I like this time at night on HBT

[lschiavo]

Pics?

(Random thought)
We all need somebody who cares about us. Just like we all need people to care about. That tiny little thing is why people survive, why we marry, why we become loving parents and look forward to the future. We all need something we can't provide alone. Look around at some of the happiest people in this world. They aren't happy because they have a lot of money, wealth, cottage on the beach, perfect house... etc. (Okay, that probably wouldn't be so bad) They are happy because they have a family. They have people to love and care about and, that love and caring is returned.

Man, that's more than money can ever buy.

PS
(My fatasies in my dream world)

Very deep and true "random thought" there Dan. Thanks for reminding me that I am a lucky man even though I have very little of that money or wealth kind of stuff.

PS: You have US at the very least

My vote has always been for Mary Ann. After school TV, what a fond memory: some of my favorites...

 

[HefeHood]

Dear Brew Friends,
Need to brag some...todays weather high was 74, at 550pm its 72. Forecast shows highs of 70 plus for the next week. Down side, no rain. Its freakin middle of January! Trees finally dropped leaves, spent some of the afternoon raking them up.

That is all. Resume normal activities.

 

[passedpawn]

Hello late niters! Hope all is well. Like you all, I'm working a lot these days. I hate it, but it pays the bills.

Like Dan says, keep your family close. I think about everything that has swept by in my life. Everything did sweep by - it's all gone. Nothing from my past is still with me. Only the family. Do everything you can to keep the family close and happy.

For your late nite soundtrack, Griffin House.

 

[Dan]

Dear Brew Friends,
Need to brag some...todays weather high was 74, at 550pm its 72. Forecast shows highs of 70 plus for the next week. Down side, no rain. Its freakin middle of January! Trees finally dropped leaves, spent some of the afternoon raking them up.

That is all. Resume normal activities.

Hefe, It's warm here too, for this time of the year. Some years are freezing and some are warm. Life goes on.

To you my friend

 

[Dan]

Hey Pappy!

Ive had a few many, if that matters.

In Home Brew Town. Which I truly love. Who would you be, what part you play? I vote town mayor, at least.

 

[lschiavo]

Hello late niters! Hope all is well. Like you all, I'm working a lot these days. I hate it, but it pays the bills.

Like Dan says, keep your family close. I think about everything that has swept by in my life. Everything did sweep by - it's all gone. Nothing from my past is still with me. Only the family. Do everything you can to keep the family close and happy.

For your late nite soundtrack, Griffin House.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE0qLbPRq_4

That is a really good tune! It reminded me of Seven Mary Three. I will check out some more.

 

[passedpawn]

Hey Pappy!

Ive had a few many, if that matters.

In Home Brew Town. Which I truly love. Who would you be, what part you play? I vote town mayor, at least.

Haha, you don't know me that well. I'd never show my face in the town. I play a part here online, but I greatly prefer anonymity in the real world.

 

[Dan]

Pappy, That's why we let go here.

 

[Dan]

George Forman

Great boxer

Great applicance!

I really like the GF electric grill I have. Not much time and easy clean up the George Forman grill is a single man's dream when it comes to grilled food.

Think I'd get fired as an advetirser... probably. Bu the GF grills are good in a pinch.

 

[Leadgolem]

I just read the style guidelines on baltic porter. Wow, I couldn't have been more wrong.

At one time I was studying to take the BJCP exam. What happened to my memory?

Did it go out drinking with my mind and my wits? I haven't seen them for a while either.

This is a pretty solid recipe.....made with my home brewed mild. But it is pretty spicy. Perfect for sausages, salted/cured meats, and cheeses...

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/spicy-beer-mustard

Sounds yummy. I like my mustard like I like my women, sweet and spicy.

I've decided my next foodie adventure is going to be curing and smoking some bacon. This could be dangerous, because I love me some bacon!

I smoked some fairly cheap bacon with apple wood. It came out really nice. A little more subtle on the smoke then I would have liked. Next time I'll do two batches of wood in the hopper in the smoker.

And that is a good thing. Right?. I remember reading your thread, was it here or somewhere else? Doesn't matter..

Somebody chimed in you could get botulism food poisoning from canning turkey.. Obviously that didn't happen cause you are still here. (got to admit, that particular post had me a little worried for you)

Glad all worked out well. Cheers to you for being a brave explorer on the food frontier.

Yup yup. The extra pressure in a pressure canner or pressure cooker raises the boiling point of the water so you can get everything hot enough to kill off the botulism spores.

It is unsafe to water bath can meat.

FYI, a big water bath or pressure canner is perfect if you want to bottle pasteurize. Without the lid they are basically just big pots with either a wire rack or false bottom in them.

Time for a completely sober post.

Computers are making us dumb. I have a HP calculator that has thousands of equations built in to it. I suppose I could plot a trajectory to the moon and back just with my HP.

So why is a calculator that has all of the abilities that mine does make me dumber? Because we do not have to think anymore just input the variables and hit enter. Instead of taking a equation and paper and pen to task for a great afternoon of thinking we have turned to having everything solved for us.

I love math I really do. It saddens me to think that much of the critical thinking that used to be involved with solving issues has disappeared. I think back about the skunkworks during the time that the blackbird was built. They built that bad boy with a slide rule and had to not only know the equation but understand how it worked. Those boys understood math

Please do not get me wrong as I know that many fine folks still love equations and try to understand WHY they work. But those of us who do think that way are sadly becoming fewer and fewer as more people depend on the machine to spew out the answer.

Getting off my pile of equations now and resuming a normal posting mode

Hmm, biology is much like engineering or logistics in some ways. I wonder what someone without those skills has gained in exchange?

Pics?

(Random thought)
We all need somebody who cares about us. Just like we all need people to care about. That tiny little thing is why people survive, why we marry, why we become loving parents and look forward to the future. We all need something we can't provide alone. Look around at some of the happiest people in this world. They aren't happy because they have a lot of money, wealth, cottage on the beach, perfect house... etc. (Okay, that probably wouldn't be so bad) They are happy because they have a family. They have people to love and care about and, that love and caring is returned.

Man, that's more than money can ever buy.

PS
(My fatasies in my dream world)

True Dan. Things can make us comfortable. People make us happy.


I've had family visiting for a while. It was a good visit, but my house is not even close enough to big enough for everybody.

So, apparently it's not a good idea to put gas side connectors on the liquid side posts. This one stuck so bad I destroyed it taking it off. Fortunately, I had a spare.

 

[Dan]

Hello late niters! Hope all is well. Like you all, I'm working a lot these days. I hate it, but it pays the bills.

Like Dan says, keep your family close. I think about everything that has swept by in my life. Everything did sweep by - it's all gone. Nothing from my past is still with me. Only the family. Do everything you can to keep the family close and happy.

For your late nite soundtrack, Griffin House.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE0qLbPRq_4

Pappy, very wise words indeed. Very, very, wise. Love the song too!

 

[Melana]

 

[Leadgolem]

I had to many leftovers in the freezer, so I made a frittata out of a couple of leftover brautz and a bunch of roast beef. It came out really tasty. I also made some pepper poppers out of sweet peppers. Those came out well too.

 

[Dan]

LG, that looks delicious! I'm suddenly starving.

 

[passedpawn]

Sauerkraut. I got some of the greener outer leaves in there, but you can see after a few days the green starts to go away. These pictures are 1) right after chopped, 2) about two days later.

It's been in the jar for a full week now. It tastes GREAT! It's only mildly sour. Still slightly crunchy. I'm going to leave it in there for another week I think. Then into the fridge.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Waydago Passedpawn! We're still letting our kraut ride. Looks clean, smells mildly funky but nothing bad. Haven't tasted it yet. SWMBO likes tangy kraut, as do I.

BTW where did you get that jar?

 

[passedpawn]

Man, when you open that jar, evacuate the room! When my wife asks why the kitchen smells like a fart, I blame Thunder Chicken.

 

[passedpawn]

aven't tasted it yet.

Stick a fork in there! You gotta enjoy the ride, all the way.

 

[passedpawn]

BTW where did you get that jar?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/2-1-2-gallon-montana-jar-fermenter-200328/#post2332670

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Man, when you open that jar, evacuate the room! When my wife asks why the kitchen smells like a fart, I blame Thunder Chicken.

We have it in a food grade container with the lid peeled up slightly on one side to let the gas escape. SWMBO has put her nose to it and is still GO with the process. Ours doesn't smell bad, sorta smells like an old attic, hard to describe better than that. I've had some lambics that have a similar sort of dusty aroma sensation, not sure what to attribute it to.

 

[Dan]

My tenant’s called yesterday. The refrigerator finally gave out. I bought it new a good number of years ago. Really thought it would have held out a few more years. So I took a trip to HD and looked at new ones. Man, they are expensive. I bought one off CL for a hundred bucks. As long as it last a few years I'll be happy because for the moment the military family renting my house plans to move at the end of the enlistment which is in 20 months.

I’ve decided when that family moves and I rent the house again, I’m not going to include the fridge, clothes washer and dryer. The above the range microwave I’ll leave with the understanding once it goes kaput I will not be responsible for replacing. In the current lease I said I’ll fix or replace those things but that was before I talked to a few neighbors that are renters. They all had to provide that stuff on their own.

Is it normally expected for a landlord to provide those appliances? My over the range microwave broke about a month before I rented the place and I replaced it with a new one. The dryer timer hadn’t worked for about 18months, you had to remember to manually shut it off, so I spent a hundred bucks to replace that, was really simple to install. I didn’t do it because I wanted to make whoever rented the place lives’ easier. I did it because I considered it a fire hazard for the inattentive.

The only reason I didn’t sell the home instead of renting is because I bought when property values were crazy high but now I don’t have hardly any equity in it. I wish I would have sold the place when I left for Hawaii years ago, I would have broken even at least. Now it is just a liability.

I’m pretty torn about this whole move thing. It’s weird for me every time I stop by my old house for something. My family spent some good times there; I did quite a few DIY upgrades. Nothing extreme I suppose, but I made it my place. I miss my garage the most. I put in a 15’ workbench and some cupboards I removed from the kitchen during that upgrade. In the back of the garage I built two big closets, the first one had 2 sliding doors. I think I used ½” 4’x8’ birch plywood doors on one an the other I used 2”x”2 wood as a door frame and thin plywood for the front and door backs. Those were on hinges. Overall, they gave me a lot of extra storage space. The big one was 8'H x 8'W x 2'Deep, The other was 8'H x 4'W x 2'Deep and they had hearty shelves. You can do the math if you want, I'll just say they made for quite a lot of extra storage room.

The end of my workbench I left some room and it just happened to fit a refrigerator perfectly.. Was my kegerator spot for many years.

I miss that old house. Bunch of neat additions I built myself; a couple of my favorites were a beautiful raised Red Wood deck in the backyard and a big front porch with a wooden swing in the front yard.

My wife planted some fruit trees in the back. My wife loves to plant but she has no sense of spacial rationality. My wife would plant two oak trees 5 feet apart.. LOL

So next month is my given deadline to move to Hawaii. My wife loves our townhouse there and has been busy in the small front and backyard, planting. The place is pretty nice. We’re up on a hill and the breeze blows always and the air is mostly cool. (and clear, not like this dusty valley I’m in now)

I still haven’t found a job there. That’s pretty worrisome to me. I’m lucky I will have my Navy retirement coming in. This whole move has me going quite crazy. I’m throwing away a decent job and don’t have a new one yet.

Really wondering where I’ll be 5 years from now, hell, 5 months from now to be honest. I’m writing a new chapter in my life.. I’m excited and I’m effing scared.

 

[passedpawn]

Gotta catch a plane at 5am in the morning - arghh! I'll be gone most of the week. Sauerkraut will be ready when I get back. I also brewed a ton of beer this morning, so that will be coming along too.

Remember this song? It just popped into my mind and I had to find it. For your late nite soundtrack, Charlie Rich.

 

[Dan]

Pappy, you are quite the romantic. GodSpeed on your trip my friend.

 

[Stauffbier]

I ate a bunch of my kraut on some brats today. It is fantastic! Perfect sourness. No funk or off flavors. Very crunchy, which is how I enjoy it. I will definitely be making a larger batch!

Dan, I can understand how you would feel a little scared. Change is scary. Especially when the future is unknown. I know you'll make the best of any situation, and do well my friend..

 

[ChefRex]

Waydago Passedpawn! We're still letting our kraut ride. Looks clean, smells mildly funky but nothing bad. Haven't tasted it yet. SWMBO likes tangy kraut, as do I.

BTW where did you get that jar?

Tc, go for it, delicious but the smell on opening is a bit pungent.
Made Ruebens tonight, one friend said they where the best she ever had, maybe, but they where still darn good!

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

I ate a bunch of my kraut on some brats today. It is fantastic! Perfect sourness. No funk or off flavors. Very crunchy, which is how I enjoy it. I will definitely be making a larger batch!

Oh damn, I'd better sample too I guess.

You guys are no help at all. Everywhere else on HBT they are screaming "patience!". Now I finally do good and don't sample, and everybody else beats me to the punch. Grrr.

My sauerkraut is going to be smoother than yours, and with better carbonation. Probably will wow the BJCP judges too. Nah nah!

Dan, I can understand how you would feel a little scared. Change is scary. Especially when the future is unknown. I know you'll make the best of any situation, and do well my friend..

Someday you will laugh and smile at this situation, and relate it as a cautionary tale to someone else. It will all work out in the end.

 

[Dan]

Thanks guys. Cheers to you good people!

 

[Varmintman]

Really wondering where I’ll be 5 years from now, hell, 5 months from now to be honest. I’m writing a new chapter in my life.. I’m excited and I’m effing scared.

Dan after many years of being a single Dad I found a wonderful woman who I married. The whole deal pretty much scared me spitless since I did not have much luck with my first wife.

But now I cannot even think about a life without her and it seems every day just gets better and better. I am sure that you will do just fine with your new life

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

SWMBO is out of the house, Baltic porter is in the kettle, have a nice big lager yeast cake to pitch it onto, and a cold snap on the way that will get my ghetto lager fermentation chamber temperature right in the sweet spot when I pitch tonight. I love it when a plan comes together.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Oh damn, I'd better sample too I guess.

OK, I grabbed a fork and took a nice sample of the kraut. Crunchy, very mildly sour. I think I might have overdone the salt, but I'll reserve judgement for a few more weeks. If it gets more sour it will be pretty nice. It's been in a little over 2 weeks now.