Savor your brewday, you don’t know when your next one will be. I am returning from a long illness called Guillain-Barre Syndrome
this is my brewday of a Drydock kit from NB. As you can see below this is the inaugural run of my new bayou burner that my wife got me for my Birthday back in July when I was hospitalized.
Strike temp was a bit low so I drained off 1 gal, brought it to a boil and added it back. Nailed my goal temp of 154F
Awesome Kit
Grinding with my brew buddy
New Burner
Just Chillin
My OG came out 1.052 and pitched my yeast at 70F.
I was stuck in the hospital for 15 weeks this past year, 8 weeks solid I was completely quadraplegic. But now I am back to walking unassisted. This all started March of 2012, but now I am almost completely back to normal. The last little bit may take a couple more months. Can’t wait till I can run again!
What a great post. Here’s to your continued recovery and thanks for the perspective. Its easy to forget sometimes how lucky we are to be able to engage in this hobby and share it with friends, and that we are a moment away from never being able to do it (amongst other things) again. Glad you have been able to rejoin the ranks of avid homebrewers, and I hope that this is your best beer yet!
Glad you are doing better and back to brewing. BTW, by any chance did you receive a Flu shot in the six months before you contracted Guillain-Barre Syndrome?
I have to say yesterdays brew session was one of the most tranquil and relaxing I have ever had. One of my daughters sat with me for the majority of the session, I was pumping the pandora on my phone and using the brewr brew timer for all my hop additions. Plus it was nice and cool and just felt good to be by the burner.
Actually they did tell me that was a possible side effect, I asked what is a good reason for not getting the flu shot. They said, egg allergies and history of GB.
Glad you pulled through and are on the mend. I totally concur with the sentiment that we should savor brewing. My buddy and I periodically brew a large batch together, and I actually postponed our brewday this last Saturday because we had other things going on and would have had to rush to get done. Not sure when we’ll get rescheduled, but I’m sure it was the right call.
Glad to hear you are back at it and healthy now. I had not heard from you lately. I was just in San Diego last week to help get my son’c car and him to Miramar MCAS.
[quote=“bstein”]My last duty station in the USMC was MCAS Miramar, I was an F/A-18 C mechanic (hydraulics and airframes). What speciality is your son?[/quote]He is Crew Chief on Super Stallion helicopter. That thing is HUGE! It holds 53-55 troops.
Thanks, I will tell him that. I am bummed that we couldn’t hook up. I remember talking with you years ago and always thought it would be cool to share some brews and times with you guys on the forum. I will keep it in mind for next time out there.
Nice use of the impromptu decoc. I had an awesome brew session Friday night. I finished at 1:30 in the morning and it was sixty degrees out. Had to get up and go to work at 7, but it was worth it - I had that feeling of accomplishment and anticipation from getting a batch in the carboy all day.
Wow, man. That must have been a crazy trip. It’s really good to hear that you were able to come back from that. Happy brewing, and thanks for reminding us to brew in the moment. :cheers:
