Deadlifts and Dying Yeast

All I am lacking for my all grain brewing setup to be functional is a larger brew pot. I have a 10-gallon mash tun, so I guess it makes sense to get an 80-quart pot so I can move my batches from 5 to 10 gallons in the future. I know I can get an aluminum stock pot from Academy for $90-100 bucks. I am gonna keep scanning craigslist though and see if I can find one cheaper or maybe a stainless steel for a similar price. I am probably gonna end up drilling valves and temperature probes myself though, so I'm not exactly thrilled about drilling stainless steel.

Definitely getting the itch to brew. I have the ingredients sitting in my fridge for an extract blonde ale, so I hope Aaron can free up his schedule enough to sync up his brew dates with mine. Yes, we are adorable like that. I also have a vial of Irish Ale yeast sitting in the fridge rapidly approaching its "best if used by"date. I want to get my first all grain batch going in time for the holidays. I think I might be a little late to do anything good for Thanksgiving, so maybe a nice cranberry ale for Christmas. Something like this? Doesn't help my Irish Ale predicament though.

I am trying to match up a brewery tour or some kind of beer event in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for this coming weekend when I drive up for the powerlifting meet. Any suggestions welcome. I think Rahr & Sons is the obvious choice: lots of history and a great facility. I am open to anything really though.

I felt a little better about my training after my meltdown earlier this week. I told myself i was going to repeat my max effort squat day today since I was unsatisfied with Monday's session. However, several shots of tequila last night had me calling an audible. Since there hasn't been much deadlifting in my program this last couple of months, I decided to give it a go. Glad I did.

Max Effort Lower

Deadlift

135x10, 5

225x3

315x3

365x3

405x1

455x1 - This never felt so easy.

480x1 PR - It was a shaky rep and the lockout was far from ideal, but I'm calling it a gym record. No hitch and no downward bar motion. Probably wouldn't pass in a meet, though.

Wide Grip Chins

12, 12, 10 - Extra motivation from a random group of Crossfitters working on their kip right next to me.

45-degree Back Raises w/ Medium Band

4x15

Weight - 205

My right knee feels like it's full of wet cardboard. I need a haircut. I also desperately need this bowl:

Nuts

Three goals today: Get back to work with my staffing/consulting business, finish the mash tun and try to box squat worth a shit. I made some decent decisions about the direction and focus of my business. I think with my background and current situation, working with Emergency Departments and EMS is going to make the most sense. I still have enough contacts in IT and a few other random industries to work there as well, but someone in my position is well-served by specialization. I also drafted contracts finally today. Exciting, I know. Enough of that though, let's get to the blog-title-worthy stuff.

Max Effort Lower

Box Squat
45x10
45x10
135x5
185x3
225x3
275x3
315x1
335x1 PR

345xf

Felt great today. Just barely failed 345 because I was fatigued. I think coming in fresh, I could be back to where I was a couple meets ago. My meet best is a paltry 353 and I think I could hit that again (finally).

Mutant Glute-Ham Raise/Roman Chair?

Bodyweight x 8

25x8x4

Weighted Decline Situps
10x15x3

BB Rear Shrugs
185x20x3

After yet another hardware store trip and a visit to Austin Homebrew Supply, I was able to get the right parts to get the ball valve watertight on the mash tun. I also finished out my sparge arm with ugly drilling for special home-made charm.

Yeehaw.

Also bought some ingredients for a very basic blonde ale. Nothing fancy, just some pale malt extract, two-row, Cascade and Willamette hops and good old bullet-proof WL001 yeast. Gonna simul-brew this with my friend Aaron in Charlotte, NC so we can compare notes and see where we mess up.

Sparge is a Funny Word

I've been all amped up about building my own mash tun for all grain homebrewing. I decided I would start the process today and get the basics. In the age of "everything available on the internet, always" I have decided to this stubborn-style. No how-to vids, no using someone else's process and parts listed on a homebrew forum somewhere. No; I was going to sit and think, sketch this out and figure it out on my own.

After all - it's just a container to put things in, run water over them and drain it out. Right?

Today I just picked up the 5-gallon Home Depot plastic cooler and the parts to replace the cooler's valve with a 1/2" ball valve. As if to immediately punish my decision to not consult the Great Wise Internet, I quickly discovered I am short one semi-important component. Not a deal-breaker though; plenty more trips to hardware stores and the homebrew shop to get this whole setup working.

I also lifted several weights today.

Max Effort Upper Body

Floor Press

45x10

95x8

135x3

155x3

185x3

225x3

245x3

265x1 Easy

275x1 PR

285xf

285xf

No great revelations today. Just felt a little stronger. 275 felt lighter than it ever has, and 285 felt absolutely impossible.

Incline DB Press

75x10x4

DB Fly

35x12, 12, 9, 9

Dips (Bodyweight)

12, 9, 7

Cable Curls Superset w/ Neutral Grip Chins

I lost track. 3 sets?

Some video of today's fun.

Plenty of failure, don't worry. Also I was not aware that I swerve my spine around like a sassy cobra when I do dips.

Ugly Squats, Pretty Lady

The wife and I hit the gym together today. We squatted in side-by-side cages. Isn't that adorable? My training was okay, I suppose. Squat numbers still aren't what I'm used to, and my form feels pretty unstable. I suffered a torn meniscus in my right knee several months back and I can still tell that I am gun-shy about it. Didn't help that it's been tender since last week's dynamic effort squat day.

Max Effort Lower:

Low Box Squat

45x10

135x5

135x3

185x3

225x3

255x3

275x2

305x1

315x1

335xf

Reverse Hypers

3x8

Cable Crunches

2x15

45 Degree Back Raises (plate behind head)

25x10x3

Band Pull-Aparts

3x15

Weight - 205

I have a long way to go to even get back to where I was in my last meet. I don't yet feel like the training methods I am using are paying off. Being as relatively small as I am for powerlifting, I sometimes wonder if I wouldn't be better served by a program with more volume and hypertrophy. I made good gains on Wendler's 5/3/1 last year, and it kinda calls to me on tough stretches like this.

For months I've really been trying to fix problems with my form that I overlooked while I was making decent strength gains early on. One step back, two steps forward I suppose. Still, it's frustrating right now.

I almost completely forgot that The Texas Craft Brewers Festival is this Saturday. I think I will try to convince the family to go down to Town Lake and watch me taste beers, scratch my chin and give opinions that sound well-informed but are not.

If you're reading this blog for amazing feats of strength...don't..

I'm getting the urge to brew again. Seeing fellow home brewers and their amazing setups on my Facebook news feed certainly doesn't help. I would like to get myself set up for all-grain brewing by my next batch, but I'd also like to keg the dortmunder that's currently lagering. Each project is equipment and time-intensive, so I need to make up my mind. First world problems.

Speaking of the dortmunder: Brewed it back on 8/21 and the session went very well. I pitched nearly double the yeast I would have for an ale just be sure. Original gravity was 1.060. Gave it a diacetyl rest from 8/31 to 9/2 then put it in secondary. Took another gravity reading and it showed 1.014. I am a little unsure on the temperature of each reading (dang it) but a conservative calculation puts this beer between 5-6% ABV already. Whoa. Tasted decent too. It's not clarifying as well as I would like at this stage, but dortmunders aren't supposed to be crystal clear. That's what I keep telling myself anyways.

In other beer news, I made my best buddy Aaron a wort chiller for his birthday. He flew in from Charlotte, North Carolina, so he had no way to transport the thing back. If he tried to stuff it in a suitcase...well...I can't imagine anything looking more like a bomb on an x-ray machine than this:

Guess I will ship it.

Took the weekend off from training to recuperate from my birthday extravaganza last week. Lots of beer, lots of awesome stuff Ashley did for me. Short version - I got a knife, some shirts, a big TV and a party. The response to the Guinness clone I bottled got a really good response from the party crowd. My theory is that we are friends with nothing but skillful liars. I'll take it.

Today was Max Effort upper body. Warmed up a lot more than usual. Foam roll, bands, etc. Took my time.

Floor Press

45x whatever

135x5

135x3

155x3

185x3

225x3

245x2

265x1 this is my old PR, and it felt very easy

275xf forgot I had a lower body

275xf

Frustrating. I felt strong enough, something just fell apart. Reviewing the video, I think the fact that I'm continuing to breathe after I've unracked is loosening me up too much.

Incline DB Press

80x6, 6, 8

DB Triceps Press (behind head)

60x10x4

Close Grip Pulldowns

3x15

Rope Pushdown

3x20

Weight - 205

On the upside, the failures on 275 exposed some weakness in my triceps. Gonna focus on them even more than I had previously.

My next meet is October 22 in Fort Worth, TX. My older brother, dad, and possibly my wife and son will be there. No pressure, right? I feel stronger than I have for previous meets, but that's not translating into numbers yet. Guess I gotta trust the programming.