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Weekend Routine Notes

Saturday Routine

• Home Brewery:
  • Works in the home brewery on any given Saturday.
  • Holds an actual brew day every five weeks since the start of the year (previously every six weeks last year).
  • Performs various chores taking from 30 minutes to an hour, or a substantial portion of the weekend.
  • Regular activities include racking beer from one vessel to another to aid clarity, bottling, recipe planning, longer-range planning, and running off for supplies.
• Humidor:
  • Works in the humidor, which is the easiest weekend activity to talk about due to its consistency.
• Family Finances:
  • Spends a fair amount of time catching up on budgets, reviewing upcoming expenditures, and mapping out savings and spending plans.

Sunday Routine

• Guitar Lesson:
  • Starts the day active with a guitar lesson, which has been ongoing for over a year and a half.
• Shopping:
  • Often takes a shopping trip on the way home from the guitar lesson.
• Baking and Meal Planning:
  • Spends most Sundays baking, such as preparing pizza pies to freeze for the family.
  • Serves as a contribution to weekly meal planning.
  • Provides a way to get hands-on with food without being particularly mentally taxing, which feels rewarding even if easily replaceable by store-bought frozen items.

To Do

Not mentioned

Brew Day Notes

Overview of the Brew Day

• Brewed yesterday, maintaining a schedule of roughly once a month or slightly less frequently.
• Completed as another solo brew day that went very smoothly.
• Started earlier than usual, closer to 9:00 than 10:00.

Timeline and Efficiency

• Reached completion much earlier than normal; by 2:30, usually a time still in the thick of brewing or on the back half of finishing, the brew was essentially done.
• Carried the fermenter down to the cellar and hooked it up to the chiller by 2:30, requiring only about another hour for cleanup.
• Attributed the faster pace to years of practice and stability in the setup.

Equipment and Process Adjustments

• Over the past two years, various equipment upgrades and process changes had introduced or reintroduced learning curves.
• Recent changes have been minimal; a pump added a few brew days ago required minor dialing in, but was not as challenging as the plate chiller introduced over two years ago.
• The setup and process are now well dialed in.

Current Focus

• Freedom from equipment challenges allows greater concentration on fine details.
• Following a commitment made at the beginning of the year, focus is directed toward flavor throughout the process and how the recipe expresses itself at each stage—both on brew day and during fermentation.

Subject: Information on new products

Hi John,

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Could you please call me when you are back in the office? My phone number is 02086557621.

Also, can you please email me your new brochure and information about your prices? My email address is marina.silva@oldtime-toys.com.

Thanks a lot. I look forward to hearing from you.

Marina Silva

Disruption and the Need for Routine

When I was a kid, I got distraught over being kept out of school for illness—not because of the illness itself, but because of the disruption to the day in and day out. That anxiety has remained with me for most of my life, centered on whether I am going to be able to do what I normally do on any given day or if I will have to deal with something that is a little out of the ordinary. It is not so much that the challenges of doing something different are huge, but simply a desire for the comfort of doing what I know on a regular basis, rather than having to do even something fairly trivial that is not my usual.

I am aware that this is perhaps not a feeling that is very common or easy to understand. In circumstances like missing school, many friends and people around me felt quite the opposite; they welcomed getting out of the humdrum and drudgery and having a break.

I do like getting a break too, but it is a bit different. If it is planned and anticipated in some way so that I can mentally adjust my context to take that time, I am completely fine with it. My discomfort arises much more when disruption is seemingly arbitrary, with no rhyme nor reason to it.

Worth remembering

Not mentioned

I brewed again yesterday, which is something I do roughly once a month, or perhaps a little less frequently. It was another solo brew day, and it went remarkably smoothly. I was up and working a bit earlier than usual—closer to 9:00 than 10:00—and the entire day moved at an unexpected pace.

An Early Finish

What surprised me most was the timing. By 2:30, which is usually when I am still in the thick of things or working through the back half of getting the beer finished, I was pretty much done. I was already carrying the fermenter down to the cellar and hooking it up to the chiller. From that point, I really only needed another hour or so just to clean up.

Moving Past the Learning Curves

I wondered why the day went so much faster, aside from simply having years of practice. Reflecting on it, over the past two years in particular, I made upgrades and adjustments to my equipment and process that introduced or reintroduced learning curves. Recently, however, there really haven't been many changes. I did add a pump a few brew sessions back that required a bit of dialing in, but it was nowhere near as challenging as introducing the plate chiller over two years ago. At this stage, everything feels pretty well dialed in.

Focusing on the Fine Details

Because the setup and workflow are finally settled, I am able to dedicate much more attention to the finer details. As I committed to at the beginning of this year, I can focus more on flavor throughout the entire process and observe how the recipe expresses itself at each stage, both on the brew day itself and as the beer ferments.

Inspection and Error Correction in Steel vs. Concrete

• Steel Structures:
  • Errors (such as leaving a bolt out) are easy to inspect, detect, and correct.
• Concrete:
  • Harder to inspect once in place.
  • If an issue or problem occurs with concrete, it is not easy to correct.

Non-Destructive Testing Methods for In-Place Concrete

• Non-Destructive Testing: Methods used to estimate the strength of concrete once it is already in place.
  • Schmidt Hammer: A device that is knocked against in-place concrete to measure density and provide an idea of its strength.
  • X-Ray: Another method mentioned for testing concrete in place.

Factors Influencing Strength: Concrete vs. Steel

• Stages Affecting Concrete Strength:
  • Design of the mix
  • Batching
  • Placement
  • Curing
  • These multiple stages mean there are many more opportunities for errors to occur that impact final strength.
• Steel Specification:
  • Specified by its ASTM grade.
  • Provides predictable strength delivered directly to the site, unless someone makes an error.

Key terms

• Schmidt hammer: A non-destructive testing device knocked against in-place concrete to measure density and estimate strength.
• ASTM grade: The specified standard grade of steel that determines the strength received at the job site.
• Non-destructive methods: In-place testing techniques, such as using a Schmidt hammer or x-ray, that inspect concrete without damaging it.
• Batching: A stage in concrete production that affects the final strength of the material.
• Curing: A stage in the concrete process following placement that impacts its final strength.

Review questions

1. What is an example of an error that can occur when putting together a steel structure?
2. Why is inspecting and correcting mistakes generally easier in steel construction than in concrete construction?
3. How does a Schmidt hammer work, and what property does it measure?
4. What other method besides the Schmidt hammer was mentioned for testing in-place concrete?
5. Which stages in the concrete process impact its final strength?
6. How does obtaining the final strength of concrete differ from specifying steel using an ASTM grade?

Actividades de fin de semana

Cervecería casera y humidor

• Cervecería casera los sábados: Cualquier sábado se trabaja en la cervecería casera.
• Días de elaboración: Desde principios de este año se realiza una jornada de elaboración de cerveza cada 5 semanas (el año pasado era cada 6 semanas).
• Tareas recurrentes de cervecería: La mayoría de los sábados hay trabajo pendiente, como trasegar cerveza de un recipiente a otro para mejorar su claridad, embotellar, planificar recetas, hacer planes a más largo plazo o salir a buscar suministros.
• Tiempo dedicado: Hay una cantidad interminable de tareas grandes y pequeñas que toman desde media hora o una hora de una parte del fin de semana, hasta una porción sustancial del mismo.
• Humidor: Trabajar en el humidor es lo más fácil de describir del fin de semana por ser sumamente constante.

Finanzas familiares

• Gestión financiera los fines de semana: Se dedica bastante tiempo a administrar las finanzas familiares, ponerse al día con los presupuestos, proyectar los gastos futuros y trazar los planes de ahorro y gasto.

Actividades de los domingos

• Nivel de actividad: Los domingos también suelen ser bastante activos.
• Clases de guitarra: La jornada inicia con una lección de guitarra, actividad que se practica desde hace más de un año y medio.
• Compras: Frecuentemente, de camino a casa después de la clase, se realiza un viaje de compras.
• Horneado y preparación de comidas: La mayoría de los domingos se dedica el día a hornear, preparando unas cuantas pizzas para congelar para la familia. Esto forma parte de la contribución a la planificación de las comidas de la semana; aunque podría reemplazarse con productos de la sección de congelados de la tienda local, brinda satisfacción y sirve de excusa para trabajar directamente con la comida de un modo que no resulta mentalmente agotador.

Tareas pendientes

• No se menciona