Other stuff you do.

[markthenewf]

So what else does everyone else do 'round here aside from guns and things that go boom?  I myself have been brewing mead for a couple of years.  Yup, just like the vikings making wine from fermented honey rather than grapes.  I'm originally from the Canadian maritimes, so I'm used to rum and lager, but this mead will get you going for sure.

Been experimenting with all kinds of flavors like berry, lemon, and jalapeno (because Texas).  I've just started getting the stuff to carbonate (keg or naturally in the bottle) so now I have fizzy booze as well.  My current home-run mix is a sparkling maple-syrup concoction that runs about 11% and it is smmooooooth.  Yes, I did mispell the label.  I may or may not have been drinking.

 

[Jim Friedly]

Looks like i'might enjoy a horn or 3 of that fine looking beverage....
  fine job !!!

 

[strong eagle]

tell us how to do it. i get 36 pints of honey every fall from the bee man.

 

[Muley Hunter]

I'm a gamer. I fly an F/A-18 in a simulation called DCS. Not really a game. It takes about a year to learn the plane. We have real F/A-18 pilots flying it.

I also fly fish.

 

[ElkFever]

Pete, I just returned from Salida on a 5 day fly fishing trip on the Arkansas with members of our ff club in Denver area. We meet at the 4 seasons rv park every year.
MikeW (Brighton, CO)

 

[Muley Hunter]

Water is pretty low. How was the fishing down there?

 

[ElkFever]

Actually not bad, In one area I took two nice browns at the same time with 2 nymphs on my line. No camera but my friend and I had a good laugh as it was like herding cats to get them both netted and released. Had to use size 20 nymphs to get any takes.
MikeW

 

[Muley Hunter]

I can imagine what that was like. I never fish more than one fly, so i've never experienced it. Although I have caught some hogs on the Taylor that almost pulled my old ass into the deep stuff. 

 

[markthenewf]

tell us how to do it. i get 36 pints of honey every fall from the bee man.

Nice.  The honey is the most expensive part of the whole thing.

At the basic level:
- About one gallon of water.  Not tap water. (i.e. no chlorine or anything)
- 3 to 4 pounds of honey (raw/unfiltered is best).  4 pounds of honey will give you a sweeter wine.
- 1 packet of yeast.  I'd recommend "Lavlin D47", which you can get from Amazon or whatever for less than a buck a packet.
- two one-gallon containers (google 1 gallon carboy) cleaned & sanitized
- 6 feet of 3/8" siphoning tube
- 1 brewing airlock or a balloon

Warm up 1/2 gallon of water (not hot), mix in your honey and pour into container.  Top it off with water to a gallon.  Mix it all up hard in order to make sure you get lots of oxygen into the mix.  You just shake the container if you want, which will be fine.

Follow the basic instructions on getting the yeast running (usually warm water for 30 minutes will get it going) and toss it in the container.

Seal the container with some sort of airlock that will allow the carbon dioxide produced during fermentation to get out.  Either use a regular brewing 'air lock' or get a balloon and poke a couple of pin holes in it.

Put it in a cool/dark place for 3 to 4 weeks for this "primary fermentation".  You'll see the fermentation stop (no bubbles, balloon deflates, etc.).

Rack/siphon this stuff into the second container for "secondary fermentation".  Try not to suck up any of the crud on the bottom of the container you're transferring from.  It's dead yeast and other stuff that has fallen out of solution.  It will add not-so-nice flavors if you get too much that in your booze.  ***Note that IF you want to flavor your mead, this is where you do it.  Want a raspberry mead, wash off about a pound of berries and put them in the freezer overnight.  Freezing them will break down the cell structures and you'll get more 'berriness' out of them.  Thaw it out, mash it up, and put it in your secondary fermenter BEFORE you transfer the mead to it. 

Put the airlock on this new container and set it aside.  Over the run of 2 to 4 weeks, it'll clear out and mellow.  After it's cleared (you should be able to read through it), siphon it back to the other container (which you've cleaned out) and it's ready to drink.  If you've done it right, you should be at at least 9 or 10% alcohol by volume so the mixture will be self-innoculating and will stay drinkable for years assuming you keep the container closed.  FYI, the longer it sits, the smoother it'll get.

If you want to do one that's even less transferring and fussing, but uses some spices and oranges for flaoving, look up "Joes Ancient Orange Mead" or JOAM.  That stuff is great.

 

[markthenewf]

Looks like i'might enjoy a horn or 3 of that fine looking beverage....
  fine job !!!

You know what.....I don't have a horn.  I have a clay cup with "Bayman" on the side of it, though.

Hmmm.  I'll have to pass it along as a Christmas gift suggestion.

 

[Buck Conner1]

1). Besides playing here I get Cabela’s Gun Library customers a few times a month wanting me to tell them about their antique weapons (anything from edged to old cannons and everything in between).

2). Always have household and yard items that need attention along with my dog and cat having issues.

3). Answer emails for GRRW Collectors Association on pricing, questions on various things involved with having a gun built. Run down parts for the gunsmith when something didn’t come in or was back ordered.

4). Take the wife to her doctor’s appointment (half dozen a month) plus take myself or the dog and cat for our  appointments.

5). Rebuilding some of the 278 articles written to be used on this site under “Primitive Life Styles”, seems there’s always one more to write up ……

6). Ride herd on some of the neighborhood kids, they like to hang out here in my garage and we repair bikes to wagons and try and make something they could use from time to time. Like a neighborhood baby sitter.

I keep telling them I’m too old for babysitting, the young mothers just smile and tell me what a good friend I am to their kids ….. My wife says I’m a sucker for a pretty face (I guess I am and I like the hugs I get from the neighbor ladies).  8)   :lol:  

 

[markthenewf]

I'm a gamer. I fly an F/A-18 in a simulation called DCS. Not really a game. It takes about a year to learn the plane. We have real F/A-18 pilots flying it.

I also fly fish.

I did a bunch of MS Flight Sim a few years ago.  Had the high-end sims for the ERJ, 737, 757 jets from PMDG and Captain SIM.  Used to use them online for 'group flights' where there's full ATC (ground, tower, departure, etc.) over diffrent airspaces.  Usually had 10 people or so flying as a staggered group from major hubs to other ones (ex. KIAH to KDEN) over the run of a few hours on Sunday evenings.  There was both text and voice comms as well.  I learned a lot about the systems, processes, and procedures.  I didn't have all the yokes and stuff, but I did have a higher-end joystick and controller.  I still have it all here somewhere, but it was just a time vampire that took away from everything else I wanted to do!

Not much of a fisherman.  I was the guy that would paddle the canoe out to where you'd fish, then lean back and pass out to the sound of lapping water on the hull.

 

[markthenewf]

4). Take the wife to her doctor’s appointment (half dozen a month) plus take myself or the dog and cat for our  appointments.

My wife and I always joked that the definition of being married is "always having someone to take you to the hospital".  It's becoming more of a truism the older we get!.

 

[Buck Conner1]

Mark that's a big "NO ****" remark.  :Red tup:

 

[Muley Hunter]

I'm a gamer. I fly an F/A-18 in a simulation called DCS. Not really a game. It takes about a year to learn the plane. We have real F/A-18 pilots flying it.

I also fly fish.

I did a bunch of MS Flight Sim a few years ago.  Had the high-end sims for the ERJ, 737, 757 jets from PMDG and Captain SIM.  Used to use them online for 'group flights' where there's full ATC (ground, tower, departure, etc.) over diffrent airspaces.  Usually had 10 people or so flying as a staggered group from major hubs to other ones (ex. KIAH to KDEN) over the run of a few hours on Sunday evenings.  There was both text and voice comms as well.  I learned a lot about the systems, processes, and procedures.  I didn't have all the yokes and stuff, but I did have a higher-end joystick and controller.  I still have it all here somewhere, but it was just a time vampire that took away from everything else I wanted to do!

Not much of a fisherman.  I was the guy that would paddle the canoe out to where you'd fish, then lean back and pass out to the sound of lapping water on the hull.

Flight sims can be fun. I'm more into the combat, because.......well......I like to fight. 

They say to keep the brain sharp when you get older you need to exercise it. Well, that F/A-18 sure exercises my brain. It makes it bleed. There are so many systems to learn it's insane. I enjoy the challenge. I don't think the air force has any 75-year-old fighter pilots, so I give myself some slack. What a 20-year-old can learn in a couple of days might take me a month. No problem, I have lots of time.

 

[Jim Friedly]

Another fly-fisher here......fresh and salt water......
Been a ''free miner ''since 1978 here in BRITISH COLUMBIA (amature prospector......
for every dollar of gold I ever found<its probably cost $ 300 in cold cash for supplies and expenses>>>>  I   WILL hit it big one day.......BUT at 71, I'm cutting a short stick!!!!

Anyone ever watched the old t.v .show ''the BEACHCOMBERS'' ? my son in law and I  are licenced log salvors/beachcombers.     we DON'T work too hard !!!!!! you can see SEYMOUR NARROWS from their house.....RIPPLE ROCK  biggest non nuke  explosion to finally blow up the 2 under water mountain peaks that sunk many ships and lives (GOOGLE ''RIPPLE ROCK'')
  life is tough on the big island......go fishing or hunting or wilderness hike-camp....go find cedar logs
   you get the idea...                life is pretty good....

 

[Jim Friedly]

in my previous post, I missed putting   FOR EVERY BUCK OF GOLD FOUND,IT  PROBABLY cost $300
in expenses  lol   lol

 

[Muley Hunter]

in my previous post, I missed putting   FOR EVERY BUCK OF GOLD FOUND,IT  PROBABLY cost $300
in expenses  lol   lol

At least you get something back. I don't squat back with my hobbies and they sure keep my wallet skinny.

 

[Jim Friedly]

BUT LOOK AT THE VIEWS YOU HAVE !!!!!!
      COULD BE LIVING IN DOWNTOWN DETROIT !!! :lol!: