Another pointless thread

In another situation back in the late 90's, I was living in a very dry land. On the housing complex lived people that had honed survival skills to a very high standard and passed on their skills that allowed me to successfully re-ferment alcohol free beer that was readily available in the supermarkets there.

When tested, it was coming out at 8% to 10% volume and was some what potent. We even held Octoberfest festivals complete with T shirts, where blind tasting was done to determine the best brew.

I never made the end of an event.

Can you test the ABV when you home brew?

I used to use something like this when I did home brew many years ago

That's the one Chris, or very similar to the one I have.

It read about 4.8 ABV when the fermentation stopped...

That's a pretty good abv for a home brew

I have to regret to say that when serving in the RN I experimented with adding some of my rum ration into a ripe coconut, sealing it, left it in the armourers workshop until the damn thing exploded leaving me with a hell of a job to clean up. Never tried experimental alcohol again!

Only experimental alcohol here is a G&T in the sunshine.

Last sunny day tomorrow then a fortnight of rain forecast. We need the rain, but it means I'll have to start weeding all over again when it's over, and worse I'll have to clean the house while it's falling. Ho Hum, not a lot else to do with my time.

Tomorrow is a bank holiday here. The King's birthday, main event of the year normally. Be interesting to see how well people keep to the rules here.

Muckiest job imaginable just completed, moving the (almost full) compost bin ready for my new mini greenhouse which hopefully is coming next week. Luckily some of the content is ready to use so the tomatoes will get a boost.

Ah, the joys of composting. There is usually a slow worm or two in the heap when it's time to empty it. And a robin hanging around waiting for the chance to grab a bug or three. Mucky, hard work, but it gets you close to nature.

Steve

Compost bin emptying is Mrs HG's job..

...I fill it, she empties it, the garden gets fed.

Division of labour..

Lockdown boredom..

...just found so B&W film, chemicals and 'Essex' daylight developingbox..

Was going to have a play but looked up price of box on ebay..

£60!!

and the 120 film model I have is aroun £100!!

they only cost me £20 a few years back, maybe I should sell...

What would you do with the proceeds of sale that would give you as much pleasure as playing with chemicals and stuff? (OK, spare us the details...:wink

Steve

Stinking the house out with developer fixer is a pleasure..

... I'm keeping the kit, but was astonished at the cost of the items.

There's a modern version too called Labbox, starting at £179!

Film photography has got expensive...

Be careful - Mrs HG might retaliate with boiled cabbage.

Some smells are evocative of a time and place ... I did a chemistry degree, never was very good at experiments but the smell of acetone, ether and old lab coat are fixed in the memory. I rather like the smell of paint stripper even though it's probably stripping the inside of my lungs, too.

Steve

Jeys Fluid and carbolic soap take me right back to infant school. I can still visualise the caretaker cutting up huge blocks of soap for our tiny hands to hold. There was even a choice of colours - dark red and olive green - they both smelled equally strong!