Twelve days ago, I started brewing my own beer. Today, I made a stop at DeFalco’s Home Wine & Beer Supplies to pick up a few things I needed to finalize this brewing project. Lacking a hydrometer was making it pretty impossible to know if fermentation had halted or not, so that was number one on my list. I also picked up a floating thermometer, a bottle of Iodophor for sanitizing my equipment, a bottle brush, a case of 12oz. bottles, a few hundred bottle caps, a bottle capper, and a packet of priming sugar (dextrose).
Assorted brewing supplies
When I got home from DeFalco’s, I prepared to take the first sample of my West Coast Pale Ale from my Mr. Beer brew keg. Surprisingly enough, what poured out looked, smelled, and even tasted a lot like beer. It may have been a bit on the sweet side, but I am not complaining right now. Once carbonated, it will definitely pass as drinkable in my book.
First sample, straight from the brew keg
The hydrometer reads right around 1.010 for the specific gravity right now, at 72°F. According to the handy dandy sheet that came with the hydrometer to correct for temperature I add .002. So we’ll call my reading today 1.012. Since I did not have this instrument when I actually made the wort, I have no earthly idea what the original gravity was. That being the case, I will hold off another few days and take a reading again. If nothing has changed, I am going to start bottling. I’ve not quite decided exactly how I plan on doing the priming part but I’m sure I’ll get at least 30 different suggestions before that time comes!
Hydrometer reading
I think an Apfelwein is likely to be the next thing my Mr. Beer ferments, while I start gathering the equipment required to step up to 5 gallon all-grain batches of beer. This is definitely a lot of fun, and if the result is drinkable beer, I am all for it.
Let’s see if I can finish this challenge, one photo per week of a given theme. Starting with the first week of the new decade, and ending on the final week of 2010. I will be working with some friends to come up with different themes, and we’ll each head out and take our photo each week. Maybe when it is all said and done, I’ll whip up some sort of photo slideshow to showcase them all.
The title of this post sums up two of the most important tools one must have when dealing with the Department of Veteran Affairs. Filing a claim, to any of the VA’s many departments, is a daunting task. Translating the form-letter responses the VA sends once your claim is received requires mastery of the foreign language spoken by the department. For many veterans, this is too much to handle on their own.
After reading several of the comments on my Post-9/11 GI Bill saga post, I decided a post was necessary to provide some sort of advice to my brothers and sisters at arms. The sort of advice that might give veterans a glimmer of hope in the dark cave that is waiting for the VA to process a claim. The sort of advice nobody gives you when you separate from the service, or decide to file your first claim with the VA.
Rule #1 – Be patient.
We all want our benefits, and we all want them now. That simply is not going to happen, and pacing back and forth hoping tomorrow is the day you get your money is only going to stress you out. If you are like me, you already carry too much stress from your time in the service. Do yourself a favor, and roll with the punches. Remember, the squeaky wheel gets the grease – so squeak on, but do not expect same-day action from the VA.
Rule #2 – Be persistent, and proactive.
You will get mountains of mail from the VA. Most of it has nothing to do with anything. Some of it is crucial to your claim. That means you’re going to have to read it all. Buy a shredder, as most of it belongs there. When the VA makes contact with you, make contact back with them immediately if there are any discrepancies whatsoever. If there is something that does not add up, tell the VA it does not add up. Keep telling them until you receive official notice, that would be more mail if you’re wondering, from the VA that there was a problem on their end and they are correcting it. Never take a “we will take care of this right away” over the phone as resolution. Just like in the service, if it is not on paper it never happened.
Rule #3 – Get assistance.
Whether this is your first claim, or your fifteenth claim, an extra set of eyes is invaluable. Any mistake, no matter how small, will likely result in your claim being delayed even longer and ultimately denied. Many veteran service organizations exist, and most of them have workers dedicated to helping veterans file claims. I am a Life Member of Veterans of Foreign Wars and a member of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Both of these organizations can provide important information on filing your claim, and drum up support for you while you fight for approval of your claim. Though you may feel alone, know that you are not.
Rule #4 – Be prepared.
As I said earlier, if it is not on paper it never happened. Hopefully, you kept copies of everything your branch of service ever gave you. That is, if you were lucky enough to get a copy for yourself in the first place. Your official records will be the first thing that is checked. The probability your file is incomplete is about the same as the probability that the sun rises in the east tomorrow.
As an example, my medical records cease to exist past October, 2006. I was not released from active duty until July, 2008. The only award in my OMPF? Parachutist badge. Nothing else made it into my file. Fortunately, I have copies of all but my medical records (since the Army refused to release them to me while I was active, and then refused to release them to me upon separation).
If you do not have your records, do whatever you can to get them. Assuming that fails, as it did with the second half of my medical records, find someone who was there with you. Have them write you "buddy letters" for incidents they witnessed or of which they had direct knowledge. Remember, unless your buddy happened to be the diagnosing physician they need to stick to comments that are strictly within their area of expertise. An infantry friend cannot write that an IED detonation gave you TBI. He is not a medical professional. What he can say, is that an IED detonated on your patrol, he saw you get hit in the head and experience a loss of consciousness for however many minutes. Buddy letters are to establish that an event did in fact occur, and was related to your service. Nothing more.
Rule #5 – Make Congress work for you.
Know who your district representative is, know who your senators are. Have their contact information easily accessible, for both local and Washington D.C. offices. When you file a claim, go ahead and start writing a congressional inquiry. I keep an open file on my computer with the details of any claim I have going. If it becomes clear that the VA simply is not working on my claim, which happens, I print that file, scan it, and email it to the local office of my representative for congressional action. As I said above, if it is not on paper it never happened. This includes your VA claims. You need to keep copies of them, and when you’re filing a congressional you should send everything to them.
Once Congress is involved, you will get some sort of response. Refer again to rule number one, be patient. The response you get may not tell you a single thing you did not already know, but it forces someone at the VA to actually touch your file. Usually, this means it gets worked on shortly thereafter and you get some sort of resolution to your problems. This also establishes a paper trail, and takes away anyone’s ability to claim you never asked for information.
Rule #6 – Use the Internet.
This last one should be a no-brainer, considering it is 2010. When I say to use the internet, I do not mean head to Google and search for forms you need to fill out. While that is one good use of the internet, you have bigger fish to fry.
Consider the following, the VA has shifted some attention to “new media” and now has it’s ear to the ground listening to the buzz on Twitter and blogs. My Post-9/11 GI Bill saga post is ultimately what got my Ch33 claim finalized for Fall 2009. I shared it on my Twitter account, it was retweeted (echoed) by several other veterans online (to include IAVA’s Paul Rieckhoff) and ultimately the VA responded from their accounts.
Twitter is free. Blogs are free. You probably already have a Facebook account. All of these can serve to get your case noticed, and resolved. You just have to use them together, and keep at it. Remember what I said about the squeaky wheel getting the grease? Get your squeaks amplified by the internet and you might get a shiny new set of wheel bearings.
If anyone else has suggestions I left out, feel free to leave them as comments. I’ll add them to the body of the post. Never give up, and never accept defeat. If you earned an honorable discharge, you held up your end of the deal. Do not let the government back out of their end.
Late in 2009, I posted my concerns that admissions into the Cullen College of Engineering at the University of Houston was going to be impossible without some help. Yesterday, I got that help and left campus knowing my petition to officially declare a major in mechanical engineering had its first signature. Now that I actually have a target, can lock myself down and make sure I hit it.
Your claim has been reviewed by a case manager and it will be completed shortly. Your claim was submitted for 12 months. The case manager determined you are eligible for 12 months. This calculation is based on the difference between your ETS, (contractual obligation) and your release from active duty (REFRAD date). It is only for days served on active duty. Additionally, recent legislation concerning re-enlistment bonuses may affect an individual?s eligibility for retroactive stop loss pay. The legislation requires the Army to review all claims, to verify whether or not the soldier received a bonus, prior to delivery to DFAS for payment. Therefore this will require additional time to process all claims. Thank you.
-Stop Loss Case Manager NC
Considering the fact that I took no bonus money, I should be expecting nine months of tax-free stop loss money, and three months of taxed stop loss money (my last three months were outside of a designated combat zone). Good news indeed.
If you are a veteran and fell under stop loss in OIF or OEF, and you do not know what I am talking about you need to go read this now.
14 years ago, I found a litter of puppies in a trash pile on the other side of the planet in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I kept one as my dog, and named him Midnight (the others also got good homes). Tonight, we had to put him down. Luckily, all of his people were here to say goodbye. My siblings, my parents, and my grandparents. We all loved him, and he loved us all back. He was the best dog ever; my family and I will miss him.
After three full years of sitting in the garage, my Dad’s Galant lives. He took it apart right after I got home from Iraq the first time, in 2006, to change the timing belt. This was supposed to be a father-son project, but it just didn’t happen like that for various reasons. Now that I live at home again, it was time to get the car out of the garage. Sooner was better than later, since I’m pretty sure my Mom was ready to set fire to the garage.
Putting things back together was not nearly as difficult as I’d feared. A few things were annoying, but that’s to be expected when working on a Japanese vehicle. It fired up with the first turn of the key, and ran quite well for a vehicle that hadn’t had a drop of gas in the tank for years. Today, I flushed out the radiator and everything seems to be working well. Even the AC still works, which is all kinds of impressive. My truck won’t hold R134a for more than a month, the Galant held a seal for several years.
This is getting way ahead of myself, since my first brew is only 46hrs into primary fermentation, but that has never stopped me before. Anyhow, I ultimately want to be able to do all-grain brews. There’s nothing that would keep me from doing extract brews in an all-grain setup, I’d just use less of the equipment on the bench. Sounds like a deal to me.
After reading countless threads over at HomeBrewTalk.com, I came up with an idea or three for my own setup. Gravity is cheapest to construct, since no pumps are involved. Probably easier to sanitize too. The problem I see is vertical height. I’d like to be able to do everything without a ladder, or having several gallons of very hot water above my head. A single tier system looks awesome, but requires a few pumps and valves. These are not cheap, and present some hurdles in the sanitizing realm. I’m sure sanitizing is not all that difficult, since a ton of people brew a ton of beer in their very own single tier systems, so I am not too concerned about introducing a pump, or valves, to my setup. Money is the big issue here.
What I’ve come up with is a two tier system, with the HLT (hot liquor tank) and MLT (Mash/Lauter Tun) on the upper tier, and the brew kettle on the lower tier. I plan to use one pump, with a manifold on the intake and output to let me switch between input/output destinations. One input will pump from the HLT and output to the MLT. I’ll valve the HLT input shut, and open the MLT input to circulate until sparging time. Gravity will feed the post-sparge sweet wort into the brew kettle, which will input into the pump again for a trip through a crossflow cooler and into a carboy for the yeast pitch and primary fermentation.
I’ve not yet made enough progress in Google Sketchup, a few of its features are driving me batty, to show all the components just yet. What I do have, is below.
Rough Draft
Rough Draft
Any feedback from folks that have done this before is definitely welcome.
Most everyone that reads this even semi-regularly is fully aware that I like beer, a lot. My digital beer wall is rather incomplete right now; I have more than 15 new beers to add to the collection, I just have not made my way to setting up the lightbox and taking more photos. Eventually, I will re-shoot everything anyway.
So, now that we have established that I enjoy beer I’ll introduce the new hobby. Brewing my own beer. Countless hours inside The Ginger Man in Austin, Texas, put me in contact with brewers and other beer enthusiasts in Central Texas. When I moved to Houston, one of the first beer-related events I attended was a release-party of sorts for the Saint Arnold Divine Reserve 8. I was surrounded by home-brewing beer fiends. The creator of the Divine Reserve 8 was seated directly behind me. Hearing the men that made the recipes for, and brewed, the beers I loved sparked something inside me.
For months, I did not really do anything about this spark. The fuel was added when I stumbled into a thread on my favorite motorcycling forum about brewing one’s own beer. Fuel plus spark equals a full blown fire. Fortunately for me, my parents took note of all the talk about brewing my own beer and got me a Mr. Beer kit. At this very moment, I have a 2.5 gallon batch of their West Coast Pale Ale fermenting in my closet.
Something tells me as I read, and learn, more about brewing beer I will end up with an inordinate amount of equipment. My goal? Creating my own Belgian Tripel ale.
My friend Colby bought a barely-running EX250 to tinker with, and ultimately turn into a bike for care-free track days. Since I have absolutely nothing else to do right now, I invited him over to spin some wrenches. Spin them we did. For many hours. In vain.
Long story short, something screwy was going on with the spark plugs. They’d been changed already, but apparently they needed to be changed again. A new set I picked up today, fired the bike right up. The noises coming out of the engine are not supposed to come out of an engine, unless you just put a round of .50BMG through it.
