Hello. I’m in need of constructive criticism, advice, etc.

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Imissedthepoint
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Joined: Tue Oct 04, 2022 2:22 am

Hello. I’m in need of constructive criticism, advice, etc.

Post by Imissedthepoint »

Cheers all. I found this group while researching the pectin enzymes on my little journey of trying to figure out what I’m doing with this stuff. I knew basically as much as my kids did about it maybe nine weeks ago, and was originally just trying to teach myself applied chemistry. Alcohol has a ton of great uses, plus I thought I might kill my scotch bill in the process. I always start new things with the free test- if I can do it in both an interesting way and for free(that’s both money and resources I already had the first time and succeed(and by succeed I mean even by a frog hair), I’ll invest a little bit more in it than time and see where it goes. With that in mind, I grabbed scrap plumbing left under my crawl space, a keg at least 15 years buried in my woodshed, bread yeast from the drawer, and whatever carb rich foodstuffs I could find in my cupboard that were @ or close to expiration and got to work. The ferment smelled a little gross, so I figured out how to fix it, and, to fulfill the no money/resources and keep-it-interesting clauses, I salvaged an old projection screen from someone online, took the fresnel lens, rigged up a half arsed wooden frame for it to make angle adjustments, and turned the sun into my heat source… it was a pukey, gross mess, but after cursing at it a couple days and waiting another couple days for the weather to cooperate, I managed to get double the recomended head shots off, pulled one potable ounce, shut it down for about a half hour with a baseball bat(that felt really good, btw), and then proceeded to drink half a fifth of store bought scotch over the course of the rest of the day and evening just in case I accidentally poisoned myself(and to celebrate actually doing something that I not only didn’t think I was capable of doing, but also maybe being the only person on the planet as dumb as I am to do it with a 5’ x 6’ magnifying glass… anyway, I put a little money into it and more research, called my lawyer to help keep me out of trouble, and, long story short, I’ve been getting offers(which I’ve declined, of course, at least until it’s govt approved and taxed) on the very first run… I have learned so much since then about physics, biology, chemistry, engineering, history, the law, the culture of this thing, and every new thing I learn about creates two or twenty new questions. Another thing I learned, which is also why I’m here, is that a huge chunk of the knowledge associated goes anywhere from unproven to completely false. I mean, I figured out quickly that the compliments and offers weren’t all just smoke to encourage me as soon as I got a chance to start talking to the a-holes that don’t sugar coat anything to you past your fifth birthday. This interest has been around since Neolithic man discovered that the drops of liquid on their ferment jars with the top half shaded got you buzzed more quickly than normal. That’s 4000 years or better. At least 4,000. So I don’t feel remiss to say that my two whole months worth of experience shouldn’t give me any right to even speak up at all, let alone make stuff at this point that could objectively be considered better than most of the stuff on store shelves. I almost quit altogether a few times now because humility is very important to me and coming into the game at the level I have requires at least a little bit of arrogance, because it means that at least once a week, even as clueless as I am, I have to openly disagree with dudes who have been doing this long enough to earn their stripes telling me or showing me something that’s so completely wrong that it going to hurt or kill somebody if they keep it up, and usually it’s themselves. I only stayed with it out of both the joy I’m getting in doing it, and because the same life changing medical stuff that’s allowing me to be at this twenty hours a day instead of being in the factory qc lab that I had to quit after years of working seven days a week year in and year out is forcing me to figure out how to make more money in the next 50 weeks or so than I would normally see in a decade. My point is that I want to do this right, not only because it’s so much fun, but because it’s the only thing I’ve ever created myself that has brought joy to the people who sample it(again-by smell mostly, because tasting it is of course in a grey area, both legally and morally, and I am a law abiding citizen). That’s a ton to put down, so well done if you made it this far. I’m almost done. My point to all of it is that I’m tired of either being looked at like I’m some kind of wizard or outright told I’m lying about it being stuff I created; I need a mentor of sorts that truly gets the way it all works, and I need to talk to people who, like me, get excited about someone contradicting me politely, because it’s either an opportunity for at least myself to learn, but usually means that everyone involved learns. If I hear something I’m doing is wrong or just there’s a better way(and I do want to hear that, because that should be more true than not at this point), I would love if it was followed by a specific set of objective reasons and maybe a lesson on how those reasons matter, instead of someone just getting more aggressive in their posit in the place of proof. Respect to others beliefs and traditions is a big deal for me, so I won’t challenge the positions of my elders unless it’s a safety thing. I’m sick of just getting more silent and doing all this on my own, and I don’t expect many or any who might read this to understand how humble I’m actually being when I’m saying this stuff. I can’t even speak to my brothers about it, for instance, because they’re both stuck on a particular falsehood involved that’s moonshine’s equivalent to tomatoes being considered poisonous. I figure that’s way more than I needed to say, but the med issue I’m dealing with is the fact that I’ll probably be fully blind inside of a year if I don’t figure this out, so I type a lot in case I suddenly can’t anymore…. Please- comments, suggestions, or even call me a jerk if it makes you feel better. I don’t care about the subtleties of decorum unless I have to, obviously, so please let there be a handful of you thousands strong with the same approach I have. Alright- thanks for your time folks and I hope it made sense.
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Bushman
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Joined: Tue Mar 30, 2010 5:29 am
Location: Pacific Northwest

Re: Hello. I’m in need of constructive criticism, advice, etc.

Post by Bushman »

Welcome, your introduction was hard for me to read but I am not the grammar cop. Not sure how many will respond but enjoy the forum.
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BlueSasquatch
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Joined: Mon Sep 14, 2020 6:00 am
Location: Midwest

Re: Hello. I’m in need of constructive criticism, advice, etc.

Post by BlueSasquatch »

This is a fun hobby, it can be as complicated or as simple as you want it to be, this forum is the right place to be. You can learn from others and share with others, where it can be much trickier or downright dangerous to do so in person with others. Friends and Family don't always understand, so again the forum is a good place to share with like-minded people.

I'm not sure what you're looking for in your post. If you have the ability to share pictures of what you made, both of your physical still and your recipe, people will be able to help you out, to make sure you stay safe.
"In the silence of the study one can discuss theories, but only in practice one becomes an artist" - Meunier
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Salt Must Flow
Distiller
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Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2022 2:06 pm
Location: Wuhan China (Novel Coronavirus Laboratory)

Re: Hello. I’m in need of constructive criticism, advice, etc.

Post by Salt Must Flow »

I deleted and sent as a private message instead.
Last edited by Salt Must Flow on Tue Oct 04, 2022 7:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Bushman
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Posts: 17988
Joined: Tue Mar 30, 2010 5:29 am
Location: Pacific Northwest

Re: Hello. I’m in need of constructive criticism, advice, etc.

Post by Bushman »

This is what I was afraid of with the OP’s original post. The welcome forum is for introductions and welcomes. Let’s try to keep detailed information in the proper threads.
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