I guess sometimes we can get into the weeds with the more, shall we say technical aspects of beer culture.
This is my review of Energren Valkyrie German Amber Lager:
During the worst year in living memory that everyone already forgot because this is a society of fools, one of the many commodities we witnessed was a shortage of was CO2. I know what you’re thinking: I thought the problem was too much CO2? Listen, I am not here to keep up with the doublespeak for you, do that on your own time.
At any rate there really is a shortage of CO2 and it is here that I would like to provide a small public service. You see the issues causing the shortage are twofold:
- The first is CO2 is produced for industrial purposes through ammonia and natural gas production. The entire Dollar backed universe decided they were going to take a big dump on Russia so the war/sanctions threw a big hit at Russian sourced supply.
- The second is an extinct volcano in Mississippi that previously sourced much of the domestic supply was discovered to be too contaminated for food grade CO2.
Since a number of you reading probably received something like this CO2 charged growler because your family has no idea what to buy you for Xmas or birthdays so they just find you…more stuff, this might become pertinent. Food grade CO2 is not the same as the regular CO2 that you might use to charge something like an airsoft gun. The reason you don’t want to just run to Wal-Mart and pick up a box of CO2 canisters is there are other things in the canister you don’t want in your beer.
Simple: the impurities. They are contaminants that are inserted in the tank along with the gas itself, and they usually consist of 1% oxygen, hydrocarbons, benzene, acetaldehyde, or ethylene to name a few. The other 99% of it would be the gas you paid money for, whether its industrial-grade propane, food-grade CO2, whatever. They help add to what makes each gas tank suitable for their intended application.
You definitely don’t want to be around benzene. Make sure its food grade.
You definitely want to be around this beer. I picked it up because they seemingly undercut nearly every other product in the cooler. Simple strategy, get the customer hooked and then jack up the price, right? I’ll let them pass on this one, this brewer apparently follows the Reinheitsgebot in spite of being CA based. So if you think rules created by medieval top men are what make beer good, then give them a try. Energren Valkyrie German Amber Lager: 3.8/5
Having spent a very substantial portion of my youth using CO2 for paintball, I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit that I never bothered investigating how it’s produced, or the difference between the industrial canisters and food grade. But then, I switched over to compressed air or nitrogen by necessity once I decided to delve into the expensive equipment on which I would piss away all of my free cash until college. The more you know.
Also, apropos of nothing, the prominent assisted suicide activist and renegade physician Dr. Philip Nitschke started a “brewing supply” company, Max Dog Brewing, selling nitrogen canisters packaged with tubing and a regulator that can be conveniently set to the flow rate appropriate for effectuating death by nitrogen hypoxia as a means of skirting assisted suicide laws. No idea if it’s still in operation.
That sounds like a really Nitschkian idea.
It’s a complete coincidence.
I don’t think I want that in my browser history
Also N2O. The industrial stuff is intentionally poisoned so nobody gets high.
You can always get “steal”a big bottle from the dental supply company and throw the evidence in a lake after you empty them.
One of the benefits of having a legit laboratory. And the EPA requirement to show that our NOx instruments don’t have interferences from various gases, including N20.
+1 skilled tradesman
Whippets are fun. Whipped cream is bullshit, but I purchased several cans in my youth for that express purpose. Never owned a cracker myself nor had an outlet to get whippets in bulk.
Def a fun high. Biggest risk? Makin’ sure people get enough O2. A nice NO2 mix would be lovely, but alas, The State can’t let folk have fun.
When a problem comes along, you must whippet.
That beer sounds up my alley. Doubt I can find it around here in my 4000-person town. May have to try Asheville.
Asheville has some great local options.
Wicked Weed made a mixed 6 of porters that was incredibly good. They must have 20 or so breweries in the area.
I’m looking for an OG Fat Tire replacement. I’m not that into beer that I would drive a distance for a specific kind. But it turns out the closest Total Wine is 2 hours away, so I’m stuck with what’s in Walmart or the grocery
CO2 is a product of so many reactions, both organic and inorganic, that I assumed there would be a huge excess of it captured in various industrial processes aside from fermentation. Given the amount of ethanol we foolishly produce as a fuel additive it would seem that would be captured and sold for non-food uses. I never really thought about it and in inorganic classes I dont really remember.
*I tried my batch of black cherry wine. I didn’t need to do a sophisticated qualitative analysis as one sip turned my tongue completely numb. Fuck. Phenol. Rather than distill that out I dumped the stuff. I guess I could have saved it for gargling sore throats away.
Sounds like you created a new flavor of MD 20/20.
I’m sure there are high school kids who would have paid good money for it.
From the now defunct TheSneeze.com:
Steve don’t eat it!
Scroll down for prison wine. My favorite review:
Regarding Red Prison Wine
Anthony: “I would drink this in prison.”
Steve: “I would drink this in high school!”
I don’t think I’ve seen CO2 reclamation at any of the breweries I’ve ever been to. Usually it’s just a tube (about as big around as a baseball bat) running down into a bucket/tub of water.
Quick search: “Ethanol’s carbon lifecycle is notable because the amount of CO2 emitted when ethanol is burned is the same amount that was removed from the atmosphere by corn plants during the process. This means that the combustion emissions of ethanol are close to zero.”
Huh.
The same is true for all forms of chemically stored potential energy.
Shows my pride in knowing and acknowledging my ignorance. I followed the serious pharma chem stuff I needed to at IU, but I never dove into it. I thought/assumed the “burning” would certainly play *a* chemical role. Just the addition of heat, but the reaction following is.. existent. I assumed it always ‘did’ something.
I’m guessing much money gets made on ignorance like mine. Fuck.
That sounds like good beer. I’m going to check if it’s available locally.
All of them are.
Better dust off those “Quality is Job One” commercials.
Ford (F)will recall 90,736 vehicles as engine intake valves in the vehicles may break while driving, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on Saturday.
The recall impacts certain 2021-2022 Bronco, F-150, Edge, Explorer, Lincoln Nautilus, and Lincoln Aviator vehicles equipped with either a 2.7L or 3.0L Nano EcoBoost engine, the NHTSA said.
As part of the remedy, dealers will perform an engine cycle test and replace the engine as necessary, free of charge, the regulator said.
Engine cycle test? What in blazes does that even mean?
They check if it turns over and if it makes that chush chush chush chush sound.
…are we still talking about the Ford products?..
… are we still talking about the Ford products?..
Ford products?
…Or my ex-wife…
Last page. Still makes zero fucking sense what the repair is.
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V635-5852.PDF
“Catastrophic engine damage that may result in loss of motive power”
Sorry, no May in the original. My mistake in copying.
And full engine swap too. Not a part replacement.
CO2 and no song by Devo?
Sorry, not sure about the reference, but here’s a kink to Devo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_QLzthSkfM
Link* Meh…Fuck it.
Whoops, whippets are N2O.
Dealers will inspect each vehicle to determine its cumulative number of
engine cycles. For vehicles that do not meet the engine cycle threshold,
dealers will accumulate high revolutions per minute (rpm) engine cycles
per a service procedure. Engines will be replaced on vehicles that do not
pass the engine cycle accumulation.
Hold it on the limiter for a while and see if it blows up.
+1 neutral drop.
+ put her in the ketchup!
And full engine swap too. Not a part replacement.
Easier/faster to just slam a fresh motor in than swapping the heads, I guess.
I have made it to Laramie and checked in with enough time to visit the Geological Museum this afternoon.
I’m glad I picked Laramie over Cheyenne, Southeast Wyoming is a desolate place where the stark landscape, desaturated color, dark, sparse trees so lonely they look like distant bushes is so bleak that I almost became depressed just driving through it. And poor Cheyenne is smack dab in the bleakest part of all. Just before Laramie you break through some hills and it doesn’t look quite so desolate on the other side.
Ya, but Cheyenne has the state’s only escalator!
Be that as it may, I am in Laramie, and I’m going to go find something to eat for lunch.
You all have a decent time at least.
“An escalator can never break. It can only become stairs.:
-M. Hedberg
An escalator can collapse leaving a void where it used to be.
That is quite broken.
It can also catch on fire, like King’s Cross
Cheyenne has the Historic Plainsman Hotel. I stayed somewhere in the southwestern part once, were the state prison is. Most windswept, desolate place I have been in a long time.
We’ll be passing through Fort Laramie in a few days on the way to the Black Hills. Then on to Lander, WY for a bike ride.
I had a lab partner from Laramie.
Wyoming has some beautiful parts, but not many.
I spent a week in Wyoming last December. About two hours south of Billings.
Can confirm.
My GTI is still in the shop. Parts on backorder.
*sigh*
Holiday weekend. No real good deals on steaks. $9.99/lb was the best I could find.
I have that exact Growlerwerks growler. Filling it up with Rogue Dead Guy as we, err, speak. They were out of Dragoon Sonoran Amber, a German Amber Lager style beer, my first choice.
So this is getting kinda weird.
It any good?
The growler works a treat.
The beer is quite good, but I like most beers, so. . . .
Thank you👍🏽
The growler does have a tendency to dribble after a pour. Easily managed by either (a) leaving your glass under the spout for a bit or (b) putting a paper towel down.
One more thing: The growler can be almost completely disassembled for cleaning/maintenance. I run PBW through them after each use (I turn off the CO2 for the last pint, which saves enough to run cleaning solution through it, which seems to be all it has really needed.
Meant to add that I got it as a kickstarter bennie back when they were a startup.
I’ve recommended them as gifts many times.
I played https://squaredle.com/xp 08/31:
*20/20 words (+4 bonus words)
⏱️ In the top 17% by speed
I played https://squaredle.com 08/31:
31/31 words (+18 bonus words)
📖 In the top 3% by bonus words
🔥 Solve streak: 422
https://www.longislandpress.com/2024/08/29/mask-ban-arrest-nassau/
– “Police said Castillo “continued to display suspicious behavior while attempting to conceal a large bulge in his waistband,” which was discovered to be a 14” knife”
I’ve been concealing a 14″ bulge in my waistband every day for the last 40 years.
I’m jealous.
You should have that checked by a doctor.
Colostomy bag?
There it is.
Funny how they never explain their reasoning.
@ Evil from the dedthred:
I didn’t leave the rattlesnake alone for a number of reasons:
It was a few feet from my house, in a traffic area.
I have nearly stepped on a couple of the damn things in bad light.
I have dogs, and a wife.
They are territorial, so it was going to be hanging around.
The raw desert comes to within a few feet of our house. See, above, re hanging around.
We aren’t exactly running out of them.
A friend of mine is a Native American who uses their rattles for ceremonial dress.
(Rattle)snakes are not territorial. They follow their food, so if you’re seeing a lot of snakes around then you probably have a rat or other vermin problem. Or your property has a lot of attractive hiding places.
If you absolutely must get rid of a snake, give it a quick spray with the garden hose. That will get it to move along, without getting so close that you risk getting bitten.
I should have been more precise – they aren’t territorial in the sense that they will fight off other rattlesnakes, but they definitely stick to a certain range.
Spraying it with water would have just sent it back into the desert, in the immediate vicinity of my house.
And, yes, for the reasons above, I absolutely must get rid of rattlers. And by “get rid of”, I don’t mean “scare them back into the desert right next to my house, to do as they please”.
Why is it going to disproportionally affect “communities of color?”. Do more of them wear masks because they are too ignorant to know masks don’t work as advertised? Or do more wear masks because POC are smarter and more health conscious than wypipo? Or, maybe…….
That’s where the riots and looting take place.
It’s standard fare from criminals and grifters. Anything that promotes societal integrity, rule of law, etc disproportionately affects people of color, i.e. systemic racism….racism which of course goes only one way.
They want to commit crimes without being identified. Race and socioeconomic status have nothing to do with it.
Oh, I forgot to add in ‘the children’.
Picked one of my yellow Scotch Brain peppers and ate the whole pod. Damn, that’s a tasty pepper. A bit spicy, but on the low end of my peppers.
I was unaware of this. Reading it, I certainly recognized issues I’ve come across, but never put together. Not self-deprecation: I rather enjoy being ignorant (tho certainly not of shit affects the Daily Life of Emperor Ev). There’s always something more to know about everything.
I also rather enjoy the Rheinheitsgebot. Duetschen do take beer seriously, but they (IIRC) have labeling ways to get around the 16th century ‘purity’ laws.’
Big Nanny loves children
The US Food and Drug Administration is instituting a rule that will require any retailer that sells tobacco products to check the identification of any tobacco buyers under the age of 30, up from the previous age limit of 27.
The agency announced Thursday that its final rule also restricts tobacco vending machine sales to spaces that are limited to people 21 and older.
The agency said the main goal of the changes is to make it more difficult for underage people to get access to these products.
About 250 children become smokers every day, according to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.
You’re just not hitting it hard enough.
“About 250 children become smokers every day”
Assuming that’s true, that’s not many at all in a nation of 350MM people.
And I do wonder what “become smokers” means. Had a cigarette for the first time? Pick up a durable habit? How durable? A few months/years (neither of which has any particular long-term health risks)? Several years or more?
At 10 bucks a pack those kids are getting a better allowance (proportionally ) than I ever got, which was none after about 14. Even then I had a paper route and wouldn’t have wasted my money on smokes.
Sure, and they are using 500 million straws per day too.
I think I started smoking cigarettes around age 15. At the time, you had to be 18 to legally purchase tobacco
Odd that I never had trouble acquiring Marlboros.
But Im sure this will change everything.
Bout to get on new insurance. Admitting you’re a smoker adds $600/year. Uh. I don’t smoke that much, thought much vaping.
I’d quite like to lie/omit/fib/whatever my way out of that. Do y’all? They don’t cover shit if you get a smoking-related illness. I’m fine with that. Regardless, how do ya get around it? Or is it a Must-Suck–It-Up situation?
I never tried to get around it. You’ll probably need a doctor’s note to “prove” non-smoking.
Which reminds me, I should probably do that since I quit vaping last year.
The FDA says the other reason for its latest change is because it’s often difficult for retailers to tell someone’s age just by looking at them.
We must use the threat of state violence to force those retailers to actively participate in our meddlesome nannying.
Them: “Suthenboy, you really need to quit smoking. It is bad for you.”
Me: “What? WHAT?!! Are you serious? What the fuck, man? Why have no one ever told me that before? After all this time…”
Them: *Dead-pan face. Silence. Walks off*
Smoking is not good for you. It would be foolish to think it is. However, we have spent the last million years evolving around open fires and breathing much more dangerous smoke than tobacco smoke. We are the most smoke-resistant species on the planet.
Also, the vast majority of people that suffer from lung cancer are non-smokers.
Ask Galileo, money, power and politics have always been the greatest enemies of human knowledge. I would guess 99% of what we hear daily. about smoking is bullshit.
Regarding smoking taxes – perfect example of how thieves understand the Laffer curve perfectly well. Tax tobacco to reduce smoking…they create a financial incentive for people smoking. They constantly try to tweak it so that their revenue is maximized but people never completely quit smoking. Consider that the next time some ‘tax the rich’ type claims that the Laffer curve is nonsense.
Maybe the FDA should do what Rishi Sunak did in GB – institute a sliding scale ban based on age so that younger people will never ever have the chance to legally smoke. Yep, that will end smoking permanently, yessireebob!