Smartie's Bar & Grill #69

There is a slight chance that a bottle of homebrew can become
too carbonated [ too much sugar added after fermentation while
bottling ]. Most of my homebrews came out very bubbly.
Sometimes the head was so thick I had to be real careful and\
pour slowly and spoon off the foam.My Best homebrew was a
Russian Imperial Stout.I aged it in the basement { where it is coolest }
and after a year the beer was super smooth and creamy and black
with the nicest choice very small bubbles { well knit }.It was literally
as good or better than even Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout.
But being a Homebrewer is TOO much work.Plus stuff can go
wrong { stuck fermentation }.

 

Like Professor Irwin Corey. ?

 

I haven’t had a stuck fermentation yet. I start my yeast in a 2000ml Erlenmeyer flask on a magnetic stir plate the day before brew day. Dry malt extract and a pinch of yeast nutrient. I can tell if my yeast is healthy before I even begin brewing.

 

Let's just hope it's not like Bill Nye.

 

So then you never bothered with asparagus after first tasting
as a kid.Or any veggie { take yer pick }
Or Coffee ... for that matter.

 

Stuck Fermentation is also prevalent with fermenting in
a condition where the yeast isn't cooperating.Like it's too
cool or too hot.That is why there are yeasts for Ales
and Yeasts for Lager.

 

Heh, no, but a physicist by degree

I left academia to pursue this strange green stuff called money. Also, academia is too restrictive. I'm an entrepreneur at heart and didn't want to be stuck in the publish or perish cycle. Also, getting funding can mean selling your soul.

Being in business is much the same but I have been able to do research on the side while funding it with my own money, grants, and private investors. Stuff like I've posted here is what I do in my off time for fun.

 

Bill Nye is an engineer, not a scientist.

He is a mechanical engineer, which is a relatively easy engineering degree compared to something like electrical engineering.

In case you can't tell, I don't like Bill Nye. He makes a lot of dumb comments.

 

Yes, I know he is a mechanical engineer, who passed himself off as a scientist.

Mechanical engineering looked like fun, to me, for a while.

No, I had no idea of your opinion of him.

I think he's a good showman. Kinda like that TV show where people blew things up.

 

I think engineers should spend 5 years out in the field of their discipline. I’m in constant battle with mechanical engineers. Biggest bunch of educated idiots in existence.

 

He's okay as a communicator to help inspire interest. But he gets some of the hard science and even engineering very wrong. For example, he went to Ed Begley's house to look at his wind-powered generator. It was a joke. It took more energy to make the parts than it will ever produce. That really ticked me off because it gave an entirely false impression of what it takes for wind power to be practical. The very first thing he should have said was "There is no way a little generator and turbine like this can be useful. It is nothing but a novelty".

 

Well, I wasn't going to say it...

I've met some who are very smart. But others leave you wondering how they ever got through college.

One guy actually admitted to me that he paid people to take tests for him.

 

I have two Honda stories.

First is about a motorcycle that I had. It's model designation was: VF500F. It was purdy! You could run it up to the redline (12,500rpm), and not even know it until the rev limiter cut in. It had to be practically disassembled to adjust the mechanical valve lifters.

My other Honda story is about the AWD Civic wagon I had. It too, was a functional marvel. After 240,000 miles, the alternator's brushes wore out and it wouldn't alternate any more.

I set about removing the alternator, and found that after unbolting it and disconnecting everything, I had a loose alternator trapped in a maze of other parts. I finally got it out by rotating it, then moving it a bit, then rotating it on a different axis, then moving it out a bit more, then rotating it again about a third axis, and so on. To be repeated upon reinstallation.

I had the chance to talk to a Honda mechanic afterward. He said that they just pull the engine...

The brushes cost, like, $3.47.

 

No...just nasty tasting wine.

 

Back in the 70s Chevy made a car called the Monza. Only after releasing the first model did they realize that you have to lift the engine to change one of the spark plugs. Whoops!!!

That being said, it is tough to design equipment for maintenance. I've designed things myself where later I was cursing the idiot who engineered this piece of crap. Sometimes the best design makes design for maintenance very difficult. What performance or functional feature do you want to sacrifice to make servicing easier? It can be difficult. And sometimes you just have to shrug and say, oh well! I'm not going to make an inferior product to make it easier to service.

Long ago I had an MG Midget. Cool car! I could take a regular street corner at speeds nearing 60 mph. But servicing it was a nightmare. Mine required three people to bleed the brakes. You have to do both the front and rear wheels on one side at the same time or a safety valve wouldn't allow you to bleed anything.

 

I remember that car!

Oldsmobile made a version called Starfire. If you hit the brakes hard enough (but not enough to make the tires protest), the weight of the floor shifter knob(?) would shift the automatic transmission into neutral.

Hahaaa, yeah, I remember that.

 

I am not a good mechanic but now they have You Tube....hurray!!!

 

I lived for a year { junior year at Dayton U. } with 2 Mechanical
Engineers.My Best friend who I lived with my sophomore and
senior year was an Electrical Engineer.
I remember a course that my one roomie { junior year }
kept having problems with as a Mechanical Engineer.
The book was - Heat Transfer - I believe.
I used to watch this roomie study when I came back to the
off campus house with a beer & pot buzz,in mid-evening.
He had a nice study desk {Draftsman's desk } with a nice
fluorescent study lamp and his trusty portable radio.His name
was Dave and he had a really nice Corvette.He was from Pittsburg.
He never partied and spent each weeknight studying like a
man consumed.Always with his AM radio station on.Tapping his
pencil often.I Miss Dave.Even though he hardly ever partied he was
real cool.

 

Good morning earthlings. It was a dirty rotten job, but I made it to work. More coffee... need more coffee.

 

I know of NO motorcycle with a Redline anywhere near 12,500.
10,500 on race models only.
Harleys used to have Rev limiters that kicked-in around 6,ooo RPM.
Meaning good luck racing a Hog out on the street.
Even though you can defeat a rev limiter with a fuel injected
fuel mapping device like a Power Commander.I Installed a
simpler more effective version of a Power Commander back in
around 2003 with a set of aftermarket hot exhaust pipes.
They were HardKrome Sideburners.The fuel commander module
I can't remember the name.The guy who sold them also was
an inventor for the creation of the Power Commander.
I'd have to go thru my old motorcycle memos to get the name.
I saw 2-3 years ago the Hottest Motorcyle around at the time.
It was the ONLY { still is I guess } Supercharged Motorcyle available.
The H2R produced 50% More power than the fastest street legal
motorcycle.Upwards of around 310 + h.p.
The neighboring Kawasaki dealer had a Green H2R on the floor
in the middle of their showroom.It was awesome.The price was
reasonable.If I was 20 years younger I would have bought.
My somewhat still new Honda CB 1100 { bought new in fall of 2013 }
has a redline starting at 8,500 - 10,500.
I don't believe I ever had the Rev limiter kick in.
Then once you hit redline the thing is like a bullet.

 

Breakfast of Champions. Say when...

 

I'll sit back for a bit and appreciate the music.... join me, won't you?



https://www.npr.org/2018/08/16/532687119/aretha-franklin-the-queen-of-soul-dead-at-76