get that shit to forensics!

Well, last night, after a fresh, stormy change, the time came...

 

a sign of summer passed?

 The homebrew I've been sitting on for almost 2 months has finally been opened for sampling!

And??! Well, I'm still alive and am not blind so I guess I did something right! First of all, the colour was a magic deep gold also, there was very little sediment or cloudiness, it almost looked like a filtered brew! I guess a month in primary ferment helped out there... and, most importantly - it tasted fantastic! It even got a thumbs up from Maria - and she's not generally a fan of darker beers... So I've gotta say I'm pretty stoked that I've about 20L of this stuff, however I'm keen to get the next batch going so I'm going to need some more bottles!

Frankenjura

So, day two in Munich: my wonderful hosts & I hit zee autobahn north outta Munich.

The trip took about 2 hours going through some lovely scenery, things are starting to green up as spring is trying to spring. The pic below is of Hops fields, the large trellis' are to support the plants that grow 5 meters high and these are the hops that go into all the beers from Munich!

We finally made to the Frankenjura area (Franconian Switzerland) in northern Bavaria. Frankenjura is scenic area of picturesque villages, farmed valleys and wooded, rolling hills. The area has about 6,500 climbing routes! We headed to the closest area to us that was likely to have sun - which is important in March... I don't think the mercury hit 10* all day, however we were warm enough in the sun for most of the time. Konstein is where we ended up...

The large limestone outcrop is the 'Dohlenfels' crag. We started out about 5 minutes walk to the right on some easier stuff to warm up.

A castle/fort ruin in Konstein

Closer up on Dohlenfels - it was quite popular...

We made our way around to the 'Lucky Luke' area which had a nice selection of well bolted easier routes from about 4 to 6+ (UIAA grading)(about 13-20) offering slabs, cracks and even a small roof. The rock on a few routes here was quite polished, which took some getting used to!

As you can see above, it was a lovely setting!

We were joined by Serge & Nadine's friend, Tom.

As the shadows got longer we returned to Dohlenfels - we just had to climb something on this stunning outcrop! Problem was most of it was way to hard for me or too long as the temperature was plummeting, we had to be fast. After much debate, I launched up an old 2 pitch trad line that goes up the middle of the wall. This turned out to be the line of the day! Stellar crack system with a chimney section, an overhang to crank on and a hairy traverse to the belay - brilliant! Turned out to be the hardest climb of my day too, fortunately the pro was good too as parts of it was polished marble. Sadly we didn't have the time to do the second pitch so we rapped off and headed home.

The line goes right above the guy in red.

 Now, what better way to spend a London trip!? ... and what better way to finish a climbing day in Bavaria than at a beer hall! Brost!

Serge & I scheming schemes for the coming euro summer...

München

I got the chance to spend a few days with my favourite Müncheners... They were the best hosts ever, picking me up from the airport I was treated to a tour of town and their local climbing gym followed by some great pizza!
Despite my lack of sleep I payed enough attention that I think I can identify what I've got photos of... First up, the modern art gallery...

From there, we wandered past the Eisbach, a canal that runs under the city that is set over some concrete to form a standing wave that nutty locals ride... in hooded 5 mil wetsuits in 4* water! Nadine was in the water just last week! Crazy.

I'm not convinced.

The above two, I think, are of a former residence of some king in the past - who used to ride around a pond on the roof in a fake swan boat... hmmm

The town hall above, from the top of a bell tower we had to climb up - the exercise was good to keep my blood pumping and keep me awake.



Climbing the tower left us needing a refuel, some local grilled sausage on fresh bread, yum!
Below is the famous Hofbrauhaus, we had dinner there on Sunday after climbing - but more on that later!

I must say a HUGE thanks to Serge & Nadine for looking after me so well! I can't wait to visit again or I'll see you in Chamonix, mate! 

rack 'em up

Well, after a loooong primary ferment, due to me being away, I finally got to bottle up my first batch! The last SG came in about 1.006 which, according to my dodgy maths, will make the final ABV ~ 4.88... a nice target I think...

...gotta sterilise everything...

... the final measure...

and right on target! The aroma has definitely changed over the last week or so, less sweet maltyness and a bit more bitter now - I hope that means it's gunna taste good!

Final sugar drops for the last stage ferment & gas

And now I've gotta wait 3 weeks! ARRGGG!! Maybe a BBQ or camping trip can be organised to coincide with the first opening?? Cheers!

London Calling!

Every time I launch on a London trip I can't get that song outta my head...

Anyways... it's been a pretty good trip so far and my favourite thing to do in Singapore has definitely been keeping me going!

We gave the satay's a decent nudge at Lau Pa Sat - my fave hawker market - and had a fairly low key time, managed to check out a local climbing gym... pretty ordinary and open air = a very sweaty time! But, it was good to do some climbing to stay in shape.
Then it was off to London! Spent a good deal of time sleeping but managed to hit another climbing gym, again with Adrian... nice gym too, fantastic in fact (as far as gyms go...). Had a nice night out with some friends and cruelly dug Caro out of bed far too early on Saturday for brunch! Great to catch up, even if it was brief! Afterwards, off to Vertical Chill for some indoor ice climbing! Never imagined it even existed but it was great to give it a crack. Pretty small and short but  it was more than enough for me to have a play on and decide that ice climbing is totally dodgy. but fun....

Sorry for the crap pics! It's in a cool room at the back of a gear shop, starts in the basement then you climb up to the first floor - there's a window up there too so there's a heap of people looking at you all the time...

It was hard to get a shot of the ice, the iphone camera wasn't cooperating...

My first thought: "how lame is this!?"
2 meters up my first climb a massive chunk slammed into it... it's definitely worth having it down!

Back to Singas and more food - Fatty's 1 arrival with a Cave transition worked a treat! Had some a murtabak from Mr Prata for lunch and went cable wakeboarding... good fun! Pretty intimidating hitting the jumps though!

Mr Prata!

And now I'm just hanging round to get home! It's getting to be a long trip & I'm looking forward to getting picked up by Maria!