Notices by Brian Ó (blacksam@social.gibberfish.org), page 21

I've gone pretty quickly from having five active fermentations going to only one, so I'm looking for some new ideas. Two that spring to mind are a chamomile mead, which I think would taste pretty incredible, or a mango wine. Any suggestions?

#fermentation #homebrewing #mead #wine

I hope these frequent updates aren't boring to people, but currently have four wines going at the same time. This one is a maple mead (acerglyn) which I started three days after Christmas. It had two pounds of honey, one pound of maple syrup, and a whole vanilla bean.

This one is interesting for a couple of reasons. It's the first thing I brewed after getting a hydrometer, so I have a true reading of the starting gravity instead of just a guess. It also has mostly finished fermenting way quicker than the other meads, which took about 6 weeks, though it's stull bubbling a little bit. The starting gravity was 1.120 and it's currently 1.014, putting it at about 14.5% ABV. This pretty much rules out yeast as being the problem with the other meads stopping around 12%. It must have to do with the types/ratios of sugars, or some other factors. It would seem that this yeast "likes" maple syrup.

I gave it a taste while racking it, and it's got a nice maple flavor which I think the vanilla rounds out well. If it actually ferments completely dry I'll probably back-sweeten it with some more syrup which will bring the maple flavor forward even more. We'll see.

#homebrewing #fermentation #wine #mead #acerglyn #maple #maplesyrup

I know the label "Nazi" started as a slang term for the German equivalent of a redneck, but recent events have made me wonder if Hitler's early supporters were as aggressively ignorant and delusional as Trump's pack of QAnon dumbfucks.

All this abuse from zlax has really made me regret murdering Ilya 😢

I've decided to try not to get into any arguments online for the remainder of the month. I'll need to suppress my inner asshole. 🤞

My long-suffering cherry mead seems to have finally stopped fermenting, so I racked it to a glass jug to finish out. Again, I didn't have a hydrometer when I started this, but a fair guesstimate based on ingredients should put it at an original gravity of 1.115. It stalled out a couple of weeks ago at around 1.040 and I added a bunch of dead bread yeast (as a threat) to get fermentation going again and that worked to a point... it stopped again at 1.031, so as a final effort I added some 18% tolerance yeast (the original was 14%) and in continued bubbling languidly for another week or so. It based on movement in the airlock (or lack thereof) it seems to have finally settled on 1.024, which puts it at ~12.5% ABV. It may yet drop a few more points of gravity while I wait for it to clear. Either way, I'll take it.

#fermentation #homebrewing #mead #wine

The banana solids have settled to the bottom of the jug and the CO2 bubbles have traced paths through it, making it look a little bit like brain matter. If I shake it up, it stays in large gelatinous chunks. Pretty appetizing! 🍌🧠

#homebrewing #fermentation #bananas #wine

Oh no.

https://www.nme.com/news/film/freaks-and-geeks-and-election-actress-jessica-campbell-dies-aged-38-2855965

#jessicacampbell #freaksandgeeks

Anyone want to take bets on how long before all the "Trump was good for America, actually" thinkpieces come out?

I just bottled my second mead, which was started about 6 weeks ago. It finished out at 12%, with 20 points of gravity left over, leaving it a bit sweet, but not unpleasantly so. It cleared up incredibly fast compared to my first mead (probably owing to using a legitimate wine yeast this time instead of bread yeast). I'm planning to save the wine bottle for my next Thanksgiving family gathering (be that 2021 or beyond) at which point it should be nicely aged.

Speaking of my first mead (which was bottled a while ago), it's reaching the three-month-old mark next week. I may pop a bottle to send off 45 on Wednesday night and see how it came out.

#homebrewing #fermentation #mead #wine

I bet this guy (who IS NOT the man who was wearing the Camp Auschwitz shirt) is really happy about his face being used under this headline 😂

Is there a rational, non-profit-motive reason why we have several different large pharma companies developing COVID vaccines simultaneously instead of working together? Why is Johnson & Johnson waiting for FDA approval of their version instead of putting their facilities to work cranking out doses of an already approved one right now? I'm asking this in good faith. What am I missing here?

#covid #cvodi19 #vaccines #capitalism

It seems that Trump is no longer McConnell's useful idiot

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/us/mitch-mcconnell-trump-impeachment.html

#trump #mcconnell #gop #usa #politics

Beforeigners isn't the smartest or best written sci-fi show ever, but its commentary on modern culture is occasionally hilarious.

#beforeigners #norway #television #satire

I watched Okupert on Netflix a while ago, and now I just started another Norwegian show on HBO, Beforeigners. It seems like at least half the cast are the same actors. Small casting pool in Norway?

#norway #norge #television

I watched Okkupert on Netflix a while ago, and now I just started another Norwegian show on HBO, Beforeigners. It seems like at least half the cast are the same actors. Small casting pool in Norway?

I'm always impressed when I hear people from around the world say they learned English by watching American films and television, because I watch a fair amount of foreign-language TV and aside from maybe a handful of basic words, I don't learn shit.

#language #english

I had a bunch of bananas that were going to over-ripen before I could eat them all, so without any forethought I made a gallon batch of banana wine. I've never tasted a banana wine, and I have no idea if I'll like it, but I used only things I already had and/or was going to throw out, so it basically cost me $0.

I boiled up 900g of bananas (skins on), 120g of old stale raisins, some loose tea, and a cinnamon stick. Then, I strained out the solids, added 600g of brown sugar, and yeast I washed and saved from the last batch of cider I made. In terms of color, it looks a lot like I just boiled some dirt but once it clears I hope it will be a more palatable golden brown/yellow.

The starting gravity is 1.076, which should ferment to about 10% ABV. I've been having some issues with my meads stopping before the yeast's nominal 14% tolerance and being left overly sweet, so my plan for this was to under-sweeten it, let it go completely dry and then step-feed it sugar until it stops fermenting.

#fermentation #homebrewing #wine #bananas

A fresno chili seedling from seeds I harvested from the peppers I grew this summer. I thought @[Farhad](/people/dddebe80aec501364742005056268def) might like to see it.

#plants #gardening #chilis

Take a guess