Guess who's back! (maybe?)

[pompeiisneaks]

If some of you remember me, I'm back

Before the backstory and reason for the post, I basically ended up brewing an all grain batch with my nephew as he had brewed with me in the past and loved it. This re-bit me and I've got the brewing bug again!

Now to why I stopped: I ended up moving to the PNW and the amount of beer here is amazing, combined with just a generally super busy life etc, meant I didn't really have time to home brew. I ended up selling off all my brewing gear a year or so ago, and had been chasing a different hobby (Building Tube Guitar amplifiers from scratch.)

I'm now seriously considering starting anew, and building a HERMS brew system using raspberry Pi. I saw the app (CraftBeerPi) in the brewing automation area, I may just give that a go, since I'm a linux nerd it shouldn't be too hairy. (or I may customize it a bit, it seems right now it only supports one type of temperature sensor, so I may add code to support a different one I think may work better, (a two wire thermocouple instead of the three wire they've got now)

I've been running a YouTube channel for my amp builds, and am curious if people here would want to watch me documenting the build process there as well? I'm still not 100% ready anyway, could take a few months to even start, gotta save up the shekels

At any rate, I'm pretty excited if the SWMBO will give me the go

~Phil

 

[smurfjuice]

Welcome back ...

 

[mongoose33]

If some of you remember me, I'm back

What if we don't remember you? Does that change the status of your return?

J/K. Enjoy the journey.

 

[pompeiisneaks]

No, not really Thanks!

 

[Yooper]

Of course I remember you! I'm still really into brewing, but brewing larger batches so I brew less often. I'm glad to "see" you again!

 

[MaxStout]

Before my time here, but welcome back, just the same!

 

[pompeiisneaks]

Of course I remember you! I'm still really into brewing, but brewing larger batches so I brew less often. I'm glad to "see" you again!

Yup, I too remember you Yooper! I see you list your location as Snowbird now? I seem to recall you being elsewhere, you're in UT now? I am there visiting, family etc. Fun stuff!

Thanks MaxStout!

~Phil

 

[Yooper]

Yup, I too remember you Yooper! I see you list your location as Snowbird now? I seem to recall you being elsewhere, you're in UT now? I am there visiting, family etc. Fun stuff!

Thanks MaxStout!

~Phil

We still live in the UP, but went to Texas for the last 7 winters. First, for one month, then two, then three................but due to Hurricane Harvey, the place on the gulf is gone. So in January, we're going to the Florida Gulf Coast. It's a new place for us, but I'm excited about it. We'll stay in Michigan with the family until New Year's. But I'm already cold and sick of snow!

 

[pompeiisneaks]

Oh ok gotcha, literal snowbird lol, fun!

Phil

 

[half_whit]

Nice to see familiar names on here! I just came back yesterday too. First brew since I got hitched in 2014. New house and new family member and 4 years later, here I am... finding holes corroded in my brew kettle, a burner that wont ignite, and calling up a friend to borrow his stuff so I can get over the first brew hurdle!

Whats your youtube channel? I'm a bit of a music gear nut myself

 

[smurfjuice]

Welcome back as well ...

 

[pompeiisneaks]

half_whit,

Frenchie Films is the youtube channel http://youtube.com/frenchiefilms , I have tons of videos there with my amp builds and playing them etc. I'm finishing up one now, but got sidetracked with the holiday, been visiting family and headed back home this weekend. The drive may be snowy . The build I'm doing now is a Marshall clone with two channels, the Plexi channel and the 2203/2204 channel, so it's got the 60's and 70's goodness in one amp .

Edit: also I took over admin/moderator of a big forum for amp builders, ampgarage.com and have been running that site now for over a year!

Thanks smurfjuice!

 

[half_whit]

half_whit,

Frenchie Films is the youtube channel http://youtube.com/frenchiefilms , I have tons of videos there with my amp builds and playing them etc. I'm finishing up one now, but got sidetracked with the holiday, been visiting family and headed back home this weekend. The drive may be snowy . The build I'm doing now is a Marshall clone with two channels, the Plexi channel and the 2203/2204 channel, so it's got the 60's and 70's goodness in one amp .

Edit: also I took over admin/moderator of a big forum for amp builders, ampgarage.com and have been running that site now for over a year!

Thanks smurfjuice!

If you have any ideas on getting some more warmth into my AC30, I'm all ears. I'll never trade it simply because of the natural distortion, but gosh dang is it a chimey amp sometimes!

 

[pompeiisneaks]

If you have any ideas on getting some more warmth into my AC30, I'm all ears. I'll never trade it simply because of the natural distortion, but gosh dang is it a chimey amp sometimes!

Yeah it can be tough, I've built an AC30 from scratch twice, one was the Hoffman amps variant which is the top boost style, and the other had the EF86 preamp and tremolo. I love them both, but really it's sometimes about the speaker. If you've got the one with the greenbacks, you may want to save up and buy the alnico blues, they really make that amp shine. Also tweaking the presence a bit to dial back the harsher top end can help. Another possibility is to add a switch around the bright cap to have a bright off/on, it depends on the model, but most have a cap around the volume pot that lets the high end bypass volume and keeps it 'brighter' but if you add a switch to eliminate that, it also rolls off some of the harsh top end.

 

[Scturo]

I give up, who? [emoji6]Welcome back and join the next FOtHB.

 

[pompeiisneaks]

I give up, who? [emoji6]Welcome back and join the next FOtHB.

I'll have to first get my system working again, unless someone wants me to share some local WA breweries in a swap until then