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I’ve been fishing on Chicago’s lakefront since I was a very young child.  There is a certain culture that arises from people that like to fish but don’t have boats.  I never picked up on this culture until I lurked several chicago fishing messageboards.  Like any hobby, hobbyists are nerds which can’t wait to tell you about something they built… and help you along in your own projects.

I’ve always heard the rumor or urban legend about powerlining rigs.  Powerlining is essentially launching a high test fishing line out with an anchor and several baited hooks.  Pitching a line out with several other smaller lines allows you to achieve distances (and in turn depths) that would be hard to achieve using the traditional rod and reel.

There are three main ways to pitch this monster line out into the water:

1. Throwing the anchor/weight by hand
2. Using a water balloon sling shot
3. Using the pressure of a CO2 tank (think potato gun)

Guess which one I’m interested in…. you guessed it… CO2 tank.

After perusing several messaging boards I’ve come up with the following bill of materials:

1. CO2 Fire extinguisher
2. 5ft of 1″ pipe
3. some sort of pipe adapter (I’ll figure that out once at home depot)
4. 12 oz 1″ x 2.5″ weight
5. 70′ of rubber band/cord
6. A couple hundred yards of 10-12 lb test
7. Reel
8. two large swivels
9. 10 smaller swivels
10. hooks
11. beads

Then my additonail ideas:

1. Door stopper spring
2. Dowel rod
3. Bell
4. Screweyes

The plan I’m working on… still need to add snelled hooks.

I quite regularly forget to mark the gallon levels in my carboy.  I wanted to do something that wouldn’t wash off.  I read this post at Homebrewtalk and decided to give it a whirl.  It didn’t turn out half bad!  The only thing I would change is to apply the armor etch liberally and let it sit for at least 6 minutes.

A lot of times I need to draw something about before I really get it.  Writing things down is supposed to help you remember things at least three times as much.  Spending the time to draw out all-grain brewing has helped solidify my understanding of the process.  There might be some mistakes, but this process has worked for me.  I’ll probably adjust these steps over time.. or turn it into a template for a recipe worksheet.  Oh yeah… liquids that are gray are the cool wort, susceptible to contamination.

I brewed my first beer solo a couple of weeks ago and it tastes pretty decent!  After doing some research I came to the conclusion that I had to go all-grain.  First of all it’s supposed to taste better, second it gives me an excuse to build something.  There are many plans on the web on how to make a cooler mash tun… and mine isn’t any different.

Resources:

• Homebrewtalk Forum

I brewed my first beer on my own last week.  Its a German dortmunder… I tasted it after the first fermentation and it tastes delicious!