Hey Now   His Hankness

Scramblers come from behind, despite some questionable coaching

Scramblers took on the Canes in a battle of closely matched teams. El Scram fell behind, and played catch up for most of the game until the 4th period, when Hank “Gerd Müller” woke up and tied it at 2-2. Der Bomber then struck again on a breakaway, making it 3 -2. I think Carlo added another,   4 -2. Hurricanes battled back to 4 – 3, making it a nail biter until the final whistle.  This was a fun one to watch as everyone is getting a lot better and understanding the game.  It was our week for snacks, and i must have found the magic juice/fruit/snack bar combo, because i usually had to grab a cliff bar out of a little hand before putting a kid in.  Having a 12:15 game time might also have been a factor with the little scramblers sometimes being more focused on the buffet line than the ball.

Rick was out, so i was handed the head coach’s hat.  It’s hard not to get caught up in the score, especially when its close, because they really do play hard and are enjoying the games.  I hope i got all the kids their playing time. Bye next week, then the showdown with FC Diamondbacks. I hope to get pics up soon.

Big Saturday morning clash as Scram seeks to get above .500

I think Henry had a goal. I think the final score was something like 9-2 Scramblers. Everyone had fun. The most intriguing thing about this game was the Grizzlies’ taunting of trademark law by wearing an unlicensed likeness of the Chicago Bears bruin on their uniforms. I hope nobody calls George Halas. Next week, we take on the  Hurricanes.

Saturday’s matchup was a good one.  Hank opened up the scoring for an eventual 7 -2 win. Mckree also added her first goalasso, many more to come.

Hank and his alien friends wish grandma a happy birthday or a $%^^^^ *#*#*#*!!!!

During the holiday break i figured it was as good a time as any to give beer cooking another try. Our last attempt fell sort of flat, no pun intended. So for this batch, i decided pay a little more attention and document all the steps for you,  gentle reader.  This homebrew is from an extract kit:  Brewer’s best imperial nut brown ale.   What’s that? The packaging has a lofty explanation. To wit:

“Balanced with big body and plenty of hop character, this American style Brown Ale has a deep amber to brown color. The slight caramel and chocolate flavors are followed by a nutty aftertaste.”

Sounds good to me. How hard can it be? After some serious sanitization of utensils, kettle and brewing implements,  Henry and I got down to business.  H closely monitored the 2.5 gallons (more or less) of tap water while i dug around in the included ingredients and made sure i had what we needed. The first ingredient to be introduced, besides water, was the grain bag. It looked like something you hang in the backyard that would interest some sparrows, but it contained crushed Crystal, Chocolate and  Victory grains that  steep in the hot (180º F) water. The temp was a little warm, and the main thing i guess is to be careful not to let the temp rise over 200 or risk bitter flavors from the tannins. After letting the grains steep for 20 minutes, remove, drain without squeezing and yahoo, the water is now a “wort”.

Next comes a gentle, rolling boil at around 190 F and it’s time to add the liquid malt extract (pre-processed extract is the main advantage of the kit), dry malt extract and maltodextrin (derived from corn starch).  Careful not to let the extract settle on the kettle bottom and burn. The LME’s sat in hot water for 30 mins for easier pouring.

Now it’s time to add hops.  The kit contains three different hops packets. The first to go in are the bittering hops, which are sprinkled into the boil with care, to avoid a boilover.  I notice that the thorough written instructions offer this odd footnote:

“When consumed, hops can cause malignant hyperthermia in dogs, sometimes with fatal results.”

Hmmmm. Sobering, if your labrador retriever is into homebrewing.  Remember to note the time! The 1 oz. of bittering hops boil for 40 min. At 40 mins, add the 1 oz. flavoring hops, but being careful not too get too distracted with the photo-takin’ lest you risk a

Boilover! You really have to watch the temp on that gas burner.  Henry’s miniature 7 iron golf club makes a perfect stirring rod utensil.  Sanitized, of course. Flavoring hops flavor for 15 mins, then the aroma hops for another 5 mins, boiling in a gentle rolling way all the while. Total boil time is 60 mins.  The kit contains very thorough instructions:

and lists the IBU’s at 47 – 50, with a OG of 1.071 – 1.075. ABV is 7.75% – 8.25%. I can’t tell exactly what the ABV will be, because i forgot to measure the original gravity.  The ABV % is:  OG – FG x 131.25 OG. Take the OG when the boil is cooled to room temprature and after the next 2.5 gallons of water added.  The cooling is iffy, as i don’t have a heat exchanger and it took a good 90 minutes to get to 75 deg.  Basically i cooled in a tub of ice water in the driveway. I think my next investment will be some copper and poly tubing at Llowe’s.

When cool, pour into the clean fermenting barrel, trying not to pour the sediment (trub) in too.  Pour in the additional 2.5 gallons of tap water, stirring with the 7 iron. I read something elsewhere about it being important to stir thoroughly to oxygen the wort, but i’m not sure about this.  The kit also contains a yeast sachet which is sprinkled over the top of the wort surface and stirred. I don’t know much about yeast, but i understand that the quality of the yeast is perhaps the biggest factor  in the finished product. Lid it, and pop in the airlock (sanitized) and it goes in Henry’s movie closet at 69 – 70º F for 6 days. The wort begins to ferment pretty quickly, within a couple of days the airlock starts pumping up and down as CO2 is released. When it slows, i get a cold glass, pour and,

Voila!  It really tastes great! Just kidding, i guess i’ll have to figure in the cost of this Newcstle when i calculate the final tab to brew  my own. After six days, and when the bubbling had pretty much stopped i decided to do the optional secondary fermentation. This is recommended to give the beer more clarity and a better, cleaner flavor. The fermentation should be slowed at this point, but should still be incomplete. I siphon the wort (less the bit of sed at the bottom) to my five gallon carboy, transfer the airlock and we head off to North Carolina for the holidays! Yeay!

14 days (and many NC Highland Brewery oatmeal stouts) later, the second stage ferment is as finished as it’s ever gonna be, and it’s almost time to bottle. The last step before bottling is to add the kit’s priming sugar by boiling two cups of tap water on the stove, pour the 5 oz or so of sugar in, boil for 5 mins, cool and our into the wort. One thing worth mentioning is i neglected to give the wort a good stir after priming.  I’m hoping that the sugar got distributed enough in the siphoning.  I guess if the bottles start popping off in the closet, i’ll know to stir the sugar very thoroughly next time.

I also think bottling should happen immediately after priming, but we were having a few folks over and i let this sit unattended longer than is good, i think.

Dishwashered the bottles this time, instead of the bathtub sanitization,  and visually inspected each and every bottle for any unwanted insect passengers (learned my lesson about storing bottles outside) and then bottled and capped.  The bottling is much more efficient with three people– two running the siphon and one capping.

So that’s it for the bubbling, cooking and capping.  The bottles should be ready by mid-January, then we’ll see what we’ve got. I’m thinking of using Henry as the King’s taste tester.   At least i’m not buying him beer.   More soon.

Scram ends season with a loss but Peter Piper Pizza helps ease the sting

Saturday morning the eggos assembled for the last game of the season against a strong and seasoned U-6 Diamondbacks team.   The team was excited and eager to get it on against the d-backs.  With the whistle, the d-backs struck early with a couple of quick goals. The scram was on its heels, but battled back to tie it at two. The teams traded goals and halftime came with a 3-3 tie. I had snack duty this week, and brought a load of red seedless grapes and cliff bars for the tired scramblers.  Being in a close game was something the scram is not used to.

The floodgates opened in the second half, with the d-backs scoring 6 unanswered goals. The scram added three more, but the day belonged to the diamondbacks, 13 – 6.

A very fun day was had by all and both teams retired to Peter Pipers for the trophies and pizza. The scram finished the season at 6 – 2, and it was a lot of fun watching all the kids improve every week and learn the game.  More pics of dbacks v scram in the gallery.

El Scram pours it on and  gets back into the win column

The Scramblers faced off against the Barracudas in U-6 city league action Saturday.  All the Scramblers were healthy and available for duty, against a cuda team that appeared with 4 players.  With the referee’s whistle, the eggbeaters quickly pressed the attack and Skyler soon found himself in front of the goal for the first Scramblers strike of the game.  The cudas ran hard and tried to return the favor, but Henry soon took off on one of his patented breakaways for the first of his two goals on the day, making it 2 – 0.    With a full complement of players, the scramblers exploited the short cuda bench by rotating fresh eggers  into the match, keeping the pressure on. Having only one sub to turn to eventually cost the barracudas, as they tired of the quick pace. No faulting the barracudas though, as they turned in a solid effort with the final score 12 – 1 scramblers.

At 6 – 1, the Scramblers finish the season against the Diamondbacks on Saturday, and will surely celebrate a fun and happy inaugural season. Hope to post some team pics next week. Check out more Scramblers v Cuda pics in the gallery.