Beer toys

The toys we ordered with various Christmas-present-beershop-vouchers arrived last week. The innocuous-looking rectangle of metal below is an elegant way of quickly cooling 23L of boiling liquid down to a temperature appropriate for pitching yeast.



And here's a bottle-washer that I've been stalking since back in Palmy - it connects to the tap in the sink, and when an inverted bottle depresses one of the nozzles it releases a jet of water inside the bottle. Even better, this bottle washer has two nozzles which suits me down to the ground, since I totally have two hands, each capable of holding a bottle.


The bottle washer also comes with an attachment for carboys:


Today, while Mort was at his beer-judging class, Johanna took me for a little (9.5km) hike up Dimple Hill (starting from Chip Ross Park) to make use of a sunny day. In the background is part of Corvallis and the Willamette Valley. The ranges in the distance are the Southern Cascades.