Dogfish Head Aprihop

Dogfish Head Aprihop.  12oz., 7% abv.

Quite possibly, one of the only DFH brews I like.  Mostly because it is fairly mild.  I get little to no apricot aroma or flavor.  Which just left a nice IPA type base with a bit of alc warmth.  Good, but not great.  And not really apricotty.

AMA Sears Point 2012 pics

We had a little weekend get away, and managed to spend a few hours at Sears Point at the AMA races.  Just some random shots:

Front brake rotor on the EBR 1190rs

Harley XR1200 race bike fuel tank.  Go Canada! 

Exhaust from the Attack Performance Kawasaki ZX10R

The Attack guys let me come into the garage and snap pics up close

KTM team, huddled around Stefen Nebel after P1

EBR team bikes.  They had a great weekend, with A podium on Saturday

Ass end of a Yamaha R1 Superbike

Ben Bostrum looking over P1 data in the hot pits

The KTM, torn down between sessions

Beer club meeting

Beer club meeting

Homebrew Club Awards

Today was the 2012 Chico Homebrew Club Competition awards party.  We arrived around 1pm, just in time to start sampling some of the 179 beers that were entered.  At 2:30, we got to chow down on some potluck, including everything from tri-tip, to seafood salad, to a lovely potato salad Susan made with beer.  Shortly after, they started announcing the awards.

Long story short, I ended up placing 3rd in the cider category for my Pomegranate Cider (which was a big hit with the ladies at the party)  and a 1st place for my Mulling Cider Mead.  Susan also bought some raffle ticketsm and I came home with a 4# can of extract and a growler jug.  Both items I can use.

Me and the fly, after some grub.

What's that?  Two medals?  Oh yeah...

Leafer Madness Imperial Pale Ale

Leafer Madness. Lovely aroma so far...

And a great taste too.  Usually, 9% and 100+ IBU beers aren't my favorite.  But this has a nice malt sweetness that keeps the alc warmth subdued, while the strong hop aroma and flavor lead to a mellow bitterness.  Quite nice!

owl eggs

2012 Chico Home Brew Competition

We just completed two days of beer judging and sipping, as part of the 2012 Chico Home Brew Competition. I volunteered to be Chief Steward, and Susan volunteered to be a steward.  That means we keep our table full of judges full of beers and score sheets, and make sure they don't run out of cups, bread, and water.  We also get to sip every beer our tables are judging, and any other beers from other tables that received high scores.

Because we were shy of judges, we ended up judging Stouts and IPAs yesterdays from 1 to 4.  We had four tables, and it was very low key.  Today we had 14 tables, so it was a bit more hectic for the first few rounds.  Then we eased into a good rhythm, and before we knew it, lunch was being served.  Sierra Nevada put out a great taco bar spread, and opened up the taps.  Then we had a quick tour of the facilities, including a trip to the hop room, where we were given 1 gallon bags to shove whole hops into.  I grabbed just a tad more than a pound of Citra hops, and a little bit of crystal.

A few pics:

Don't be distracted by the gun show

My table, one of two judging IPAs

Susan cleaning and organizing empty bottles.  Just like at home!

Knee Deep Beer Company Tanilla

Knee Deep Beer Company Tanilla. Very smooth, full bodied, with a hint of vanilla. Nice.

St Peter's Sorgham Beer

Susan grabbed me a gluten free beer for Easter. It was sorta in that realm of a green bottle beer. The irony is that it came in a green bottle beer. Very light bodied, light flavor, with a hint of skunk.

Easter Booze

The Easter Bunny brought me some booze!

More beer sampling

tasting two different versions of my vienna lager

Less Hippy, More Gray?

Hippy hair has been hacked. The amount of gray in my temples has apparently doubled.

Pomegranate Taste Testing

Entries for the Chico Home Brew Competition are due in one week. I have a couple beers I'll be entering, and was contemplating entering a mead or cider. As it happens, I have a pomegranate mead and pomegranate cider both bottled. I wanted to taste each on their own, and then mixed together.

We both agree, the cider on its own is the winner. It has a great tartness, and fit right in the specs for a category 28B Other Fruit Cider.

I like the mead too, but it just doesn't have the ooomph of the other meads we taste from our club. You know, the 15 year old 18% varieties.

Miyata Assembly - Why Hello There!

It speaks!

Thanks to a new petcock from Treatland and a new 12v battery from Pep Boys, the Miyata started right up and ran great. I didn't even need to adjust the idle or idle mixture. The petcock uses a M16x1.0 bung, and luckily some Puch mopeds and Ducatis use this size. It threaded on like a champ, and thanks to a glass fuel bowl in the bottom, it is easy to see fuel flowing.

Now I get to turn my attention to all the little details, like getting some chrome re-finished, making a rear taillight, finding some rear turn signals, and new Miyata script logos for the side covers and handlebars. All the fun stuff.

Miyata Assembly - More Stuff

I got a couple small things installed, mostly just to see how it looks. Including the side covers:

I was originally thinking the bike would have too much green, and maybe the side covers should be a different color, like vanilla or cream. But I kinda like it like this, and it will get better with the "Miyata" script logos on the side covers:

In preparation of it running, I threw on the exhaust system. All the chrome on it was heavily pitted, so I'm trying to decide what to do with it. I found a chrome shop in Yuba City, so I might pay them a visit with the full exhaust and the headlight chrome ring.

Miyata Assembly - Seat and Footpegs

I found a set of footpeg rubbers for a Yamaha YSD1 with a very similar pattern to the original Miyata units:

I also got the original seat pan and foam built back up. It took a few tries, but the original seat covers seems to fit:

It is a little bit lumpy on the side, but I think it will smooth over as it stretches out over the new foam. I was able to really scrub the old grim off the vinyl and it looks pretty good:

Miyata Assembly - Wiring

Short story made super boring...I got both spark on the Miyata, and an electric starter that turns the engine over. I realize that sounds normal, but considering I have no wiring diagrams, and that some of the wiring was disconnected when I got it, I'm amazed I got it on the first try.

As luck would have it, the big red wire from the key connects to the red wire on the main harness, which then connects to the starter relay and coil output. So my first try, it made the sparkies and the button on the right handlebar activates the starter. It is strange having an electric starter on a bike. My thirteeen other little dinks just have a kick starter.

I just need a 12v battery that fits in the battery tray. And then I guess I can put some fuel in the tank, mount up the exhaust, and maybe it will run?

Miyata Assembly

What a better way to spend a near 70 degree day, than to do some assembly on the Miyata. I managed to get it into a roller pretty quickly.

Installing the rear wheel assembly:

front and rear suspension and wheels installed. A roller!

I also planned ahead and got the main wiring harness run through all of its little tangs (that keep it secure):

After lunch, I installed the handlebar and controls, some of the cables, the luggage rack, and finally the engine:

Starting to look like a bike!

Miyata Details - Paint and Wheels

I took advantage of the good weather we've been having lately, and got a bunch of the Miyata parts painted. That means I might be able to do some assembly this weekend! Which is always the fun part.

But before that, I managed to get the bastard wheels fully assembled. Bastard, because as mentioned before, the Miyata used a bicycle size wheel and tire. I wouldn't be able to reuse the original wheel rims because the chrome was knackered. I had a spare set of good 17" rims, and ordered a set of shorter 184mm wheel spokes from the land of Bangkok. It all managed to come together quite nicely, after an evening of lacing.

C'

Miyata Details - Stripping and Cleaning

I've spent the past week doing all the dirty work, cleaning up old grungy parts and stripping paint. My least favorite activity in a restoration project. But I've made good progress, especially yesterday and today.

The hardest part to strip was the frame. Lots of little nooks and crannies to get into:

By comparison, the engine cleaned up nicely. I pulled both the magneto side and clutch side covers off, so I could clean them inside and out. I decided not to take off the cylinder, since it looked so good. I did, however take off the cylinder head and decarbonize the combustion chamber.

Chris H.