Dogs love beer, btw. So do most non-human primates. Cats do not. Neither do any kind of the following parrots: sulfur crested cockatoo, rainbow lorikeet, little corella cockatoo. Pigeons, however, eat or drink anything.
That above paragraph is total, complete, 100% hearsay. At least sixth or seventh hand info. *ahem*
Anyways, back to the post topic.
Firstly: koalas and the photographing thereof.
Most of the time you see them out bushwalking them suckers are up in a gum tree. Usually asleep, but once in a while you'll see one eating. That's what they do: sleep, sleep, eat, sleep, and then when they get tired they sleep some more. Kinda like my cat.
WP and I saw 11 koalas when we were out hiking around Belair National Park the other day. 11! I heard at least 5 others too. What does a koala sound like? Imagine the sound a pissed-off wild boar makes just before it charges out of the underbrush and rams it's tusks up your *ss. Yup, cute koalas make that sound. I'm not kidding!
Now since you normally see the koalas waaaaay up in the tree, the closest way to get to them is being directly below them. Hence, it's very easy to end up with shitloads (in every sense of the word) of pictures of furry koala butt.
Perhaps this pic will show you much better than my feeble words can describe...
As we were packing up to leave as the sun was setting, I heard the unmistakable sound of a wild boar about to charge out of the gully and jam it's tusks somewhere where they don't belong. This being the Adelaide Hills in South Australia and not somewhere in the remote outback, I naturally assumed it was a koala.
Fortunately, I was right.
He (or she) was about five feet up a tree and didn't really care how close I got. I stopped about ten feet away and popped a bunch of shots.
Too bad the sun was setting and I had to shoot into the sun. But I did somehow manage to get a couple of them to come out. I did have to do some gamma-ing and contrast fixing on them though.
Next topic: Beer!
Why did we (I) start homebrewing? Well, it's a fun hobby, it's a longtime aussie tradition, and beer is bloody expensive down here. Wine is cheap (good wines too), but beer is not.
Last week on thursday evening I bottled up the first batch of lager for it's secondary fermentation. Two days ago, they bottles went from cloudy to totally clear! Done!
It's a very nice beer, slight fruit overtones, not very bitter at all, good froth, but a weak head. Why a weak head? Well, cus I made it to be 6% alcohol. The higher the alcohol content in a home brew, the weaker the head is. No worries!
Anyways, out of the 63 that were bottled, there are 48 left. Remember: THERE ARE FOUR OF US!!!! Humph!
The second batch (doing an ale this time) was put in the primary fermenter on Saturday, and should be ready for bottling and secondary fermenting on friday (that'd be tomorrow). At least I'm hoping it the specific gravity stabilises overnight cus I'd really like to get another round in the fermenter on saturday.
What have I learned so far? Sterilise, sterilise and sterilise! Also, rinse out the empties IMMEDIATELY after pouring. And TEMPERATURE really really matters.
I should be bottling in the morning and I'll get WP to take some pics. Then when I get the next batch into the primary fermenter on Saturday I'll take some pics and describe the process.
BTW, my MIL thinks the first batch of lager is the best she's had. And she's had quite a few kinds of brews! In fact, she is the one who I use to test the wort to see how long she thinks it'll need. So far, she's spot on with the SG readings from the hydrometer!
She's cool.
And I'm off to the pool.
5 comments:
Rock on Dave! I just picked up homebrewing again after a 10 year hiatus. (Having not had running water really put a crimp in my style.)
Will love some pics in a good beer glass.
Oh, and I believe there are adjuncts to add to the brew to give it more head. (Ugh. I walked into that one.)
Squirrels also love beer, as anyone who's spent time near a collage campus /should/ know. I don't know if moose like beer, but moose love other fermented stuff (like fermented squashes, fruits, etc.) and are hilarious when drunk.
And yeah, sterilization is very important. Don't skimp on it - if you get deathly ill, how are we going to get our pictures of parrot and koala butt?
eeeeeeeeek! i was gonna say thats just like a cat, eat and sleep! I guess I need to try to adopt a koala! He'd fit right in!
such cute pics!
A drunk koala would be interesting though...From what I hear they might be angry drunks.
Cabindweller: A friend of mine had a cabin on the outskirts of Salcha (meaning he was really really out in the sticks). He home brewed for years with no running water and made some damned fine stuff. Even kegged his own! Don't know how he did it with no running water. Regarding the additions for giving great head to beer... Ummmmm, I totally believe when you say you know how to give a beer more head... :) Sorry mate, couldn't resist.
KC: Yup, drunk squirrels are fun to watch. So are drunk moose, but the moose cause more damage. Don't worry about me and sterilization --in every sense of the word LOL. Hmmmm, why am I not surprised that you like pictures of a furry butt of a wild animal?
Fizzgig: As cute as the buggas are, they don't make good pets. And the fur is a lot more coarse than it looks.
Sciencebloke: Yeah, I imagine they'd get right pissed. Any critter that clings to trees with inch long claws while asleep is not a critter I want to be close to when he's pissed. "pissed" being an aussie term for really drunk.
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