A couple weeks ago I started a brew of Mead. This is my first attempt at brewing Mead - I generally brew up a couple large batches of hard cider in the fall each year, but that's about it. For those of you unfamilliar, Mead is simply fermented honey water.
For my brew I started with 6.5 lbs (about .6 gallons) of honey mixed with 2.5 gallons of filtered water. I them brought the mixture to boiling and then skimmed the top after about 15 minutes. I made sure to keep the mixture stirred while boiling so as to not burn the honey.
While the mixture was cooling, I sterilized my fermenting containers using a mixture of bleach and hot water then rinsed throughly to ensure no bleach was left behind.
After cooling the mixture to room temp (~75 F) I poured it into my 6 gallon container that had 2 teaspoons each of citric acid and yeast energizer. I then added a vial of While Labe Sweet Mead / Wine Yeast (WLP720), aerated, then covered the pail with the lid and an airlock to ensure no bacterial would enter. For the first 5 days I opened the container each morning and stirred vigorously for about a minute. The first stage of fermentation was very rapid and resulted in a lot of foaming - this is the reason for a 6 gallon container for only 3 gallons of mixture (referred to as "must" during this stage).
Approximately 4 days into the fermentation I juiced enough cherries to make about 1.5 cups of fresh juice using my Mr. Juiceman (that I bought years ago and have hardly used). This was a great way to juice with as I did not have to pit the cherries first - just put them in whole and the machine took care of the rest. Adding this juice to my 3 gallons of must caused a surge in fermentation over the next 3 days.
I have now transferred (racked) the micture to a 3 gallon glass bottle to continue the fermentation process. Siphoning the liquid from one container to another helps to remove sediment from the liquid. This results in throwing out a small amount ot the liquid. Once the must had been transferred to the glass bottle there was about .5 gallons of space left - I topped this off with some more honey water mixture and sealed the bottle with an airlock.
I am now waiting for the mixture to slow down on fermentation, but not stop. I will then transfer it to yet another bottle to remove more sediment. Once the mixture starts to clear I plan to bottle 1 gallon of the misture , priming each bottle with a little corn sugar or honey to cause just a little more fermentation which will produce a sparkling mixture. The remaining mixture will be allowed to complete the fermentation and will be racked a couple more times yiled a clear liquid. Once I reach the desired clarity, I will bottle 1 more gallon and put the remaining mixture into a 5 litre oak barrel to season on the oak. I will check the mix weekly until the desired plavor is attained, then bottle the remaining gallon.
While I am taking this further than most new to making Mead will, I think you can see how easy it is to make, not to mention cost effective. Not including the equipment (buckets, pans, bottles, etc.) it costs about $2 for a good wine bottle of mead. This is a skill no survivalist should be without...
John
http://www.redbarnworkshop.com/
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
History Lesson
Got this from a friend this morning and thought I would share it:
For those that don't know about history. Here is a condensed version:
Humans originally existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunters/gatherers They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in the winter.
The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups:
1. Liberals, and
2. Conservatives.
Once beer was discovered, it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can was invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.
Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement.
Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q's and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement.
Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. The rest became known as girlie-men. Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided.
Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.
Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food is standard liberal fare. Another interesting evolutionary side note: most liberal women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't fair to make the pitcher also bat.
Conservatives drink domestic beer, mostly Bud. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives, athletes, members of the military, airline pilots and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.
Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America. They crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing.
Here ends today's lesson in world history:
It should be noted that a Liberal may have a momentary urge to angrily respond to the above before forwarding it.
A Conservative will simply laugh and be so convinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be forwarded immediately to other true believers and to more liberals just to tick them off.
And there you have it. Let your next action reveal your position.
John
http://www.redbarnworkshop.com/
For those that don't know about history. Here is a condensed version:
Humans originally existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunters/gatherers They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in the winter.
The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups:
1. Liberals, and
2. Conservatives.
Once beer was discovered, it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can was invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.
Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement.
Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q's and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement.
Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. The rest became known as girlie-men. Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided.
Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.
Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food is standard liberal fare. Another interesting evolutionary side note: most liberal women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't fair to make the pitcher also bat.
Conservatives drink domestic beer, mostly Bud. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives, athletes, members of the military, airline pilots and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.
Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America. They crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing.
Here ends today's lesson in world history:
It should be noted that a Liberal may have a momentary urge to angrily respond to the above before forwarding it.
A Conservative will simply laugh and be so convinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be forwarded immediately to other true believers and to more liberals just to tick them off.
And there you have it. Let your next action reveal your position.
John
http://www.redbarnworkshop.com/
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
The home garden project
About 2 months ago I got the urge to start some raised bed gardens. I got the idea from a friend of mine who lives up in the mountains of northern Arizona and got the nudge to move forward from listening to Jack over at thesurvivalpodcast.com.
I started by deciding that the purpose of these raised beds was to:
1. Compost clippings from my yard - tree branches, tiff lawn clippings, etc.
2. Compost household waste: all kinds of organic mass (bananna peals, rotten fruit, etc.)
3. Provide a staging area to develop a rich soil to be then moved to the area where my kid's currently have a giant sand box and swignset from Costco.
4. Provide a modest amount of fruit and vegetables in the process of developing the larger garden.
Once I developed in my mind what the purpose of the beds was, I then decided that I needed to utilize a better class of materials to build the beds as I don't want to build them again, and I need them to last several years at least. With that, I decided to use redwood 2x6 and 3x2 board for the construction. I purchased (7) 8' 3x2's, (3) 6' 2x6's, and (6) 8' 2x6's. Using these boards I built 3' x 8' boxes that have 4' vertical posts at each corner and the middle of the 8' sides. I also built a frame at the top to allow me to install shad cloths, or to put a cloth other the beds when we get our once or twice a year hard freeze to protect the plants. With our climate I will be able to grow food year around with these boxes. I also put a 1" hole every 1' around the entire bottom of the box and used some wire mesh on the inside to ensure my soils would not come out through them, but allow for drainage during our monsoon.
I started filling these boxes with (in order from the bottom up):
Tree limbs in the bottom
A nice layer of straw,
Grass clippings from the yard
Forest mulch
Organic material from the house for composting
Peat moss
More forest mulch
Top soil
I filled the boxes to the top - 18" deep, making sure the whole thing was damp, not wet as I filled the boxes. Once I had done this, I began to plant. In my boxes I have a wide variety of peppers, some tomatoes, various herbs, cucumbers, and pumpkin.
I then added a humdred red wrigglers to each of my 4 boxes and allowed them to get into the soil. I have also added a drip irrigation system with a battery powered timer attached to the spigot out by the garden. This was added because I needed to make sure watering was consistent and also would be done when I took the family out on the camping trips this summer.
So far I have been able to harvest some herbs and have some beautiful peppers just about ready to go into my very first home grown salsa. I have some cantaloups starting to grow, but I have not seen any watermelons as of yet. There are some pumpkins starting, and the cucmbers are in full bloom so I expect to get some of those. The tomatoes are not doing so hot, but I didn't get those planted until late, so that was to be expected.
I should have waited a couple weeks after filling the boxes to allow some settling before planting, but I will just add some more mulch and soil to each box when I get to the fall planting. It would have also been nice to have the worms earlier on, but they are in there now. I am experiencing a little trouble with the pests, but I am getting that under control by using a soap solution and diatomaceoius (sp) earth spread in the beds.
One unexpected benefit for me with these is they give me a nice place to go have my first cup of coffee in the morning and do a little reading. It seems the temperature amongst these is about 5 degrees cooler. I will post more in about this subject when I start to harvest from these gardens.
John
http://www.redbarnworkshop.com/
I started by deciding that the purpose of these raised beds was to:
1. Compost clippings from my yard - tree branches, tiff lawn clippings, etc.
2. Compost household waste: all kinds of organic mass (bananna peals, rotten fruit, etc.)
3. Provide a staging area to develop a rich soil to be then moved to the area where my kid's currently have a giant sand box and swignset from Costco.
4. Provide a modest amount of fruit and vegetables in the process of developing the larger garden.
Once I developed in my mind what the purpose of the beds was, I then decided that I needed to utilize a better class of materials to build the beds as I don't want to build them again, and I need them to last several years at least. With that, I decided to use redwood 2x6 and 3x2 board for the construction. I purchased (7) 8' 3x2's, (3) 6' 2x6's, and (6) 8' 2x6's. Using these boards I built 3' x 8' boxes that have 4' vertical posts at each corner and the middle of the 8' sides. I also built a frame at the top to allow me to install shad cloths, or to put a cloth other the beds when we get our once or twice a year hard freeze to protect the plants. With our climate I will be able to grow food year around with these boxes. I also put a 1" hole every 1' around the entire bottom of the box and used some wire mesh on the inside to ensure my soils would not come out through them, but allow for drainage during our monsoon.
I started filling these boxes with (in order from the bottom up):
Tree limbs in the bottom
A nice layer of straw,
Grass clippings from the yard
Forest mulch
Organic material from the house for composting
Peat moss
More forest mulch
Top soil
I filled the boxes to the top - 18" deep, making sure the whole thing was damp, not wet as I filled the boxes. Once I had done this, I began to plant. In my boxes I have a wide variety of peppers, some tomatoes, various herbs, cucumbers, and pumpkin.
I then added a humdred red wrigglers to each of my 4 boxes and allowed them to get into the soil. I have also added a drip irrigation system with a battery powered timer attached to the spigot out by the garden. This was added because I needed to make sure watering was consistent and also would be done when I took the family out on the camping trips this summer.
So far I have been able to harvest some herbs and have some beautiful peppers just about ready to go into my very first home grown salsa. I have some cantaloups starting to grow, but I have not seen any watermelons as of yet. There are some pumpkins starting, and the cucmbers are in full bloom so I expect to get some of those. The tomatoes are not doing so hot, but I didn't get those planted until late, so that was to be expected.
I should have waited a couple weeks after filling the boxes to allow some settling before planting, but I will just add some more mulch and soil to each box when I get to the fall planting. It would have also been nice to have the worms earlier on, but they are in there now. I am experiencing a little trouble with the pests, but I am getting that under control by using a soap solution and diatomaceoius (sp) earth spread in the beds.
One unexpected benefit for me with these is they give me a nice place to go have my first cup of coffee in the morning and do a little reading. It seems the temperature amongst these is about 5 degrees cooler. I will post more in about this subject when I start to harvest from these gardens.
John
http://www.redbarnworkshop.com/
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Test your preps!
As noted in my previous post, it is important to test your equipment on a regular basis. It should be noted that it's important to checkout any new equipment BEFORE taking it to the field. First off, if there is something wrong with it you have a chance to exchange or repair the item before you need it. Most retailers will only exchange items for a limited time, so do yourself a favor and check the item out as soon as you get it home, and deal with any issues as soon as possible.
The second reason to check your equipment regularly is highlighted in my previous post - stuff can go bad just sitting on a shelf. I live in the desert of Arizona where the air is dry as a bone most of the time - this didn't prevent the valves on my stove from rusting up almost causing a real issue with my last camping trip. I should have known better with my 10 years in the military, I can't claim I don't have the proper training. Everybody needs a reminders sometimes....
By checking out your equipment when you buy new stuff, or just performing normal maintenance you will be familliar with the items you use which translates to quick and easy setup when it comes time to utilize your stuff - whether you are on a family camping trip or during an emergency situation. I like to setup my tents at the beginning of the camping season to air them out and make sure nothing has eaten holes in them over the winter while they are stored. At the same time I also set them up and thoroughly clean them out before storing them for the winter. These two steps make sure I have a good place to sleep at night when I get where I'm going.
I cannot stress enough how much of a difference it makes to check your stuff. We use a checklist for our outings, I have even taken it to the level of having a list for each container so I know what is (or should be) included in each of our bins / bags. This makes the process much quicker when we take a family camping trip, but more importantly gives us piece of mind that if there were an emergency requiring evacuation we can accomplish this in a minimum of time.
John
http://www.redbarnworkshop.com/
The second reason to check your equipment regularly is highlighted in my previous post - stuff can go bad just sitting on a shelf. I live in the desert of Arizona where the air is dry as a bone most of the time - this didn't prevent the valves on my stove from rusting up almost causing a real issue with my last camping trip. I should have known better with my 10 years in the military, I can't claim I don't have the proper training. Everybody needs a reminders sometimes....
By checking out your equipment when you buy new stuff, or just performing normal maintenance you will be familliar with the items you use which translates to quick and easy setup when it comes time to utilize your stuff - whether you are on a family camping trip or during an emergency situation. I like to setup my tents at the beginning of the camping season to air them out and make sure nothing has eaten holes in them over the winter while they are stored. At the same time I also set them up and thoroughly clean them out before storing them for the winter. These two steps make sure I have a good place to sleep at night when I get where I'm going.
I cannot stress enough how much of a difference it makes to check your stuff. We use a checklist for our outings, I have even taken it to the level of having a list for each container so I know what is (or should be) included in each of our bins / bags. This makes the process much quicker when we take a family camping trip, but more importantly gives us piece of mind that if there were an emergency requiring evacuation we can accomplish this in a minimum of time.
John
http://www.redbarnworkshop.com/
Monday, July 6, 2009
Trangia Stove Kits
I pulled a few from stock and put them in the BOB's as well as my truck box.
I went camping the other weekend and took my CampChef clone that I hadn't used in a couple years - learned a little lesson there. Seems the valves on all 3 burners had rusted and would not turn.
I pulled out the Trangia from the truck and employed it to heat up the coffee in the morning and it worked great for me. It was about 40 or so up in the white mountains, although it did take a while to fully heat the burner to get it operating at capacity.I was able to get two out of three burners to function (under duress) after striking them straight in with the back of my axe to break the rust bond. It turned out OK, definitely not optimal as the center burner was the one that would not work. That kinda made it hard to fully utilize the 2 burner stainless griddle.
Take a lesson from me - always check those valves when taking the propane equipment out, and some WD-40 might just go a long way....
John
http://www.redbarnworkshop.com/
I went camping the other weekend and took my CampChef clone that I hadn't used in a couple years - learned a little lesson there. Seems the valves on all 3 burners had rusted and would not turn.
I pulled out the Trangia from the truck and employed it to heat up the coffee in the morning and it worked great for me. It was about 40 or so up in the white mountains, although it did take a while to fully heat the burner to get it operating at capacity.I was able to get two out of three burners to function (under duress) after striking them straight in with the back of my axe to break the rust bond. It turned out OK, definitely not optimal as the center burner was the one that would not work. That kinda made it hard to fully utilize the 2 burner stainless griddle.
Take a lesson from me - always check those valves when taking the propane equipment out, and some WD-40 might just go a long way....
John
http://www.redbarnworkshop.com/
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