Bottling Day -- Pumpkin Cider #2

(Continued from last week)

Ready to be filled!

It was time to bottle my latest batch of pumpkin cider.

Gravity did its job and settled out any remaining pumpkin and other schmutz floating in the beverage. All that was left for me to do is add in a little apple juice and bottle my beverage.

Deep Fried Cheese Curds from California

Happy cows do come from California

At the farmer's market today, one of the sellers had fresh cheese curds for sale. Having sampled these before, I knew these were high quality. I decided pick up a package and put my cooking skills to the test by crafting a Wisconsin culinary delicacy, fried cheese curds.

Check in -- Pumpkin Spice Cider

I took a look at my new batch of Pumpkin Cider today after 1.5 weeks of fermentation.

My brew "closet" at large

A quick gravity reading showed it was down to 1.000, giving it an ABV of 10%. I didn't realize it would get that high! A quick taste test definitely proved it was up there.

Bicycle Stereo

So as I mentioned in the headphone jack post, I wanted to build a stereo system for my bike that could compete with traffic noise.  Since this is southern California, that means a lot of traffic to compete with.  Here's what we have to work with:

double speaker - <$1 rummage sale
oval speakers - $3 thrift store
"160W" amp - $5 garage sale
motorcycle battery - $7 swap meet
switch - $3
random wood scraps, reused screws, cables and connectors - $0

Wake up...it's the first of the month -- November 1 Garden Update

The garden survives another downpour.

October has come and gone. It was time to put away the costumes, chow down on some leftover candy, check up on how the plants were doing. It was a rainy Halloween in Northern California, which probably dissuaded potential trick-or-treaters this year. But what's bad for holiday activities can benefit the plants well.