New England B.S. Thread

Morning all. Happy Thursday!
Went turkey hunting with my day off yesterday. Finally got a day with A) no rain & B) no wind and was able to bag a nice Tom.

 

Gobble gobble

 

Copy that - thanks guys. Might be bringing a newbie out to show him the ropes.

 

I finished up my hard cider experiment today and finally broke into them. The yeast ate up all the sugar so they are really dry and tart with an ABV of about 9-11% (I added brown sugar at the beginning of one batch so that one is higher since it started with more sugar). I ended up cutting the cider with some of the original apple juice and it was awesome. Also, turned out nice and clear!

 

Ale yeast is definitely the way to go if you want a sweeter 'farmhouse' style cider.
I've also found that I get better results if I use an actual fresh-press cider, rather than a store-bought apple juice, but I've had good batches from juice as well.
I want to try making some applejack sometime, through freeze distilling. See if I can't get a decent applejack without having to invest in a still (which would lead me down the whisk(e)y road in very short order, I'm sure)
I need to read up on it, to avoid the problems with impurities.

 

This fall, I want to see if I can work something out with the local farm and get some fresh pressed cider. I doubt they'll sell it unpasteurized but whatever, as long as it's fresh.

I've really given Applejack a hard look but am not there yet... I watched a couple Youtube videos on it, the process looks simple enough although the point was made that a single shot of Applejack has as much impurities as about a gallon of hard cider so, if you overserve yourself, you'll end up with the worst hangover of your career. I'm sure I'll try it at some point, just not yet...

The beer is done bottle conditioning also and it actually turned out really good! I think the next batch will either be an Orange Shandy or a Belgian Saison (leaning hard towards the Saison).

 

Pasteurized is ok as long as it's cold-pasteurized (UV or other cold method). Heat pasteurization 'sets' the pectin so your cider ends up cloudy.

 

I'm a fancy man...I bought craftsman jack stands...

 

You have to wear a mask on your truck...

 

I'm pretty sure that Berlin Orchards was pressing cider and just letting people drink it raw...Someone around central mass does it. I'm trying to remember where. I remember there were BEES EVERYWHERE!!!

 

Like this?

 

I tried 'cold crashing' my cider and it really cleared it up a lot. I'm fine with a hazy cider as long as it tastes good. There's a tablet you can put in during the fermentation also that makes the pectin settle out, I don't recall what it was, but I have the YouTube video saved.

This... is good information to know! I did think about buying a HF press and pressing my own. Maybe when I grow up...

 

Finally finished my DIY tactical overlund expo storage drawers I started over last Thanksgiving. Covered it with carpet, cut the wings and added hinges us built the second drawer today. Does it look fancy; decidedly not. Does it work; absolutely. Mostly used crap I had laying around besides the uhmw-hdpe for slides and linch pins I used as catches. Yup it's not square, deal with it. All cuts were made with a circular saw, jigsaw, cutting fence, and angle grinder for the unistrut. So ready for all the expos and overlund adventures to the mall, supermarket and daycare. #likeandsubscribe.

 

That’s not tactical! It needs to be black.

 

The outdoor carpet I covered it with is black. Black = tactical. Maybe i'll staple some old webbing from ratchet straps to it and call it Molle loops.

 

Not tactical...PRACTICAL

 

There you go. Throw on some Molle loops, then you'll be tacti-cool!

Of course, we all know, tactical IS practical because clearly everything must serve at least 25 functions.

 

Looks nice! I still need to carpet mine.

 

Someone forgot to tell the bugs about the lockdown...

 

dude I did providence to Salem NH on Wednesday and back. I left providence around 9 or so and got back around 1 or 2. My windshield is a massacre. Don’t even know where to start to try cleaning it.