Homemade butter

I made a little bit of butter. It's one of the simplest things to make, but also one of the most labor intensive.

I put 1 cup of heavy cream and a pinch of kosher salt in a plastic container that locks closed.

My 5 year old daughter and I took turns shaking it. It was a 5% : 95% split on the labor, but she tried her hardest.

It's amazing how it goes from liquid to foam and then, after what feels like days, suddenly it's a solid.

I hope this works!

I'm making a pumpkin pie.

As usual for me, making something straight forward never is.

The pie crust is a simple one that I first used a couple of years ago. It's very simple:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup shortening

1/2 cup water

Of course, I wanted to use some butter too so I added 4 Tbsp of butter as well. I've been happy with this recipe for some time.

It's simple, cut the shortening and butter into the flour:

add the water, blend together until it holds in a ball and chill.

Pumpkin Goo Recipe:

I never made a pumpkin pie before today. I don't have a favorite pumpkin goo recipe... so I made one up. It's a combination of 6 different recipes inspired by (and then bastardized) this vegan recipe, chiefly because I didn't have any cream/half-and-half/sweetend condensed milk.

1 can pumpkin

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ginger

2 large eggs

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup light corn syrup1 cup of 2% milk

Whipped it all together in a bowl, poured into my pie crust and put in a 425° oven for 15 minutes and then turned down to 350° for 45 more.

I have an idea!

Most of my sentences that start like that end up becoming long involved projects and this one is probably no different.

I need an arduino and an ethershield for this idea.
I want to make a device that I can "telnet" to from the internet log in, issue a command and start, shutdown or reboot my home pc.

I have exposed a couple of ports on my Ubuntu box to the internet. I’d like to keep it powered down unless I intend to use it.

Having a device like this would let me save energy and secure my machine just a bit better. If it's turned off, you can't hack at it.

Need a new project

I'm trying to think of a new project to do. Maybe a carboy warmer.

Pot rack

I had a 4' piece of metal and some random pipe flanges and pipe nipples laying around from previous projects and I needed a pot rack for the kitchen. So I thought... WELDING PROJECT! Impromptu welding projects are always fun. So I slapped this together.





Finished product:


I got the hooks from Ikea for something else and never used them.


Welding always makes me happy

Brewing again

I've been away from the brew kettle for 3 months now, but you'd never know from how smoothly yesterday's brew session went and how smoothly today's brew session is going.

I brewed a "Summer's End Hefeweizen" yesterday and I'm brewing "Patriot Steam Beer" today. I think it's pretty obvious I've done this a few times.

Some Photos:
The new brew setup (Nothing new, just rearranged)


Chillin


Racking to primary


The Fermentarium

Moving

Well, I've been moving into my new place for two weeks. I'm nearly done. One more week and I should be done. Then 2-3 years to unpack the boxes.