Kyle Rankin @kyle@librem.one

@faziarizvi @weaving @fiberarts This could be a mismatch between the thickness of warp and weft, and the sett you have chosen. Just judging by pictures the sett of both warp and weft seem very dense for the yarn thickness. How many wraps per inch for both the warp and weft yarns? Are you doing a twill?

@whack Just heartbreaking to hear. I've been following you over these past few years and I know how cautious you have been.

@yaelwrites Hah! That sounds familiar! I also find myself putting off things that seem like they will be a slog and then when I start work on them, they somehow tend to go quickly and smoothly.

@deviantollam Easy Peasy!

@faziarizvi @weaving @fiberarts I started timing my projects earlier this year and for many projects the setup took more time than the actual weaving! I may stop timing though as I noticed it added a subconscious level of stress as though I were racing a clock, removing some of the meditative relaxation.

I have slowly moved from tolerating to somewhat enjoying the setup process even though it doesn't have the instant visual gratification of the actual weaving.

I thought it would be nice to begin the year with a little Sense and Sensibility. I haven't read this novel yet, but I really enjoyed Pride and Prejudice when I read it about two years back so I have great expectations.

#reading #janeausten #books

@faziarizvi Do a search for the hashtag, then click on the hashtag result that shows up so that all the posts with that hashtag get its own column you can scroll through. At the top right you will see a little slider icon that if you click it, will allow you to "pin" this column. Note that this is just how to do it in the multi-column "advanced" web interface.

@faziarizvi @weaving @fiberarts I've been there! After I started weaving one of my most recent projects, a few inches in I realized that I needed floating selvedges so I had to undo my work, measure out two new warp threads and hang them off the back of the loom!

@sinituulia I've heard that freezing linen makes it easier to iron.

@HalvarFlake I was in the same boat a few years ago. I had thought I found my jeans with a particular Levis "loose fit" number only to see them discontinue it. I would then pick their successor only to have them discontinue it a few years later. I ultimately settled on their 505s as they've produced that for many decades and are unlikely to discontinue it.

@shawnp0wers Of course I haven't always followed this approach, so I also have a ton of junk I need to get rid of :)

@shawnp0wers The critical side of me wonders how much current ideas of minimalism are really just about replacing owning (long-term value) with renting/disposable goods (short-term value) for convenience.

It's easy to have a minimal kitchen if you order out every day, but you do need to invest in cookware/appliances to cook at home. Same if you replace your wardrobe every year.

I'm no minimalist, but instead I'm trying to focus on long-term value, and avoiding waste with the things I do have.

@Tomlenegg Alternatively, some brewers don't go by volume, instead they use a tool called a refractometer which lets them measure the gravity of the wort with just a drop from it. They are targeting a specific pre-boil gravity and will stop sparging once the wort reaches that gravity.

@Tomlenegg Beyond normal sparging there is also a traditional sparging method in the UK called the parti-gyle method where you collect the first, second, and often third runnings from a mash and use each for its own beer.

The first runnings have the most sugar, and become your strong beer, the second runnings a standard ale, and the third, a mild. Some brewers like Fuller's use a modified parti-gyle and will blend their runnings in different %s for their beers instead of 100% from one batch.

@Tomlenegg So glad you asked! In general, you want to sparge until your kettle has the volume of liquid you want for the boil. We can assume after the mash that the grain is saturated and can't hold more water, so new water in = water out. So take the final volume of water you want at the start of the boil, subtract however much water you collected in the first runnings, and the difference is how much water you want to use for sparging.

@JoanESheldon When we harvest the hops we dehydrate them and then store them in vacuum bags in the freezer until it is time to use them. Moisture and exposure to oxygen and UV rays are apparently the main things to avoid.

@neilbearse I used White Labs WLP840 American lager yeast. This is a pretty by the book version of "Pizza Boy Dark" all grain recipe from Brewing Classic Styles except I subbed in my homegrown hops. A majority of my brewing comes from that book even after brewing for years because I get consistently good results.

All that's left is for me to clean my equipment. With the Grainfather this means pouring some water into it, adding some brewing cleaning (PBW in my case) heat the water, and then pump it through it and the counterflow chiller for 10 minutes, replace with fresh water, and then rinse for 10 minutes.

Thank you everyone who stuck with the thread to this point. It was fun sharing the brewing day with everyone. Feel free to post any questions you may have.

#brewing #happybrewyear #beer

@aeberbach Thanks! I started with a plastic bucket beginner brewing kit, a cheap 7 gallon aluminum boil kettle, and dry malt extract kits and that's what I recommend everyone else do to start.

How to Brew by Palmer is a classic and the best book to learn the process and science behind brewing. Brewing Classic Styles is a great book full of extract/all-grain recipes and it's still the main place I go for recipes (including the one today). Modern extract kits are really good.