Ok, I've gotten a little behind on my blog, but I promise, I've been busy! Anyway, I had a couple of buddies over on Saturday, the 8th of July and we bottled my beer. Everything went according to plan (I think) although when I initially transferred my wort to my carboy, I spilled a bit and I must not have gotten it all cleaned up because there was some funky stuff growing under the carboy (better than in the carboy, I guess). One of the guys I had over has some homebrewing experience, so he helped things move along smoothly and now I am again playing the waiting game. This coming Saturday will be two weeks from bottling time, so I think I am going to crack one open to see how things are progressing. However, I am going camping this weekend, so I may have to drink it Friday night (or bring it along, but that doesn't really sound like a good idea, especially since my frosty mugs are at home).
RAGBRAI is next week (July 23-29), and I have some friends that are going to be participating in that, so maybe the following weekend (August 5th) I'll have a get-together and let people try my beer, if I feel it is ready enough at that point, of course. By that time it will have been four weeks. I was informed that this particular beer will, however, continue to get better as it ages for the next three months or so. So maybe I'll make them wait.
Anyway, if I think of it, I'll post my feelings about my first taste of the brew, but it probably won't be before this weekend.

michaellasalle

"There is nobody so irritating as somebody with less intelligence and more sense than we have." - Don Herold

So I started brewing last night and as I was cleaning everything up, I realized I forgot to get any pictures. Maybe next time. Anyway, here's how it went down (after sterilizing everything, of course): (oh and I apologize ahead of time if I'm not using correct terminology)
I got out my brewing kettle and stared at it for a while as I tried to figure out how to measure two gallons into it. I then decided to grab a pitcher that is graduated in quarts (as well as oz.) and I added two gallons of water 2 quarts at a time (four quarts in a gallon times two gallons divided by two quarts in a pitcher = four pitchers, eh?). Anyway, I heated the water up to 145°F using my gas stove. I poured my grains into the cheesecloth bag that came with my recipe kit, placed the bag in the water (like a giant teabag) and let it sit for about 25 minutes (with an occasional poke or jab from my long plastic spoon, which later broke). I pulled the bag out and squeesed out as much liquid as I could.
I got the water boiling and using some of the cheesecloth bag that I cut off, I tied off each end after filling it with my hops and threw 'em in for 45 minutes. Following this, I removed the bag, filled my sink with ice and a bit of water, and placed my kettle of wort in for chilling. At this point, I added the rest of my hops. Now, when I boiled my first set of hops, I noticed the bag was quite swollen and I figured that perhaps the hops needed more space to expand, so I just dumped my aroma hops in sans bag (because I figured they would be filtered out by the strainer anyway.
While waiting for the wort to cool, I went downstairs and added 3 gallons (twelve quarts, or six pitchers) of cold water to my 6 1/2 gallon glass carboy.
Once the wort had cooled a while, I boiled a bit of water and started letting it cool so I could use it to activate my dry yeast (this took longer than expected and next time I'll have to start that step sooner). I took the kettle downstairs and attempted to strain it into the carboy. I had a stainless steel strainer placed on top of a funnel containing a smaller strainer. Now, I figured this would work pretty efficiently. However, it didn't take much to clog both strainers (next time, bag the hops, man!). I had to stir the wort in the funnel to get it to go down and after each funnel full, I rinsed off both strainers with hot water and at one point, I even got my hand in the way of the pouring wort (I had just washed my hands prior to this step, so hopefully there wasn't too much contamination).
By this time it was getting pretty late and the water for my yeast was only down to 50°F (the package suggested a narrow 38° to 40°F) despite being in the fridge, so I just went with it. After letting the yeast sit for fifteen minutes, I pitched it, threw on my airlock and hit the sack.
When I went down for a look this morning, nothing exciting had happened except the cap to my airlock was on the floor (I didn't press it on tight, becuase I don't see how gas could escape if its sealed) so I know there has been some activity.
I guess now I just hurry up and wait.

michaellasalle

"If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars." -Jean Paul Getty

I'm told that I received my first recipe kit in the mail today. The bière du jour is Hex Nut Brown Ale. I don't think that I'll start brewing yet tonight. I'll probably read a bit and watch the video that came with my equipment for a refresher. Perhaps when I start the brew, I'll get some pictures and give a play-by-play in the ol' blog. We'll have to wait and see how much time I've got.

michaellasalle

Quick Update

I purchased a book that is actually a pretty good read. Its very interesting, has lots of information and is divided for beginner, intermediate and advanced brewers. I'm almost halfway through, but I decided to start ordering equipment anyway. I went online to start looking at prices and ended up purchasing a starter package from a relatively local company.
I'm going on vacation next week, so I don't want to start brewing just yet. I still need to order ingredients and I'd like to read a bit more, but I don't think I want to get into the advanced section until I actually try brewing once or twice, so that perhaps I can relate more to whats going on.
Also, at this point it is looking as though I may or may not take the A&P classes this fall. Dad thinks I should go for it while I'm still pretty young, but I'm losing motivation (perhaps due to all of my excitement for brewing).

michaellasalle

Well, after much deliberation, I've decided not to go on with the whole thing. I will probably still take the A&P classes this fall and next spring, but nothing is certain as of yet.
In the mean time, I have decided to persue the hobby of brewing beer at home. I have taken the first step of ordering a book on the subject, which I plan to read in its entirety before jumping into the whole thing (e.g. purchasing the neccessary equipment).
From this point onward, I devote this thread to aforementioned hobby, but I will still include any PharmD related updates as I see fit.

michaellasalle

Ok, my wife has talked to her mother and now feels okay with the whole thing again. At this point, I'm just moving along with the whole thing and letting her change her mind back and forth as she pleases.
It's happening already. I've barely begun and I'm already slacking on my studying. I didn't do anything last night regarding the Pharmacy 'project' (if you will). However, it is not without good reason. For you see, my youngest sister graduated from pre-school yesterday and we attended the ceremony (followed by the requisite juice and cookies).
My mother-in-law (who I work with by the way) supports the Pharmacy idea, but begrudgingly, as it will move her grandson from being about ten minutes away to being about two and a half hours away. She even said we could move in with her for a little while if we sold our house (which we will have to do because we can't afford two places) before we move. We're now trying to convince her to buy a place down there and rent it to us while I'm back in school, but this may take a little more convincing. She suggested that we buy a duplex down there and rent out the other half, but I think it would be pretty tough to get a house loan without a job.
In the mean time, I'll just keep trucking along and take whatever life throws my way.

michaellasalle

So after some more looking, it turns out that work will only pay for the schooling if you stay employed there for a few more years. Makes sense. They will reimburse you for 90% of your schooling, up to $7500, but if you leave within a year, you pay back all of it. If you leave within 2 or 3 years, you pay back half. Not terrible, really.
Looks like it may not happen anyway. The wife has been thinking about it quite a lot and decided she likes where we are now in our lives. I can't say I disagree. We've got a house and I've got a job with a decent wage and good benefits. We've also got a 1 1/2 year old to think about (plus a combined eight years of school debt already).
On the other hand, the people that own the pharmacy at which she is employed are looking to retire soon, which would be a perfect opportunity for us. However, she is concerned about this as well and for a variety of reasons. They may want to retire before I would get my degree (estimated 6 years from now), we may decide we don't want to move back and she doesn't want to tell them we'll buy it then back out, and she's worried that with all of our debt we may not be able to get the loan we would need to buy the business.
I think we may talk to our parents about the whole thing and see if we can get some wisdom out of them. In the meantime, I guess I'll just study. If nothing else, I may learn something.

michaellasalle

So I've been out of school for a couple of years now. I've had a couple of jobs doing quality control. The first working with pharmaceuticals, the current working with animal vaccines. My spouse works at a pharmacy and I've recently come to the conclusion that I would like to become a Pharmacist. I have undergraduate degrees in Biotechnology and Business: Administration, and the only prerequisite course I am missing to get into the U of I Pharmacy program is Anatomy I & II.
I am going to take Anatomy at a local community college starting this fall. They offer an evening class, so it works alright with my work schedule. In fact, I had mentioned when I started here that I would like to get my masters. My boss said my company would probably pay for 90% of my classes if I was still planning to do so and the course was required for admittance.
I feel a little uncomfortable having the company pay for this since I plan to quit to go to Pharmacy school if I get accepted, but its a very large corporation and the cost to them is like pocket change.
One other issue is taking the PCAT. I may sign up to take it in December, but I will only be through one of my Anatomy courses at that point. Can I do it? I'm sure going to try. I have ordered the Kaplan PCAT study guide and plan to study with that. When I get through that, I will probably order others. Does anybody have suggestions for reaching this end? We'll see.

michaellasalle