I was bored and wondering what I could do to use the honey so I can give the giant honey containers that I have to my father to fill with fresh honey from his hives.

I kicked around some ideas and just decided to wing it with a kitchen sink of stuff and hope for the best.

I went to the grocery store and shopped around for some concentrate or juice that had no preservatives, was not too expensive, and sounded good in a mead/wine as I had some wine yeast left over from my Perry.

After spending time between the juice and frozen food isles, I decided on a Cherry Melomel using honey, sugar, frozen concentrate, and fruit.  This is a work in progress and will probably get additional doses of fruit and even concentrate if the flavor is lacking after primary fermentation.

Recipe:

• 3 lbs frozen pitted sweet dark cherries
• 4 lbs 8 oz (old) orange blossom honey
• 1 lb table sugar
• 4 cans (12 oz) Old Orchard Apple Cherry Juice (makes 48 oz 100% juice)
• 15 drops pectin
• 2 tsp yeast nutrient
• 2 tsp yeast energizer
• 4 campden tablets
• wine yeast

The Old Orchard Apple Cherry Juice lists as it’s ingredients:

• Apple Juice Concentrate
• Water
• Pear Juice Concentrate
• White Grape Juice Concentrate
• Black Currant Juice Concentrate
• Aronia Berry Concentrate (WTF is this?)
• Cherry Juice Concentrate

And indicates that after adding 36 oz fresh water the resulting juice is 100% juice (which means that there are no additional sweeteners or sugars (I can’t stand that juice is labeled as juice if it’s only 10% fruit juice and high fructose corn syrup as the remainder)).

I put the frozen fruit through a food mill into a nylon bag, added the remainder of the ingredients (minus the yeast) and enough water to equal 4 gallons and will let it sit on the sulfates (campden tables) for 24 hours and will pitch yeast tonight.

My OG was 1.072.

My plan is to let the primary finish and rack to secondary where I will add 5 lbs of milled frozen cherries and potentially another can of concentrate.

I’ll post updates as I have them.

I’m fermenting in a 7.5gal carboy and will rack after a week into a 5gal carboy for a two or three week secondary before bottling.

The recipe I used is:

• 9 lbs 8 oz Pale Liquid Extract (Breiss bulk)
• 1 lb Crystal Malt (60°L) for 30 minutes at 160
• 1 oz Centennial (9%) for 1 hour
• 1 oz Centennial (8.7%) for 20 minutes
• 2 oz Centennial (8.7% for 5 minutes
• 22 g Safale US-05 (two packets)

I will dry hop with:

• 1 oz Centennial (8.7%) after racking to secondary

My OG was 1.062 (down from an expected 1.067 which may be because I was a bit over 5 galons to the primary).

Due to my wife’s job(s), we have had to relocate three times in three years.  We were living in Blacksburg, VA for 4 years.  I had an awesome brewing setup.  I had an entire basic kitchen in my basement along with a double miller sink (stove, fridge, kitchen sink, cabinets, drawers, and the double miller sink) as well as a great cellar for fermenting and even lagering in the winter months. When we had to pack up and move to Raleigh, NC all the brewing gear got shoved in a shed or closet where we lived.

Since I know that was a short term arrangement, I never got around to brewing. Likewise a year later when we moved to Ithaca, NY; where we only lived for 10 months.

We recently relocated from Ithaca, NY to Knoxville, TN where we know we will be at least three if not five years while my wife completes a Residency in Equine Surgery at University of Tennessee, Knoxville. As such, I figured that I would have time to learn my new brewing area, brew a beer a month for a few years and have most of it finished when it’s time to pack up and relocate when she if finished (hopefully to a more permanent location).

I got energized by the Perry and since then I have cataloged my supplies, made  lists of required or replacement equipment, ordered some supplies online from Northern Brewer, and am prepared for this weekend’s brew.

I’ve decided to start back into the hobby slowly. I haven’t brewed in a while and brewing is a process that is mostly defined by your workspace. Since I don’t have the awesome setup I had in Blacksburg, I’m going to be learning my new area before I jump into an all grain batch with all it’s processes.

I opened my homebrew books for the first time in years and started reading How to Brew by John Palmer (I must admit I liked the 2nd edition much better than this current edition (3rd)) just to re-familiarize myself with the setup and refresh my memory.

I’m going to make an extract with specialty grains this weekend. I’ve decided on a robust porter, which is one of my favorite styles, and also one that is rather forgiving on newbie brewers.

I’m going to modify the recipe a bit based upon my tastes and availability of hops, but the base recipe from How to Brew is as follows:

Port o’ Palmer Porter

• 6.6 lbs pale malt extract (liquid)
• 1/2 lb crystal malt (60°L)
• 1/2 lb chocolate malt
• 1/4 lb black patent malt
• 1 oz Nugget (10% alpha) for 60 minutes
• .5 oz Willamette (5% alpha) for 40 minutes
• .25 oz Willamette (5% alpha) for 20 minutes

I’m not going to bump up the OG with another 1/2 pound or so of extract and I probably will not use that hop schedule as I’ll be doing a full volume boil. I’m going to visit Allen Biermakens, my LHBS, today and find some suitable ingredients and similar pacific northwest hop varieties.

I’ll update with final recipe and pictures of the brewing and process this weekend.

Here are the pictures:

The pre-boil:

Just pitched yeast:

The oops (overactive yeast):

The closeup (of overactive yeast):

The solution (1″ blow off tube):

My wife, Stacie, picked the really nice looking ones and is packing them in saw dust to soften so she can eat them (pears are her favorite fruit). I took the middle of the crop and made pear preserves with a very light syrup. This was challenging as there were lots of bad spots that were found once I pealed the pears so some of the medium sized pears were the size of walnut halves once peeled, cored, and the bad spots cut off.

I took the remainder of the pears and made a pear wine, which even though it’s technically not a Perry, (which is either a pear mead or a sparkling pear fermented pear juice and mine (recipe below) has a lot of added water and table sugar), I’m going to call it that as it has a nice ring to it.

I’ll probably end up carbonating some of the product and adding some lactose, maltose, or malto-dextrin or other non-fermentable sugar (or I could just use a stabilizer to kill all the yeastie beasties and then use more table sugar).

Here’s my process and a bit of my history as a home brewer. I used to brew, and brew a lot. I was making about two batches a month a few years ago.  I quit brewing as we were moving across country once a year for three years and I just never got where I wanted to set up all my supplies and brew. We recently landed in Knoxville where we will be for at least 3 if not 5 years. Therefore, I’ve decided to get back into the hobby. I will work my way into it and start with an extract and grains brew or two to get used to brewing and getting my setup all organized before jumping back into all grain.

The pears got me energized. I went to Allen Biermakens, my LHBS (Local Home Brew Store), purchased a new plastic fermenter (7 gal. food grade plastic bucket with lid) as the buckets I had carted around the country for years were in pretty bad shape and since I wasn’t boiling, I didn’t want to take the chance on making pear vinegar. I also picked up some wine yeast (Lalvin K1-V1116), some acid blend, yeast nutrient, some peptic enzyme, campden tablets, a large nylon straining bag, and an airlock.

The recipe I loosely followed is from the Winemaker’s Recipe Handbook, but I took about 20 lbs. of the smallest and hardest pears and sliced them thin with the skin on, cutting out the cores and any bad spots that I came across (much easier than peeling first). I put the slices into a large bucket which had water and a campden tablet tossed in. When I had cut all the pears,  I ran them through a meat grinder into a nylon straining bag suspended over my fermenter (I had already put three crushed campden tablets in the bottom of the frementer) . I ended up with a full bag of pear mush and about a gallon of pear juice. To the juice I added 12 cups of sugar, 9 quarts of water, the acid blend, the yeast nutrient, and the peptic enzyme. I stirred until the sugar was mostly dissolved and then placed the nylon bag of mush in the fermenter.  I let this sit for 24 hours, stirred again and pitched the yeast.  Within 24 hours, I had a very active fermentation and it’s still bubbling along (3 days later).

I’ll pull the bag of mush out after a week and rack after another week to a secondary.  I may have to rack an additional time or two to get the clarity I want.  I’ll post pictures once I have something good to look at (can’t see much now but a bubbling air lock on the top of a plastic bucket).

Here’s the recipe I followed (this recipe is for 1 gallon, which I scaled up by a factor of 3)

Pear Wine / Perry

• 4 lbs Pears
• 6 pts Water
• 4 cups Sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp Acid Blend
• 1/2 tsp Peptic Enzyme (read the label on what you buy as I ended up using 5 drops for the equivalent of 1/2 tsp (I used 15 drops total))
• 1 tsp Nutrient
• 1 Campden Tablet
• Wine Yeast

The process in the book is very detailed and could easily be followed by a beginner.

For the pear preserves, I simply peeled and cored pears until I had enough for very full (heaping) 4 quart saucepan.  While I peeled and cut, I placed the halves or slices (depending on what was left after cutting out the bad spots) into a citric acid solution (2 Tbs citric acid (available at any store that sells canned good … even Wal-mart) to a quart of water) to prevent browning and keep the fruit firm.

Once I had all the pears I needed, I drained them well and put them in a 4 quart saucepan and added water to about 1/2 way up the side (the pears contribute a lot of juice, if you fill the saucepan with too much water you will have a too much juice) and 3/4 cup of sugar (I didn’t want them swimming in super sweet syrup). Alternatives to the sugar would be to use white grape juice or apple juice in place of the water and sugar.  I heated this to boiling an let it boil for 5 minutes.

I had previously filled my canner (just a large enamled pot as I don’t have a pressure canner (yet)), placed my pint jars in the canner and had it at a rolling boil. Using my bottle grabber, I got a hot jar from the bath, filled it to within 1/2″ of the top, put a lid and screwed on the band and returned to the canner.  Once I had all 10 pints back in the canner I returned it to a rolling boil and processed for 20 minutes.

Below is a picture of my finished product. Once we finish eating the ripe pears, I’m sure these will be delicious.

We recently moved to Tennessee and now live within 20 minutes of the Tremont area of the GSMNP.  We have our own horses and trailer and these ride descriptions will be geared towards similar people.  There are plenty of rent-a-horse places both outside and inside the park for those that just want to try riding or have a story to tell when they return from their vacation. Some of the trails documented here are pretty rough and only seasoned riders and horses should attempt them.

I will try to put in detailed maps and a narrative of the ride for each ride.

A couple of pointers -

1. Review the rules and regulations for the area you are riding.  Know what is and what is not allowed.  Know when can and when you can’t ride (no point in driving
2. Learn the difference between a hiking only trail and a mixed use trail. It’s a great privilege to be able to ride in a National Park, don’t give the park a reason to resend that privilege.
3. Take plenty of water and a small first aid kit.
4. Be safe.  You will be riding in an area that is pretty remote and medical and veterinary assistance may be unavailable.
5. USE A MAP

I’ve heard of a couple who were lost 7 weeks after taking a logging road in the Pacific Northwest on their way to Vegas (one of whom died), this family in Death Valley, a group of SUVs getting lost in Utah, I remember a bus that tried to go through a tunnel that it didn’t fit through, a man who drove a bus into a lake, and another lake story, I’ve heard Park Rangers tell of getting calls from cell phones where someone asks how to hike out of where they are lost using a GPS, and many many others.  All usually blamed on the GPS.

Every one of these stories seems to “blame” the GPS, in fact this story calls it “Death by GPS.” As harsh as this seems it’s actually the “STUPID” that is the issue (so the story should be re-titled “Death by STOOPID”).

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m a gadget guy and I love my gadgets. I had an early version of the hand held Garmin GPS which was marketed to hikers, campers, and the like. I have an in-dash GPS in my car, my wife has the ubiquitous GPS suction cupped to her windshield, both our phones have Google Maps with turn-by-turn instructions (walking, public transportation, and of course driving).

Even with all that technology that I have, you will find in my glove box a nationwide map, at the bottom of my hiking day-pack you will find a compass and depending on where we are spending the day you will most likely find a trail map as well.

Two weeks ago my wife and I were horseback riding in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.  We went on a Saturday and did a day hike (with a trail map and compass in our day-pack) and looked for good trailer parking for our horse trailer.  That evening we looked at the horse friendly trails and the parking we had spotted and decided on a 10 mile loop for the horses.  We were maybe two or three miles away from the road when we came across a family (man, woman, teenage child).  They asked us which way to the road and how far.  We pointed them back down the trail we were coming up, told them were to turn and how the trail was marked.  He pulled in iPhone 4 out of his pocket and exclaimed how his “technology” didn’t work here. He had no map.

As far as we could tell, they drove up from some metropolitan area, using their in-car GPS or his “technology” entered into the National Park, parked, and started walking on what looked like a trail.  If you’ve ever hiked a “horse friendly trail” you would know they are muddier than the trails reserved for hikers only and usually covered in horse shit. We took pity on him and provided him with the $1 version trail map available from the Visitor’s Center and requested that he head directly to said Visitor’s Center, purchase a map, make a small donation to the trail crew, and ask a Park Ranger where to go spend his afternoon. What kind of idiot thinks you can just get out of a car in a National Park and start walking? Didn’t he realize that he didn’t have a cell phone signal, without which his “technology” wasn’t working?

My boss often states that in-car GPS are the “spawn of the devil.” Like me, he travels for business.  He always has a map in his car and usually a printout from Bing (he also thinks Google is the “spawn of the devil”) of his route. He often relates to these stories of tragedy “caused” by in-car GPS systems. I often reply with the title of this blog post.

Here’s my wrap-up of recent GPS issues:

• To the folks in Death Valley – It’s called “Death Valley” for a reason
• To the folks on the logging road in the Pacific Northwest – you lived in the British Columbia … what is wrong with you
• To the group in Moab – SUVs and GPS … real outdoor type folks aren’t you
• To the bus driver – pull head out of ass and watch minimum clearance of tunnel not your GPS
• To the other bus driver – pull head out of ass and watch the road (lake).
• To the woman who drove her SUV into a lake - see comment to bus driver

For years, ever since a spectular dinner at The Pink House in Savannah, GA, I’ve been “underdoing” my pork.  The dish I had at The Pink House was a medium rare pork loin dish with a disclaimer on the menu that the USDA does not recommending pork cooked to a medium-rare doneness.  I ate it, I didn’t get sick, and I’ve been doing it that way since then.

My dinner guests often scoff and ask for the “done” pieces of a loin and I have gotten away with hogging (pun intended) all the pink pieces.

Unfortunately, I dropped my kindle face down on some rocks and messed the screen up pretty bad.  I hemmed and hawed about getting another Kindle as the cost was pretty hard to justify (If I had dropped a book, I would have been out a few bucks).

However, being a gadget guy, I went ahead and made the decision to re-up and get another reader.  However, this time I went with the Barnes and Noble (All New) NOOK Touch.  I decided on this for several reasons and am very happy with the choice.

Here’s my list of pros and cons and my opinion of the differences between the Kindle and the NOOK:

Pros:

• Smaller
• Lighter
• Faster – no jarring e-Ink page turn, can fast scroll through a book
• No keyboard – touch screen keyboard is faster than the Kindle keyboard and with a reader you shouldn’t be typing much anyway.
• Expandable memory – Micro SD slot
• Supports ePub – in addition to the Barnes and Noble “Lend-me” you can also check books out from many online and local libraries that support ePub lending.
• Android based – can be rooted/jailbroken (some folks have even installed the Kindle app on the NOOK)

Cons:

• No browser
• This didn’t matter to me as my reader is for books. I have an iPad and an Android phone so if I needed to access the Interwebs, why would I use an e-ink based reader?
• No e-mail function
• Kindle has a feature where you can e-mail yourself a document and it will magically appear on your Kindle.  This wasn’t an issue for me as I had never used the feature on the Kindle.
• WiFi only
• Not really an issue for me as my Kindle was WiFi only, but if you wanted the 3G signal you would be out of luck with this particular device.

I used Calibre DeDRMed the remaining Kindle books I had not read and those that I had read that I wanted on the new device.

I’ve had it for 6 weeks and the only real thing I would add to this list is that sometimes when reading in bed with one hand I will inadvertently touch the screen and the page will turn.  This is a minor annoyance, and one I can forgive.

I also expect to see new features in a new release of the software (such as disabling touch screen page turning), browser, etc.

Other reviews:

1. Booksprung (yes, those are my comments)
2. PC Magazine
3. cnet Reviews
4. More on Google

Her biggest complaint is that I have purchased a few recent books on her Kindle and have been known to curl up on the couch with *her* Kindle on lazy weekends.  I also recently purchased an iPad, which has a Kindle App.  I’ve had the Kindle App on my iPhone for a while and since I’m leaving AT&T and going to Verizon, I recently downloaded the Kindle App for Android.

Here are my thoughts:

• e-Ink on the Kindle is far superior to reading on the iPad.  It is soft on your eyes and after a full day of reading, you really know whether you are staring at pixles on the iPad or the e-Ink.
• The iPod Touch, iPhone, and Android Apps are great for bathroom reading (at work?) or if you just want to read a page or three and are somewhere where it’s the only thing you have available (vs. the iPad or the Kindle itself).
• The iPad backlight is great. I can read late into the evening and not disturb my wife as the bedside light can be off. This is only possible because the Kindle App allows you to dim the iPad screen and therefore it’s softer on the eyes than reading in the dark with a bright display.
• The Kindle works brilliantly in bright sunlight and even with sunglasses on.  The iPad has to be set on maximum brightness and, as I discovered recently, is not visible while wearing polarized sunglasses.
• The iPad is a bit too heavy (1.5 lbs vs. 10.2 oz. for the Kindle) for just reading.  After several hours of reading in bed you can tell there is strain on your wrists holding up the iPad.  It’s more like reading a heavy hardback vs. a paperback.
• The battery life of the Kindle is several weeks of usage vs. 10 hours or so for the iPad (we only turn on the wireless on the Kindle to download new content and/or to sync our place), with Wireless turned on, the Kindle battery lasts days (vs. weeks).
• Synching between the multiple devices is a great feature. If you read your Kindle book on one reader, as soon as you open up that same book on another of your readers it synchronizes to the last page read (the Wireless network has to be enabled on the Kindle for this to work).
• eBook features on the Kindle are superior to those on the Apps on other devices (but this is probably a short term problem as Amazon is developing their Apps to have all the Kindle features (like highlighting, annotating, searching, etc.).

Now, the iPad also has a ton of other features and many many more capabilities than the Kindle but I just wanted to compare them as a reading device.  I still highly recommend a Kindle if reading is what you want to do.  I do not think that the iPad nor the apps on the smaller devices is really something you want to read from for hours on end.