

1oz Kent Golding
1oz Amarillo
1oz Tettnag

US05 dry yeast

My impromptu brewing schedule is causing us to share the kitchen. She gets to occupy a small corner of the counter while I hog the stove.

Thai Coconut Chicken

  
#29 is shaping up well. Still a bit early to start drinking but early indications are positive.

3/30/2014

Update: The 6 gal Better Bottle provides the head room for the allowing the full 5 gallon transferal to the secondary.

Brew #29

Brew date: 2/27/2014

IPA similar to brew #4 minus the Gelena. I wanted to try an IPA with a little less bite. I recall #4 to have an extra edge to it so this one is toned down just a bit.

12 lbs 2-row
1 lb Crystal #60
1 oz Sterling
1 oz Kent
1 oz Cascade
US-05 dry yeast

IPA #29

It's a biological reaction going on inside that glass vessel.

Porter #28

 Here is a pic of #28. Will see if the guys have any recollection to the #17 that I modeled this one after.

Nice Foamy Head

There She Blows

This morning she said 'I heard the soap dish fall off the wall in the shower'. It turned out to be the air lock bubbler smashing into the basement ceiling. This batch had a serious blow off because I overfilled the primary.

I had an extra half gallon in a second fermenter and after three days of active fermentation I poured the extra beer into the glass primary and put it down stairs. Because the swirling had settled down I was tricked into thinking I could top of the primary.

This afternoon as I cleaned up the mess I could see the yeast was culturing on the foamy cap. The concoction blew out of the top and then oozed down the side of the glass leaving a slimy trail. On the table top was a culture with the consistency of yogurt that I used  spatula to scoop up.

I hope I didn't lose too many hops to affect the flavor and aroma. Will know when i transfer to the secondary fermenter.

Update:

3/30/2014

Note to self: Cut the crystal to 1/2 lb to 3/4 lb and use Galena or Northern Brewer hops instead of Cascade next go-round.

All That Work For This?

Daughter #4 has a new used car and it came with radio / 6 CD changer. But, a disc was jammed in it so the CD changer is of no use to her. She took the radio out the other day after I told her how to do it, however, she wasn't up to disassembling the radio to find the real problem. Today was a somewhat lazy afternoon so I figured I would try my hand at it.

6 CD Changer

Except for losing a couple of screws, no parts were broken while taking this unit apart. Somewhere there is a village in Mexico where there is a person who knows how to put this thing back together. Without the encyclopedic sized assembly procedure, I don't think it's possible.

So I found two CD's in the changer and I retrieved them relatively unmolested. Then I put them in my computer to give them a listen. After a couple of seconds per track I couldn't find anything that was listen-able. In fact, after the brief assault on my senses, I felt dirty, like I need a shower to wash the filth off.

Two Hip Hop CD's

Some people thrive on this kind of noise but I can't understand it. Will probably use these two as coasters.

On a positive note, D4 will be getting a new car radio at some time in the near future. She wants one she can plug an ipod into. I like the kind with the usb port. To me the usb port is more versatile. Will keep you posted.

Porter #28

And on a further high note, No 28 is turned out spectacular. A very distinct roasted malt flavor, not too bitter, perfect balance of hops and a nice molasses finish. I gave this recipe to a friend and need to tell him to make it.

VW 2.0T Fuel Injector Teflon Seal Hack

Around New Years, Uncle Jim and I set out to clean his intake valves on his VW Passat. When we pulled the intake manifold two fuel injectors came out with the manifold. Now we were committed to rebuilding the injector seals.

Coked Up Intake Valves

Because the gas in injected directly into the cylinder the intake valves don't get cleaned by the gas the way it does in a typical engine. This means that every 50K miles or so the intake manifold needs to be removed and all the oily deposits need to be scraped off. After the engine is reassembled and the car is taken out for a test drive, all the missing horses are found.

Improvised Tools

Here is the pencil tip and the refrigeration fitting that we used to push the white
telfon seal onto the injector.

Close-up View

You can see the raised edge that we are talking
about in the video.

This is a little video we put together to show our work around not having the $250 special tools used to work on fuel injectors.