I like this time at night on HBT

[bottlebomber]

Buy them all or be sorry later. I like the ball locks. They are harder to find here.

What's with the stem in middle the left keg? Looks like a Schrader valve.

That's what I was looking at too. I guess it's so you can serve once it's carbonated without lugging your tank around.

 

[BobbiLynn]

Are you gonna be in the nice part of TN? By which I mean the east TN. We don't even like to claim Knoxville as east TN and most everything west of there might as well be a different state.

Oh, I don't know, Crossville. It's west of Knoxville! Can't possibly be as bad as the time I went to Alabama. There were 3 women trying to kill me one night because they claimed I was flirting with their men. I was just having a beer and talking to them. Trust me, I was not flirting with them. "Not my type", to put it mildly. But with any state in the US, even Florida, there are very good areas and very bad areas. A tractor fest so will be a bunch of rednecks, I fit right in with rednecks, so should be good.

Great hearing from all the busy people. Nice of you to at least check in and tell us what's going on with you. Sorry to not address each person who provided updates individually, I've been busy too.

I decided today that my berry picking partner is awesome. She's just afraid of snakes, bears and lightning. I started packing the machete on our trips to the woods. Told her it was just to cut down paths but she knows I'll also use it to protect her from snakes and bears. And I used to be afraid of lightning myself, so I won't hold that against her. She thinks she's a country girl, but I think she's sort of a princess. A princess country girl. When I pick her up on the little Gator lawn tractor thing, I have to switch our seat cover things, give her the dry one. Dried it off with my butt for her. And she won't sit on the ground to have a picnic unless I provide a nice dry, clean blanket to sit on. And poor thing is all cut up on her arms. When the brambles stick you, you can't pull your arm away, keep telling her that. As soon as it sticks you, be still and pull it straight out. Yanking your arm away will tear your skin. I just have poke marks, hardly any scratches.

 

[BobbiLynn]

Here's our sign. I wanted to keep it simple. I'll try to get pics of the blackberry fields soon. Someone had asked about pics.

 

[TNGabe]

Here's our sign. I wanted to keep it simple. I'll try to get pics of the blackberry fields soon. Someone had asked about pics.

Dang, you're getting $25 a gallon? Way to go. I was buying gallons for $10 last year.

 

[BobbiLynn]

Dang, you're getting $25 a gallon? Way to go. I was buying gallons for $10 last year.

Wild berries or domesticated? Grown in rows, on thornless bushes, yeah they go for cheap prices. Ours are local wild berries. The flavor is so different, and they remind the locals of their childhood, memories of picking wild berries on the side of the road. We've been selling as many as we can pick.

 

[bottlebomber]

Even the trained farm raised berries down the road go for easily those prices Bobbi.. I don't think you're out of line with those. I know I sure as hell would want at LEAST $25 a gallon if I picked em.

 

[Leadgolem]

Dan, when you come up against a road block it's good to look at things in another way. Relax, look at things from every perspective you can. Sometimes these things are like puzzles. Focus to much on one part of your goal, and you blind yourself to all of your options.

Snaps, happiness is so much more important then money. Many of us can live with much less then we think we can.

BL, that's definitely a local sign. No area code on the phone number. Here in Denver there is one that is pretty much for land lines, and a completely different one that's almost exclusively cell phones. I haven't seen a sign without one for a long time. I'm glad you are getting good prices for the berries, I know money has been tight for you.

 

[TNGabe]

Wild berries or domesticated? Grown in rows, on thornless bushes, yeah they go for cheap prices. Ours are local wild berries. The flavor is so different, and they remind the locals of their childhood, memories of picking wild berries on the side of the road. We've been selling as many as we can pick.

Ewww, thornless blackberries! No, I found wild for that price. I wasn't suggesting that 25$ is unreasonable, I know how much work picking is. I'll be doing a good bit of it myself next month. We're about a month behind you. Blueberries are coming in, too.

I'm planting raspberries in the spring, but I can't understand planting blakcberries. Sweet blackberries the size of your thumb? No thanks. Maybe the berries down there are different, but wild blackberries where we live make your face pucker up a little and most folks don't eat them plain. Makes some good jam and they are even better for sour beers. I've got five gallons of Berliner Weisse with 10lbs of berries from the freezer going now.

 

[Varmintman]

Dan, when you come up against a road block it's good to look at things in another way. Relax, look at things from every perspective you can. Sometimes these things are like puzzles. Focus to much on one part of your goal, and you blind yourself to all of your options.

Snaps, happiness is so much more important then money. Many of us can live with much less then we think we can.

BL, that's definitely a local sign. No area code on the phone number. Here in Denver there is one that is pretty much for land lines, and a completely different one that's almost exclusively cell phones. I haven't seen a sign without one for a long time. I'm glad you are getting good prices for the berries, I know money has been tight for you.

Hollywood Undead - Young - with lyrics

Truer words have not been spoke. I lived making tons of money but had no life. I was miserable. Now I live modestly and have never been happier

 

[Varmintman]

Well as if I needed more things in my life to work on I got a jeep yesterday. 1988 with a straight 6 and a hard top. Thinking I am going to park it in the shop and strip it down to the frame and rebuild it over the next few years:rockin:

 

[BobbiLynn]

Maybe the berries down there are different, but wild blackberries where we live make your face pucker up a little and most folks don't eat them plain.

Yeah, our berries are sweet but not overly sweet. A little tartness to them but not enough to make your face pucker, unless you get one that's not quite ripe. People here do eat them plain, really good straight-up. One lady who bought a pint said her kids had them all eaten by the time they got home. So this week she ordered a quart so she could try them. Hard to tell scale in this close-up pic, but we pick the ones that are the size of a thumbnail or larger. Just measured one of the bigger ones, a little over an inch long.

BL, that's definitely a local sign. No area code on the phone number.

Everyone here has the same area code, cell phone or landline!

 

[lschiavo]

Backyards are awesome. This is a not so good photo of mine. There is a row of spruce so I don't have to look at the as$hole neighbors. I have a small garden, sandbox, trampoline (ever get some on a trampoline? Try it! Just a tip from uncle lschiavo), three apple trees, two maples I planted that are giving some nice shade finally. There are woods behind our lot so I have a nice walking trail cut with the permission of the property owner...Thats where my hops grow. We are moving this fall to my grandmothers house...I will miss this backyard...It is my baby.

Here is my fathers day gift from my daughter. It's a crystal skull 16oz beer mug. This thing is heavy. I'm drinking a few out of it tonight

Dan, I am happy and jealous that you are finding your way to Hawaii. Best of luck my friend

 

[Leadgolem]

...Maybe the berries down there are different, but wild blackberries where we live make your face pucker up a little and most folks don't eat them plain...

Are you sure you haven't been picking wild black raspberries? They look very similar, but are much more tart.

Well as if I needed more things in my life to work on I got a jeep yesterday. 1988 with a straight 6 and a hard top. Thinking I am going to park it in the shop and strip it down to the frame and rebuild it over the next few years:rockin:

Haha, sounds like me. I'm not happy unless I've got 10 projects I could work on. I've been thinking of getting an older defunct mustang and restoring it when my home improvement projects are just about wrapped up.... In 10 or 15 years...

Yeah, our berries are sweet but not overly sweet. A little tartness to them but not enough to make your face pucker, unless you get one that's not quite ripe. People here do eat them plain, really good straight-up. One lady who bought a pint said her kids had them all eaten by the time they got home. So this week she ordered a quart so she could try them. Hard to tell scale in this close-up pic, but we pick the ones that are the size of a thumbnail or larger. Just measured one of the bigger ones, a little over an inch long...

That sounds like what I picked as a kid in Washington state. We got to know a couple choice spots. Like just off of a golf course. All the water and fertilizer they used would run down from the course and make the blackberries that grew just off there property under the trees go nuts.

 

[lschiavo]

I have a nice wild blackberry patch on our river property. It has been so dry the last few years that they have not produced. We are getting more rain this year than I can remember. I will have to check on them and hopefully get enough for some wine...

I will have plenty of apples and rhubarb. Blackberry rhubarb sounds good...

 

[Leadgolem]

I planted thornless blackberries from a catalog. They died. So I bought a couple locally. It's going to be a few years before they produce much though.

I have to say, I intensely dislike rhubarb. To me, it's right up there with okra. Though not for the same reason.

Something new from my favorite modern classical artist.

 

[Stauffbier]

Hi friends! I hope you are all doing well this Friday.

I was lucky enough to have the day off so I prepped for tomorrow's brew day. I'm making 9 gallons of my APA that I'm only using a 60 min bittering addition in the kettle. I'll be splitting it in to two batches and dry hopping each one with a different hop. One is getting dry hopped with Falconers Flight, and I have yet to determine what I will use on the second.
I also kegged and bottled my latest batch called Monkey Face IPA. It was a kitchen sink IPA. It has 8 different varieties of hops in it, as I was using up partial packs I had in the freezer. It ended up with a very "West Coast" kind of flavor. I'm looking forward to when it's carbed up.

Happy Friday friends!

 

[mcbaumannerb]

That's a day off put to good use! Good luck with the brew day tomorrow. Someday I'll find time to brew again...

 

[Stauffbier]

That's a day off putto good use! Good luck with the brew day tomorrow. Someday I'll find time to brew again...

Thanks! I hope you find time again soon!

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

My cellar was getting warmish for making beers so over the last week I bottled the last of my brews and cleaned and dried my fermenters and put them into storage. I have plenty of beer and apfelwein (I could probably get the German army tanked right now), but it is kinda sad to not have anything in the works right now.

I have a Merlot wine kit that I am going to do later in the summer. Thinking about some off-the-wall one gallon batches of something truly weird. A recent thread got me thinking of kvass, a sour fermented rye bread beverage popular in Russia and Eastern Europe. I am also considering doing a plain-jane lambic. My patience is good, but a lambic takes a year. I think I'll pick up ales in the fall with a nice British PA/IPA/ESB.

 

[LabRatBrewer]

Hi friends! I hope you are all doing well this Friday.

I was lucky enough to have the day off so I prepped for tomorrow's brew day. I'm making 9 gallons of my APA that I'm only using a 60 min bittering addition in the kettle. I'll be splitting it in to two batches and dry hopping each one with a different hop. One is getting dry hopped with Falconers Flight, and I have yet to determine what I will use on the second.
I also kegged and bottled my latest batch called Monkey Face IPA. It was a kitchen sink IPA. It has 8 different varieties of hops in it, as I was using up partial packs I had in the freezer. It ended up with a very "West Coast" kind of flavor. I'm looking forward to when it's carbed up.

Happy Friday friends!

I got one gallon crash cooling, 2 1/2 gallons clearing (gelatin), Cold Coffee steeping for a 1 gallon Stout, and I have everything set to brew 6 gallons of a
Yooper's House Ale variation. Going to have to use my small keezer to ferment instead of serve since it is so hot. I hope to set the burner about 5 a.m.

 

[Leadgolem]

Hi all. Well, I got unofficial confirmation that my whole team is going to be moving to corporate. That kinda sucks, it will make my commute an hour instead of the usual 1/2 hour. On the up side, the building is beautiful and the facilities there are a lot nicer. It also might give me an opportunity to climb the corporate ladder, though I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

 

[passedpawn]

Enjoy your weekend late niters (unless you are a Detroit Tigers fan). Just got done watching my Rays lose, brushed my dogs teeth, and now I'm gonna watch a movie (Cabin in the Woods).

For your late nite soundtrack, a bit of funky guitar from some funky white guys:

 

[Stauffbier]

Thunder Chicken, it is indeed sad when you have to stop brewing due to temps. I used to have that problem, too. Now that I have my fermentation freezer I can brew year round, and I love it! You could always brew a Saison if you decide you want to brew.

LabRatBrewer, it sounds like you have a lot of great creations in the works. I'm not as ambitious as you when it comes to starting early. I'm not at all an early bird type. Especially on the weekends. I'll probably get up around 8:30 and get the burners lit.

 

[SharonaZamboni]

Enjoy your weekend late niters (unless you are a Detroit Tigers fan). Just got done watching my Rays lose, brushed my dogs teeth, and now I'm gonna watch a movie (Cabin in the Woods).

For your late nite soundtrack, a bit of funky guitar from some funky white guys:

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjE_2qW4sJ0

I just watched Cabin in the Woods recently. It was not what I expected!

I'm having a nice time at NHC, also did some sightseeing today. What a historic city!

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Thunder Chicken, it is indeed sad when you have to stop brewing due to temps. I used to have that problem, too. Now that I have my fermentation freezer I can brew year round, and I love it! You could always brew a Saison if you decide you want to brew.

It's not really what I'd call a problem, more a feature of my brewing. I like to play to the seasons. I have plenty of beer and wine lagered away so no worries about running short. In a way it is nice for the break as I have been busy establishing my pipeline. Now that it is established I can really consider and plan my future brews, maybe consider more complex styles.

One of my last brews was a nice cream stout that I am going to let age until around New Years. It's actually really good now, but it can only get better. I'm really thinking about getting some Lindeman's Cuvee Rene and collecting dregs for a lambic and getting that going soon.

 

[Dan]

Hey all!

Listening to some Wild Cheery from Passedpawn's post. Groovy!

Summer HOT is here and I have next week off work. Bad timing. Plan to do some cleaning, more yard work prep for renters and I plan to sweat buckets. Good for the soul. Sold my couch and loveseat today. They are nice big overstuffed leather, paid a pretty penny for them years ago. Living room is empty. My nice big comfortable bed is leaving me next Monday, dressers will go to the neighbor. He is buying one and since he owns a professional carpet cleaning business I'm bartering a good carpet shampoo for the second dresser. A guy came and picked up one of my twin mattresses today. It was in the spare bedroom/storeroom. The cats had made it and all the blankets on top of it there home the last year or so. The blankets were covered in cat hair. I woke this morning at 7 after getting home from work at 3:30am. The guy was coming soon. I walked into the room with the beds for sale, took a look at the blankets and comforters covered in cat hair and pulled them all out and took them to the trash. Neighbor lady saw me and asked what the hell I was doing.. told her these things are covered in cat hair. She said shake them out, wash them and sell them. Duh.. good idea. I did what she said, they are very clean now. Think I might keep them.

Moving is so much fun.

 

[LabRatBrewer]

Thunder Chicken, it is indeed sad when you have to stop brewing due to temps. I used to have that problem, too. Now that I have my fermentation freezer I can brew year round, and I love it! You could always brew a Saison if you decide you want to brew.

LabRatBrewer, it sounds like you have a lot of great creations in the works. I'm not as ambitious as you when it comes to starting early. I'm not at all an early bird type. Especially on the weekends. I'll probably get up around 8:30 and get the burners lit.

I'd rather sleep in, but if I'm done by mid morning when SWMBO is just getting moving it lessens the grief I get.

I took my son to a stargazing party tonight. There was a 12 in scope, you could totally make out the divisions in Saturn's rings. Very nice night.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Awesome guitar duo Rodrigo Y Gabriela:

 

[BobbiLynn]

Hello folks! Sounds like everyone has been very busy, same here.

Dan, moving sucks, no matter how nice the place you are moving to. I just got chills at the thought of moving!

My friend and I have started making up songs about picking berries. We sing while we are picking. Oh, and so Laura and I head to one of our "sweet spots", this one around the lake, to grab a couple gallons. As we get close to the lake, we can see water, not blackberries. Knocked on my nephew's door, asking what happened around the lake. He proudly told me that he finally got around to cleaning up the area around the lake. I asked him to do this last Fall. I smiled and told him it looked great.

 

[Dan]

TC, beautiful music! Thanks for sending that. My daughter recently picked up a guitar. She's been learning songs off YouTube. My son, a veteran guitar player of 10 years was out here last weekend. He's really a pretty good guitar player. Definitely part of his life and who he is. My old guitar (Idon't play) was re stringed and tuned by my son when he was here. The guitar got passed around, my kids and their friends. Seemed I was the only one who didn't play.

I have some down time coming up in the near future after I rent this house out and wait to move to Hawaii. I'm going to buy a guitar, noting expensive. Then use my dead time to learn to play at least one song well.. 'Love Me Tender" by Elvis. My wife and my song. Going to learn it well and somehow come walking into the baggage claim area at HNL airport strumming the song. Might even sing it. Hawaii is paradise in many ways. I can imagine people will listen, my wife will blush and

 

[Leadgolem]

He hath sung a song of summer. A song of light and music. The beauty of his imagining stretching forth upon the land of his dream.

 

[Leadgolem]

May your dream come true for you my friend. Wroth by your own hand from mere imagining to flesh and stone...

 

[Dan]

Talking to my wife right now. I played an old Elvis song to her.. She wanted to hear this.. F me. I love this crazy woman. She loves my crazy a$$ too.

 

[Dan]

So, in my downtime I'm going to learn to play. Found the video below. It's scary. Like seeing myself in a different dimension. This guy looks exactly like me, or I look exactly like him.


Weird.

 

[bottlebomber]

It's good to see things are going well for you, Dan. I'm really excited for you, and maybe just a little jealous although my life is going remarkably well too. Which usually means something got to go terribly wrong

 

[beaksnbeer]

Dan, BB, look at the good that is happening and enjoy it, bad things will slip into your lives as well. Gram ma always said without terrible events one can't appreciate what you truly have. Play Dan play if it comes form the heart she will relish it even if you miss a chord.

 

[opus345]

Dan, BB, look at the good that is happening and enjoy it, bad things will slip into your lives as well. Gram ma always said without terrible events one can't appreciate what you truly have. Play Dan play if it comes form the heart she will relish it even if you miss a chord.

Beak,

Your Gram Ma was a wise woman. Great advice. Sometimes we all just need to stop looking at/for the bad and just celebrate the good staring us right in the face. Already helped with my outlook today. Thanks.

 

[ruralbrew]

Hey all. I know it's been a while since I have been around. I'm glad to see this thread is still going strong. I hadn't been on for a while and got logged off, couldn't remember my password and finally got around to getting it reset today.
Not much new with me, work eat and sleep. Finally started brewing again last week. Hadn't brewed since Thanksgiving. Finally got that one bottled yesterday. A RIS that had been sitting on oak for a few months. I was afraid it was going to taste like a 2x4 but besides a little hot alcohol it tasted pretty good. Should be about ready by Christmas.

So last week was ten gallons of Rye IPA an 10 gallons of Amber. This week was ten gallons of Blonde ale and ten gallons of Wit.

A beautiful sight, should keep me going for a while.

In other news my grandson is growing like a weed, but other than pictures on the Web I don't get to see enough of him. My youngest turned 21 on Thursday and that made me feel old for a minute or two.

Now that it finally quit raining after it finally quit snowing I am getting some stuff accomplished. The Ugly Drum Smoker is about complete, I have five hop plants climbing on the south side of the house and I finally got a stand welded together for my post vice so I need to get the forge fired up and make something, or at least burn up some metal. Anyway, I had best get some sleep before work tonight.

I'll leave you with a little mellow late night music even though it isn't That Time Of Night....

 

[bottlebomber]

Rural, what size are those carboys? They sort of look like the 7.5 gallon acid carboys that I've got.

 

[ruralbrew]

They are all 7.5 gallon, except the one with the blowoff tube, it's only five, but it looks so cute next to it's big brothers. Then there is a seven gallon pail and an eight gallon white plastic one behind the five gallon carboy. It still smelled like chardonnay, so I hope my Wit doesn't pick up any odors from it.