I'm not dead but for the next few months I will not be able to post to the site. the N00b and the Tassie Beer Doctor may well keep posting in my absence however.
The reason is simple: I'm entering my final year of a GradDipPsych and need to get really bloody good marks so all distractions are being limited. My Facebook account has been deleted, my brewing has been busy of late so I don't have to worry about planning brews during the academic year, and I've even negotiated time off work to accommodate my studies. This coupled with a young family means, for now at least, something has to give.
On the other hand, when I do return I've got things to share like a great new yeast harvesting device working amazingly well, a killer chiller build, the source code for my combrewtor written to ver1.0 and my oast box build went without a hitch - so it's ready to dry the masses of East Kent Goldings and Pride of Ringwood hops that are growing outside the brewery right now!
If anyone is interested in taking on the EcoFV conical fermenter project email me and we can come to some arrangements. I have had positive discussions with a plastics molder and have a verbal agreement for national distribution in place that I'm willing to discuss with the right person.
See you after the exams...
I'll be the guy with bags under his eyes and a large cold beer in hand ;-)
The n00b corner: rookie shit 1/24/2013
This past weekend, the n00b brewed his sixth batch of beer, this one a honey blonde ale in honor of his daughter's first birthday coming up next month.
But despite his modest and growing experience, the n00b retains his uncanny capacity for glorious disasters, as evidenced by his latest experiment. You may recall the folly of my first bottling attempt, when most of my bottles failed to pressurize. Finding myself down to the last bottle of my first homebrewed beer, I decided to call a Hail Mary.
Having received a brand-new SodaStream from n00b Sr., I thought to myself, "Hey, I could totally put the fizz back in this beer!" I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story:
...So there you have it, kids. Always remember to fizz the water first, then add the flavor.
And as always: drink safe, drink well,
-the n00b
Miss Wee n00blette
But despite his modest and growing experience, the n00b retains his uncanny capacity for glorious disasters, as evidenced by his latest experiment. You may recall the folly of my first bottling attempt, when most of my bottles failed to pressurize. Finding myself down to the last bottle of my first homebrewed beer, I decided to call a Hail Mary.
Merry Christmas, sucker!
Having received a brand-new SodaStream from n00b Sr., I thought to myself, "Hey, I could totally put the fizz back in this beer!" I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story:
...So there you have it, kids. Always remember to fizz the water first, then add the flavor.
And as always: drink safe, drink well,
-the n00b
Drunk Santa 12/25/2012
Merry Christmas from the Beer Engineer!
Remember, drink responsibly & stay safe - not like this old fart from the frozen north..
Remember, drink responsibly & stay safe - not like this old fart from the frozen north..
Automatic Tesla Beer Tap? 12/24/2012
So. You're an engineer at Tesla Motors and you design cool cars. You even have Elon Musk championing your corner. What do you do when you have some downtime?
You take an automatic door handle from your workshop and hack it to fit the beer fridge tap... so when you approach with a glass, it pours itself. Now that's beer engineering!
Here you are; the pinacle of beer hacks!
Here's the Model S Tesla in all it's finery.
Happy Holidays everyone!
Automating my Brewery 12/21/2012
These holidays I'm finally giving myself time to get a long-standing project going.
I'm using an Arduino platform to build an automation system for the Big Shed Brewery. I have all the hardware in a box - some is even installed already. All I have to do now is write the software code, compile it, test it and repeat the cycle until it works!
This was typed an hour ago (the text in BOLD will display on an LCD on the control panel):
void welcomescreen()
{
Serial.print("?c0");
delay(100);
Serial.print("?D01818000704040700");
delay(100);
Serial.print("?f");
delay(50);
Serial.print("?x01?y0Welcome To The");
delay(50);
Serial.print("?x03?y1HERMinator");
delay(50);
Serial.print("?x07?y2v");
delay(50);
Serial.print(versionnumber);
delay(50);
Serial.print("?x02?y3www.TheBeerEngineer.org");
beep(PinSpeaker,2093,500);
Serial.print("?g");
}
