Leaderboard

Happy Father's Day to @Hurlshot, @Gfted1, @Enoch, TN (where the heck has he been lately?) and all the other dads out there I'm forgetting or just don't know ARE dads.

For you, Azdeus: Let me see. I'm trying to remember if I did a 3 gallon or 5 gallon batch. I think I did a 3 gallon and put it into two 1 gallon secondary fermenters. I'm sure I have the recipe around somewhere, but I rely on my wife to keep track of it and she has no interest in helping me hunt down the exact recipe right now, but I can tell you almost certainly all of it. 3 Gallon blueberry mead (boil): 9 lbs fresh blueberries in season ~8 lbs local grown honey 4 gallons spring water (much more than necessary, but you need some leftover for other stuff) 1 table spoon yeast nutrient Wyeast Dry Mead (yeast) I think that's all the ingredients. Anyhow, fresh fruit, quality honey, and good water make a difference. Not that you need to fixate on those things. Good ol' store bought honey from the grocery works just fine also. I usually just wash the blueberries and strain out the stems and other debris. Some stems won't matter, but I like to keep tannins and astringents to a minimum. After they're washed and ready, I put them in freezer bags and crush them into pulp, lay them flat in the freezer, and let them sit overnight. The reality is that I'm lazy enough to use the frozen blueberries to help get the must into the right temperature range after the boil. If you're doing a non boil batch, you could just crush them and put them in without freezing. Also, there's some debate about whether to put in the fruit early or late. Later can mean more aromatics, but I always put the fruit in straight away. However, I sometimes do both and put non crushed berries (or whatever) in later to enhanced the aroma and to be decorative. Whether you let the fruit freeze or put it to the side, it's time to start the boil. I've made both boil and non-boil batches. I typically boil, which is a little more complicated since you certainly don't want to singe the honey at the bottom of a pan that's too hot. You have to skim the foam off the top as it boils. Non boil you don't worry about foam. You don't even need to bring it completely to a boil, and I've had several ranges I've tried. Just don't let it burn! Boiling requires bringing the must to a low enough temperature afterward that it doesn't kill the yeast when you add it. I usually do an ice bath for the pan (a big hulking assed thing) and then add the frozen fruit, which is what I did this time. Once it's cool enough you take a big funnel and put it into a carboy. Most people swear that only glass works, which is true if you're going to primary ferment for a long period of time, but my 3 gallon is plastic. I just never keep the brew in it for longer than a couple of weeks, month at most. I always transfer to a couple of 1 gallon secondary fermenters that *are* glass. At this point, getting back to this batch, the temperature is about right for the yeast which, for the one I used, I think just entailed getting it slowly to room temp while I'm doing other stuff and putting it in the must once it's in the right temperature range. Add the yeast nutrient and then put your (sanitized) hand over the top and shake like hell. Oxygen is bad later on, but getting some O2 into the batch at the beginning is good so you can get the yeast thriving. Yeast uses oxygen if it's available, but it goes to sugar if not. So, since oxygen is more efficient, getting enough in there to promote quick growth works well. After the Oxygen is gone, there's a lot of hungry yeasties to start making ethanol. We're set now. Just put in a sanitized bung and tubing. Some people use an airlock, and I do eventually, but fresh fruit can create a tremendous frothy mess and having tubing so that it can gather in a mason jar is good. Just fill the jar so that the end of the tubing is submerged and you're golden. This might sound disgusting or odd, but there's a lot of aroma and taste in the water in the mason jar during the first couple of days. I usually use the leftover water from the brew in the jar and then switch to vodka or some other spirit for the airlock. If you really want something tasty, you could use vodka or some other likely spirit for the mason jar and drink that up as the foam from batch gets pushed into it. Anyhow, this takes a couple of days if there's a lot of fresh fruit in the batch. Overall, I just kept this one in the secondary for several months before racking it. Clear bottle are cool because they really show off the color but light oxidizes and so you need to keep those clear bottles in the dark until you want to show off the goods. Anyway, I'm sure there's more stuff I'm forgetting to mention, but the important thing now is to keep the temperature from fluctuating and keep the fermenters, both the primary and secondary, in a cool, dry, and dark place. Have patience. I think it tastes best after 1 year, but you could go six months or even a few years if you're careful. I would say longer, but mead doesn't last that long around my house. I drink it up. Oh, don't forget whatever sanitizing agent you use. I think I'm still using star san. Also, keep in mind you need to have a corker or a capper with corks or caps when you rack. Hmmm, anything else? I think that's pretty much it. Good luck! Unfortunately, I can't ship to north of the border, but if any of you get back down to *my* neck of the woods, I'll have a special batch ready for you. :crooked smile with one raised eyebrow:

Hopefully this doesn't sound too insane but I really enjoy disassembling and cleaning my firearms. I do it so often that I've added CLP to my Amazon subscriptions. Happy Father's Day! My son has been grumps for the past two days.

It's not that bad actually. I use Hodgon's Pyrodex RS smokeless. Nowhere near as dirty or corrosive as real black powder. It's a little safer too with a higher ignition point. I do use Goex black powder for the the primers though.

He bought her drinks. She got drunk. He made a move. She said no. He stopped.

After the Dragonriders, next bossfight was Looking Glass Knight. Really easy one, just as few other areas before, little bit harder to get to it. The biggest issue was one room full of stone pikemen... I died there few times, but had not as many issues as on Ruin Sentries before Dragonriders. Only 4 tries were needed to down him. In the final try, I had some big luck staying and almost dies few times, but yeah, having the boss soul in the end is all what counts

i just thought of something. if you put a turtle upside down then the earth is on the back of the turtle and the world model of hinduism becomes almost real. i still need to think how to fit 4 upside down elephants on the turtle.

"I did not kill her, it's not true, it's bull**** I did not kill her I did NAHHHHT"

I know Deadfire was amazing... oh, yeah Outer Worlds was good too. 😁

Hello friends! For the first time, Obsidian will be offering an official summer internship program! There are plenty of positions open, from Audio Design, Concept Art, Community Manager, and more! For more details about the program itself, and to see all of the positions open, visit the Jobs > Internships page today!

Check my post in the previous page for an easy guide on how to easily watercolor your portraits. If something is not clear, just ask.

Ah, yes, two improper messages from seven years ago that were forgiven by the recipient. Let's destroy this man's social life and make sure he never works again! There is blood in the water and the outrage mobs a circling like sharks to get their pound of flesh.

Locker room talk.

I blame Max von Sydow dying.

...and because I skipped a day somewhere... 😳

The real thing....

Did some shooting with my new CVA Optima muzzleloading rifle today. Mainly fine tuning the scope. I bought a Burris XTR 25×50 for it. With 110 gr of powder and a .50 projectile I was seeing muzzle velocity of 1950 fps. But with a .30 in a plastic sabot it was over 2200 fps. The scope is marked for .50 up to 300 meters and .30 up to 480m. At 100m with a bench rest I was shooting 2" groups. A little wider at 300m so obviously there is still work to do.

You wont believe this, I have just bought this game on Steam....very good price and since its the EE I am excited about my journey

The International Association of Professional Baseball Players was a minor league circuit that operated in Canada & the USA from 1877 to 1880. Some famous minor league teams played in this league like the Syracuse Stars and Buffalo Bisons, Two teams continued to play in other leagues into modern times. One is the Guelph Maple Leafs. They went on into the Intercounty League, the Ontario Baseball Association semi-pro league, Class D Ontario League (affiliated), then finally the amatuer summer Intercounty Baseball League where they have played in a number of small cities in Canada. They finally folded in 2017 as the Guelph Royals. The other team from the International Association is still operating. Who it is: A) London Tecumsehs B) Columbus Buckeyes C) Pittsburgh Alleghenies D) Lynn Live Oaks

Sorry for asking again, but the clipping part I'm really having difficulties. If someone points me to any tutorial video, which I didn't find on YT, I would gladly do several portraits and post here. 🙃 P.S. These two portraits have been posted before, but have not been converted to watercolor yet.

As Keyrock mentioned it's more common than you might think- especially since AMD has open source Linux drivers. There are some things about those that the 'official' Windows drivers could really benefit from, like proper OpenGl support.

It's actually not. I can't remember the game, but I remember cases of games running on Linux via WINE with better performance than natively on Windows. It's extremely rare for newer games, but it's actually quite common for older games, since Windows' own compatibility layer for older versions of Windows is kinda garbage.

Advernum, were even the cows are condemned criminals.

Because I need something, anything to cheer me up, here's a nun throwing the first pitch at a White Sox game and painting the corner:

Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition. I've completed the original campaign and defeated Morag. Discovering that my build was not exactly the best to face an opponent who was immune to sneak attacks and critical hits at the end of the last chapter was unpleasant. Fortunately, my companion was able to kill the final boss almost by himself.

Obsidian, I just want acknowledge, How awesome you guys are. I literally have been waiting and searching for a single player game, that has an interesting story and writing since the Witcher. I have to say Obsidian you knocked it OUT of the park with The OUTerworlds. I think I can speak for a lot of people when I say this, Thank you so much. Thank you for putting so much hard work and effort into this and every game you do. I will forever be, playing Obsidian games for the rest of my life. You guys are what we want out of the gaming industry right now, you made a game, put so much in it, no other added transactions, and YOU FINISHED THE DAMN GAME. I can only hope that you guys will start a trend and bring this type of passion back to the industry. You guys are the best gaming company right now in my opinion and its not even close. I hope you guys continue to make great games and always put the heart and passion in all of them. Thank you Obsidian so much. From, a simple gamer P.S - Gonna go play the Outerworlds now I wanted to you ask everyone's opinion on Obsidian and how they compare to rest of the industry? good and/or bad. lets keep it civil too.

Thanks for this kind affirmation Chris. I know the Devs are most grateful when members of the community not only enjoy their creativity, but take the time to share such as you have!