Portland Glass

luck, and diatomaceous earth

It began on Thursday. My dad (visiting Oregon from Greeley, CO) helped me modify a 10-ft bamboo pole into an effective crab trap tosser. We visited Netarts (Happy Camp Hideaway) and started flinging this thing (a butterfly trap) into the bay and began pulling in crab (lots and lots of tossers, and, for the weekend, 5 keepers - one of them took a chunk off my dad's finger). We were doing at least as well as the guys in the boats with the big baskets were. Then Saturday night I kicked butt in dirty clubs (some silly card game my folks are into). We made it there and back to Portland using a half tank of veggie oil, and the Suburban did just fine! (and so did the boys!) Also, I had left the van on WVO accidentally (rather than switching it to diesel), and was concerned about running the battery down getting it started again - but I left the heater lines on an extra long time, and the thing turned over faster than ever!

Then on Monday, I participated in the Mississippi Pizza Spelling Bee! For the first time. And went head to head with a good friend, my mother, and a handful of spellers. Having had 3 pints of Jubel Ale - I was a little surprised to find myself in the final round with a spelling veteran. After several attempts at spelling impossible words - we worked our way backwards into an easier category, he missed his, and I got "milquetoast". It's a pitiful word to win on, but there you have it. Especially when I really should have won with "kieselguhr" (which means: diatomaceous earth). I forgot about the H near the end... Still wobbly with the Jubel, I collected my prizes (tootsie roll pop, hug from grandfather, spelling bee t-shirt, photo on the wall and $10 gift certificate - other contestants merely got a dumdum and a hug from grandfather). As I ambled home, feeling the smuggest guy on Mississippi for a moment.

Tuesday came. The checking account (unmonitored for a moment) dipped too too low incurring nasty fees (no returned checks - and I remedied that situation today), and I lost horribly in dirty clubs. Though we did take the Suburban up to Sauvie Island for a little Pumpkin Patch experience - and the kids had fun, no one got hurt, AND it took all of 3 seconds for both the boys to pick out a pumpkin and we hopped right back on the hayride and hauled it back to the barn - which was perfect. So, not ALL bad luck, but I had been hopeful for a trend. Of course, now we've got the miners being rescued, the gulf is being cleaned more than polluted (maybe?), and the dow is looking positive. So, whatayagoingtado?

Wine making, 2009

Saturday (9/26) we harvested our Niagara grapes for wine. I did an amazingly poor job this year of managing the canopy or production. As such, we had 56 gallons of Niagara grapes to haul in off the vine. That took 2.5 hrs. Then, from 12:30 to 2am on 9/27 we were destemming those grapes, crushing them, and pressing them for the juice. Cleanup and measurements (sugar, pH, TA) took a few more hours to get me in bed by 4am. Fortunately, we had a little help from our neighbors (Andrew, Lisa and Pat), or I may have gotten no sleep whatsoever!

The final results, 16 gallons juice, Spec. Grav 1.044, pH 3.8, TA over the top, meaning bad canopy and production management, slightly over-ripe grapes with not enough sugar. So my decisions at this point - 1gm sulfites / gallon; 1 lb. sugar added / gallon, throw in some lemon juice, and see if I can't work out a way to refrigerate the wine in January/February - to precipitate out some tartaric acid.

The best part was how my boys both were so excited about chipping in. Though Brendan was pretty set on making tomato wine - so he picked as many cherry tomatos as he did grapes (you can see a few red balls peeking out of the harvest pics, as well as a few cabernet grapes, which was a notably small harvest). And Josiah even had the patience to help out destemming.

The second-best part was falling into bed and actually sleeping. That's a long day.

Here's the pics

World Famous Meteor Turkey Recipe

This recipe cooks a 14 lb turkey to perfection in 2.5 hrs. Grilled. I haven't tried it in a regular oven.

I have traditionally used a (continually) modified shallow Sunbeam propane grill. The first modification was to remove the propane tank and paraphernalia and put something under the large holes to catch falling ash. After having done this, I got a recipe from a friend (Parker) for a Weber cooked turkey he does. The first time I did this I was taken by surprise - the bird was ready 2 hours early and we had dry bird for it sitting out all that time in the warmer. Here's the recipe.

Needed:

shallow sturdy grill

a handful of ceramic tiles

Coals (1 big bag will do)

1 bird - a 14 pounder is about the max my grill will hold

disposable broiling pan

Tin foil

olive oil, garlic, salt, rosemary

The Process:

Clean and dry the non-frozen turkey

Pour as many coals into the grill as it will hold and light em up.

Mince several cloves of garlic, and a handful of sprigs of rosemary (1/4 cup?).

Mix garlic, rosemary, 1 cup olive oil (or more, if needed).

Cover the bird inside and out with this - sprinkling a lot of salt inside and out. For variety, puncture an orange or lemon and tuck it inside the cavity, with some sprigs of rosemary. I do like to sew the cavity closed. I'm not sure if it's necessary.

Place the ceramic tiles on the grill just where the bird will sit, giving it a little buffer on the bottom.

Put the bird in the broiler pan. If concerned about burning the breast, put the bird breast up. Otherwise, I like breast down as it gets a juicier breast. Also, it helps to specifically wrap the ends of the legs to prevent them from becoming a charred stump. Then throw tin foil over the top.

Check the temperature on the grill. When it hits 550 or 600 or so, put the bird in. It should start sizzling the second it touches down on the grill. Close the lid and wait. Don't bother it unless you have to. Basting will do you no good. Check it about 1/2 hour before you expect it to be done. It will cook for a while after it's removed, so cut it quick if you don't want this to happen.

After an hour or so, if you want gravy (very intense, so water it down well), harvest the drippings. They won't be any good when the turkey's done.

12 pounds took 2 hours. 14 at 2.5. I'd estimate about 10-15 minutes / pound. If you have a particularly large bird, it may be that you will have to add a pile of coals after 1.5 - 2 hours.

The meat comes out smoked and pink and falling off the bone. The skin is tasty and possibly a little too intense. If you do make gravy, it will help the otherwise bland meal to step up to the crazy flavor packed in the bird.

There you have it. And even though we're going to eat at a german restaurant on this T-day, I insist on abusing my grill once more to cook a bird this year.

And as far as other modifications I've made. One year I blew out the tempered glass pane on the front of the grill. I've replaced that with some plate steel. The front handle has since burned off - and I have modified it a little in order to be able to use it. I think this year might be the end of this particular grill. Perhaps I'll just snag some steel and make a whole new one. Or perhaps I'll just modify this one enough to get it back upright. It is leaning quite heavily to the left, and the grills inside are warped enough to not hold the ceramic tiles.

Making Wine, Niagara crush 2007

9/22/07 Crushed 14 gal. of Niagara grapes - 7 marc, 7 must. Should end up with 5 or 6 gallons finished. That would suggest 140 to 200 lb of grapes harvested.  Nonetheless, what a mess. Good to have extra hands (my parents) on the harvest. would have loved to extend that to the crush.
Stats:
pH: 3.6
TA: .65%
SG: 1.0425

Modifications: for 7 gallons, 3.25 lbs (8 cups) of sugar brought SG up to 1.080. I sprinkled a tiny bit of Tartaric acid in for good luck. I poured 4.5 gal in a 5 gal carboy, and 2.5 gal into a 3 gal carboy, added yeast and a small amount of potassium metabisulfites (1/16 tsp to the 2.5 gal, 1/12 tsp to 4.5gal). Theoretically, you add the sulfites, then the next day add the yeast. I forgot. I'll probably buy yeast and airlocks and pH tester on Monday. If the fermentation looks too slow I'll yeast it up a little.

I don't think we'll have any cabernets to speak of this year - bad canopy management, in my opinion. Maybe next year.

In carboys, the stats are:
pH: 3.6
TA: .65%
SG: 1.080

My hands are worn by all the washing and the acidity of the grapes. The kids and Shelley are all sick. Bummer timing for the crush. Se la vie.

This, is a hobby. Glass is a craft. Both can be a work of art - but I have quite low expectations for my homemade wine. This next week - back to work on my current window project - modifying a matched set of (2) windows into a set of 4 cabinet door windows.

Other things of note - we cracked the cab and the niagara Sunday night - the cab is definitely young - a little rough to drink. the Niagara was very acceptible. Not anything to gush over, but it could hold its own to any oak knoll or honeywood on the shelf. It's good cheap wine, even if the alc. content is too low (9ish%). This year, I plan to bump that up to around 12% Everything looks good towards that end - great ta, and ph, and good modified sg. And the juice tastes quite nice. Much better than last year - more ripe.

More later.