Rich in knowledge, poor in cash.
Well, not *quite* yet. A friend on IRC has VERY generously ordered a Peaberry SDR kit to be shipped to me. It’s a relatively inexpensive, low-power HF band transceiver (1W transmit power). It does come as a kit, with primarily…
Read more
Ok, that last batch of cider turned out quite well. Very much like Strongbow in taste. I used a rather tart store-bought filtered apple juice as a base (Mott’s brand, to be precise). The “Spike Your Juice” kits come with…
Read more
No resolutions, just glad we made it without blowing ourselves up. As for things to come in the next year: More cider! Maybe beer! Finally finishing the packet radio interface! Acquiring HF gear! (looking at the peaberry) That’s probably most…
Read more
Anyhoo. Started a small batch of cider, this time using a yeast packet from the “Spike Your Juice” kit that a friend of mine bought me for the holiday. It recommends not letting it finish fermenting due to the fact…
Read more
Well, the cider didn’t turn out how I liked at all. I think partially from putting the mulling spices in at primary, and partially due to the yeast culture I used… it said it was a cider yeast, but everything’s…
Read more
Alrighty, the spiced apple/pear is in the final stage before bottling – fining. The particular method I’m using is gelatin. You mix up a very little bit in with some hot water (1 teaspoon of gelatin to a cup of…
Read more
And the season is upon us. Random thoughts and happenings for the past month or so to follow. I did eventually upgrade to Win8, initially on the laptop, but then on the new desktop. It’s all tiny and cute and…
Read more
Ok, taking another look at Win8, this time with the usability modifications afforded by Classic Shell and Start8. ..And I have to say, I like it. MS made a lot of improvements to the OS itself, with things like integrated…
Read more
1: Replace PSU in network storage, send email stating power restored. Email replies from other staff recommend shutting it down because of velociraptors. 2: Unix admin responds with “This is a UNIX system, I know this!” 3: Spend all of…
Read more
Small update: Racked the big apple/pear back into (sterile) mulling spice mix. Started another with a little pomegranate juice, and some blackberry extract. Should be interesting. And thus exhausts my initial cidermaking supply. I’ll need to grab more juice. One…
Read more