The 1st thing to do upstairs was to pitched the yeast and set the lid and airlock. I kid you not... after I finished washing the last of the gear and walked out of the kitchen I saw the airlock bob. It was just a little one, but it was a bob! I swear, I've never seen one start that quickly before. It's been moving steadily since. Today it finally seemed to be slowing down.

There were 2 casualties or the process... My favorite digital thermomenter (base) was dropped a couple of times and isn't working properly now. Luckily I had spare. And... I completely forgot to take a hydrometer reading. (I was tired!) And heck, this is more important to some than it is to others. All I really care about is that the batch tastes good.

I called this blog entry 'From the Hip' and the batch "From the Hip" IPA, in honor of the way I came up the (ok each of the three) hop schedules, and for the fact this is my 1st batch after my surgery. (Not really an M. Night Shyamalan ending... O.Henry perhaps).

Who knows, I may yet make the "What Was I Thinking" IPA. But that's another story, isn't it?