I recently picked up a new hobby…brewing beer. It is something I have always wanted to do plus I like doing things myself, I enjoy a bit of chemistry, and I like beer so I took the plunge.
Having never seen beer brewed or talking to anybody that had brewed before I did what I always do when I find myself lacking a bit of culinary knowledge, I sought the advice of Alton Brown. Several years ago Alton did an episode of Good Eats (Amber Waves) where he brewed beer, and managed to make it look easy enough. I found the episode online and watched it a half dozen times. Then I started doing further research and found that several of the things Alton did were wrong. That is when I found a nice series of videos on the American Homebrewers Association website on how to brew.
Armed with that knowledge I purchased the Deluxe Starter Kit (I went with glass carboys) and a Nut Brown Ale Kit from Northern Brewer. The equipment kit came with all kinds of cool devices and instruments. The brew kit was simple and had an excellent instruction sheet. I brewed my first batch the day I got the kit.
The actual brewing process was simple. If you have ever made a batch of stock brewing beer from an extract kit is a simple matter. The only difficulty I had was cooling the wort (unfermented beer) it took a bit longer than I would have liked. I made the mistake of trying to cool the wort by adding ice (like Alton) all that did was make more lukewarm liquid. Eventually it hit the correct temperature and I finished getting the beer in the fermenter.
The next day the air lock started bubbling like crazy, which is a good thing. The only problem was the beer was too warm. We were having a series of 100+ degree days and the house was just not cool enough to keep the beer under 75 degrees (which is important). I added towels and ice to the closet (see the picture) and that helped some. I muddled on through the rest of the fermentation process (I did a primary and secondary) with the warm temps.
When it came time to bottle the beer I changed my mind and opted to keg it instead; even though I painstakingly drank 2+ cases of beer so I would have some bottles :). The change happened when I came across a few old soda kegs (free) and a mini-fridge (super cheap). The process of kegging was not terribly difficult, to my surprise. Of course, I did watch a series of videos on how to keg beer multiple times.
In the end the beer came out drinkable but not fantastic. I am still working on the best way to carbonate the beer with the CO2 cannister. Right now it is a bit flat. The beer is also a touch astringent which is a result of the fermentation temperature being too high. That problem is solved though, I found plans on how to make a super cheap fermentation cooler and did so (I did not drill a hole, I just used towels to cover the top of the carboy). Half of the nut brown ale is gone and there is a nice American Wheat in the primary fermenter at the moment. So far it is a great hobby and I have enjoyed every minute of it.
I started a new collecting project a few weeks ago. I decided that I need to quit randomly buying cards and focus on something. That something turned out to be collecting every plain Topps baseball card set from the year of my birth (1981) until the present.
To get a start I went out to eBay. My plan is to buy backwards; start with the older sets and come towards now. The rational was the older sets would cost more. In my hunting I was fortunate to find one seller getting rid of almost every Topps base set from 81 until the late 90s. I won three auctions: 1981, 1982, and one that included 1986-1992. Since they all came from the same seller I saved a chunk of change on shipping.
I got a really good deal on the auctions. The 1982 set contains Cal Ripken Jr.’s rookie card; it books for $40 to $60. I got it for $32 and some change. The auction for 86-92 only cost me $54. That is less than $10 a set; none of the sets are worth much but getting them in bulk really saved me on shipping.
I am well on my way and assume I will be there by the end of the year. I am also fairly certain that I have the 2008 series one set, I just need to sort through them. It feels good to have a direction.
I made a quick trip to Target this morning for a few things and I could not resist a trip by the trading card rack. While I was looking around I saw a small box of assorted items on the bottom shelf so I knelt down to look. It was a box of random packs — sports and non-sports — that had been repriced for quick sale. There were several packs of baseball cards that were a few years old. I almost bought some but decided not to because I know absolutely nothing about the value of such cards. However, right before I put the box down I saw something that caught my eye. Low-and-behold there were Samurai Jack trading cards. I am a HUGE fan of the show so I bought the three packs that were there on impulse ($0.99 each, so what is $3).
I got to my truck and opened them before leaving the parking lot. The cards have a nice canvas top, rounded corners, and the same amazing artwork that made the show a hit. I was glad to see rounded corners because the cards were released in 2002 and had lord knows how many hands on them. The cards were in great shape and I was very pleased with my purchase, despite the fact that the cards are relatively worthless.
When I got home I researched the set to find more information. After a little digging I found several eBay auctions selling the entire set along with the two insert sets that were released. Needless to say I have a few bids in and I am anxiously awaiting the outcome.
Like I said the cards are not worth much but they are so cool, and I love the show (I have all of the DVDs). Thats what collecting is all about right? The thrill of the hunt and the satisfaction of finding/owning something that makes one happy. At least that is my take on it.
I am a simply kind of guy. I like simple, clear cut things. That is not at all what I got when I opened a box of 2008 Topps Moments and Milestones this morning. When I bought the box I was lured by the promise of rookie autograph cards and the fact that every card is sequentially numbered. Basically the base set cards are all 1 of 150. Then there are parallels that are 1 of 25, 1 of 10 and other such rarities. What I did not realize was the set is built around the premise of tracking a milestone. Basically if a player reaches a milestone of say 300 strike outs there is a card for each of the strikeouts. So there will be 300 different cards of player Joe each 1 of 150. This makes for like 5,000+ unique cards in the set. Then you throw the inserts in and you have one big mess.
After I figured out what the idea behind the set was I felt rather annoyed; of course it is my own fault for not checking the product before buying. Onward I went through the box. Then the next frustration arose, they bordered many of the cards with black edges and my box looked like it went through a tumble drier. When I buy a box of premium cards I expect every card to come out pristine. Needless to say several of the cards are worthless because of muffed edges. The black border only makes them look worse.
The box had a few redeeming qualities, several blue 1 of 10 parallels and my two rookie signatures; one was a nobody and the other was J.R. Towels the new promising catcher for the Astros. The experience was alright, I doubt I get another box though.
The final frustration? Posting the cards I did not want on SportLots. The site has tons of shortcomings but the biggest one is entering cards in sets like this. It literally took me 30 minutes to inventory 10 cards. I would really like to get in there and fix the system, or maybe just downright replace it. It is in desperate need of an update, but it is the only easy way I know of to get rid of large amounts of unwanted premium cards; except yard sales of course.
When I was a kid (6 years old) my dad bought me a box of 1987 donruss baseball cards. To a 6 year old back then that was the equivalent of finding the holy grail. Then he told me the catch; I could not open the packages until I graduated from high school.
Over the years the cards sat in my closet, quietly waiting for me to open them. As time went on I got out of collecting and forgot all about them. Then one day when I was home for college I found them and thought hey neat. So I sat down and opened them. I pulled out the bigger names — Clemens, McGwire, Maddux, Bonds, and even Canseco — and sat the rest aside to collect dust.
Years passed again and my mom comes to my house one day and brings a huge box of all my old cards, including the 1987 donruss cards. I thumbed through a few of the boxes but did not pay much attention. Everything that was boxed ended up in yard sale. The only things I kept were the 87 donruss cards and the stuff in albums. And by kept I mean stuffed in the attic.
Today I realized they were up there so I went and got them. First I flipped through the albums and noticed there were actually a few cards of value in there; 3 Jeter rookies, several rare Chipper Jones rookies, and a John Elway card from the mid 80’s. Everything else in the albums was just waisting space.
After looking through those I turned to the 87 donruss cards. It was like going back in time. Back when a box of cards included 30+ packs with 20+ cards in each pack, the sets were 500+ cards strong, every player had a card, and there were no inserts. It was really cool to flip through the cards and see all of the guys that are now in the hall of fame. It also felt weird holding rough cardboard cards in my hands. It was also nice to see the Diamond Kings with the Dick Perez drawings and the Roberto Clemente puzzle pieces.
The cards have held up well, there were a few in disrepair but most of them were fine; even though the have black edges. I still do not know why somebody would use black edges on baseball cards. Of course looking at these has made me want to put the set together. 
